How Judge Huvelle Humiliated The Government In Guantánamo Case by Andy Worthington

by Andy Worthington
Featured Writer
Dandelion Salad
www.andyworthington.co.uk
31 July 2009

On Thursday, as I reported in a separate article, “As Judge Orders Release Of Tortured Guantánamo Prisoner, Government Refuses To Concede Defeat,” District Court Judge Ellen Segan Huvelle granted the habeas corpus petition of Mohamed Jawad, one of Guantánamo’s youngest prisoners, seized when he was just a teenager. That article provides detailed background on the shocking story of Jawad’s mistreatment and the refusal of both the Bush and Obama administrations to concede that there was — and is — no viable case against Jawad, but in this article I am reproducing highlights from a habeas hearing on July 16 (PDF), in which Judge Huvelle subjected Justice Department lawyers to one of the most sustained outpourings of derision in the whole sorry history of the Bush administration’s woefully inept detention policies in the wake of the 9/11 attacks. For some reason known only to itself, the Obama administration seems hell-bent on defending its predecessor’s policies in federal courts, even though all that awaits it, in the majority of cases, is humiliation, embarrassment and worldwide scorn.

The hearing began as follows:

As Judge Orders Release Of Tortured Guantánamo Prisoner, Government Refuses To Concede Defeat by Andy Worthington

by Andy Worthington
Featured Writer
Dandelion Salad
www.andyworthington.co.uk
31 July 2009

On Thursday, in a long-anticipated ruling (PDF), Judge Ellen Segan Huvelle granted the habeas corpus petition of Mohamed Jawad, an Afghan teenager seized after a grenade attack on a jeep containing two US soldiers and an Afghan translator in December 2002, and ordered the government to transfer him to the custody of the Afghan authorities, who have already stated that he will be released on arrival.

Even if the government accepts Judge Huvelle’s ruling, Jawad will not be released immediately, because, under the terms of legislation recently forced on the government by Congress, the administration will have to provide lawmakers with “an assessment of any risk to the national security” posed by Jawad before he can be freed, which, it said, would take 22 days.

Waxman to Weiner: Pelosi Will Allow Single-Payer Full House Vote! + Kucinich: Ready to change this system!

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This is fabulous news! Single Payer has a chance. Contact your Congress people when they are home for their Aug vacation. Keep on them! ~ DS

VoiceofAmericans2008
July 31, 2009

Anthony Weiner (D-NY) House Energy & Commerce Committee
Weiner/Welch amendment to get Single-Payer on agenda again.

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h/t: Connie

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Weiner Pushes for Single-Payer Plan

Chris Hedges: How did such a sizable portion of modern society develop into a post-literate, fantasy-fueled, perma-reality show?

Interview with Chris Hedges
Featured Writer
Dandelion Salad

by Laura Flanders
Grit TV
July 31, 2009
lauraflanders

Dmitry Orlov on “On the Edge” with Max Keiser

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MaxKeiserTV
July 31, 2009

http://maxkeiser.com

Bombshell: Bin Laden worked for US till 9/11 by Luke Ryland

by Luke Ryland
Featured Writer
Dandelion Salad
Luke’s blog post
July 31, 2009

Former FBI translator Sibel Edmonds dropped a bombshell on the Mike Malloy radio show, guest-hosted by Brad Friedman (audio, partial transcript).

In the interview, Sibel says that the US maintained ‘intimate relations’ with Bin Laden, and the Taliban, “all the way until that day of September 11.”

These ‘intimate relations’ included using Bin Laden for ‘operations’ in Central Asia, including Xinjiang, China. These ‘operations’ involved using al Qaeda and the Taliban in the same manner “as we did during the Afghan and Soviet conflict,” that is, fighting ‘enemies’ via proxies.

As Sibel has previously described, and as she reiterates in this latest interview, this process involved using Turkey (with assistance from ‘actors from Pakistan, and Afghanistan and Saudi Arabia’) as a proxy, which in turn used Bin Laden and the Taliban and others as a proxy terrorist army.

A Determined Spirit: Myth America Tour Wrap-up by Cindy Sheehan

By Cindy Sheehan
Featured Writer
Dandelion Salad
Cindy Sheehan’s Soapbox Blog
Cindy Sheehan’s Soapbox
July 31, 2009

Once upon a time, a small bird named Tasoo lived in a vast jungle.
One hot summer day, a terrible wildfire erupted and the flames devoured many trees and animals living in the jungle. Other birds flew high into the sky and far away to safety, but Tasoo couldn’t bear to leave her precious jungle home to burn.

Day and night, she flew with all her might back and forth to the river, filling her tiny beak with water to drop on the raging fires.

Tasoo’s rare heart of courage and unshakable determination moved the heavenly gods to shed tears, and a great rain poured down upon the jungle, extinguishing the flames. And so it is that even the smallest actions of a determined spirit can change the world.

Back in February, I was feeling extremely low. I was trying to recover mentally, financially and physically from a very strenuous, humiliating and stressful campaign against House Speaker, Nancy Pelosi. I ran a very good race that was ignored by virtually everyone and and I was trying to figure out where the anti-war movement was going to find relevance in a Post-Bush, current Obama worshiping nation.

I was lying in bed one morning about 3am struggling with the issue that the wars were still raging, but there was very little movement in the “movement.” I came up with the theory that the only reason we allow ourselves to be co-opted or lulled to a false sense of security by the US Empire is because the country we actually live in has very little resemblance to the one that actually exists in the paradigm of the Myth of America. So I came up with the title of an article: “Myth America.”

“Great title”, I thought, so I got up and started to write it, but soon realized it was far more detailed than a mere article.

The Police, the Judiciary, and Stereotyping by Steven Jonas, MD, MPH

by Steven Jonas, MD, MPH
Featured Writer
Dandelion Salad
crossposted on Buzzflash.com
July 31, 2009

Much has been written about Prof. “Skip” Gates and his trial-by-Crowley. I have a few comments to add on the matter, possibly even an original thought or two. But first, I would like to share with you a long-ago personal experience with stereotyping and the cops, in this case the New York City variety, as a white person.

In the early 1970s, I took part in an unauthorized anti-war march from City Hall in New York City up Sixth Avenue. While it was unauthorized, the cops did not try to break it up, but rather controlled traffic as long as we kept moving. We reached about 39th Street and Sixth and came to a halt. Word went round that the march leadership was negotiating a peaceful end to it, through Bryant Park that lies on Sixth, between 40th and 42nd streets. At that point, needing to get back soon to my job at the Morrisania City Hospital, I left the body of the march and was watching events from the sidewalk on the east side of the avenue.

Friday: Crucial Vote on Single Payer Healthcare

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from an email from http://www.democrats.com

One week ago, we eagerly anticipated a crucial vote on single-payer Medicare for All ( H.R.676 ) in the House Energy & Commerce Committee, sponsored by Rep. Anthony Weiner (D-NY). But then seven BlueDogs waged a highly-publicized war against a “robust public option” and the vote was delayed for a full week.

We just learned the vote will be tomorrow ( Friday ). Based on all of your calls, we have nine single-payer Democrats: Tammy Baldwin, Michael Doyle, Eliot Engel, Anna Eshoo, Gene Green, Edward Markey, Janice Schakowsky, Anthony Weiner, and Peter Welch.

Lean Yes Diana DeGette CO01 202-225-4431 Jane Harman CA36 202-225-8220 Christopher Murphy CT05 202-225-4476 Frank Pallone NJ06 202-225-4671 @FrankPallone Bobby Rush IL01 202-225-4372

Five more Democrats are leaning single-payer but still uncommitted. Please call each one and give them one crucial reason to support single-payer from our petition:
http://www.democrats.com/single-payer-petition?cid=ZGVtczU0MTMzNGRlbXM=
(Be sure to sign our petition and forward it if you haven’t already.)

Be concise and practice in advance so you can speak quickly (or leave a voicemail) because they are getting swamped. Report the results of your calls here:
http://www.democrats.com/single-payer-committee-whip

Public Option Only (or Won’t Say) Rick Boucher VA09 202-225-3861 Bruce Braley IA01 202-225-2911 G.K. Butterfield NC01 202-225-3101 Lois Capps CA23 202-225-3601 Kathy Castor FL11 202-225-3376 John Dingell MI15 202-225-4071 Charles Gonzalez TX20 202-225-3236 Jay Inslee WA01 202-225-6311 @RepInsleeNews Doris Matsui CA05 202-225-7163 Jerry McNerney CA11 202-225-1947 John Sarbanes MD03 202-225-4016 Bart Stupak MI01 202-225-4735 Betty Sutton OH13 202-225-3401 Henry Waxman (Chair) CA30 202-225-3976

If you have more time, these 14 Democrats support a “public option” at best. But that “public option” (a new government program to compete with private insurance) was disastrously weakened this week by the BlueDogs. They banned the use of Medicare pricing to reduce costs and thereby expand availability. Try to persuade these 14 to vote for single-payer instead of a worthless BlueDog “public option.”

Don’t let anyone tell you single-payer can’t pass: the Kucinich Amendment for a single-payer “state option” passed by a shocking 25-19 bi-partisan majority in the House Education and Labor Committee on July 17. The Weiner Amendment will pass on Friday if enough Democrats vote for it!

A victory on the Weiner Amendment would make a huge difference. Please call as soon as you get this – night or day.

Thanks for all you do!

Bob Fertik

see

Weiner: Put-Up or Shut-Up + Sanders at the “Guaranteed Health Care” Rally + Follow the Money

Top Ten Ways To Tell Your President & His Party Aren’t Fighting For Health Care For Everybody by Bruce Dixon

Bernie Sanders: Mass mobilization is needed

The Daily Show: Bill Kristol admits the government can provide first-class health care + Dems may drop public option

The Truth about Socialized Medicine By Audrey Mayer

single payer healthcare HR 676 S 703

Weiner: Put-Up or Shut-Up + Sanders at the “Guaranteed Health Care” Rally + Follow the Money

Dandelion Salad

AskAnthonyWeiner
July 30, 2009
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Bernie Sanders at the “Guaranteed Health Care” Rally

Book Excerpt: ‘Empire of Illusion’ by Chris Hedges

by Chris Hedges
Featured Writer
Dandelion Salad
Truthdig
July 30, 2009

Read this brilliant and humorous chapter from Chris Hedges’ new book and marvel as the Pulitzer Prize-winning war correspondent makes sense of reality television.

Three Good Reasons To Liquidate Our Empire By Chalmers Johnson

Dandelion Salad

By Chalmers Johnson
TomDispatch (Tom Engelhardt)
July 30, 2009

And Ten Steps to Take to Do So

However ambitious President Barack Obama’s domestic plans, one unacknowledged issue has the potential to destroy any reform efforts he might launch. Think of it as the 800-pound gorilla in the American living room: our longstanding reliance on imperialism and militarism in our relations with other countries and the vast, potentially ruinous global empire of bases that goes with it. The failure to begin to deal with our bloated military establishment and the profligate use of it in missions for which it is hopelessly inappropriate will, sooner rather than later, condemn the United States to a devastating trio of consequences: imperial overstretch, perpetual war, and insolvency, leading to a likely collapse similar to that of the former Soviet Union.

According to the 2008 official Pentagon inventory of our military bases around the world, our empire consists of 865 facilities in more than 40 countries and overseas U.S. territories. We deploy over 190,000 troops in 46 countries and territories. In just one such country, Japan, at the end of March 2008, we still had 99,295 people connected to U.S. military forces living and working there — 49,364 members of our armed services, 45,753 dependent family members, and 4,178 civilian employees. Some 13,975 of these were crowded into the small island of Okinawa, the largest concentration of foreign troops anywhere in Japan.

[…]

via Tomgram: Chalmers Johnson, Dismantling the Empire

see

Chalmers Johnson on the Cost of Empire

The Hell of War Comes Home: Newspaper Series Documents Murder, Suicide, Kidnappings by Iraq Vets

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Democracy Now!
http://www.democracynow.org
July 30, 2009

The Hell of War Comes Home: Newspaper Series Documents Murder, Suicide, Kidnappings by Iraq Vets

A startling two-part series published in the Gazette newspaper of Colorado Springs titled “Casualties of War” examines a part of war seldom discussed by the media or government officials: the difficulty of returning to civilian life after being trained to be a killer. The story focuses on a single battalion based at Fort Carson in Colorado Springs, the 2nd Battalion, 12th Infantry Regiment. Soldiers from the brigade have have been involved in brawls, beatings, rapes, drunk driving, drug deals, domestic violence, shootings, stabbings, kidnapping and suicides. The Army unit’s murder rate is 114 times the rate for Colorado Springs. We speak with the reporter who broke the story and get the Army’s response.

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video The Hell of War Comes Home: Newspaper Series Documents Murder, Suicide, Kidnappings by Iraq Vets

Guests:

Dave Philipps, reporter with the Colorado Springs Gazette. He wrote the two-part series “Casualties of War.”

Col. Jimmie Keenan, Commander of the Evans Army Community Hospital in Colorado Springs. She is the former chief of staff for the Army’s Warrior Care and Transition Office in Arlington, Va.

Military Hotline: 1-800-342-9647
Website: Militaryonesource.com

Transcript

AMY GOODMAN: We turn now to a startling two-part series that has just been published in the Gazette newspaper of Colorado Springs called “Casualties of War.” It examines a part of war seldom discussed by the media or government officials: the difficulty of returning to civilian life after being trained to be a killer.

S. Ossetia under fire from Georgian territory

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RussiaToday
July 30, 2009

The South Ossetian capital Tskhinvali has come under fire. Two shells were reportedly fired from around five kilometers away near the Georgian town of Nikozi during the night.

Manuel Zelaya Speaks from Nicaraguan Border on Who’s Behind the Coup

Dandelion Salad

Democracy Now!
http://www.democracynow.org
July 30, 2009

EXCLUSIVE: Ousted Honduran President Manuel Zelaya Speaks from Nicaraguan Border on Who’s Behind the Coup, His Attempts to Return Home, the Role of the United States and More

In a Democracy Now! national broadcast exclusive, ousted Honduran president Manuel Zelaya joins us from the Nicaragua-Honduras border for a wide-ranging interview on his attempts to return home, who’s behind the coup, the role of the United States, and much more. “I think the United States is going to lose a great deal of influence in Latin America if it does not turn the coup d’état around,” Zeleya says. “It will not be able to put forth its idea about democracy. It won’t be credible before anyone.” On his message to the Honduran people, Zelaya says they should “maintain their resistance against those who want to take their rights away…so that no one will be able to disrespect them, which is what the coup regime is doing today.” [includes rush transcript]

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video: EXCLUSIVE: Ousted Honduran President Manuel Zelaya Speaks from Nicaraguan Border on Who’s Behind the Coup, His Attempts to Return Home, the Role of the United States and More

transcript

AMY GOODMAN: Governments around the world should continue sanctions against the coup regime in Honduras. Those are the comments of the Nobel Peace Prize-winning Costa Rican President Oscar Arias, who’s trying to mediate negotiations between ousted Honduran president and the coup leaders. He was speaking at a Latin American summit in Costa Rica a day after the US State Department’s decision Tuesday to revoke the visas of four Honduran coup officials, though the US has not cut off more than $180 million in economic aid.