Talking Dog interviews Joseph Hickman

Joseph Hickman is the author of

Murder at Camp Delta:  A Staff Sergeant's Pursuit of the Truth About Guantanamo Bay

Click on the title to purchase a copy of this must read book.

And read the interview here.

From Chicago to Gitmo and back again....

No I am not talking about my travels.... I am talking about the Chicago cop who had a reputatation of  using excessive force and torturing people into confessing here in Chicago. He was also in the military reserves-- and as a military reservist he was sent to Guantanamo where he allegedly used those same techniques on men being held at Guantanamo. One of those men was Mohamedou Slahi a current detainee at Guantanamo and coincidently- the man whose book was recently released. I wrote about his book here and here. It was from Slahi's book that Guardian reporter Spencer Ackerman determined that a man who was one of Slahi's main torturers was a Chicago cop with a similar reputation of abusive tactics here in Chicago.

The Guardian has been running a story about this now retired chicago cop, Richard Zuley, and the trail of dubious murder convictions in cases where he was the main detective. Seems he was just what they wanted at Guantanamo along with the likes of Major General Geoffrey Miller, the commander of join task force-Guantanamo, during Zuley's tenure at Guantanamo.  Just to remind everyone Miller moved on from Guantanamo to lead the activities at Abu Ghraib and the other Iraq prisons around the time when torture was rampant at Abu Ghraib. The Guardian reported at that time that "The US commander in charge of military jails in Iraq, Major General Geoffrey Miller, has confirmed that a battery of 50-odd special "coercive techniques" can be used against enemy detainees. The general, who previously ran the prison camp at Guantanamo Bay, said his main role was to extract as much intelligence as possible."   

The introduction to the latest Guardian reporting can be found here. Part one is here. Part two is here.

David Hicks is officially exonerated... UPDATED

Yesterday the military commission threw out the conviction of David Hicks, the Australian man who pled guilty to a crime that was not a crime at the time of his "detention." Hicks pled guilty because that was the only ticket out of Guantanamo. My government tried hard to keep Hick's conviction from being tossed because also as part of his ticket out of Guantanamo he had to agree not to appeal. Fortunately the military commission saw the folly in that logic.
Read more here.
The Talking Dog has the decision by the military commission and a short history here.
And firedoglake has more here.

Poland's complicity in U.S. torture affirmed

The European Court of Human Rights today confirmed that the Polish government was complicit in the CIA’s secretive programme of rendition, detention and interrogation.

The Court in Strasbourg today rejected a challenge from the Polish government to a landmark ruling from last July, a decision which now makes that original judgement final.

July’s judgment said that two current Guantánamo inmates, Abu Zubaydah and Abd al-Rahim al-Nashiri, were held in a CIA prison in Poland, that they had been subject to torture, and that Poland failed in its duty under European human rights law to protect them or investigate what happened.

Read the rest here.

Gitmo attorneys speak out about their clients and our clueless senators.....

Two weeks ago in senate hearings two of our more ignorant senators (and believe me it is a real contest to determine who in the senate is the most ignorant...) made some comments about the men at Guantanamo. Senator Cotton thinks the men should all rot in hell (as though Guantanamo is not hell enough) and Senator Graham suggested that the men still at Guantanamo are probably still there because they are a high risk. Really senators? I mean the reason these men are still there is because Graham, Cotton and others have passed legislation making it all but impossible for Obama to release the men-- despite the fact that more than 50 of the men still held have been cleared for release by the federal agencies connected to the hell hole-- including the pentagon, homeland security, justice and national intelligence (an oximoron if I ever heard one....) Each has long ago concluded that the men were not a risk and should be released. 
But I digress....  
Read what several of the Gitmo attorneys have said in response to those senators here, here, and here....

The Military Commissions have to be shut down....

The latest revelation concerning the military commisions is that one of the interpreters working for the defense was a CIA operative and had been involved in interrogations of some of the detainees. Seems the person neglected to mention that little detail when agreeing to work for the defense-even though defense lawyers asked him if he had ever worked for the government in any capacity. This fact only came to light when he was brought in to translate for someone who had seen him translating during brutal interrogations.
This follows revelations that the defense computers files have been hacked and that secret recordings were made of meetings between defense counsel and their clients. There is nothing even remotely fair about these proceedings.
NPR has more here.

"Back to the battlefield" the republican song.....

For as long as I have been representing Guantanamo detainees (10 years now--sigh) the republican's have claimed that detainees have "returned" to the battle field- the numbers have gone up and down but the rallying cry has always been the same.So I guess we should not be surprised that this rallying cry has reared its ugly (and false) head again in senate hearings. Fortunately the pentagon is not listening as expressed by the department of defense "The question on closing the detention facility in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, is not whether to do it, but rather is how to do it, a senior Defense Department official said on Capitol Hill yesterday." Read the rest here.
Al-Jazeera has more here on the "recidivists." The Guardian reports that there are six men known to have engaged in hostilities after being released. Six out of 900--- and that is reason enough for some to suggest that the remaining men should never be released.....

PRYING DOCUMENTS LOOSE FROM "THE MOST TRANSPARENT" GOVERNMENT (AKA--THE OBAMA ADMINISTRATION)

Jason Leopold reports on locating a document in which the military admits that force feeding violates medical ethics and international law. Read his report here.

The Back Story on new Gitmo Book.

As I posted two weeks ago- a detainee still held at Guantanamo published a book (Mohamedou Slahi). A first time for a detainee still being held and the book shows the nonsense that the detainees and the lawyers put up with as afar as "secrecy"..... and also shows the horrors that these men have been subjected to.
Now Intercept has the back story on how the book managed to be published. Read the account here.

Chart showing Gitmo population from when Obama took office to today...January 31, 2015

Thanks to fellow Gitmo Attorney Brian Foster for keeping the numbers up to date for all of us.  You can view his complete chart here.

FROM 242 TO 122
Population as of 1/20/2009	242
Transfers to U.S. for prosecution	1 (Ghailani)
Transfers to Italy for prosecution	4 (Mabrouk, Nasri, two others)
Transfers of detainees not previously approved for transfer	5 (Afghans to Qatar)
Transfers to other countries for various purposes	103
Transfers following conviction in military commission	3 (Qosi, Khadr, Mohammed)
Deaths	4 (Hanashi, Gul, Nassim, Latif)
Population as of 1/31/2015	122

Give Guantanamo Back to the Cubans....

Cuba is asking that Guantanamo be given back to them. It is about time.
Read more here.

More on Australian David Hicks

David Hicks pled guilty to providing military support for terrorism so that he could get the hell out of Guantanamo.... Problem was that there was no such law on the books until 2006 so Hicks pled guilty to something that was not the law at the time he was "arrested."  Seems that the military now acknowledges that Hicks's conviction should not stand. You can read more here....including a link to the military brief.

Way to go Greece... UPDATED

In 2016 the wealthiest 1% will own half of the worlds wealth. Unless the people say "no."  I hope the Greek people are the first of many....

Here is a look at the first 48 hours of Alexis Tsipras--the new prime minister-- and a letter he wrote to the German People. I think this is going to be very interesting.....

From Roger Fitch and Our Friends Down Under

At Justinian......

The torture chronicles

ROGER FITCH ESQ • FRIDAY, JANUARY 23, 2015

Splendid properties and the good life for the CIA's leading torturers ... Rectal rehydration deemed a normal medical procedure ... Feinstein report conveniently colour coded countries that hosted torture camps ... Blue, Black, Violet and Green ... Life at the Salt Pit ... Roger Fitch files from Washington  

A NEW year brings new challenges to the justice system in the US.

At Just Security blog, Jennifer Daskal has a list of the most important "national security" cases to watch in 2015, while Steve Vladeck gives his picks for 2014's "national security heroes," i.e. human rights upholders, national security having rather a bad name at the moment. 

Indeed, some things are looking up. There's even talk of observing the Geneva Conventions, with an end to military detentions linked to the Afghan war, now officially over.  

Significantly, the Supreme Court has never ruled that Congress's 2001 "Authorisation to Use Military Force" (AUMF) applies outside the Afghan adventure. 

In the court's 2004 Hamdi decision, Justice Sandra Day O'Connor said: 

"The United States may detain, for the duration of these hostilities, individuals legitimately determined to be Taliban combatants who 'engaged in an armed conflict against the United States.' If the record establishes that United States troops are still involved in active combat in Afghanistan, those detentions are part of the exercise of 'necessary and appropriate force', and therefore are authorized by the AUMF."

It may not be easy to dispose of the remaining Guantanameros, some held over 13 years. Will Obama release them? Even his most liberal supporters continue to prattle about men "too dangerous to release" - history and Geneva be damned.

READ THE REST HERE....

Stand with Shaker....

Shaker Aamer is a british resident who has been cleared for release since 2007. The brits have refused to ask for his return and so he sits. Earlier this month Prime Minister Cameron met with Obama and I guess he finally asked for Shaker's return. According to reports Obama has now prioritized the release of Shaker. [sigh... I remember when Obama prioritized the closing of Guantanamo back in 2009...]
Anyway, the "stand with Shaker" campaign is going strong- I wanted to put the actual video of Roger Waters on this page but since I don't facebook I can only give you a link.. It's worth the watch as Roger of Pink Floyd fame reads a letter written by Shaker. Its nice to see that Shaker apparently still has a sense of humor.
And if you can check out the "stand with Shaker" campaign here and add your voice to the campaign.