Extraordinary Rendition | Law and Disorder Radio

Law and Disorder November 6, 2006

Civil Liberties, Death Penalty, Extraordinary Rendition, Guantanamo, Supreme Court, Surveillance, Torture, Truth to Power

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Laying the Foundation for a Police State – Part 1 – Building Blocks

Since July of 2004, Law and Disorder has brought Pacifica listeners the voices of activists, authors and attorneys from the front lines.

In the weeks to come, Law and Disorder hosts will examine in a four part series, the foundation for what many see as a police state in the United States. In this series they will talk with guests about the post 9/11 blueprint of this dictatorship/ police state and how the nefarious turn to war, the use of torture and the domestic propagation of fear unfolded.

Law and Disorder hosts have covered at length topics such as torture, domestic surveillance, criminalizing dissent, racial profiling, indefinite detentions and the destruction of constitutional rights as vital information to bring an understanding to listeners as to how it happened and where we go from here.

In this first series, the hosts begin with a look back at where they were on the day of September 11th, and how the Patriot Act was pushed through the Legislature immediately after the attacks on that day. They look at the racial profiling and roundup of Muslims and the rush to invade Afghanistan and Iraq using the Authorization for Use of Military Force.

Later in the second, third and fourth parts of the series – a discussion on the recent signing of the military commission act of 2006 and the abolishment of habeas corpus. This, as well the Insurrection Act and the buildup of detention prisons in the United States. The plans for a police state and martial law are slowly locking into place. Law and Disorder will bring attention to this emergence by bringing you the voices of strength and opposition from activists, authors and attorneys who are well informed, not silent and standing up against the strangling of democracy.

Co-host Dalia Hashad describes her experiences as an attorney formerly with the ACLU right after September 11th as thousands of Muslim-Americans were rounded up or corralled because of their ethnicity or political affiliation.

Tracked in America – Samina Sundas

Samina Sundas with American Muslim Voice helped her fellow Muslims and Pakistani-Americans integrate into mainstream American society, and her role intensified after 9/11. When the National Security Entry-Exit Registration System (NSEERS, also known as the Special Registration program) was instituted in September 2002, Muslims all over the United States contacted her confused and worried about how it would affect them. She couldn’t get clear answers from federal immigration officials despite several meetings. After that, she set up an ad hoc hotline that has since become part of an organization called American Muslim Voice.

Framework of Police State laws since 9/11

Co-host Michael Ratner leads the way through the timeline from setting up the legal basis for a global war on terror to justifying a secret system of prisons and interrogation techniques that evade historic safeguards in the Geneva Convention.

Guest – Scott Horton, Chair of International Law Committee at the New York City Bar Association and adjunct Professor of Law at Columbia University. He is also the author of over 200 articles and monographs on legal developments in nations in transition.

Law and Disorder October 23, 2006

Civil Liberties, Extraordinary Rendition, Guantanamo, Torture, Truth to Power

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Updates:

Military Commissions Act 2006
Habeas Corpus

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An afternoon in front of the Daniel Patrick Moynihan Courthouse awaiting Lynne Stewart’s sentencing

Law and Disorder brings you the voices, attorneys and Lynne Stewart’s first statements following her sentencing from the steps of the courthouse near Foley Square in downtown Manhattan, New York City. Hundreds of Lynne Stewart supporters were corralled into a pen on the sidewalk and you’ll hear police shouting at supporters. We begin with comments from demonstrator Irene Sadek, Lynne Stewart supporter – Reverend Anthony P. Johnson, Law and Disorder co-hosts Michael Smith and Michael Ratner, Lynne Stewart at press conference and conclude with amazing details from inside the courtroom in an exclusive Law and Disorder debriefing of attorney Jeff Mackler.

“The judge noted her past in issuing sentence saying: “She has represented the poor, the disadvantaged and the unpopular (and she had) enormous skill and dedication (earning little money for doing it). It is no exaggeration to say that Ms. Stewart performed a public service not only to her clients but to the nation.” Judge Koeltl cited the many hundreds of letters of support Stewart received from law professors, former prosecutors, retired judges and former clients. One or more of them came from Ramsey Clark, a man of such enormous stature and eminence himself, he can’t be ignored.”

Law and Disorder October 16, 2006

Civil Liberties, Extraordinary Rendition, Guantanamo, Supreme Court, Surveillance, Torture, Truth to Power, Uncategorized

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Law and Disorder would like to thank the listeners of WBAI for their support of listener sponsored radio!

Law and Disorder welcomes KWMD in Alaska to the affiliate list

Brecht Forum – If It’s Not Facism, What Is It? Who Benefits & Why Now?

Panelists: Mark Crispin Miller, Heidi Boghosian, Bertell Ollman, Moderated by Michael Steven Smith

There appears to be a major transformation in progress. Bourgeois democracy, however limited and constricted it has been, is being revamped. The separation of powers, first enunciated by the founders, hardly exists any more. The Executive branch has overpowered Congress and the Judiciary. Neither the corporate media, the two party system, nor the unions provide much of a countervailing force. With the defeat of the Soviet Union and the “Socialist Block” imperialism has launched wars to consolidate capitalism and oil control in Yugoslavia, Afganistan, Iraq and Lebanon. The standard of living for the American working class and middle class is being rolled back quickly; only profit margins of the large corporations and the top one per cent are expanding. Democracy is not an abstraction, but a tool and an aspect of the class struggle. Thus we are experiencing a consolidational of wealth and power that is historically qualitatively transformative. Understanding what is going on is the first step in fighting it.

This week we hear talks from:

Mark Crispin Miller NYU professor of media studies and author of Fooled Again: How the Right Stole the 2004 Elections and Why They’ll Steal the Next One Too.

Bertel Ollman – We hear an excerpt from Bertel Ollman, professor of politics at NYU, and has written and edited over a dozen books, including Alienation: Marx’s Conception of Man in Capitalist Society, Social and Sexual Revolution: Essays on Marx and Reich, Dialectical Investigations, How to Take an Exam and Remake the World, and most recently Dance of the Dialectic: Steps in Marx’s Method. He is also founder of The International Endowment for Democracy

More on the Military Commissions Act of 2006 and the resulting demise of Habeas Corpus. During the WBAI fundraiser Michael Smith and Heidi Boghosian talked with attorney and incoming National Lawyer’s Guild president Marjorie Cohn.

Guest – Marjorie Cohn – attorney and incoming National Lawyer’s Guild president

Update on the Military Commissions Act – It allows over-arching executive power and is by definition a police state – “no meaningful distinction between the law and the exercise of political power by the executive.” Below are points highlighted from this CCR article.

Shortly after September 11, 2001, hundreds of non-citizens were swept up in the United States and detained in connection to the terrorism investigation without any evidence to connect them to terrorism or crime.
These men were arrested and detained based on their Muslim faith, their Arab or South Asian descent, and their immigration status, rather than any evidence to connect them to terrorism.
The “9-11 detainees” were imprisoned in the United States until they were cleared of any connection to terrorism by the FBI. This clearance usually took months, and some detainees were held for over a year.
During the detention period, many men were held in the most restrictive confinement that exists in the federal system. They were locked down 23 to 24 hours a day, hand-cuffed and shackled, deprived of sleep, beaten and verbally harassed, and denied the opportunity to practice their religion.
Since the men were released, at least two federal court judges have ruled that the treatment of the detainees would constitute violations of the First, Fourth, Fifth, Sixth, and Fourteenth Amendments of the United States Constitution.
This provision allows any one of them to be imprisoned indefinitely without their day in court. Now, they could be investigated, detained, interrogated, and tortured without judicial remedy. While U.S. law prohibits torture, this bill would deny access to the courts to bring a torture claim.

CENTER FOR CONSTITUTIONAL RIGHTS CONDEMNS DEFEAT OF SPECTER AMENDMENT TO PRESERVE HABEAS

Law and Disorder October 2, 2006

Civil Liberties, Extraordinary Rendition, Guantanamo, Torture, Truth to Power

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Co-host Michael Ratner, and President of the Center for Constitutional Rights updates Law and Disorder listeners on the Military Commissions Act. Michael Ratner with other attorneys from CCR spent the last week in Washington DC garnering support from Senators to oppose the Bush administration’s rush to pass the Military Commissions Act through Congress. Ratner adds that the passing of this Act allows over-arching executive power and is by definition a police state – “no meaningful distinction between the law and the exercise of political power by the executive.” Below are points highlighted from this CCR article.

Shortly after September 11, 2001, hundreds of non-citizens were swept up in the United States and detained in connection to the terrorism investigation without any evidence to connect them to terrorism or crime.
These men were arrested and detained based on their Muslim faith, their Arab or South Asian descent, and their immigration status, rather than any evidence to connect them to terrorism.
The “9-11 detainees” were imprisoned in the United States until they were cleared of any connection to terrorism by the FBI. This clearance usually took months, and some detainees were held for over a year.
During the detention period, many men were held in the most restrictive confinement that exists in the federal system. They were locked down 23 to 24 hours a day, hand-cuffed and shackled, deprived of sleep, beaten and verbally harassed, and denied the opportunity to practice their religion.
Since the men were released, at least two federal court judges have ruled that the treatment of the detainees would constitute violations of the First, Fourth, Fifth, Sixth, and Fourteenth Amendments of the United States Constitution.
This provision allows any one of them to be imprisoned indefinitely without their day in court. Now, they could be investigated, detained, interrogated, and tortured without judicial remedy. While U.S. law prohibits torture, this bill would deny access to the courts to bring a torture claim.

CENTER FOR CONSTITUTIONAL RIGHTS CONDEMNS DEFEAT OF SPECTER AMENDMENT TO PRESERVE HABEAS

Progressive human rights attorney Lynne Stewart, accused of aiding terrorists, faces 30 years in prison. On Tuesday, April 9, 2002, she was arrested and agents searched her Manhattan office for documents. The government calls her a terrorist because of her legal work with Omar Abdel Rahman, a convicted Egyptian Islamic scholar and has demanded that Judge John Koeltl sentence her to Federal Prison for 30 Years.

We are really glad to have Lynne back with us in the studio again, the cold truth of this reality is that Lynne Stewart will be sentenced on Monday October 16th, fourteen days from today. Again as many listeners know this is a landmark case, an obvious attempt by the U.S. government to silence dissent, curtail vigorous defense lawyers, and instill fear in those who would stand up against the U.S. government’s racism, and seek to help Arabs and Muslims being prosecuted for free speech. Please visit Lynne Stewart’s website for events leading up to sentencing.

Sunday October 15 – Riverside Church, between 120 & 122nd Street and Riverside Drive, Manhattan 4:00 pm
RALLY AND TRIBUTE; On the eve of the sentencing, a show of support and love for Lynne Stewart. A tribute to her legal career and to her political life.

Monday October 16 – Tom Paine Park (Foley Square) Centre St and Worth St, Manhattan 8a.m., 9 am
Rally to accompany Lynne Stewart to Court. Demonstrate your support. You cannot be too “busy” for this historic moment. One to tell your grandchildren about. Crucial to the atmosphere of outraged citizenry we need.

The War At Home

Here on Law and Disorder we’ve talked at length about the legislation and policy the US government is installing to create what amounts to be a police state in this country.

Guest – Jack Rasmus, journalist and author of THE WAR AT HOME: The Corporate Offensive From Ronald Reagan to George W. Bush. The War At Home examines the relationship between the emerging police state and the great shift in wealth, salaries, earnings, diminution of health care, pensions, destruction of the unions, and all the rest that started under Reagan.

We’ll also talk with author about class struggle and the relationship between democratic rights and the ability to make social change. Jack Rasmus is also an economics and labor journalist for Z magazine and the Dispatcher.

Cuban Five Update – Co-Host Heidi Boghosian, Executive Director of the National Lawyers Guild recently spoke at events supporting the release of the Cuban Five. In the past few weeks, events have been held around the country over the plight of the Cuban Five. Five courageous men who uncovered information about plans by anti-Cuban terrorists to commit acts of violence against that island nation. After the Cuban government turned over voluminous documentation of such plans, the five were indicted and tried in Miami on unfounded charges of conspiracy to commit espionage all without one page of evidence to corroborate such charges. The Cuban Five have been imprisoned for 8 years in maximum security facilities spread out across the United States. They’re in such remote locations that even visits from their attorneys are difficult. There’s also a media blackout on this story. Law and Disorder hopes this will change especially in light of recent revelations that the Bush Administration has poured hundreds of thousands of dollars into paying Miami journalists to plant misleading and erroneous stories on Cuba issues. In Washington DC a large rally to the White House attracted 600 marchers and was followed by a panel of speakers including Len Weinglass.

We hear an excerpt from a speech delivered by Heidi Boghosian at the Church of the Intercession. The event featured Esteban Lazo Hernandez, Vice President of the Cuban Council of State, director of its International Relations Committee and long time revolutionary leader. He was joined by Cuban Foreign Minister Felipe Perez Roque. We will hear more of their speeches in the weeks to come.

Law and Disorder September 25, 2006

Civil Liberties, Extraordinary Rendition, Surveillance, Truth to Power

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Freelance journalist Josh Wolf recently spent a month in jail for refusing to comply with a grand jury subpoena to turn over video footage he took at a rally this past July in opposition to the G8 economic summit in Gleneagles, Scotland. The grand jury is investigating a police car incident from the protest. Neither incident was shown in footage that local television stations purchased from Wolf for their broadcast. Wolf claimed a journalist’s right to withhold unpublished material and well as confidential sources. Although he offered to show the tape to the judge who held him in contempt, but the judge would not accept that offer.
Law and Disorder caught up with Josh Wolfe hours before he was to have turned himself in to the Federal Correctional Institution in Dublin. After we spoke to him he was given a two-day extension before he returns to prison for possibly nine months or more.

Attorneys for Wolf, hope to keep their client free while he appeals the case. They plan to ask the full Ninth Circuit appeals court in San Francisco next month to review the case and may also take the case to the U.S. Supreme Court.

In his argument for revoking bail, prosecutor Jeffrey Finigan wrote that Wolf must be jailed because the “coercive intent behind the recalcitrant witness statute is lessened with each passing day.” A journalist’s rights to withhold unpublished material and to defend his sources are protected by California’s shield law, but that law does not apply in federal court.

Law and Disorder also spoke with Tim Karr Campaign Director with Free Press about Josh Wolf’s case, shield laws for journalists and the first amendment implications of the case. Karr oversees Free Press campaigns and outreach efforts, including campaigns on public broadcasting and noncommercial media, fake news and propaganda, journalism in crisis, and the future of the Internet.

Co-host Michael Ratner tells how he argued the case in 1971 that ultimately help create journalist shield laws in New York City. It started when police arrested WBAI station manager Ed Goodman for refusing to turn over taped statements by rebelling prisoners at the “Tombs,” the New York City jail. Pacifica Timeline

On July 31 2006, Fidel Castro delegated his duties as President of the Council of state, first secretary of the Cuban Communist Party and the post of commander in chief of the armed forces to his brother Raúl Castro. Many say the transfer of power is temporary as Castro recovers from intestinal surgery. We look beyond the US media spin at the governmental institution of Cuba and the 46 year old war United States has waged against the communist island.
Guest – Peter Roman, professor and political scientist who teaches at Hostos Community College in New York and author of a number of books including People’s Power: Cuba’s Experience With Representative Government.

This multi-layer book examines the historical and political origins of the theory of People’s Power that underpins the Cuban experience.

Law and Disorder September 11, 2006

Civil Liberties, Extraordinary Rendition, Guantanamo, Supreme Court, Surveillance, Torture, Truth to Power

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Today on Law and Disorder, hosts take a look back at US governments’ domestic and international reaction to the attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon, where an estimated 3000 perished. Stay with us as we begin with the targeting of Muslims and Arab/Americans then discuss the use of secret prisons, NSA spying, Guantanamo and war powers, the Authorization for Use of Military Force.

FBI Roundups, Profiling, Secret Sites, Presidential Powers

Roundup of Muslims – FBI to question 5000–immediate – Special Registration

Ashcroft lifting of FBI Guidelines

Detainee Treatment Act – more info on McCain amendment

Decision justifying torture

Brandon Mayfield

FBI Informant

Spying, NSA, Criminalizing Dissent, Patriot Act

2006 NSA spying—cases and victory

CCR case

EFF case

Broadening of wiretap provisions

Patriot Act – No sunset

Criminal cases—Lynne Stewart

We hear a preview from an interview with Shane Kadidal, attorney with the Center for Constitutional Rights and cooperating attorney Michael Avery, president of the National Lawyers Guild, right after arguing the case brought by the Center for Constitutional Rights seeking to stop Bush and government agencies from conducting warrantless surveillance of international communications of people in the United States.