Civil Liberties, Extraordinary Rendition, Guantanamo, Supreme Court, Torture, Truth to Power
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Updates:
- Supreme Court Update – Hamden v. Rumsfeld.
- Signing Statements
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Israel’s Massive Assault Targeting Lebanese Civilians
Israel has warned hundreds of thousands of Lebanese to leave Southern Lebanon as they continue to target Lebanon’s infrastructure and bomb civilian neighborhoods. Meanwhile, a ground invasion begins, and more than 340 Lebanese have been killed most of have been civilians. We talk with author Phyllis Bennis, a Middle East analyst for Foreign Policy In Focus. She is also a senior analyst at the Institute for Policy Studies and a member of the Iraq Speakers Bureau. Among the issues discussed in this interview are the US origins of Israel’s weaponry and fuel, the language of propaganda from Israel and the Geneva convention law in the context of “an occupying power.” Links – http://www.electronicintifada.net/lebanon/
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During the Law and Disorder panel, Ten Minutes To Midnight, at the Left Forum in New York, our hosts covered a range of issues, among them presidential signing statements. While many people may not have heard of signing statements, they represent a signifcant threat to the separation of powers. The President, literally attaches a statement when he signs newly enacted legislation. These statements lay out his interpretation of the law, which may unfairly influence how the judiciary perceive these laws in the future.
In a report to be released today, an American Bar Association task force will recommend that Congress pass legislation providing for some sort of judicial review of presidential signing statements. Some task force members want to give Congress the right to sue over the signing statements; other task force members will not characterize what sort of judicial review might ultimately emerge.
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Lynne Stewart – Part 1
Law and Disorder recently sat down with convicted civil rights attorney Lynne Stewart to talk about her health, her approaching sentencing this September and the details leading up to her indictment and conviction.
Civil Liberties, Extraordinary Rendition, Guantanamo, Truth to Power
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Reverse Rendition Update
Ahmed Omar Abu Ali was originally charged with plotting with Middle East terrorists to assassinate President Bush. An American student who studied abroad in Saudi Arabia, was kidnapped and tortured by Saudis and brought back to the United States. (Read New York Times article here)
Abu Ali is a Houston-born American citizen and the valedictorian of his high school class in suburban Virginia. Back in the U.S. Abu Ali faced trial based on alleged tortured confessions in Saudi Arabia. Abu Ali’s description of Saudi torture tactics are consistent with known Saudi torture interrogation techniques. The evidence of torture was not admitted into the courtroom and Ahmed Omar Abu Ali was sentenced to 30 years in federal prison.
In this Law and Disorder exclusive interview, the hosts speak with Tasneem Abu Ali, the sister of Ahmed. She is now trying to get her brother out of prison.
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Uiger Muslims Transferred From Guantanamo To Albania
Recently, the Uiger Muslims were quietly sent to the economically depressed country of Albania, they do not know the language and are being held in a large compound. It was explained to Law and Disorder that in Albania, the Uigers can move about freely within the compound and cannot leave. Listen to the Jan. 2 show with Uiger segment – Guest – attorney Sabin Willet.
Guest – Neil McGaraghan – an attorney with Bingham McCutchen, representing the Uigers.
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Iraq: The Logic of Withdrawal
How it is possible to end the Iraq occupation? Hosts look at the intentionality of stirring up an unnatural conflict among the Sunnis, Kurds and Shiites and later pull back to discuss the larger picture of the Iraq occupation.
Anthony Arnove, author of Iraq: The Logic of Withdrawal, He his also the editor, with Howard Zinn, of Voices of a People’s History of the United States (Seven Stories), the long-awaited primary-source companion to A People’s History of the United States. Read more about Anthony Arnove here.
Civil Liberties, Guantanamo, Torture, Truth to Power
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The Case of the Cuban Five
Update on the oral arguments of the Cuban Five. A few weeks ago, on February 14, the Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals heard oral arguments in Atlanta in the case of the so-called Cuban Five. Five Cuban men have been serving harsh prison sentences after they infiltrated anti-Cuban right wing (terrorist) groups in South Florida, were arrested by US authorities in 1998, and received a highly-politicized trial in Miami.
Guest – Len Weinglass – Defense attorney for the Cuban Five
Guest – Ricardo Alarcon, President of the Cuban National Assembly – Co-Host Heidi Boghosian talks
with Alarcon about recent breakthroughs regarding the trial of the Cuban Five.
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Music To Get Tortured By
Co-Hosts Michael Ratner and Michael Smith deconstruct music used for psychological torture by the US Government. Interestingly, the music was selected from bands thatstarted in the mid nineties, not the Beatles, but Christina Aguilera, Eminem, Metallica, and Barney. Music chosen for torture reveals the demographic of torturers.
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Armenian Genocide Debate Panel Cancelled On PBS
Guest – Victor Papakhian
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ARTICLES OF IMPEACHMENT AGAINST GEORGE W. BUSH – The Center for Constitutional Rights, set out the legal arguments for impeachment in a clear, concise, and objective discussion. In four separate articles of impeachment detailing four separate charges ? warrantless surveillance, misleading Congress on the reasons for the Iraq war, violating laws against torture, and subverting the Constitution’s separation of powers ? it is, say the CCR attorneys, a case of black letter law, with abundant evidence. Get this book!
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Extraordinary Rendition, Guantanamo, Surveillance
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Council of Europe, Dick Marty Condemns Renditions
Dick Marty stressed that the aim of the Parliamentary Assembly, as the Council of Europe’s political/parliamentary organ, was to defend the values shared by the member states and combat terrorism resolutely and thoroughly, while however, complying with the fundamental principles of states founded on the rule of law and the observance of human rights.
Guest – John Sifton with Human Rights Watch
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Congressional officials want to investigate the disclosure that the NSA had gained access to main telephone arteries in parts of the U.S.
Guest – Lisa Graves, senior counsel with the American Civil Liberties Union says, “There’s no data-mining loophole in the Fourth Amendment.” Ms.Graves added, “We’re seeing an administration that’s engaging in a lot of legal hair-splitting to justify behavior that’s not authorized by the law.”
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Uigers – NW Chinese held at Guantanamo – They can’t be returned, yet the Pentagon has declared them “NLEC” meaning no longer enemy combatants. In fact it appears they never were enemy combatants to begin with — they were caught for the bounty. Now they are being held indefinitely and STILL being treated like prisoners strictly because the administration thinks that is the most convenient solution.
Guest – Sabin Willet – a partner with the law firm of Bingham McCutchen. He is the author of two previous novels, The Deal and The Betrayal.
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CAIR Files FOIA Request On Radiation Monitoring of Muslim Sites A prominent national Islamic civil rights and advocacy group today announced the filing of a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request for all government records relating to a secret government program that monitored the radiation levels at more than 100 Muslim homes, businesses and mosques in the capital region and in other areas nationwide.
Guest – Arsalan Iftikar, the National Legal Director of CAIR
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Guantanamo, Surveillance
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Law and Disorder Co-Host Michael Ratner and producer Geoff Brady dispatch updates on the Padilla Case, the Graham Amendment and the weak-kneed New York Times journalists who delayed their story that revealed how the Bush Administration illegally spies, eavesdrops, and collects personal data on hundreds of US citizens at any given time.
RARE INTERVIEW: Law and Disorder Hosts interview Tausif Paracha. His Uncle Saifullah Paracha, 58 was “kidnapped” and is detained in Guantanamo and Tausif’s cousin Uzair Paracha, 24 is detained in one of New York’s worst prisons. You can read more about this incredible case at www.freeparachas.org
Listeners, please also contact:
Hon. Sidney H. Stein – United States District Judge
Daniel Patrick Moynihan United States Courthouse
500 Pearl Street, Room 1010
New York, New York 10007-1312
(212) 805-0192
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NYPD Filmed Covertly Joining In At Vigils and Rallies
Co-Host Heidi Boghosian meets up with Eileen Clancy in the East Village to discuss how her video footage has exposed some of the worst NYPD surveillance tactics ever seen. Eileen’s story broke late last week in the New York Times. Eileen’s website http://iwitnessvideo.info/
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NYPD Claim to unrestrictedly shoto-surveillance of demonstrators and retain those photos and videotape for unlimited periods of time.
Guest – Paul Chevigny – with NYU law school and an attorney for plaintiffs in the class action suit.
Extraordinary Rendition, Guantanamo, Torture, Truth to Power
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Letters from Young Activists
In letters addressed to their parents, to past generations, to each other, to the youth of tomorrow and to their future selves, the authors articulate their vision for the world as they work towards racial, economic, gender, environmental and global justice. As the editors write in their introduction: “From globalization to the war on terrorism and beyond, our generation is impelled to action in the midst of a rapidly changing and unique political moment. Our challenge, and yours, is to live our lives in a way that does not make a mockery of our values.
Guest – Chesa Boudin – a Rhodes Scholar, is a student at Yale Law School and author of Gringo: A Coming-of-Age in Latin America (Scribner)
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Recent Ruling In Jose Padilla’s Case
Guest – Attorney Andy Patel, Padilla’s lawyer.
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Anatomy of a Dirty Bomb
“According to Dr. Thomas Cochran, in order to shield a 130 gram cobalt 60 source — the size needed to simulate Sandia’s worst case Manhattan scenario — to make it safe for human handling would require a one-and-a-half to two metric ton lead shield. Not exactly carry-on luggage.”….
Guest – Dr. Thomas Cochran, a physicist at the Natural Resources Defense Council.
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Abu Ali Case – Reverse Rendition
– Follow up – Exchange student who traveled to Saudi Arabia – was held and tortured at the request of the U.S. He confessed to having a plan to single handedly free all the GTMO detainees and shoot President Bush on the sidewalk while being tortured.
Guest – Attorney Khurrum Wahid
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Witness To Torture
Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice at a press conference from her European tour that focused on US torture and abuse. Rice’s visit drew protests across Europe. The story deepened last week with reports of a revealed US Defense Department memo that proves an explicit policy of rendition for torture.
Last week a group of 25 US Christians called Witness Against Torture illegally entered Cuba and embarked on a 4-5 day hike intent on arriving to the US Naval Base at Guant?namo to visit the prisoners are on the doorstep of the base.
We go now to hear excerpts from a Witness Against Torture press conference held last week. Among the speakers are the Center for Constitutional Rights attorney Gita Guiterezz and CCR president and co-host Michael Ratner.
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