As usual the talking dog says it best.
As for me... I am pissed that this soldier spent so many years being held...and these Afghani men spent more than double the time being held...for no reason. Yes, you can look at the CNN or other reports that suggest that these men being released are dangerous but remember- the narrative coming out of the news media is just that-- the military narrative. It only reflects the version put forth by the military and not the facts that were later determined. Why? Because the lawyers representing these men have been muzzled by the Court and because so many of our "journalists" just copy and paste the military's press release rather than do anything like "investigative journalism."
Just sayin....
Saturday, May 31, 2014
Monday, May 26, 2014
More on the deaths of the three men at Guantanamo in 2006....
Thisreport details the failure of the Department of Justice (DOJ) to address the
dramatic deficiencies in the findings issued by the Navy Criminal Investigation
Service (NCIS) in the wake of the deaths on June 9, 2006 of three detainees
held at the detention camp in Guantánamo Bay, Cuba.
The NCIS report, issued two years after the deaths of the detainees, essentially rubber-stamped statements made by camp officials about the manner and cause of the deaths of the three detainees before any investigation was conducted, and before any such conclusions could be known. It concealed repeated evidence of tampering with the crime scene, the fact that two of the men had been dead for hours before they were “discovered,” and the fact that the third lived for several hours afterwards, dying while ostensibly under medical care.
Yet, despite new discoveries and two Congressional requests – one made in October, 2009 by Representative William Delahunt (D-Mass.) and a second, in January, 2010 by Representative Anna G. Eshoo (D-Calif.) – the DOJ failed to re-investigate the circumstances of the deaths.
The NCIS report relies on evidence disputed by documents that the Center for Policy & Research Fellows easily obtained through Freedom of Information Act requests. They include official statements by guards who were on duty the night of the deaths, camp transportation records and findings from the autopsies of the three detainees. Among the Center report’s findings:
1. The NCIS secretly ratified the GTMO Commander’s conclusion that the cause of the detainees’ deaths was suicide on June 20, 2006, 11 days after the bodies were discovered. Yet, for inexplicable reasons, the NCIS did not publicly issue its report until 26 months after the deaths, on August 22, 2008.
2. The senior medical officer who declared two of the three detainees dead was never interviewed by the NCIS. In a narrative he prepared on his own, he asserted that the detainees died by means other than suicide by hanging.
3. A guard on the cell block in which the detainees reportedly hung themselves gave a statement to NCIS noting that there were no materials available in the detainees’ cells with which to hang themselves in the manner as rumored prior to the NCIS report’s adoption of that “fact.” That statement is not addressed in the report.
4. Contrary to the NCIS report, a medical escort described how one of the three detainees was actually found alive and, on the ride to the Naval Hospital, was discovered to have a cord still tied tightly around his neck – it had not been removed or loosened when he was ostensibly cut down. In addition, the detainee still showed vital signs though he had allegedly been hanging for two hours before he was discovered. No steps were taken to revive the detainee. The escort also observed a Corpsman tie onto the detainee’s wrists the fabric that the detainees had allegedly tied onto their own wrists as they prepared to hang themselves.
5. With regard to the DOJ’s response to a request for an investigation, the letter to Representative Eshoo was signed by Assistant Attorney General Ronald Weich, sent four months after her request was submitted. He has since claimed he simply signed the letter with no knowledge of the investigation although he was one of those in the copied in a lengthy e-mail thread regarding Representative Delahunt’s earlier inquiry, the subject line for which was, “Heads-up from Rep Delahunt re: GTMO suicide allegations.”
The NCIS report, issued two years after the deaths of the detainees, essentially rubber-stamped statements made by camp officials about the manner and cause of the deaths of the three detainees before any investigation was conducted, and before any such conclusions could be known. It concealed repeated evidence of tampering with the crime scene, the fact that two of the men had been dead for hours before they were “discovered,” and the fact that the third lived for several hours afterwards, dying while ostensibly under medical care.
Yet, despite new discoveries and two Congressional requests – one made in October, 2009 by Representative William Delahunt (D-Mass.) and a second, in January, 2010 by Representative Anna G. Eshoo (D-Calif.) – the DOJ failed to re-investigate the circumstances of the deaths.
The NCIS report relies on evidence disputed by documents that the Center for Policy & Research Fellows easily obtained through Freedom of Information Act requests. They include official statements by guards who were on duty the night of the deaths, camp transportation records and findings from the autopsies of the three detainees. Among the Center report’s findings:
1. The NCIS secretly ratified the GTMO Commander’s conclusion that the cause of the detainees’ deaths was suicide on June 20, 2006, 11 days after the bodies were discovered. Yet, for inexplicable reasons, the NCIS did not publicly issue its report until 26 months after the deaths, on August 22, 2008.
2. The senior medical officer who declared two of the three detainees dead was never interviewed by the NCIS. In a narrative he prepared on his own, he asserted that the detainees died by means other than suicide by hanging.
3. A guard on the cell block in which the detainees reportedly hung themselves gave a statement to NCIS noting that there were no materials available in the detainees’ cells with which to hang themselves in the manner as rumored prior to the NCIS report’s adoption of that “fact.” That statement is not addressed in the report.
4. Contrary to the NCIS report, a medical escort described how one of the three detainees was actually found alive and, on the ride to the Naval Hospital, was discovered to have a cord still tied tightly around his neck – it had not been removed or loosened when he was ostensibly cut down. In addition, the detainee still showed vital signs though he had allegedly been hanging for two hours before he was discovered. No steps were taken to revive the detainee. The escort also observed a Corpsman tie onto the detainee’s wrists the fabric that the detainees had allegedly tied onto their own wrists as they prepared to hang themselves.
5. With regard to the DOJ’s response to a request for an investigation, the letter to Representative Eshoo was signed by Assistant Attorney General Ronald Weich, sent four months after her request was submitted. He has since claimed he simply signed the letter with no knowledge of the investigation although he was one of those in the copied in a lengthy e-mail thread regarding Representative Delahunt’s earlier inquiry, the subject line for which was, “Heads-up from Rep Delahunt re: GTMO suicide allegations.”
Friday, May 23, 2014
Day of action to close guantanamo
So find a protest near you and get our there.
More here http://org.salsalabs.com/o/383/t/0/blastContent.jsp?email_blast_KEY=1299572
More here http://org.salsalabs.com/o/383/t/0/blastContent.jsp?email_blast_KEY=1299572
Friday, May 16, 2014
THE OTHER SHOE DROPS--UPDATED
Yes, what a great idea---close Guantanamo by bringing Guantanamo to the mainland.... the concern that brought me to represent men at Guantanamo and stand up for our Constitution is coming closer to reality:
President Barack Obama reiterated in
January his desire to close the notorious Guantanamo prison by
the end of this year. Even among those who agree it should close, a surprising
number of lawmakers and policy analysts seem to believe that may require creating
a new indefinite detention scheme for suspected terrorists here in the United
States.
Supporters of these
proposals highlight the allegedly intractable problem of some 45 detainees at
Guantanamo, and potentially more, whom the Obama administration has insisted since 2009 cannot be
convicted on criminal charges, yet are nonetheless too dangerous to release.
Friday, May 9, 2014
Catching up.....
Hot on the heels of Justice Breyer's suggestion that the supreme court might be willing to take a peek at a cert petition if the right questions were asked....I filed a cert petition yesterday for my remaining client and sought to ask the right questions....
Of course my clients case is perhaps too silly for the court's to take seriously---I mean he is accused of being in the wrong guesthouse in Pakistan and studying English...really you can't make this stuff up. So yes, we will detain him forever because he is too dangerous to release but they have no evidence to try him. unless of course someone could just make studying English a capitol offience....geez.
Anyway, getting the supreme court's attention on these cases is pretty near impossible. They refused two additional cert petitions this past month. So I am not holding my breath.
And of course the forever military commission "trials" are doing just fine.... as long as the defense doesn't take too seriously the FBI spying on them.....
So yes, it has been a long time since I updated this blog but as you can see not much has changed.
Of course my clients case is perhaps too silly for the court's to take seriously---I mean he is accused of being in the wrong guesthouse in Pakistan and studying English...really you can't make this stuff up. So yes, we will detain him forever because he is too dangerous to release but they have no evidence to try him. unless of course someone could just make studying English a capitol offience....geez.
Anyway, getting the supreme court's attention on these cases is pretty near impossible. They refused two additional cert petitions this past month. So I am not holding my breath.
And of course the forever military commission "trials" are doing just fine.... as long as the defense doesn't take too seriously the FBI spying on them.....
So yes, it has been a long time since I updated this blog but as you can see not much has changed.
Sunday, March 2, 2014
From Roger Fitch and our Friends Down Under At Justinian
SUNDAY, MARCH 2, 2014
Roger Fitch and our friends down under at Justinian
THE UNEXPECTED
ROGER FITCH ESQ • MONDAY, FEBRUARY 24, 2014
More delicious NSA revelations ... Getting off the no-fly list ... Guantánamo update ... Remaking the law of war ... Botched executions ... Wall Street's lack of conviction ... Roger Fitch files from Washington
* * *
Pirates on trialThe Guantánamo military commissions continue.
Ahmed Al-Darbi was charged with a peculiar offence - one also charged against Abd al-Rahim al-Nashiri, whose hearings resumed in February - and one of the strangest "war crimes" implausibly alleged to affect the US.
The Saudi is charged with the 2002 Gulf of Aden bombing of a French-flagged Malaysian-chartered oil tanker that killed a Bulgarian crewman (see post of February 2013).
There wasn't a war at the time, and the defendant was actually in US custody.
There's no connection to the US at all, and it doesn't seem likely that either France or Malaysia was at "war" with al Qaida in 2002.
Of course, Al-Darbi could have been lawfully prosecuted for piracy - by someone - in a civilian court, but the Pentagon needs his testimony to grass-up the heavily-tortured al-Nashiri in a military commission.
In the end, Al-Darbi, like David Hicks and Omar Khadr before him, decided to plead guilty to imaginary law of war violations just to get out of Guantánamo - one day. The Miami Heraldhas more.
The Obama administration may be planning to try more pirates at Guantánamo, where the government always wins.
Al-Darbi's isn't the only new commission. There's also one planned against Abd al Hadi al Iraqi, and, distaining the recent decision of the DC Circuit confirming that conspiracy is not a war crime, the Pentagon has provocatively added that very non-crime to a list of fake war crimes being charged against the Iraqi held at Guantánamo, even as the government appeals its conspiracy loss - the Al Bahlul case - in the courts.
Steve Vladeck at Just Security has more.
Read the whole article here.
Wednesday, February 5, 2014
KEEPING WITH HIS TRANSPARENCY.....
The Obama administration refuses to release information about the costs for Camp 7 (where the so-called High Value detainees are quartered). Read about the refusal here.
One thing I will note from this article- at least the government seems to understand the stigma that comes with being involved in Guantanamo related matters on the government side....but people choose their work and they could have followed Nancy Reagan's advice and just said no....
And of course using every opportunity they can to talk in private with judges they filed an ex-parte (a filing between the government and the judge) filing explaining why it would be so detrimental to the government to disclose this one page document. Something to do with the stigma that would surround the employee(s) working on these matters. haha they should have thought about that a long time ago--. Unfortunately the judge will probably just go along with whatever the government wants, that is what the judges do in the Guantanamo cases- when they bother to do anything.
One thing I will note from this article- at least the government seems to understand the stigma that comes with being involved in Guantanamo related matters on the government side....but people choose their work and they could have followed Nancy Reagan's advice and just said no....
And of course using every opportunity they can to talk in private with judges they filed an ex-parte (a filing between the government and the judge) filing explaining why it would be so detrimental to the government to disclose this one page document. Something to do with the stigma that would surround the employee(s) working on these matters. haha they should have thought about that a long time ago--. Unfortunately the judge will probably just go along with whatever the government wants, that is what the judges do in the Guantanamo cases- when they bother to do anything.
Gitmo Updates...
I have had alot going on of late and haven't been able to keep up with all things Gitmo. On February 14th the government will file a response to the en banc petition that I filed on behalf of my client Razak Ali. I wish I had a way to link to the government's motion for more time as it is quite farcical...but you will just have to take my word for it. Anyway I opposed the government's request for more time but due to time constraints I couldn't file a response so they got the extra time...
In other news the government is now allowing the media and certain advocay groups to watch the PRB proceedings--these are proceedings that allow those detainees on the "forever detainable" list to try to show that they should be taken off that list. That would be my client Razak Ali--one day I should get notice that a date has been set for his hearing...one day.
Anyway a week ago the first PRB that was semi public took place-Abdul Malik Wahab al Rahabi.
I don't know much about al Rahabi but I will say that I laughed when I saw him described as a body guard of Bin Laden--- almost every man at Guantanamo has been accused of being a body guard--most of the accusations came from one man- a mentally challenged individual. My client who was released- al -Ghizzawi was also accused of being a body guard and at the time I did a count of the number of men that this one individual had accused and although i can't remember the actual number it was in excess of 50. Anyway here is one look at the hearing....
Meanwhile the hunger strike continues....
In other news the government is now allowing the media and certain advocay groups to watch the PRB proceedings--these are proceedings that allow those detainees on the "forever detainable" list to try to show that they should be taken off that list. That would be my client Razak Ali--one day I should get notice that a date has been set for his hearing...one day.
Anyway a week ago the first PRB that was semi public took place-Abdul Malik Wahab al Rahabi.
I don't know much about al Rahabi but I will say that I laughed when I saw him described as a body guard of Bin Laden--- almost every man at Guantanamo has been accused of being a body guard--most of the accusations came from one man- a mentally challenged individual. My client who was released- al -Ghizzawi was also accused of being a body guard and at the time I did a count of the number of men that this one individual had accused and although i can't remember the actual number it was in excess of 50. Anyway here is one look at the hearing....
Meanwhile the hunger strike continues....
Tuesday, February 4, 2014
Snowden--American Hero- UPDATED
For some reason this video is not getting much attention in this country so I want to do my part.
also this from Juan Cole...people who should be jailed instead of Snowden.
also this from Juan Cole...people who should be jailed instead of Snowden.
Tuesday, January 28, 2014
Thursday, January 16, 2014
HOPE DIES LAST....
Today the DC Circuit ordered the government to respond to the en banc petition I filed on Monday. Word on the street is that is a pretty fast turn around...As Studs Terkel was fond of saying....
Hope dies last.....
Here is the Order:
Docket Text:
CLERK'S ORDER filed [1475512] Upon consideration of appellant’s petition for rehearing and rehearing en banc, it is ORDERED, on the court’s own motion, that within 15 days of the date of this order, appellees file a response to the petition for rehearing and petition for rehearing en banc not to exceed 15 pages. Absent further order of the court, no reply to the response will be accepted. [1474856-2] [1474856-3] [11-5102]
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