Inside a Prison Outside the Law

Mother Jones {MoJo} Drumbeat brings the link to the site for the book The Guantanamo Lawyers: Inside a Prison Outside the Law

Read exclusive excerpts from narratives by the attorneys who have represented Guantanamo Detainees, at above link

About The Guantanamo Lawyers

This new book contains over 100 personal narratives from attorneys who have represented detainees held at “Gitmo” as well as at other “black sites” such as Bagram Air Base in Afghanistan.

“One of the most inspiring features of the post-9/11 world has been the willingness of lawyers from all walks of life to volunteer to represent those condemned to indefinite detention at Guantánamo. This book provides an invaluable birds-eye view of what it’s like to fight for justice in a law-free zone, representing men who the government has labeled the worst of the worst.”—David Cole

“This is a fascinating and revealing behind-the-scenes account of the human stories inside Guantánamo, told candidly by some of America’s best, and most public-spirited, lawyers.”—Jane Mayer

Review: "The Guantanamo Lawyers: Inside a Prison Outside the Law"

"This collection of stirring narrative, government data and testimony, edited by two of the lawyers for those detained by the Bush administration as unlawful combatants at Guantnamo, puts America on notice about the issues of civil liberties and constitutional freedoms. Denbeaux and Hafetz have edited together accounts from 100 other detainee advocates into a chronological narrative of legal battles: to gain access to their clients, to establish the detainees' right to habeas corpus, to describe the occupants of 'Gitmo' (at its peak, 750 from 40 countries) and the torture and mistreatment of detainees. They describe their clients as underlings, working stiffs and not the high officials of any terrorist group. Plowing through legal red tape, bureaucratic mumbo jumbo and political maneuvering, Denbeaux and Hafetz fight for the men who are isolated without diversions or outside contact. The desperate words, quoted here, of Gitmo detainees on torture grab the heart and do not let go. This compelling book on the American penal colony and its residents is a cautionary tale of overzealous executive wartime power and the awful mess it sometimes leaves behind." Publishers Weekly

Justice as Paradox: Civilian Trials for 9/11 Suspects

Jonathan Hafetz has a blog post up at Balkinization. A Short excerpt is below.

Attorney General Eric Holder’s announcement Friday that Khaled Sheikh Mohammed and four other individuals allegedly responsible for the 9/11 attacks would be brought to trial in federal court takes an important—if long overdue—step towards restoring the rule of law. No longer are these men “high value detainees,” a label invented out of whole cloth to sanction their previous disappearance into a secret CIA prison and torture. After resurfacing at Guantánamo in September 2006, they are now, finally, defendants in the U.S. criminal justice system, which has shown repeatedly that it is well-equipped to handle terrorism cases while protecting legitimate national security concerns. This was the result advocated by the ACLU’s John Adams Project, and it is a welcome one.

You can also listen to a radio interview Jonathan did at The Takeaway about civilian trials for terrorists.

Or listen here:

The Book: "The Guantanamo Lawyers: Inside a Prison Outside the Law"

The Site: The Guantanamo Lawyers: Inside a Prison Outside the Law

What Is So Patriotic About Hysteria?

The loudest voices on the right never tire of telling us that they are the truest patriots. They claim to be the deepest believers in our system, the strongest defenders of our Constitution, the most upbeat, bold and courageous Americans anywhere. But now that the government is finally prepared to put the perpetrators of the Sept. 11 terror attacks on trial, these same patriots are the first to spread doubt, instigate anxiety and abandon constitutional principles.

When did fear-mongering in a time of war become an act of patriotism?...>>>>>

Canadian Afghan Prisoner Torture Coverup {UpDated 2}!!

Last night I caught a report that by the time line on the site seemed to be just breaking, today it may Break Wide Open and not be a pleasure for the Canadians nor any of the Military Forces, U.S. included, now occupying Afghanistan!

This was what I posted up last night:

Canadian diplomats ordered to hold back information on Afghan prison torture: sources

Canadian diplomats in Afghanistan were ordered in 2007 to hold back information in their reports to Ottawa about the handling of the prisoners, say defence and foreign affairs sources.

The instruction - issued soon after allegations of torture by Afghan authorities began appearing in public - was aimed at defusing the explosive human-rights controversy, said sources who spoke on the condition of anonymity.

There was a fear that graphic reports, even in censored form, could be uncovered by opposition parties and the media through access-to-information laws, leading to revelations that would further erode already-tenuous public support...>>>>>

Looks like the proof may be piling up even higher then what was already known and slowly coming out these recent years!

And this is what's found on the CBC website today:

Handling of Afghan prisoners covered up: report

The testimony of a Canadian diplomat before a parliamentary committee Wednesday is likely to provide disturbing information about the government's handling of Afghan detainees, CBC News has learned.

The testimony of diplomat Richard Colvin is expected to provide details of what sources describe as an "unusual system" that saw Afghan detainees transferred to Afghan prisons, with little care about the conditions there.

"I think it will be a difficult story for Canadians," a source told the CBC, adding they could be both surprised and disturbed by what Colvin says....>>>>>

Here's a Video Report from the CBC from this morning on the subject and what might be coming today, along with the written above as well.

This Canadian Diplomat, Richard Colvin, will be testifying, in Canada, around 3:30 PM EST and according to the above video report the testimony will be covered live on the CBC News starting at that time. Not sure if it will be streamed live at the site, a visit there has one live government stream coming up on a caucus or after, but if not I'm sure more News will be quickly breaking after the testimony.

The Diplomat's Tale:

Found this at the CBC Site:

Liveblogging the Afghanistan committee hearings on detainee transfers

I'll be liveblogging Richard Colvin's appearance before the Afghanistan committee this afternoon, so check back at 3:30 p.m. for full coverage. (If you want to know why his testimony is so hotly anticipated, you can read an abbreviated version of the back story behind today's meeting over at Orders of the Day.)

UpDate:

All Afghan detainees likely tortured: diplomat

All detainees transferred by Canadians to Afghan prisons were likely tortured by Afghan officials and many of the prisoners were innocent, says a former senior diplomat with Canada's mission in Afghanistan.

Appearing before a House of Commons committee Wednesday, Richard Colvin blasted the detainees policies of Canada and compared them with the policies of the British and the Netherlands.

He said Canada took far more detainees than the U.K. and Dutch; did not monitor their conditions; took days, weeks or months to notify the Red Cross; kept poor records; and to prevent scrutiny, the Canadian forces leadership concealed this behind "walls of secrecy."..>>>>

UpDate 2

Transcript of explosive testimony to Commons committee on Afghan detainees

Senior Canadian diplomat Richard Colvin testified at a House of Commons committee Wednesday that he warned government and military officials that Afghan detainees being turned over to Afghan officials by Canadian soldiers were being tortured. The following is an extract from his opening statement to the committee:

Why should Canadians care?

One may ask rhetorically, 'Even if Afghan detainees were being tortured, why should Canadians care?' There are five compelling reasons....>>>>>

Torture: Canadian Diplomats Ordered to Hold Info Back

Canadian diplomats ordered to hold back information on Afghan prison torture: sources

Canadian diplomats in Afghanistan were ordered in 2007 to hold back information in their reports to Ottawa about the handling of the prisoners, say defence and foreign affairs sources.

The instruction - issued soon after allegations of torture by Afghan authorities began appearing in public - was aimed at defusing the explosive human-rights controversy, said sources who spoke on the condition of anonymity.

There was a fear that graphic reports, even in censored form, could be uncovered by opposition parties and the media through access-to-information laws, leading to revelations that would further erode already-tenuous public support...>>>>>

Looks like the proof may be piling up even higher then what was!!!!!

POV: "The Reckoning."

Please take a minute to mark your calendar for this coming Tuesday, July 14th, so you can watch PBS's new documentary on the International Criminal Court, "The Reckoning." The documentary should air at 10 pm in most areas, but check here to see your local listing.

Synopsis: "Over 120 countries have united to form the International Criminal Court (ICC) - the first permanent court created to prosecute perpetrators, no matter how powerful, of crimes against humanity, war crimes and genocide. The Reckoning follows dynamic ICC Prosecutor Luis Moreno-Ocampo and his team for three years across four continents as he issues arrest warrants for Lord's Resistance Army leaders in Uganda, puts Congolese warlords on trial, shakes up the Colombian justice system, and charges Sudan's President Omar al-Bashir with genocide in Darfur. Like a deft thriller, The Reckoning keeps you on the edge of your seat. Will the prosecutor succeed? Will the world ensure that justice prevails? An Official Selection of the 2009 Sundance Film Festival." Read the full Description here

Use this link for more information "THE RECKONING": The Battle for the International Criminal Court.

Watch the trailer {warning - it is graphic}


So spread the word, invite your friends over, and spend this Tuesday night learning more about "the Battle for the International Criminal Court!"

I checked my local listings, here in North Carolina, and it isn't scheduled for the local PBS channel in the next two weeks. The other PBS channel we can receive, out of the University of North Carolina, has it scheduled for two nights, not the 14th, at 2AM. Typical of these PBS stations here, I've noticed, on important and possible controversial subject matter, especially not following a right wing agenda, so much for Public Broadcasting!!

Yet most places one goes, especially certain area's of these states motels, FOX is either on or exclusive to the cable hookups of these motels.

Another Doc to watch online.

The Youngest Detainee at Guantanamo Bay

Mohammed Al Gharani was the youngest detainee at Guantanamo Bay.

Now, seven years later, he has returned to Chad, his country of origin, after being freed and is adjusting to life without the fear of being brutalised.

Al Gharani spoke to Al Jazeera's Mohammed Vall about his first days of freedom and the abuse he had endured at Guantanamo.



Done "In Our Names"!

"HE KEPT US SAFE"

THE DECLINE OF AMERICAN CHARACTER

THE "CRINGING WIMP" GENERATION

For years we hear little else, "But he kept us safe." The "but" refers to bankrupting the country, stealing elections, suspending Constitutional Rights, poisoning the air and water and turning the country over to racketeers from oil, drug, insurance and crooked financial services..........

Gee, now who could Gordon be talkin about?

Our crimes are so heinous that our new government is fearful of allowing trials for the criminals, believing the entire world would rise against us if they knew what we had done. The process of declassification intended to bring the truth to the world has stopped as we are faced with unimaginable acts of cowardice, brutality and greed, all hidden behind the words, "But he kept us safe." ...........>>>>>Rest Here

Still wondering, well read the rest of what he writes. As I add my meager two cents, and that's not even worth what it used to be, below.

Oh and on this: "believing the entire world would rise against us if they knew what we had done", they already know, a few have participated, but more important in the two theaters of occupations they knew long before us here on the "homeland?", and not just in the occupation zones but the whole region. They had already started growing their ranks, taking to retaliation and the knowing blowback, these acts only adding to those committed against them in the invasions and now long running occupations. Killing and maiming the U.S. and other nations soldiers, anyone working with the occupation, and the citizens, women and children included, who we also killed, not joining them in their brutal attempts to rid their countries of the occupiers and puppet regimes!

These last years only enhanced, greatly, the already growing hatreds from our past failed foreign policies in meddling in their countries, resources, and politics. They have greatly increased the numbers of those we label as al Qaeda or Taliban and especially the new 21st century label, for all who oppose us and our actions, similar to theirs, "Terrorist", as we wage our Terror! Only ours is High Tech terror,, with greater destruction and death, theirs low tech, so ours is righteous, it cost more, and well we're the supreme power and leader of freedom? and democracy?!! "God Bless America"?!!

Gordon just lays out what many others have in a justifiable rant, he does that often, of a society of "cringing wimps" that still exists, as it fears holding those Responsible to the Accountability for their crimes committed, In Our Names!

Bagram Detainnee Abuse

Ex-detainees allege Bagram abuse

Wednesday, 24 June 2009 Allegations of abuse and neglect at a US detention facility in Afghanistan have been uncovered by the BBC.

Former detainees have alleged they were beaten, deprived of sleep and threatened with dogs at the Bagram military base.

The BBC interviewed 27 former inmates of Bagram around the country over a period of two months.

The Pentagon has denied the charges and insisted that all inmates in the facility are treated humanely.

All the men were asked the same questions and they were all interviewed in isolation.......

Amnesty 'shocked' by Bagram claims

Wednesday, 24 June 2009 A BBC investigation has uncovered allegations that prisoners were abused and humiliated at the US-run Bagram military base in Afghanistan.......

"RESOLUTION: The Torture Song" By David Ippolito



The rally in Washington, D.C., on Torture Accountability Action Day, Thursday, June 25, 11 a.m., John Marshall Park.

More here: That Guitarman from Central Park

"Torturing" the Moral Soul of America!

This week on Al Jazeera's Fault Lines, Josh Rushing joins a panel of experts in front of a live studio audience for a town hall debate on torture. We will ask what it will take to dismantle the Bush administration's legacy of torture and if those responsible will be held to account.

June 1, 2009
Bush's torture legacy Pt.1

Fault Lines: Panel of experts in front of a live studio audience for a town hall debate on torture


June 1, 2009
Bush's torture legacy Pt.2

Fault Lines: Panel of experts in front of a live studio audience for a town hall debate on torture

TORTURE:

BLACK EYE FOR THE RED WHITE AND BLUE

Interrogation used to be an art taught to the "best and brightest." The CIA even has an interrogation manual called KUBARK, long on the internet (google it) showing how to classify "subjects" and get them to spill their guts. Most of the methods are psychological and those with the most to tell, respond to psychological ploys much better than being beaten.

Really tough people will lie to you for years. If nobody has noticed, we are fighting really tough people. Intelligence is only "timely" for 48 hours or as soon as your enemy knows you have someone who can put them in danger. They move, they hide, they cover their tracks. This game is 4000 years old and will never end. >>>>>>Read More

Much more than a "Blackeye", Much Much More!!

Boehner didn't always defend CIA

Boehner: “Either I don’t have confidence in what they told me several months ago or I don’t have confidence in what they’re telling me today.”

EXCLUSIVE: Documents

Describe Prisoner Abuse Photos Obama is Withholding

U.S. Army soldiers in Afghanistan took dozens of pictures of their colleagues pointing assault rifles and pistols at the heads and backs of hooded and bound detainees and another photograph showed two male soldiers and one female solider pointing a broom to one detainee “as if I was sticking the end of a broom stick into [his] rectum,” according to the female soldier’s account as told to an Army criminal investigator.........

Becoming What We Seek to Destroy

We are morally no different from the psychopaths within the Taliban, who Afghans remember we empowered, funded and armed during the 10-year war with the Soviet Union. Acid thrown a girl’s face or beheadings? Death delivered from the air or fields of shiny cluster bombs? This is the language of war. It is what we speak. It is what those we fight speak............

Iraqis shrug off concerns over photos of U.S. abuse

While President Barack Obama argues that releasing photos of U.S. soldiers abusing detainees could incite violence against American troops abroad, a prominent Iraqi leader called for their publication and others cast doubt on the U.S. administration's warnings.

And why, you may ask, because the Blowback on the soldiers already occurred well before We Here Even Heard Or Saw, the loss of stature and in most cases the believability of what we say or do is already gone! That was just One of the Defeats of what one Must Do after Invading, "Winning Hearts and Minds!!"

"Nothing would happen," he said. "This is a very old issue, and we Iraqis have seen much worse than just photos."

This isn't about politics, nor is it only about Iraq and Afghanistan, though we owe much more than Apologies, this is about Who and What we really are as a Country!! Not just catch phrase words and condemnation of others, it's about our Soul and Standing on this Planet of Nations!!

The "super patriots supporting the Troops":

The following link is a short post over at the VetVoice interactive blog by Matthew Alexander, an Air Force Interrogator who wrote "How to Break a Terrorist: The U.S. Interrogators Who Used Brains, Not Brutality, to Take Down the Deadliest Man in Iraq"

This is his post subject title: Coulter Insults Hundreds of Combat Veterans starting off with this:

On Hannity on April 30th, Ann Coulter criticized me for speaking out against torture, mocking my service and stating "I did not know the Air Force had interrogators."........find the rest at link.

I placed the link to this on my facebook page, one of the lady friends, who works with the military, came back with this:

Steven K. O'Hern's book: The retired AF COL was director of the Strategic Counterintelligence Directorate of the Multi-National Force in Baghdad, Iraq, from April to September 2005

"Intelligence Wars: Lessons from Baghdad"

Description:
Since the first heady months of the war in Iraq when President Bush celebrated aboard the USS Abraham Lincoln under a "mission accomplished" sign, US forces have been bogged down in a frustrating war of attrition against a largely unseen insurgency that attacks with ambushes and roadside bombs. In this revealing insider's look at the US intelligence community's efforts to fight the insurgency, author Steven K. O'Hern, who served in Iraq in 2005 as a senior intelligence officer, offers a critical assessment of our intelligence failures and suggests ways of improving our ability to fight an often elusive enemy.

O'Hern criticizes America's military leaders for being enamored with high-technology solutions for all situations, including intelligence operations. Essentially, we are still relying on an intelligence system that was designed to beat the Soviet army........More at the book link

On 'Torture', 'Torture Team' and the 'Torture Memo's'

Spanish Court To Investigate Bush's 'Torture Team'

A book about the treatment of detainees at Guantanamo Bay has led to an investigation by the Spanish court. In Torture Team, Philippe Sands alleges that high-ranking members of the Bush administration were responsible for instituting harsh interrogation tactics.

Rest Here with Audio to Listen

His Book ' Torture Team '

Reporter Scott Shane On 'Torture Memo' News

New York Times writer covers national security issues; he discusses what the newly discovered documents reveal about Bush Administration policy, and what the fallout from their release may be.

Rest Here with Audio to Listen

The 'Torture Memo's'

Memo to President Obama on Torture

By Veteran Intelligence Professionals for Sanity
April 29, 2009
MEMORANDUM FOR: The President

FROM: Veteran Intelligence Professionals for Sanity

SUBJECT: Torture

This memorandum is VIPS’ first attempt to inform you on a major intelligence issue, as we did your predecessor; thus, some background might be helpful.

Five former CIA officers established Veteran Intelligence Professionals for Sanity (VIPS) in January 2003, when we saw our profession being corrupted to justify an attack on Iraq. Since then, our numbers have grown to 70 intelligence professionals, mostly retired, who have served in virtually all U.S. civilian and military intelligence agencies.

In our first Memorandum for the President (George W. Bush), dated February 5, 2002, we provided a same-day commentary on Colin Powell’s U.N. speech. We warned the president that “an invasion of Iraq would ensure overflowing recruitment centers for terrorists into the indefinite future [and that] far from eliminating the [terrorist] threat, it would enhance it exponentially.”

We strongly urged the former president to widen the discussion on Iraq “beyond the circle of those advisers clearly bent on a war for which we see no compelling reason and from which we believe the unintended consequences are likely to be catastrophic.” >>>>>Much More Here

Tortured by the past

There's a disturbing link between Gitmo and the interrogation tactics I used in Vietnam.

When Bush administration lawyers wrote their memos authorizing extreme interrogation tactics at Guantanamo, they had to conjure up horrible images: Prisoners gagging and sputtering as their interrogators reproduced the sensation of drowning. Human heads slammed repeatedly into walls. Insect-phobic prisoners cowering in fear in 8-by-10-foot cages.

How can the lawyers live with those images? And what damage did the interrogators who used the techniques sustain to their souls? >>>>>Rest Here

Torture Advocates Will Set the Military Back for Generations

Know what these photos are?



These are Iraqi troops surrendering by the thousand to U.S. forces during the first Gulf War in 1991. These drafted Iraqi fighters chose to turn themselves over to Americans in droves because they knew they'd be treated better by U.S. troops than by their own government. They had faith in us that we wouldn't execute them, that we'd feed them and give them water, and that we'd provide them with shelter. >>>>>Rest Here

The 'Architects' The CIA's $1,000 a Day Specialists on Waterboarding, Interrogations

As the secrets about the CIA's interrogation techniques continue to come out, there's new information about the frequency and severity of their use and a new focus on two private contractors, Bruce Jessen ...

April 28, 2004: Abu Ghraib

The first photos of the Abu Ghraib prisoner abuse scandal were shown on CBS's ''60 Minutes II.'' The photos had been taken by U.S. military personnel responsible for detaining and interrogating Iraqi prisoners arrested following the U.S. invasion of Iraq.

Article by investigative journalist Seymour Hersh, Torture at Abu Ghraib
American soldiers brutalized Iraqis. How far up does the responsibility go?, who helped break the story.

About Standard Operating Procedure, a new documentary by Erroll Morris on Abu Ghraib

A transcript follows.

Morris directed the Oscar-winning "The Fog of War," " Fast, Cheap and Out of Control," "The Thin Blue Line" and other noted documentaries.

About Standard Procedure - Trailer


Mary Mapes: Looking Back at Abu Ghraib 5 Years Later

We had gathered interviews, anecdotes and documents that indicated American soldiers there were regularly committing acts that violated military law, international treaties and moral boundaries. More ominously, there were signs that these men and women were acting on orders from higher ups.

All we needed to prove the story were the awful pictures we'd heard so much about.

Atrocities In Theaters of Occupations get your brothers and sisters killed, long before the outside world learns of them!!

We Can No Longer Condemn!!!!!

Torture In Iran

April 5, 2009


Watch CBS Videos Online

Ahmad Batebi tells CNN's Anderson Cooper, in his 1st U.S. television interview how he was tortured for 9 years in an Iranian prison and how he managed to escape.

I thought this was very interesting coming out at this time, and with the mention within on how our actions have tied the Human Rights Advocates hands because of our Now Policies!!

cheney/bush Tried to Absolve themselves of their sins "In Our Names!!"

Gitmo detainee asked to drop torture claim

British court documents claim U.S. asked man not to speak of ordeal
U.S. authorities asked a Guantanamo Bay detainee to drop allegations of torture and agree not to speak publicly about his ordeal in exchange for his freedom, according to British court documents.

A ruling by two British High Court judges, issued in October but released only on Monday, said the U.S. offered former detainee Binyam Mohamed a plea bargain last year — six years after he was first detained as an enemy combatant.

Gitmo Slide Show with the report.

"In Our Names", As Our Countries Policy!!

Ex-Guantanamo Guard Details Prison Abuse

Brandon Neely was a military police officer at Guantanamo when the camp opened. He's now out of the Army, and unlike other former guards, he has been speaking about what he saw there.

NPR Player to Listen

Hmm, American Citizen, 147yrs., Torture, Human Rights Abuses Committed Oversea's, Hmmmm!

Looks like we have the conclusion, coming sometime today, of a bush administration justice? department trial for 'Torture' and 'Human Rights Violations' committed by an American Citizen, Overseas, as laid out in Our Laws, under Our Constitution!

Son of Liberian despot to be sentenced in US after torture trial

American citizen "Chucky Taylor" facing 147years on Human Rights Violations Committed Abroad, today, 1-09-09!!

The son of former Liberian dictator Charles Taylor was to be sentenced Friday on torture charges, under a law allowing US prosecution for human rights abuses committed abroad.

Taylor, who faces a maximum sentence of life in prison, was convicted of five counts of torture, one count of conspiracy to torture, one count of using a firearm during the commission of a violent crime and one count of conspiracy to use a firearm during the commission of a violent crime.

His trial was the first under a 1994 US law allowing prosecution of American nationals charged with torture outside the United States.

One victim was allegedly placed naked in a pit as stinging fire ants were shoveled over his body.

He was also alleged to have tormented his victims with melted plastic, electric shocks, scalding water and beatings with "sharp metal rods."

His father, the notorious dictator Charles Taylor, is on trial for war crimes by the UN-backed Special Court for Sierra Leone in The Hague, Netherlands.

“No Safe Haven: Accountability for Human Rights Violators in the United States"
Hearing before the Senate Judiciary Subcommittee on Human Rights and the Law

Human Rights Watch appreciates the invitation to submit a statement for the record on this important subject. On December 6, 2006, the US Department of Justice took an unprecedented step to ensure accountability for human rights violators who are in or come to the United States. The department brought the first-ever criminal charges for torture committed abroad. The charges are against Charles “Chuckie” Taylor, Jr., the son of the former Liberian president Charles Taylor and also a US citizen, who entered the United States in March 2006. The charges relate to Taylor, Jr.’s role in committing torture as head of a security unit under his father’s presidency in Liberia.

CHAPTER 113C—TORTURE 18 USC - 2340A

War crimes 18 USC - 2441


Genocide 18 USC - 1091

Related Material
U.S.: Investigate Taylor’s Son for Torture, War Crimes

The U.S. Department of Justice should investigate with a view to prosecuting Charles “Chuckie” Taylor, Jr., the son of former Liberian President Charles Taylor, for torture and war crimes, Human Rights Watch said today. The younger Taylor is implicated in committing such abuses while he served as the commander of an elite pro-government military unit in Liberia.

The former Liberian president’s son is scheduled to be arraigned on Tuesday, May 30 at 10 a.m. in Miami before Judge Barry L. Garber in the New North Courtroom of the Dyer Building. He is indicted for falsely stating his father’s name in a U.S. passport application. He was taken into U.S. custody on March 30 when he attempted to enter the United States at Miami International Airport.

Gee it makes one Think, now doesn't it!!!!


Sign On To The Petition, and use other means to bring about Accountability for the sake of this Country and Constitution!!

UpDate
They gave him a break, Knocked Off 50

Taylor's son jailed for 97 years

"Chuckie" Taylor, the son of former Liberian President Charles Taylor has been sentenced by a US court to 97 years in prison for torture.

Torture!!

After the Torture Era

"We will look back on the Bush years and find it incredible, and disgraceful, that individuals were captured in battle or "purchased" from self-interested tribal warlords, whisked to Guantanamo, classified as "enemy combatants" but not accorded the rights that that status should have accorded them, held for years without charges -- and denied the right to prove that they were victims of mistaken identity and never should have been taken into custody."

Years from now, we will be shocked to see those pictures of naked prisoners being humiliated and abused at Abu Ghraib -- and we will be ashamed of a U.S. government that punished low-level troops for their sadism but exonerated the higher-ups who made such sadism possible.

Years from now, we will know the full truth of the clandestine, CIA-run prisons where "high-value" terrorism suspects were interrogated with techniques, including waterboarding, that both civilized norms and international law have long defined as torture. From what we already know, it's hard to say which is more appalling -- the torture itself or the tortured legal rationalizations that Bush administration lawyers came up with to "justify" making barbarity the official policy of the U.S. government.

Read Rest Here

An Addon Must Read

U.S. and U.K. 'vigilantes' in Iraq invasion

Former senior law lord condemns 'serious violation of international law'

After referring to mistreatment of Iraqi detainees in Abu Ghraib, Bingham added: "Particularly disturbing to proponents of the rule of law is the cynical lack of concern for international legality among some top officials in the Bush administration."

International Criminal Tribunal - U.S. Torture?

What Johnathan Turley says, with heavy heart and disbelief we've gone this far as a Country, should be brought into public discussion and possible implementation, as our Representatives seem to be hell bent on going along with the administrations shredding of the Constitution and the Laws of this Country!


This is not only about crimes that might have been committed by the administration and others, In Our Names, this is about the possible destruction of our Constitution and Moral Standing as a Democracy, by our highest leaders and our representatives as well as others we employ that work for and under the Laws that we as a Nation demand be followed by all and condemn others for breaking the International Laws we helped establish.


The book by Jane Mayer mentioned in the Video: The Dark Side: The Inside Story of How The War on Terror Turned into a War on American Ideals


We are all responsible for what we allow those we hire to lead and work for us do, especially when against our Laws and International Law and we let it go Unchallenged, we become the participants of those actions and as guilty as those who might have committed illegal acts!


War Crimes


Countdown


I wasn't there, and neither were anyone else alive today in this country, when our Constitution was hammered out, we're not privy to the discussions, as a group and privately.


But I do know what I've been taught to believe we are as a Nation! I've been around a long time, and have heard us condemn others, over and over, for their Human Rights Violations and suspected International and Internal Criminal Activities. I've watched as our Government Agencies, CIA, Intelligence, have gone against the rule of Law and our own Condemnations of others!


I served in this Countries Military and in a Conflict when our Government was Lying to the Country, I participated in the destruction of another's country and it's people based on those lies, that this Country still hasn't come to terms with!


We are repeating that time and those lies as well as our actions have been compounded ten fold, if not more, and this time is even more dangerous for us and this planets people because of our actions and those lies!


We are bound by our Constitution and Moral Obligation to hold all who developed and expanded those lies and actions to be held Accountable, for as a Nation they are Us!


Have I, and by extension All Of Us, been living an even bigger Lie as to what this Country believes it is as we've Allowed the handful of those we employ do the total opposite of those beliefs, I Hope Not!


Tell the world: My America Doesn't Torture!

From Carissa Picard - Military Spouces for Change

If there is one more debate or town hall before the general election, it should be before an audience composed of the men and women whose service and sacrifice ensure that these events continue through their defense of our country and of our Constitution; particularly after six years of war.
Carissa

Obama Won’t Commit to Event at Military Base

A coalition of military groups is planning a nationally televised town-hall-style meeting with the presidential candidates near Fort Hood, Tex., the largest active-duty military installation in the country. But so far, only Senator John McCain of Arizona, the presumptive Republican nominee, has agreed to attend.

I want to Actually see and hear How Progressive everyone Thinks they are. Contact the Obama Campaign and Demand that he participates in this Forum. Show the Soldiers and Their Families your Real Support!!!!