musical interlude....

Because we need one about now.

THE LUNATICS LATEST IDEA...

So it seems that Trump is considering sending a few of the ISIS prisoners to Guantanamo. Sigh.
Read about it here.

One of the many reasons to OPPOSE Kavanaugh

If you have not made calls or sent emails or letters to your senators opposing Kavanaugh's ascension  to the Supreme Court please do so NOW. And of course when it comes to Guantanamo he would be a disaster. Click here to read more.

h/o to Michigan Don.

A stunning development

It is always a pleasant surprise when a judge hearing Guantanamo issues actually follows the rules of law:

Judge Bars Statements Made by Guantánamo Detainees During F.B.I. Interrogations


https://nyti.ms/2nMB7dr?smid=nytcore-ios-share

h/o to David R.

From Roger Fitch and Our Freinds Down Below at Justinian

Controversy continues at Guantánamo, with the political firing of the commissions' Convening Authority; the sudden retirement of the judge in the Cole bombing case; fresh revelations in declassified prosecution documents; and new disclosures of top-secret CIA cables from Thailand detailing al-Nashiri's torture at the time Gina Haspel (now CIA director) was in charge.  

The group habeas previously reported in Fitch, al-Bihani, has now been argued in Washington DC, with the Trump administration claiming it can hold the men (including this man) for "100 years", more here. 

It's not very different from the government's justification in 2003 before the 9th Circuit. There, in the Gherebi case, the Justice Department lawyers - led by Robert McCallam, afterwards ambassador to Australia - presented arguments the court characterised as follows:

"Under the government's theory, it is free to imprison Gherebi indefinitely along with hundreds of other citizens of foreign countries, friendly nations among them, and to do with Gherebi and those detainees as it will, when it pleases, without any compliance with any rule of law of any kind, without permitting him to consult counsel, and without acknowledging any judicial forum in which its actions may be challenged. Indeed, at oral argument, the government advised us that its position would be the same even if the claims were that it was engaging in acts of torture and that it was summarily executing the detainees."  

READ THE REST HERE. 

We shall see...seems some psychologists are still trying to get back there....

Photo: John Moore/Getty Images

to do the military's dirty work...

PSYCHOLOGISTS VOTE NOT TO RETURN TO GUANTÁNAMO AMID HEATED DEBATE OVER TORTURE LEGACY

Shilpa Jindia

August 9 2018, 2:16 p.m.

Read about it here.

The man who almost escaped Guantanamo....

Paige Lavender (@paigelav) tweeted at 6:49 PM on Tue, Aug 07, 2018:
After 14 years of imprisonment without charge, Abdul Latif Nasser thought he was finally going home. Then Donald Trump won. https://t.co/g2o37QyGXr (by @jessicaschulb)
(https://twitter.com/paigelav/status/1026963446456311811?s=03)

h/o to Walt

Yes, it is time for a musical interlude...again.

The forgotten men...

Yes, it has been a long time since my last post. A lot has happened ... and yet nothing has happened. I will update when I can gather the psychic energy.
Until then --

Read this letter from one of the remaining forgotten men.

Happy 4th....

DIFFERENT PRESIDENT -- SAME SENTIMENT.

From Roger Fitch and our friends down under at Justinian....

With a morally bankrupt torture-embracing president, rubberstamp Republican congress, and torture supporters everywhere, it's possible that torture experience helped a torture-camp director become CIA Director.

Gina Haspel formerly ran the CIA's depraved Thai torture operation (on-going under local direction), and some - including conservatives - call her a war criminal. More here and here. Nevetheless, Haspel was narrowly confirmed when six Democrats crossed the senate floor.

It marked a continuation of the free pass Haspel received from the Obama administration for both torture and its cover-up.  She should, however, avoid future travel in rule-of-law countries, e.g, Germany.

Even as Haspel was being confirmed, the CIA's original "legal opinion" supporting its proposed use of torture was produced - after redacting the name of the "lawyer" who concocted it.  

Another incriminating response to FOI requests was the CIA's demand for an advance DoJ "declination of prosecution" for its planned violations of federal laws and the Covenant Against Torture.  

*   *   *

The most absurd case ever brought at Guantánamo, that of the Haspel-supervised torture victim Abt al-Rahim al-Nashiri, has been put on indefinite hold by the presiding military judge, more here.

In a companion nonsense case,  Ahmed Mohammed al-Darbi has been repatriated to Saudi Arabia, having done his duty by grassing up Mr Nashiri in the MV Limburg and USS Cole cases. More here.  

The Limburg bombing involved peacetime piracy against a Panamanian-flagged French tanker in international waters. There's no connection to the US, but the Pentagon's reliable (if shambolic) Court of Military Commission Review reversed the military judge's dismissal of the claims.

The Cole bombing involved Americans, but still no war; even if hostilities had been implicated, the attack would be legal, absent "perfidy". 

All the other USS Cole defendants were successfully convicted in civilian US courts years ago, where Nashiri - now depicted in his military commission as the mastermind and architect of the Cole bombing - was just an "unindicted co-conspirator". He was unavailable for US trial because the CIA was busy torturing him in three countries overseas. Two of them, Poland and Romania, have been ordered by the European Court of Human Rights to pay Nashiri damages for their part in his CIA torture. More here.

Nashiri's ordeal in Thailand was personally supervised by the psychologists Mitchell and Jessen (the CIA has settled a civil suit for damages against them) and by Gina Haspel, the new CIA director.  

Steve Vladeck sorted out the Nashiri mess here and here.

*   *   *

The military commission of Abd al-Hadi is picking-up speed at Guantánamo. Al Hadi is one of the few at Gitmo charged with a real war crime - killing civilians. Many of the other charges seem doubtful in light of his combat status, but a freshly-stacked supreme court may ultimately rewrite international law, the Geneva Conventions and the US constitution to make "conspiracy" and other civilian offences valid tribunal crimes.

The 9/11 defendants are likewise accused of killing civilians, although there wasn't any war underway on September 11, 2001. The military judge in that case got around the lack of hostilities by deferring to the self-serving characterisations of military jurisdiction by congress and the executive.  

*   *   *

In a new global attack on Gitmo detention, a group habeas petition has been brought in DC supported by the human rights law firms Reprieve and the Center for Constitutional Rights. More from Lawfare, HRW's Laura Pitter and Just Security. 

The case, styled al Hajj v Trump, emphasises Mr Trump's anti-Muslim animus, and is beginning to bear fruit under an Obama-appointed judge. 

READ THE REST HERE....

No surprises here.

So the lunatic is trying to cut off due process rights to individuals who are seeking asylum in my country -- as though seeking asylum is a crime! And now he is trying to hold the children hostage by offering to release the kidnapped kids in return for their parents giving up claims of asylum.

I expect next, in continuing with parallels to Guantanamo, that the republicans will seek legislation barring the asylum seekers from obtaining any damages from these illegal practices.

Read more here.

Living up to his word....

Trump promised he wouldn't release men from Guantanamo- one detainee has been waiting more than a year for a decision from his PRB (periodic review board). This is the board that is supposed to review the men and say whether they can be cleared for release (or not). The board was supposed to meet regularly but in my clients case they only met with him once in the seven years since the PRBs were set up.

The story of this Yemeni detainee captures the intransigence of the Trump administrations position on the remaining men. Read about it here.

Razak Ali, 17 years and still counting.

My client, Razak Ali, started his 17th year at Guantanamo yesterday. I don't know why he is one of the few to remain for so long. He has committed no crime. He has never been charged with a crime. He has never been convicted of a crime. Ever. Anywhere.

My country is just holding him because we can -- we are using him as some abstract lesson to unknown others -- like those children my country is holding in cages at our southern boarder -- also being held as some abstract lesson to unknown others.

I am afraid my country has not hit rock bottom yet and that should scare all of us.

6000 days and still counting...

Today marks Guantanamo's 6000th day and there are no signs of our gulag closing anytime soon.
My remaining client, Razak Ali, is one of the 40 men still stuck in this nightmare and he will start his 17th year at the gulag on tuesday. I am at a loss for words.

Maybe next week on his "anniversary" I will find something meaningful to say.
Until then, read:

The talking dog

Andy Worthington

close guantanamo

Shaker Aamer who was finally released in 2015 has these words to say on the 6000th anniversary of the opening of Gitmo:

"Tell Donald Trump:
As long as Guantanamo is open, America will never be great again.
And as long as America is committing injustice, America will never be great again.
And as long as America has military posts all over the world, America will never be great again.
And as long as America is supporting and helping dictators all over the world, America will never be great again."



I think it is fair to say that America will not be great again for a long time....