Khalid Sheikh Mohammed "trial of the century"

Khalid Sheikh Mohammed faces 'trial of century' after Guantánamo 9/11 deal

There is at least one thing upon which Barack Obama and Khalid Sheikh Mohammed agree – they both want the self-confessed architect of the terror atrocities of Sept 11 2001 to have his day in court.

04 Mar 2012 - It is nine years this week since al-Qaeda's mastermind of mass murder was dragged from his hideout in Pakistan as a dishevelled wild-haired scowling figure in a scruffy white T-shirt.

He disappeared for three years into the world of secret overseas CIA prisons, interrogated repeatedly by American agents desperate to learn if another attack of 9/11 proportions was in the works. Those interrogations, it would later emerge, included 183 episodes of waterboarding in which he was subjected to simulated drowning.

And for the last six years, when he been held at the American prison camp of Guantánamo Bay, it often seemed that he would never answer in court for crimes to which he boastfully admits.

But this year, if the Obama administration has its way, the first trial for the worst terrorist atrocity in history will finally be staged in a specially-constructed cavernous military courtroom on the US base in southern Cuba.

Mohammed and four alleged co-accused will face the death penalty for a raft of conspiracy and terrorism charges and 2,973 counts of murder – one for each victim in the World Trade Centre, the Pentagon and the four hijacked planes. read more>>>

U.S. Torture Program Architect at NDAA Hearing

Al Franken Flags Torture Program Architect at NDAA Hearing

03/01/2012 - An important moment was when Sen. Al Franken took the opportunity yesterday to publicly condemn the torture program and question the credibility of Steven Bradbury's testimony. Franken said that he was disappointed to see Bradbury was called to testify because he was the author of the torture memos. The senator then listed the various torture techniques that Bradbury ok’d and concluded his public rebuke by making clear how wrong Bradbury’s role in trying to legally justify torture was and said, “if OPR [Office of Professional Responsibility] questions your [conclusions] we should as well.” read more>>>

UpDated Presidential Directive: National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA)

The chronicles of Saddam:

Robert Manne, 'The Australian' and Iraq's WMD

A heated debate over the war in Iraq highlights the need for better, more critical political discourse in Australia.

Rupert Murdoch's paper 'The Australian' was a strong proponent of the Iraq war [EPA]

29 Feb 2012 - Australian news media has come to resemble soap opera: there are those outlets that the masses flock to, and whose content equally strives to inform as it does to advertise houses. Analysis of world politics is especially poor - there is no culture of academically rigorous public intellectuals or specialist international affairs journalists as there are in parts of Europe and the United States. As a result, world news is syndicated from other providers, or filtered through the editorial of a select few writers.

Against this backdrop, there is currently a series of missives being fired between an Australian academic and The Australian (colloquially known as "The Oz"), Rupert Murdoch's premier national newspaper.

The debate was sparked by politics professor Robert Manne's damning critique of Murdoch's Oz in a long-form essay entitled, "Bad News: Murdoch's Australian and the Shaping of the Nation".

While the central focus of "Bad News" is Murdoch's hold over public discourse in Australia as evidenced in The Oz's editorial, in support of his general argument, Manne employs a number of case studies such as "the history wars", climate change and the Iraq War. In analysing the Iraq War, Manne pays special attention to the paper's editorial concerning Saddam Hussein's alleged possession of biological, chemical and nuclear weapons (commonly referred to weapons of mass destruction, or WMD).

For a useful timeline of how the debate over Manne vs. The Oz has progressed since the essay was published in early September, see Manne's blog post.

Why focus on Manne's Iraq charges? read more>>>

Bush White House Must Be Prosecuted

Lies to Congress, Domestic Spying, Torture: Why the Bush White House Must Be Prosecuted

A new book by Elizabeth Holtzman, former Democratic congresswomen, makes the case that George W. Bush and Dick Cheney should be prosecuted for breaking federal laws.

February 24, 2012 - Elizabeth Holtzman is a former Democratic congresswomen, lawyer, prosecutor and author. Her new book, co-written with Cynthia Cooper, is "Cheating Justice: How Bush and Cheney Attacked the Rule of Law and Plotted to Avoid Prosecution - And What We Can Do about It". She talked to AlterNet about the book and about holding the Bush administration accountable.

Steven Rosenfeld: Let’s begin by reminding everyone what George W. Bush and Dick Cheney are likely guilty of—and what you would like to see a federal court determine.

Elizabeth Holtzman: My co-author Cynthia Cooper and I took a very long and hard look at what possible federal criminal statutes could be involved in President Bush and Vice-President Cheney’s misconduct during their administration. Their misconduct fell into three main areas: One, deceptions of Congress in connection with taking the country into the Iraq war, which now the figures suggest cost us $3 trillion aside from lives and injuries to American service people. read more>>>

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British forces sent Pakistani businessman to Abu Ghraib {?}

Scotland Yard probes claim that Britain sent businessman to Iraq torture jail

18th February 2012 - Scotland Yard is investigating evidence that British forces illegally sent a Pakistani businessman to the notorious Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq, where he was tortured by US guards and interrogators.

As The Mail on Sunday disclosed two years ago, Amanatullah Ali, a rice merchant, was arrested by British troops in southern Iraq in February 2004 and handed over to the Americans.

He is still being held at ‘Guantanamo’s evil twin’ – Bagram air base in Afghanistan – although he was officially cleared for release 18 months ago.

The case against him appears to be based on mistaken identification. Although the US authorities have claimed he was linked to Al Qaeda terrorists, The Mail on Sunday located his family in a remote village in the Punjab and established they are all members of the minority Shia sect. read more>>>

News Hour Discussion with Lt. Col. Daniel Davis on Afghan War

Commanders Sending False Impressions of Afghan War

AIR DATE: Feb. 17, 2012 - SUMMARY Army Lt. Col. Daniel Davis recently criticized top military brass, including retired Gen. David Petraeus, saying they have misled Congress and the American people about progress in the war in Afghanistan. Margaret Warner speaks with Davis about his whistleblowing, why he went public and what his future may hold in the military. Transcript>>>

Bush Admin. Officials: CCR Submits Torture Details to Spanish Court

CCR Submits Torture Details to Spanish Court after Judge's Order to Proceed with Gitmo Investigation

Feb 8, 2012 - CCR Submits Declaration Detailing Torture to Spanish Court after Judge's Order to Proceed with Guantánamo Torture Investigation

Document Highlights Treatment of Acknowledged Torture Victim Mohammed al Qahtani; Helps Set Stage for Prosecution of Bush Administration Officials

February 8, 2012, New York and Madrid – Today, the Center for Constitutional Rights (CCR) submitted a declaration to a Spanish court detailing the torture of Mohammed al Qahtani, who has been detained without charge or trial at Guantánamo since 2002. The submission follows Spanish Investigating Judge Pablo Ruz Gutierrez’s recent order to proceed with the probe into the U.S. torture program. read more>>>

What Australia knew about so-called black sites, Iraq

Claims Australian troops were linked to secret Iraq prisons

February 09, 2012 - There are claims that Australia played a key role in the potentially illegal detention of prisoners of war at a secret Iraqi prison in 2003. The Guardian newspaper is reporting that an Australian SAS squadron working in Iraq was intergral to the operation of a secret facility known as H1. The revelations raise questions about how much Australian government and defence's knew about so-called black sites.

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ChiTown War Protesters Get $6,2M

Typical media spin, shelling out tax payers money, i.e. those doing the protesting taxes, on peaceful 1st amendment rights to question strongly the policies of the government of the people, unlike the positive spins of the loaded weapons at huge gatherings or spitting on government reps by what are called tea party members!

Chicago settles with war protesters for $6M

February 09, 2012 - Chicago taxpayers will be shelling out more than $6 million to demonstrators and others arrested during an anti-war protest back in 2003.

City lawyers have agreed to settle a class-action lawsuit involving those arrests.

The $6.2 million settlement could have implications on how police handle protesters during the upcoming G8 and NATO summits in Chicago.

When a federal judge recent ridiculed what he saw as the "idiocy" of the city's policies on protests, it paved the wave for this settlement and changes to how police handle demonstrators.

The day after bombs began to fall in Baghdad, thousands of people took to the streets in Chicago to protest. After taking over the Mag Mile and Lake Shore Drive, police essentially penned them in.

"They are telling people you have to go back to Lake Shore Drive. When people go back to Lake Shore Drive, they tell you to go back to Michigan Avenue. Basically we're pinned in," said one protester seen in a home video from 2003.

"I just didn't know there was a problem, that bad things were going to happen," said 2003 war protester Cheryl Angelaccio. read more>>>

Aero Contractors Ltd., CIA’s “extraordinary rendition”

Ten years later, CIA ‘rendition’ program still divides N.C. town

February 9 2012 - The small airport that houses what some here call Smithfield’s “dirty secret” lies just beyond the town’s outskirts, where tobacco warehouses and car dealerships give way to pine forests and then, abruptly, an imposing 10-foot-high fence.

Inside, in a metal hangar with its own security, is the headquarters of Aero Contractors Ltd., a private aviation company whose ties to the CIA have long inspired local speculation and gossip. Newspaper investigations and books have linked the firm’s planes to secret abductions, waterboardings and more, usually eliciting the same mute response from the occupant of Hangar No. 3.

These days, Aero’s jets are seldom seen in public, and the controversy over the CIA’s “extraordinary rendition” program — in which captured terrorist suspects were secretly transported to another country for interrogation — has vanished from the headlines in most of the country.

But not so here, where Aero’s operations have spawned a dogged opposition movement in its otherwise conservative, fiercely patriotic back yard. The protests continue to gather steam after six years, despite counter-demonstrations and occasional threats, and amid uncertainty over whether Aero is still involved in what critics alleged was a “torture taxi” business.

“I don’t want to live in a country that acts this way,” said Julia Elsee, 87, who bundled up in a pink scarf for a protest at the Johnston County Airport on a recent chilly afternoon. read more>>>

Iraq: Questions About Legality of British and US Operations

RAF helicopter death revelation leads to secret Iraq detention camp

Death in RAF helicopter and secret prison camp in Iraq desert raises questions about legality of British and US operations

7 February 2012 - On the evening of 11 April 2003, a pair of RAF CH47 Chinook helicopters swept over Iraq's western desert towards a remote rendezvous point beside Route 10, the highway that begins life on the outskirts of Baghdad before running for mile after mile towards the border with Jordan.

As they approached their destination, the crews assumed they were on an operation that would be uneventful. Two days earlier Saddam Hussein's statue had been toppled after American tanks rolled into the Iraqi capital; three weeks later George Bush would stand in front of a banner saying "mission accomplished".

The helicopter crews had been told that a number of detainees were under armed guard at the side of the highway. They were to pick them up after dark and take them to a prison camp. What followed was far from routine: before the night was out, one man had died on board one of the helicopters, allegedly beaten to death by RAF personnel.

The incident was immediately shrouded in secrecy. When the Guardian heard about it and began to ask questions, the Ministry of Defence responded with an extraordinary degree of obstruction and obfuscation, evading questions not just for days but for weeks and months. The RAF's own police examined the death in an investigation codenamed Operation Raker, but this ended with some of the most salient facts remaining deeply buried. The alleged culprits faced no charges. read more>>>

The Torture Memos, 10 Years Later

Our journey toward Abu Ghraib began in earnest with a single document -- written and signed without the knowledge of the American people

Feb 6 2012 - On February 7, 2002 -- ten years ago to the day, tomorrow -- President George W. Bush signed a brief memorandum titled "Humane Treatment of Taliban and al Qaeda Detainees." The caption was a cruel irony, an Orwellian bit of business, because what the memo authorized and directed was the formal abandonment of America's commitment to key provisions of the Geneva Convention. This was the day, a milestone on the road to Abu Ghraib: that marked our descent into torture -- the day, many would still say, that we lost part of our soul.

Drafted by men like John Yoo, and pushed along by White House counsel Alberto Gonzales, the February 7 memo was sent to all of the key players of the Bush Administration involved in the early days of the War on Terror. All the architects and functionaries who would play a role in one of the darker moments in American legal history were in on it. Vice President Dick Cheney. Attorney General John Aschroft. Secretary of State Donald Rumsfeld. CIA Director George Tenet. David Addington. They all got the note. And then they acted upon it.

When we talk today of the "torture memos," most of us think about the later memoranda, like the infamous "Bybee Memo" of August 1, 2002, which authorized the use of torture against terror law detainees. But those later pronouncements of policy, in one way or another, were all based upon the perversion of law and logic contained in the February 7 memo. Once America crossed the line 10 years ago, the memoranda that followed, to a large extent, were merely evidence of the grinding gears of bureaucracy trying to justify itself. read more>>>

The Pakistani Taliban's Coming Divide

How the Death of Its Leader Could Be Bad for the United States

February 2, 2012 - For good reason, U.S. and Pakistani officials are eager to declare Hakimullah Mehsud, the leader of the Pakistani Taliban, or Tehrik-i-Taliban (TTP), dead. A TTP-sponsored attack in 2009 on U.S. Forward Operating Base Chapman killed seven CIA employees. And the TTP has repeatedly hit Pakistani government targets with impressive brutality. Most recently, it released a video of its execution of 15 captured Pakistani soldiers, which declared, "This will be the fate of you all."

Thus, when, on January 15, news outlets across the world reported Mehsud dead, killed by a U.S. drone attack, many must have breathed a sigh of relief. But those reports may have been premature. Over the past two years, several similar announcements -- some even by prominent officials such as Pakistani Interior Minister Rehman Malik -- have surfaced, only to be proved false by Taliban videos shortly thereafter. Mehsud even took credit for the 2010 attempted Times Square bombing months after supposedly dying. For their part, TTP spokesmen have adamantly denied that Mehsud is dead, or that he was even in the area of attack. Of course, it issued similar denials following the drone strike that killed Baitullah Mehsud, the previous TTP head, in August 2009. This Mehsud could be dead, wounded, or unscathed, but considering the increasing capability of U.S. intelligence and its ability to execute on it with drones, chances are high that his days are numbered. read more>>>

Justice for Those Who Helped Start an Unjust War?

Historians may dub the war in Iraq "Bush's Folly." But "Rupert Murdoch's War" may be more apropos

January 29, 2012 - America's NeoCon-inspired war - which killed more than 100,000 Iraqis, dislocated 4.7 million Iraqi citizens, created more than 500,000 Iraqi orphans, several million Iraqi refugees and cost the U.S. treasury roughly one trillion dollars and still counting - is now officially over.

Launched on March 3, 2003, with a much-heralded "Shock and Awe" surprise attack on Baghdad instead of the niceties of a formal and constitutional declaration of war, it died without a whimper last month, in spite of the fact that the misguided leader who got us into the war had declared victory years ago.

The American people were sold the Iraq War by Murdoch's Fox Network more cynically than yellow journal publisher William Randolph Hearst sold them the Spanish-American War ("Remember the Maine!")

Fox was the principal and unrelenting cheerleader for attacking a nation that was not a threat. Fox's talking heads, including O'Reilly, Beck and Hannity, kept up a steady drumbeat for the war from beginning to end. It's no wonder a dysfunctional and disinterested Congress has never investigated how America was duped. read more>>>

Haditha Says Justice Failed Victims

Part 1: AIR DATE: Jan. 24, 2012 Plea Deal in Haditha Killings Opens New Wounds in Iraq

SUMMARY A military judge on Tuesday recommended 90 days of confinement and reduction in rank for Staff Sgt. Frank Wuterich, the remaining Marine charged in a case that shook Iraq and the U.S. -- the gunning down of 24 civilians in Haditha in 2005. However, because of a pre-trial agreement, he will serve no time. Margaret Warner reports. Transcript>>>

Watch Plea Deal in Haditha Killings Opens New Wounds in Iraq on PBS. See more from PBS NewsHour.

Part 2: AIR DATE: Jan. 24, 2012 Was Justice Served After Haditha Killings?

SUMMARY At his sentencing hearing Tuesday, Staff Sgt. Frank Wuterich, the remaining Marine charged in the 2005 Haditha killings, expressed sorrow for the victims, and said he hadn't meant for his men to kill innocent Iraqis. Margaret Warner discusses his plea deal with two retired Marines, Lt. Col. Gary Solis and Capt. Bing West. Transcript>>>

Watch Was Justice Served After Haditha Killings? on PBS. See more from PBS NewsHour.

Iraqi Town Says Justice Failed Victims Of U.S. Raid

January 25, 2012 - In this town which saw 24 unarmed civilians die in a U.S. raid seven years ago, residents expressed disbelief and sadness that the Marine sergeant who told his troops to "shoot first, ask questions later" reached a deal with prosecutors to avoid jail time.

They were outraged both at the American military justice system and at the refusal of Iraq's Shiite-led government to condemn the killings and at least try to bring those responsible to face trial in this country.

"We are deeply disappointed by this unfair deal," said Khalid Salman Rasif, an Anbar provincial council member from Haditha. "The U.S. soldier will receive a punishment that is suitable for a traffic violation."

Haditha, a town of about 85,000 people along the Euphrates River valley some 140 miles northwest of Baghdad, is overwhelmingly made up of Sunni Muslims. Sunnis lost influence in this country with the fall of Saddam Hussein and feel increasingly squeezed out of their already limited political role. read more>>>