Civil Liberties, Extraordinary Rendition, Surveillance, Torture, Truth to Power
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Muhammad Salah, accused of funding Mideast terrorism, says his confession to Israeli Security Agents is false and actually the end product of 53 days in custody, during which Salah’s lawyers say he was often kept cold and awake, threatened and beaten and forced to sit in painful positions. Another example of coerced confessions through torture.
Guest – Attorney Michael Deutsch from the People’s Law Office. Read the latest story in the Chicago Tribune here
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Storming The Court
Before Guantanamo Bay, Cuba became notorious for its human rights violations against Muslims, it was the holding center for thousands of HIV-positive Haitian refugees. More than ten years ago a team of Yale law students and activists took up this cause. They worked victoriously to stop the US government from detaining these refugees indefinitely at Guant?namo, without charges or access to counsel.
Guest – Lawyer Brandt Goldstein, author of Storming the Court, a look inside the controversy surrounding this story of the US Supreme Court and Haitians who were discharged from Guantanamo.
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Google Refuses To Turn Over Internet Data – The Bush Administration’s effort to scoop up and comb through massive amounts of internet data met the “firewall” when Google refused to turn over search engine data to the NSA. However, several other companies such as Yahoo has complied. A White House subpoena is still seeking the requests made using Google’s search engine.
Guest – Sherwin Siy – Siy works as Staff Counsel through EPIC’s Internet Public Interest Opportunities Program. EPIC – Electronic Information Privacy Center. Siy tells Law and Disorder hosts that while Google refuses to turn over search engine archives, there are privacy implications that loom in the future regarding the privacy of public internet activity.
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Music To Get Tortured By
In our second part of Music To Get Tortured By we’re joined by author and filmmaker Jon Ronson. Jon is the creator of a number of films, radio features and books, but among them is the book “Men Who Stare At Goats” which uniquely explores exotic and horrific interrogation techniques by the US military. Jon Ronson explains how these techniques were collected by the US military from the New Age movement in the 1970s.
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Civil Liberties, Surveillance, Truth to Power
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Update:
- Hosts open with an update on the Zacarias Moussaoui case. Moussaoui is a French terrorist of Moroccan descent involved in the conspiracy that resulted in the September 11, 2001 attacks. He was taken into custody by the Federal Bureau of Investigation on August 16, 2001 after attending a flight school in Eagan, Minnesota where an instructor expressed concerns about the abilities and motivations of his student. After the attacks unfolded, he was described as a possible “20th hijacker”, though he maintained that he was uninvolved with that plan up until pleading guilty in April 2005 to charges brought against him. He is the only person in the United States to have been charged in connection with the September 11 attacks.
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Patriot Act Renewal
By a vote of 280-138, the House of Representatives has agreed to renew the USA Patriot Act with only minor new safeguards for civil liberties and several troubling new items. The legislation was quickly signed by President Bush, a disturbing new reality awaits citizens and non-citizens in the United States.
Guest – Caroline Fredrickson – the ACLU’s Director of the Washington Legislative Office
IF YOU SEE SOMETHING, SAY SOMETHING. . This New York City subway anti-terror campaign means basically, if you see something suspicious, tell an authority figure. It may seem like an effort to thwart planted bombs left in backpacks or bags in and around the subway, but some activists say it’s not useful in stopping terrorism, in fact, its a civilian psychological operation designed to instill fear as we become suspicious of one another. Joining us are two courageous New York City artists/activists, Laurie and Ann. They’ve taken the fear mongering MTA slogans and turned them into thought-provoking, anti-fear placards. Look out for these brilliant posters and postcards in and around the subway.
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Remembering Rachel Corrie – a member of the International Solidarity Movement (ISM) who traveled as an activist to the Gaza Strip during the Al-Aqsa Intifada. She was killed March 16, 2003 when she was hit and runover by an Israel Defense Forces (IDF) Caterpillar D9 bulldozer operating in a residential area of Rafah that the IDF had designated a security zone.
Law and Disorder Hosts talk with Rachel Corrie’s parents, Cindy and Craig about the cancellation of the play My Name is Rachel Corrie. This play is composed from Corrie’s journals and e-mails from Gaza and directed by British actor Alan Rickman, opened in London and ran until April 30, 2005. Following its success the play was to be transported to the New York Theatre Workshop. However, on February 27, 2006, it became clear the play was to be postponed indefinitely. Also in the discussion, an update on the Caterpillar Bulldozer lawsuit in which we’re joined by CCR attorney Maria LaHood. The lawsuit is against Caterpillar Inc. alleging liability over the death of Corrie and in connection with the equipment used in the home demolitions, which they say is a violation of international law.
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**We welcome our fourth host Dalia Hashad back to Law and Disorder. Dalia is now Amnesty International’s Director of the USA Program Focusing on Domestic Human Rights**
Civil Liberties, Surveillance, Truth to Power
New Page 1The hosts of Law and Disorder would like to thank all listeners for their emails and feedback. This week we ask for your support of our program and WBAI 99.5 FM.
Our premium is the amazing book A Question of Torture – Author Al McCoy
A startling exposé of the CIA’s development and spread of psychological torture, from the Cold War to Abu Ghraib and beyond
In this revelatory account of the CIA’s secret, fifty-year effort to develop new forms of torture, historian Alfred W. McCoy uncovers the deep, disturbing roots of recent scandals at Abu Ghraib and Guant?namo. Far from aberrations, as the White House has claimed, A Question of Torture shows that these abuses are the product of a long-standing covert program of interrogation.
Developed at the cost of billions of dollars, the CIA’s method combined “sensory deprivation” and “self-inflicted pain” to create a revolutionary psychological approach—the first innovation in torture in centuries. The simple techniques—involving isolation, hooding, hours of standing, extremes of hot and cold, and manipulation of time—constitute an all-out assault on the victim’s senses, destroying the basis of personal identity. McCoy follows the years of research—which, he reveals, compromised universities and the U.S. Army—and the method’s dissemination, from Vietnam through Iran to Central America. He traces how after 9/11 torture became Washington’s weapon of choice in both the CIA’s global prisons and in “torture-friendly” countries to which detainees are dispatched. Finally McCoy argues that information extracted by coercion is worthless, making a case for the legal approach favored by the FBI.
Our other premium: 
Download/Listen to Spychips interview [10 MB]
Spychips: How Major Corporations and Government Plan to Track Your Every Move With RFID
Hosts speak with co-author Liz McIntyre about RFID chips (Radio Frequency IDentification) a technology that uses computer chips smaller than a grain of sand to track items from a distance, mainly for inventory.
But as Liz explains, plans and efforts are also being made NOW by global corporations and the U.S government to turn this advanced technology, these spychips, into a way to track our daily activities-and keep us all on Big Brother’s short leash.
Compiling massive amounts of research with firsthand knowledge, Spychips explains RFID technology and reveals the history and future of the master planners’ strategies to imbed these trackers on everything-from postage stamps to shoes to people themselves-and spy on Americans without our knowledge or consent. It also urgently encourages consumers to take action now-to protect their privacy and civil liberties before it’s too late.
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New Orleans 1973 to Guant?namo 2006
A discussion on torture at the hands of the United States government.
WHAT: New Yorkers Unite to Fight U.S. Torture from New Orleans to Abu Ghraib and Guant?namo
WHEN: March 3, 2006, 6:30 to 8:30 PM
WHERE: Riverside Church, 91 Claremont Ave. Room 9T
(1 block west of Broadway)
WHO: Gita Gutierrez, CCR attorney representing Guantànamo detainees
John Bowman and Harold Taylor, Black Panthers tortured by New Orleans Law Enforcement in 1973
Henry “Hank” Jones, CDHR
Wayne Thompson, CDHR
Dr. Ron Daniels, Institute of the Black World 21st Century
Michael Ratner, CCR President
Bill Goodman, CCR Legal Director
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The Armenian National Committee of America (ANCA) has called on the Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) to cancel its plans this April to provide Armenian Genocide deniers a national television audience.
Urge PBS Not to Give Air-Time to Genocide Deniers
New York Times Article
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Civil Liberties, Surveillance, Truth to Power
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Updates:
- Over-reaching Executive Powers
- US Outsourcing Torture
- Bush Signing Statements
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Protesters turned their back on Attorney General Alberto Gonzales at Georgetown Law School
Some protesters wore hoods, while nearly a third of the students at the event turned away as US Attorney General Alberto Gonzales attempted to justify illegal wiretapping inside the US by the NSA. Students held up a banner toward the Cspan cameras that read: “Those who would sacrifice liberty for security deserve neither” — a paraphrase of a quote attributed to Benjamin Franklin.
Guest – David Cole, Law Professor at Georgetown University, was at the event. David Cole is also a cooperating attorney with CCR and frequently comments in the media about constitutional issues regarding the executive actions of the George W. Bush administration. He is the author of Enemy Aliens: Double Standards and Constitutional Freedoms in the War on Terrorism.
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Bush War Crimes Commission – Opening Speech by CCR president and Law and Disorder co-host Michael Ratner. Michael Ratner delivers a powerful 20 minute speech as a call to action for EVERYONE in the United States and abroad to protest, demonstrate, disobey in the name of preserving a rapidly eroding constitutional democracy. Ratner also cites the many recent actions by the Bush adminstration as movements toward tyranny. We play the entire speech. You can also download it HERE.
Music – Phil Ochs – I Kill, Therefore I Am, Fela Kuti – Mistake
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UPCOMING EVENTS
Inside the Cages: Guantanamo – Get the Truth Behind the Headlines. Tuesday Jan. 31st – Read more . . .
Black World Forum – Feb.4th – Black State of Emergency – Hurricane Katrina – Institute of the Black World 21st Century. Read More . . .
Author, Joan Mellen Lecture Transcript – Read the transcript HERE of the lecture given by author Joan Mellen at the Ethical Cultural Society. Joan Mellen is the author of “A FAREWELL TO JUSTICE: JIM GARRISON, JFK’S ASSASSINATION, AND THE CASE THAT SHOULD HAVE CHANGED HISTORY.”
Civil Liberties, Surveillance, Truth to Power
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Updates: Host Discussion on the case filed by the Center for Constitutional Rights and the National Lawyers Guild on the alleged illegal spying by the NSA. Along with other citizens and noncitizens in this country, attorneys at CCR have good reason to believe their private conversations may have also been monitored by the NSA.
The text of Al Gore’s Speech
Congressman Conyers Report
Transit Workers Strike NYC
Recently, negotiations between the TWU and the MTA have ended without a contract. Transit workers however, continue to work without a contract. Law and Disorder hosts follow up on the details of the transit strike and the Taylor Law.
Guest – Richard Levy – Labor Attorney for Union Local 1199
Guest – Marty Goodman- Transit Worker and Executive Dir. of TWU Board
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Student Hurricane Network – A new student network working to address legal issues in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. The Student Hurricane Network is a national association of law students and administrators dedicated to providing long-term assistance to communities in the aftermath of hurricane destruction.
Guest – Vanessa Spinazola
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We play excerpts of speeches from the Bush War Crimes Commission that were held this past weekend. We hear from Harry Belafonte, Michael Ratner, Ray McGovern and Scott Ritter.
Surveillance, Torture
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Updates:
- Hosts Michael Ratner and Heidi Boghosian discuss the political and constitutional fallout trailing behind the Graham/Levin Amendment.
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Lawfirm sues FEMA to keep Hurricane Katrina victims from being evicted from temporary hotels.
Guest – Danny Greenberg, special counsel for pro bono work at Schulte Roth & Zabel’s
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The International Commission of Inquiry On Crimes Against Humanity Committed by the Bush Administration. January 20-22, 2006
Guest – Clark Kissenger, convener of the Bush Commission.
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Alito Hearings: Why did the Bush administration bypass the “rubber stamp” FISA court before wiretapping U.S. citizens?
Guest – Bill Goodman – Legal Director with the Center for Constitutional Rights
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