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Tag: Guantanamo

Secrecy, Wars and Civil Liberties

As Chris Hedges reported Monday, American Muslims are being dragged into jail on dubious and unclear connections to terrorism. Meanwhile, the president retains the authority to kill U.S. citizens without trial. But most Americans aren’t speaking up. Salon blogger and constitutional lawyer Glenn Greenwald discusses why.

Posted on Apr 18, 2012 READ MORE  |  21 COMMENTS


Guantanamo at 10: The Prisoner and the Prosecutor

Ten years ago, Omar Deghayes and Morris Davis would have struck anyone as an odd pair. While they have never met, they now share a profound connection, cemented through their time at the notorious U.S. military prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.

Posted on Jan 12, 2012 READ MORE  |  8 COMMENTS



AP / Brennan Linsley

A Decade of Guantanamo

The indefinite detention center that has undermined American justice since the first prisoners arrived from Afghanistan 10 years ago Wednesday is still open for business in Cuba. (more)

Posted on Jan 11, 2012 READ MORE  |  16 COMMENTS



Joseph Voves (CC-BY)

Thought Crime in Washington

Morris Davis was fired by the Library of Congress not because of his work performance, but because he wrote a Wall Street Journal Op-Ed on his own time, using his own computer, as a private citizen. The government just did not like what he wrote.

Posted on Nov 28, 2011 READ MORE  |  92 COMMENTS



Flickr / stevendamron

A Look at the ‘Bush-Obama’ Presidency

Essayist, Yale English professor and TomDispatch contributor David Bromwich takes a careful accounting of the “sacked” and “saved” members of the Obama administration in an attempt to reveal the similarities between his presidency and George W. Bush’s. (more)

Posted on Aug 22, 2011 READ MORE  |  7 COMMENTS



AP / Carolyn Kaster

If McCain Had Won

Nothing reveals the true state of American politics today more than the fact that Democratic President Barack Obama has left the Democratic Party far weaker than it would have been had McCain been elected.

Posted on Jul 15, 2011 READ MORE  |  69 COMMENTS



Flickr / JTF Guantanamo

Another Suicide Reported at Guantanamo

A detainee accused of being an al-Qaida operative committed suicide in a Guantanamo Bay prison yard, U.S. officials say. His death brings the total number of Guantanamo “suicides” to six since the U.S. began sending foreign captives there in 2002. (more)

Posted on May 19, 2011 READ MORE  |  5 COMMENTS



State Department

Dear Hillary Clinton, Our Human Rights Record Is ‘Deplorable’ Too

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton tells The Atlantic that China’s “deplorable human rights record” is “a fool’s errand” to “stop history.” That’s some tough talk from the global representative of a country that throws its enemies in an island gulag when it isn’t remotely executing them.

Posted on May 10, 2011 READ MORE  |  10 COMMENTS



AP / Mark Lennihan

All the WikiLeaks Fit to Print

There is a craven disconnect between the eagerness of leading editors to exploit the important news revealed by WikiLeaks and their efforts to distance themselves from both the courageous website and Bradley Manning, the alleged source of documents posted there.

Posted on Apr 26, 2011 READ MORE  |  54 COMMENTS



Flickr / The National Guard

Holder Says WikiLeaks’ Gitmo Documents Won’t Affect Prosecutions

Attorney General Eric Holder said Guantanamo documents recently released by WikiLeaks will not impact military tribunals for terror suspects. The documents reveal flaws in the U.S. detention program at the facility.

Posted on Apr 26, 2011 READ MORE  |  7 COMMENTS



Wikimedia Commons

WikiLeaks’ Guantanamo Files Released

A large cache of military documents, obtained by WikiLeaks, reveals what many Guantanamo critics have alleged for years: The U.S. government detained and tortured suspects who it knew had no legitimate intel value.

Posted on Apr 25, 2011 READ MORE  |  28 COMMENTS


‘Democracy Now!’: Psychologist Accused of Torture in Guantanamo Interrogations

Amy Goodman reports on Dr. John Leso, a psychologist who allegedly participated in the torture (or “harsh interrogation,” his defenders might say) of Guantanamo detainees and now faces trial in New York.

Posted on Apr 6, 2011 READ MORE


One Guantanamo Trial That Will Be Held in New York

This week, the New York state Supreme Court will hear the case against John Leso, a psychologist who is accused of participating in torture at the Gitmo prison camp that President Obama pledged, and failed, to close.

Posted on Apr 5, 2011 READ MORE  |  57 COMMENTS



KSM Headed to Kangaroo Kourt

Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, who confessed to masterminding the 9/11 terror attacks sometime during or after his 183 waterboardings, will face a military tribunal now that the Obama administration has given up on the idea of trying to convict him in the U.S. justice system.

Posted on Apr 4, 2011 READ MORE  |  84 COMMENTS


Guantanamo and Obama

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Mr. Fish's Cartoon

Posted on Mar 11, 2011 READ MORE



Brennan Linsley / AP / dapd

Still in the Dark About 9/11

It is the right—indeed, need—of the American public to learn the truth about the motives, financing and methods of those who are alleged to have torn at the heart of our social fabric.

Posted on Mar 9, 2011 READ MORE  |  247 COMMENTS



Paul Keller (CC-BY)

Obama Punts on Guantanamo

Military trials will resume at America’s notorious island gulag. The president failed during the last two years to shut down the detention facility, which he says helps America’s enemies recruit, and move trials to the civilian justice system. (more)

Posted on Mar 7, 2011 READ MORE  |  23 COMMENTS



U.S. Army / Staff Sgt. Andrew Smith

Pakistani Disappearances: C’mon Guys

Thursday’s New York Times headline on Pakistani disappearances and U.S. disapproval is just a bit too much to take. ... (more)

Posted on Dec 30, 2010 READ MORE  |  3 COMMENTS


A Cry From Argentina: ‘Close Guantanamo’

“Gitmo is going to remain open for the foreseeable future,” said an unnamed White House official to The Washington Post this week. For guidance on the notorious U.S. Navy base in Cuba, President Barack Obama should look to an old naval facility in Buenos Aires, Argentina.

Posted on Nov 16, 2010 READ MORE  |  14 COMMENTS



U.S. Navy / PH1 Shane T. McCoy

N.Y. Times Condemns Obama Detainee Policy

The president promised to restore our basic constitutional protections, but that was back in the campaign when we were drunk on hope. These days, “It can be hard to distinguish between the Bush administration and the Obama administration when it comes to detainee policy,” laments The New York Times.

Posted on Oct 25, 2010 READ MORE  |  22 COMMENTS


ENTER_ALT_TEXT
Wikimedia Commons

Terror Suspect Wins Round in Court

An appeals court in D.C. has sided with an Algerian detainee, Belkacern Bensayah, finding that since there was no direct communication between Bensayah and al-Qaida, he could not be considered part of a terrorist group.

Posted on Jul 4, 2010 READ MORE  |  4 COMMENTS



Iceland Ash Edition

Is that an Icelandic volcano erupting or just the sound of Sarah Palin hosting a nature show on the Discovery Channel? Dig into today’s list and judge for yourself.

Posted on Apr 19, 2010 READ MORE  |  2 COMMENTS


Guantanamo tower
U.S. Army / Staff Sgt. Jon Soucy

Moving Day for Some at Guantanamo

While President Barack Obama will miss his goal of shutting down Guantanamo by January, the U.S. has returned 12 detainees from the notorious prison to their respective homelands. That leaves more than 100 detainees awaiting repatriation.

Posted on Dec 20, 2009 READ MORE  |  1 COMMENT



Flickr / Tanya N

CIA Working With Palestinian Security

Even after the hoopla of President Barack Obama’s executive order barring torture, evidence is surfacing that CIA agents are cooperating with, and potentially supervising, Palestinian security agents who are detaining and allegedly torturing Hamas supporters in the West Bank.

Posted on Dec 18, 2009 READ MORE  |  2 COMMENTS



The Guantanamo Lawyers: Shipwrecked

This important new book tells the story of the world’s most famous prison from the perspective of the lawyers who toiled under notoriously difficult conditions on behalf of the detainees.

Posted on Nov 22, 2009 READ MORE  |  7 COMMENTS



White House / Pete Souza

White House Lawyer in Trouble for Doing His Job

The gossipy schoolchildren who make up Washington’s power elite have sunk their claws into White House counsel Greg Craig. The president’s top lawyer has had one of the toughest jobs in the building—reversing George W. Bush’s torture policies, finding a Supreme Court justice and vetting some of the nation’s most complex legislation—and he has the scars to prove it.

Posted on Oct 21, 2009 READ MORE  |  3 COMMENTS



AP / Lynne Sladky

Washington Plays the Idiot With Guantanamo

With the arrest of Najbullah Zazi, the man allegedly behind the biggest terror plot since 9/11, the truth is clearer than ever: Law enforcement stops terrorism. Not secret island prisons.

Posted on Sep 29, 2009 READ MORE  |  9 COMMENTS



mgx.com

Gitmo Deadline May Be Missed

Senior White House officials have made it known that the self-imposed deadline for closing Guantanamo by January, one of the first orders laid down by Barack Obama as president, may have to be extended as legal and logistical questions prevent the U.S. from regaining its “moral high ground.”

Posted on Sep 28, 2009 READ MORE  |  8 COMMENTS



Flickr / Rennet Stowe

Guantanamo 2

President Obama has ordered the prison at Guantanamo Bay closed by January 2010. To meet that deadline, the administration may push for a new detention facility on U.S. soil. Such a compound, sources tell AP, would include space for the indefinite detention of prisoners deemed too dangerous to face trial.

Posted on Aug 3, 2009 READ MORE  |  7 COMMENTS



U.S. Navy / Shane T. McCoy

U.S. to Set Gitmo Inmate Free in a Case Called an ‘Outrage’

Although a judge had called the case “an outrage” that was “riddled with holes,” just last week the government said it would continue to try to prosecute Mohammed Jawad, a Guantanamo detainee whose “confession” was reportedly obtained through torture. Now the administration plans to free Jawad and return him to Afghanistan.

Posted on Jul 29, 2009 READ MORE  |  3 COMMENTS


Detainee
guardian.co.uk

Detainees vs. Bush

Finally someone is going after George W. Bush for his crimes against the world—it’s just a shame that it’s not the U.S. Congress. An Al-Jazeera journalist imprisoned for six years in Guantanamo is planning joint legal action against the former president.

Posted on Jul 17, 2009 READ MORE  |  4 COMMENTS


Ahmadinejad
blog.ecr.co.za

Reformists Allegedly Tortured in Iran

Several reformists currently jailed in Iran are alleged to have been tortured as the government tried to obtain videotaped “confessions” of a foreign plot against the government. Such “confessions” would paint politicians like presidential candidate Mir Hossein Mousavi as agents of the West.

Posted on Jun 26, 2009 READ MORE  |  15 COMMENTS


Dick Cheney
AP photo / Manuel Balce Ceneta

Cheney’s Satanic Verses

Dick Cheney, former vice president, defense secretary and White House chief of staff, has signed a reported $2 million deal with Simon & Schuster to publish his memoirs as a public official in four administrations. Bets are it’ll be a thriller marked with torture, stolen elections, war and, hopefully, no sex.

Posted on Jun 24, 2009 READ MORE  |  10 COMMENTS


Obama
AP photo / J. Scott Applewhite

Obama Can’t Duck the Tough Ones

President Obama’s lieutenants would love it if all the networks ran a crawl line at the bottom of the screen during news broadcasts that kept repeating: “The economy, health care, energy, education. The economy, health care ... .”

Posted on May 21, 2009 READ MORE  |  42 COMMENTS


Left, Right & Center

‘Left, Right & Center’: Pelosi Waffles, Obama Falters

Will Nancy Pelosi survive the onslaught of scrutiny and criticism in the wake of recent CIA torture-briefing revelations with her House speaker status intact? Is President Obama in over his head, what with all the hubbub over torture photos and military tribunals?

Posted on May 16, 2009 READ MORE  |  2 COMMENTS


military tribunal
AP photo / Brennan Linsley

Again With the Military Tribunals

Funny how declarations made in the heat of campaign season can be later forgotten by our nation’s elected officials. President Obama continued to do the reversal cha-cha late into the week with his decision to take up the very military tribunals he had sharply criticized before taking office.

Posted on May 14, 2009 READ MORE  |  21 COMMENTS


Gitmo Stretcher
guardian.co.uk

A Decision Not to Prosecute

After key Bush era CIA torture documents were released by the Obama administration, human rights officials are dismayed at the news that CIA agents who ordered and conducted torture will not be prosecuted.

Posted on Apr 17, 2009 READ MORE  |  62 COMMENTS



White House / Pete Souza

The Father of Guantanamo

Indefinite and secret detention at the U.S. air base in Bagram, Afghanistan, was a fundamental breach of justice and morality when the Bush administration did it. It is made worse by the stench of hypocrisy when the Obama administration does it.

Posted on Apr 8, 2009 READ MORE  |  17 COMMENTS



U.S. Army / Staff Sgt. Jon Soucy

Documenting 8 Years of Torture

Mark Danner made headlines last week with his essay in The New York Review of Books on the CIA’s use of torture and a secret report from the International Committee of the Red Cross detailing such practices. Find out why he says, “Torture is for people with weak nerves.”

Posted on Mar 25, 2009 READ MORE  |  7 COMMENTS



U.S. Army / Staff Sgt. Jon Soucy

Secret Report Documents CIA Torture

President Bush repeatedly claimed that the United States, under his leadership, did not torture, but a confidential report prepared by the International Committee of the Red Cross found otherwise. The ICRC has a unique global role in monitoring the treatment of prisoners.

Posted on Mar 16, 2009 READ MORE  |  5 COMMENTS


Redacted memo
aclu.org

Nine Secret Bush-Era Documents Released

The Justice Department has released nine secret memos and opinions written by the Office of Legal Counsel that authorized some of the Bush administration’s unlawful national security policies.

Posted on Mar 4, 2009 READ MORE  |  13 COMMENTS



U.S. Navy / Photographer's Mate 1 Shane T. McCoy

CIA Torture Coverup Was Worse Than We Knew

Remember those two videotapes documenting “enhanced interrogation” that the CIA destroyed, despite a judge’s order to preserve such evidence? Well, it turns out the agency wiped 90 more just like them.

Posted on Mar 2, 2009 READ MORE  |  4 COMMENTS


Bombing Human Rights?
Air Force

Room for Improvement ... Even at Home

In announcing her department’s annual human rights report, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton made multiple references to the elephant in the room—the United States’ own tarnished record, saying “America must first be an exemplar of our own ideals.”

Posted on Feb 25, 2009 READ MORE  |  6 COMMENTS



White House

The President’s Address to Congress

In his first speech to a joint session of Congress, President Obama acknowledged the dire state of the economy, but struck a hopeful tone as he expanded on his vision for recovery. Investments in energy, education and health care will be key, he said, as will an expanded bailout of the financial sector. (Summary, video and full text after the jump)

Posted on Feb 24, 2009 READ MORE  |  89 COMMENTS


Under New Management

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Posted on Feb 24, 2009 READ MORE  |  6 COMMENTS


Carmaker, Banker, Broker ...

Obama must deal with a new presidential role that he did not seek but cannot avoid: managing big chunks of the private-sector economy.

Posted on Feb 16, 2009 READ MORE  |  14 COMMENTS



U.S. Army / Staff Sgt. Jon Soucy

Rebutting the False Choice Between Security and Freedom

A three-year review of more than 40 countries has found that justice systems prior to 9/11 were perfectly capable of combating terrorism. The U.S. and Britain were especially opportunistic in their violations of human rights and international law and gave comfort by example to other abusive regimes, the International Commission of Jurists found.

Posted on Feb 16, 2009 READ MORE  |  6 COMMENTS



DoD

PR Worries Stalled Release of Gitmo Inmates

A 2006 memo from the State Department to the U.S. Transportation Command suggested holding Guantanamo detainees after they had been cleared in order to avoid bad press. “Got it ... Thank you,” was the reply, and indeed, no prisoners flew out of Guantanamo for three months.

Posted on Feb 12, 2009 READ MORE  |  5 COMMENTS



POTUS Executive Office

Cheney Claims ‘High Probability’ of WMD Attack

The former vice president tells Politico that there is a “high probability” of a terrorist attack involving “a nuclear weapon or a biological agent of some kind” and that the current administration is “more concerned about reading the rights to an Al Qaeda terrorist than they are with protecting the United States. ...”

Posted on Feb 4, 2009 READ MORE  |  55 COMMENTS



Flickr / Unhindered by Talent

Obama Keeps Renditions In the Toolbox

President Obama may be trying to shut down Guantanamo and CIA black sites, but he’s decided to make renditions a part of his regime. In case you’ve repressed it along with other Bush-era nightmares, extraordinary rendition is what the U.S. calls kidnapping someone and sending him to a nasty place to be tortured.

Posted on Feb 1, 2009 READ MORE  |  30 COMMENTS


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A Progressive Journal of News and Opinion. Editor, Robert Scheer. Publisher, Zuade Kaufman.
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