INTERESTING DEVELOPMENTS

All allegations against Mohammed al Qahtani (063) in the April 15, 2008 re-sworn charge sheet were dismissed without prejudice on Friday May 9, 2008. For those of you who don't know or recall Mr. Qahtan his interrogation memos were leaked last year showing the torture to which he was subjected. Although it is possible that the thugs might charge him again at some future date, with non capitol charges, Al Qahtani is at the moment uncharged and will not face the death penalty if there are ever any future charges. We will not ever know if Mr. Qahtani was a so called "terrorist" because of the criminal policies of the US government in subjecting him to torture.
The other interesting development is that on the heels of this dismissal the government buried the dismissal with the announcement (again) of charges against five defendants who all seem to be charged as the 20th hijacker...
a most crowded spot... as I believe Al Qahtani was also suspected as holding that same ticket.

Fridays military decision ousting Hartman for now

Click on the title to read the actual order entered last week by the Military commission.

And Back to the Kangaroo Court

Well the talking dog put it together better than I could even try, so click on the title and read what the TD has to say about the latest fiasco at the military commissions.... just a hint.. now the chief "legal advisor" has been pulled off the first prosecution because it was determined that his legal advice was just a tad too politically tainted.......sigh...
Supreme Court... If you are out there please rule soon and put them out of their misery.

Return to the battlefield?? Updated

I am updating this story after reading the Washington Post version. It appears the story may be true and if so we are stuck with the uncomfortable fact that a man released from Guantanamo may be responsible for a suicide bombing in Iraq. There are lots of things to ponder in relation to this matter and much of that was discussed in the article that you can read by clicking on the title. The answer of course is not to lock up forever people who showed no signs of being an enemy when picked up. This man apparently went on with his life for several years before he decided to do what he did. I also will remind you that our government lies so much that we cannot believe anything they claim but if this man did in fact become a suicide bomber he would be the only verifiable detainee that was released who has been shown to engage in any illegal activities after being released. I find that pretty amazing given how these men were treated. Anyway, last time the government/military claimed 30+ were on "back" on the battlefield and my law clerk did the research... seemed at the same time they were saying 9+ and 5+ and a handful and 14.... were back on the battlefield (as though these random and contradictory numbers justified keeping everyone else). And when someone finally demanded names (I believe it was congress that asked not the media...) they hemmed and hawed and came up with a few names... a few... like 3 or 4... and 1 of those "back"on the battlefield was still sitting in gitmo (probably in his dreams he was in the battlefiedl but I don't think that counts) 1 or 2 were never on a list as having been at Guantanamo, 1 guy had not only returned to the battlefield but was killed (according to the media reports dictated by the military) but they forgot to tell him and he was quietly rebuilding his life.
I am sure there are those of you who think we should try to ascertain everyone who has harbored ill thoughts about our government and lock them up... but that is not the american way... at least not the america I knew. We have trials. We determine guilt or innocence and then we punish the guilty. Perhaps if a system had been put in place when this man was held the outcome would have been different. Lastly I would just point out that this man was released because of a political deal between the US and Kuwait... the same way every man has been released so far... political deals, not court processes.

Update on Transfers last week...

Thank You Sami for remaining a reporter til the end...--Thank You Kent Spriggs for this nice little chart.... the three men with less information did not have counsel. unfortunately I am having formatting trouble... I will get back to this...

2008 MAY

WAKIL, HAJI SAHIB ROHULLAH

798

Afghanistan

TRANS 5/2

Jalalabad, AF

1/1/1962

05-cv-01124

Dechert LLP

Peter Ryan

ABDULLA MOHAMMED KAHN

556

Uzbek

TRANS 5/2

Yes

FD, NJ

Candace Hom

SANGARYAR, RAHMATULLAH

890

Afghanistan

TRANS 5/2

Oruzgan, AF

1/1/1968

05-cv-00878

Yes, long journey

FD, ND Ga

Matthew Dodge

NASRULLAH, FNU

886

Afghanistan

TRANS 5/2

Oruzgan, AF

1/1/1979

FD

ESMATULLA, FNU

888

Afghanistan

TRANS 5/2

Dekundie, AF

1/1/1977

SURVEILLANCE??

May 7, 2008

Lawyers for Guantánamo Inmates Accuse U.S. of Eavesdropping

By WILLIAM GLABERSON <http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/people/g/william_glaberson/index.html?inline=nyt-per>

One lawyer for Guantánamo <http://topics.nytimes.com/top/news/national/usstatesterritoriesandpossessions/guantanamobaynavalbasecuba/index.html?inline=nyt-geo> detainees said he replaced his office telephone in Washington because of sounds that convinced him it had been bugged. Another lawyer who represents detainees said he sometimes had other lawyers call his corporate clients to foil any government eavesdroppers.

In interviews and a court filing Tuesday, lawyers for detainees at Guantánamo said they believed government agents had monitored their conversations. The assertions are the most specific to date by Guantánamo lawyers that officials may be violating legal principles that have generally kept government agents from eavesdropping on lawyers.

“I think they are listening to my telephone calls all the time,” said John A. Chandler, a prominent lawyer in Atlanta and Army veteran who represents six Guantánamo detainees.

Several of the lawyers, including partners at large corporate law firms, said the concerns had changed the way they went about their work apart from Guantánamo cases. A lawyer in Chicago, H. Candace Gorman, said in an affidavit that she was no longer accepting new clients of any type because she could not assure them of confidentiality.

CLICK ON THE TITLE TO FINISH THE STORY

Guantantamo our 51st State?

The world slaps us with Guantanamo as though it's a sack of wet nickels. Guantanamo is an albatross, wrapped in a scarlet letter, inside an Alcatraz. What to do with Guantanamo?

The Supreme Court is mulling the question. The president and the secretary of defense say they want to close Guantanamo. All three presidential candidates and five former U.S. secretaries of state want to close Guantanamo.

Fortunately, the answer is obvious. Congress should pass, and the president sign, legislation making Guantanamo the 51st state.

(click on the title to read the rest of this great op-ed... from Gitmo attorney Peter Ryan...)

WILL THE MEDIA SHOW ONCE AGAIN THEIR COLLECTIVE AMNESIA??

Today Reuters reported that the bush administrative could close Guantanamo...."The Bush administration could announce plans by the end of its term in January to close Guantanamo prison and an upcoming Supreme Court ruling might be the impetus for this, senior U.S. officials and experts say." (Click on the title if you really want to read it... but I warn you they also quote from Matthew Waxman.... the man responsible for Al-Ghizzawi still being at guantanamo... as though he is some sort of voice of reason....)

LEST WE FORGET.... they said the same thing last time the supreme court was getting ready to rule... I fell for it in 2006 before the Supreme Court released the Hamdan decision... Bush announced "I want to close Guantanamo... I am just waiting for the Supreme court to rule..." I of course knew he didn't have to wait for the supreme court's ruling to close the place but I figured he would use it as an excuse...
He didn't.... he never intended to close the place but many people believed him and still ask me, "Aren't we closing the place? I thought Bush said he was closing the place?"

I will not fall for that crock again... but the big question is, will the media fall for it again??

A prison of shame and it's ours

For those of you who did not see this op-ed in Sunday's NY Times click on the title and read the whole article which also discusses the plight of Al-Ghizzawi.

A Prison of Shame, and It’s Ours

By NICHOLAS D. KRISTOF

Published: May 4, 2008

My Times colleague Barry Bearak was imprisoned by the brutal regime in Zimbabwe last month. Barry was not beaten, but he was infected with scabies while in a bug-infested jail. He was finally brought before a court after four nights in jail and then released.

Skip to next paragraph

Fred R. Conrad/The New York Times

Nicholas D. Kristof

On the Ground

Share Your Comments About This Column

Nicholas Kristof addresses reader feedback and posts short takes from his travels.

Times Topics: Guantanamo Bay Naval Base (Cuba)

Alas, we don’t treat our own inmates in Guantánamo with even that much respect for law. On Thursday, America released Sami al-Hajj, a cameraman for Al Jazeera who had been held without charges for more than six years. Mr. Hajj has credibly alleged that he was beaten, and that he was punished for a hunger strike by having feeding tubes forcibly inserted in his nose and throat without lubricant, so as to rub tissue raw.

“Conditions in Guantánamo are very, very bad,” Mr. Hajj said in a televised interview from his hospital bed in Sudan, adding, “In Guantánamo, you have animals that are called iguanas ... that are treated with more humanity.”

FROM ROGER FITCH AND OUR FRIENDS DOWN UNDER

Roger Fitch Esq • April 25, 2008

Our Man in Washington

A.J. Liebling was right – the press is asleep on the big stories affecting our freedoms … Bush lawyers looking for soft landings in the corporate sector – although Freddo still can’t find a job … Copyright violations by Pentagon in use of rap music to torture detainees

As recently reported, a newly-released “torture memo” of the Justice Department’s former lawyer John Yoo purports to authorise the use of “enhanced interrogation techniques on terrorist suspects”.

Yet there would be no need to use these techniques, if the designated terrorists would only confess their crimes as gracefully as does George W. Bush.

For instance, when Mr Bush chose to admit he had been spying on Americans for years without warrants (under the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, a felony attracting five years in prison), he did so before millions of Americans on national TV, and never looked back.

When he subsequently disclosed he had violated multiple international treaties by abducting, disappearing and detaining prisoners secretly in foreign prisons, for the purpose of illegal interrogation, Dubya did so at a well-publicised press conference where he announced the men were being rendered to the ultimate dungeon – Guantánamo.

He connected the dots for the media, and nothing happened.

Now, on a major US television network in prime time, Mr Bush has cheerfully acknowledged that he knew and approved of the events reported in my last post: the operation within the White House of what might be called an interrogation strike force.

With cabinet members present, it was a virtual torture subcommittee of the President’s “war cabinet”.

So much was revealed by ABC TV, but Dan Froomkin of The Washington Post put it best:

“Top Bush aides, including Vice President Cheney, micromanaged the torture of terrorist suspects from the White House basement.”

(CLICK ON THE TITLE TO CONTINUE....)

Detainees released Wednesday-(Not Al-Ghizzawi) updated yet again

Click on the title to see actual footage from Sami's release.

I took a short vacation only to check in and find out that 4 were released to Sudan (including Sami Al Hag the Al-jazeera reporter I have written about) 1 to Morrocco and 8? to Afghanistan. We are still figuring out who the afghani's are (we know of only 1 as of this posting)... I am also figuring out the names of the Afghani's just released from Policharkey (I figure if I spell it different each time I will be right at least once)... anyway the Afghani's just released either 29 or 34 prisoners from the American wing of the prison, most had been at Gitmo and a few were from Bagram... I will release their names as I get them.... meanwhile these are the Gitmo releases from Wednesday:

Haji Rohullah Wakil (ISN 798), sent back to Afghanistan (not cleared, camp 5)

Sami Al Haj, formerly known as ISN 345 – released to Sudan, not cleared for release (camp 1)

Amir Yacoub, formerly known as ISN 720 – released to Sudan not cleared (camp 4)

Walid Ali, formerly known as ISN 081– released to Sudan not cleared

Said Al Boujaadia, ISN 150 – released to Morocco, had been cleared for release for 18 months (camp 6)

FIRST THING WE DO, LET'S OUT ALL THE LAWYERS... Updated May 5 2008

As promised here is the list to date of the lawyers in the current administration who we need to be taking a serious look at (click on the title). Except for Matthew Waxman the list is not in any particular order. They were added in as I received emails or other messages with brief summaries of what they have done and after doing some research. If I have missed anyone that you feel deserves to be added to this list please send me an email.... (by the way if your name is not on here do not breathe a sigh of relief just yet.)
So I need more help. I want to make sure I am not missing out on any dirty little detail. Pick out a few on this list (or more) and send me everything you can about the individual. I will be letting you know more about this project as time passes but please know I appreciate all of your help.
And thank you all for sending bits and pieces of information and a few more names that I am looking at....
and the full names .... which I was too busy to put in!

Fund raiser for the Guantanamo Testimonials Project-Amy Goodman speaks to former detainees

(click on the title to go to the Guantanamo Testimonials Project)

TITLE: Witnessing Guantánamo: Amy Goodman Speaks with Former Detainees.

WHAT: Award-winning journalist Amy Goodman will interview a group of former Guantanamo prisoners live before a Davis audience.

HOW: The interview will be through videoconference, as the former prisoners will be in their native Sudan.

DATE: Saturday, May 31, 2008.

TIME: 8pm.

WHERE: 123 Sciences Lecture Hall, University of California, Davis, CA 95616.

WHY: To gather testimony for the Guantanamo Testimonials Project, to raise funds for it, and to educate broadly on the issue.

ADMISSION: $10.

BONUS: A free copy of Ratner and Ray's book Guantanamo: What the World Should Know.

AUDIENCE: Limited seating available; purchasing advance tickets is highly recommended.

ORGANIZER: Center for the Study of Human Rights in the Americas, UC Davis.

EMAIL CONTACT: humanrights@ucdavis.edu

PHONE CONTACT: 530 752 3046 or 530 574 4865

FIled the appeal today...

Hey I have been really busy these last few weeks so I haven't been keeping up with this blog. For that I am sorry. ... but today I filed the appeal for Mr. Al-Ghizzawi. So click on the title of this blog and sing along with John while I continue to seek justice for a man wrongly held in our gulag.

Apples and Oranges....

Click on to the title and go to today's posting at balkinization regarding waterboarding and how Ashcroft has distinguished our brand of water torture from the kind of water torture that war criminals engaged in...