Thursday, September 28, 2006

Robert Greenwald Responds to Letter from CACI (12:26 pm)

Like Bill Scher, Robert Greenwald - director of Iraq For Sale - was also contacted by CACI. The company’s lawyer sent a cease and desist letter. This is Robert’s reply.

The current schedule for screenings of Iraq For Sale is here.

via Tracy Van Slyke

posted by Brian Zick | start the discussion

Costs of Blood and Treasure (11:22 am)

House Democrat Lynn Woolsey held a Congressional Forum, September 26th, examining the costs of the Iraq War. Woolsey and other members of the House heard from a diverse group of experts, including Gen. William Odom, who served as the head of the NSA under President Reagan.

PoliticsTV has two hours of video.

Here’s one brief clip.

Odom: “I think the American public deserves leadership that knows how to change course, and not leadership that is so bullheaded it commits suicide.”

via Tracy Van Slyke

posted by Brian Zick | start the discussion

Hamdan Redux? A Challenge to the Constitutionality of GOP’s Pro-Torture & Dictatorship Legislation (9:26 am)

Lyle Denniston at SCOTUSblog reports that Hamdan’s case (which has been sent for rehearing to the District Court) would have a strong chance of becoming an early vehicle for testing a number of the key provisions of the “Military Commissions Act of 2006.”

Salim Ahmed Hamdan, the Guantanamo Bay detainee whose case led to what may be the most important Supreme Court decision in history on war powers, has a chance to make even more history. His case could bring the primary challenge to the new war-on-terrorism legislation that Congress may enact soon, perhaps by the end of the day Thursday. Hamdan’s case, indeed, is already well advanced and could be unfolding further before a judge who has previously displayed deep skepticism about the Bush Administration’s handling of detainees at the military prison camp in Cuba — Judge James Robertson of U.S. District Court in Washington, D.C.

It was Robertsoin who in November 2004 struck down President Bush’s initial move to create war crimes tribunals (“military commissions”). A significant part of the judge’s earlier ruling was sustained by the Supreme Court in voiding the existing tribunals in Hamdan’s case last June 29 (Hamdan v. Rumsfeld, 05-184).

Robertson was assured of a continuing role last week, when the D.C. Circuit Court summarily returned Hamdan’s case to District Court, “for further proceedings.”

posted by Brian Zick | start the discussion

Genuine Patriots Stand Up to Defend America’s Principles and Oppose Torture (8:58 am)

John Kerry:

“We’ve got to tell the truth about what’s happening right now – right now – in our country. We must start treating our moral authority as a national treasure that doesn’t limit our power but magnifies our influence. That seems obvious, but this Administration still doesn’t get it. Still. Right now – today — they are trying to rush a bill through Congress that will fundamentally undermine our moral authority, put our troops at greater risk, and make our country less safe.

Let me be clear about something—something that it seems few people are willing to say. This bill permits torture. It gives the President the discretion to interpret the meaning and application of the Geneva Conventions. No matter how much well-intended United States Senators would like to believe otherwise, it gives an Administration that lobbied for torture just what it wanted.

The only guarantee we have that these provisions really will prohibit torture is the word of the President. But we have seen in Iraq the consequences of simply accepting the word of this Administration. No, we cannot just accept the word of this Administration that they will not engage in torture given that everything they’ve already done and said on this most basic question has already put our troops at greater risk and undermined the very moral authority needed to win the war on terror.”

Russ Feingold

[T]his legislation would permit an individual to be convicted on the basis of coerced testimony and hearsay, would not... read more

posted by Brian Zick | start the discussion

Exchange of Correspondence (8:30 am)

Bill Scher from Liberal Oasis responds to a letter of complaint, written by an unhappy Jody Brown, Executive VP of CACI International, Inc., who didn’t much care for what Bill had written in his In These Times article on the privatized Iraq War.

posted by Brian Zick | start the discussion

Wednesday, September 27, 2006

GOP Pro-Torture Bill: “Our Generation’s Version of the Alien and Sedition Acts” (9:20 pm)

NY Times editorial

These are some of the bill’s biggest flaws:

Enemy Combatants: A dangerously broad definition of “illegal enemy combatant” in the bill could subject legal residents of the United States, as well as foreign citizens living in their own countries, to summary arrest and indefinite detention with no hope of appeal. The president could give the power to apply this label to anyone he wanted.

The Geneva Conventions: The bill would repudiate a half-century of international precedent by allowing Mr. Bush to decide on his own what abusive interrogation methods he considered permissible. And his decision could stay secret — there’s no requirement that this list be published.

Habeas Corpus: Detainees in U.S. military prisons would lose the basic right to challenge their imprisonment. These cases do not clog the courts, nor coddle terrorists. They simply give wrongly imprisoned people a chance to prove their innocence.

Judicial Review: The courts would have no power to review any aspect of this new system, except verdicts by military tribunals. The bill would limit appeals and bar legal actions based on the Geneva Conventions, directly or indirectly. All Mr. Bush would have to do to lock anyone up forever is to declare him an illegal combatant and not have a trial.

Coerced Evidence: Coerced evidence would be permissible if a judge considered it reliable — already a contradiction in terms — and relevant. Coercion is defined in a way that exempts anything done before the passage of the 2005 Detainee Treatment... read more

posted by Brian Zick | start the discussion

Olbermann Special Report Documents Total Void in BushCo Response to Terrorism Threats Before 9/11 (7:00 pm)

Keith puts all the proofs of failure to even acknowledge a threat existed together in one comprehensive package.

via Hunter, Al and mcjoan at dailykos

posted by Brian Zick | 1 comment

This Bill “Does Violence to the Constitution” (12:02 pm)

Nancy Pelosi has set up a playlist for House Democrats speaking out to condemn the GOP pro-torture legislation. Louise Slaughter, Ike Skelton, Alcee Hastings, and Doris Matsui all have clips currently posted.