Updated: Mar. 8, 2013
Image by Stephen Melkisethian via Flickr
RTAmerica·Mar 6, 2013
US Attorney General Eric Holder released a statement in which he says he doesn’t rule out the possibility of using military drones on Americans in the US. Holder’s statements have drawn even more attention to America’s drone program and some senators have continued to opposed the possible use of drones against Americans on US soil. Mike Riggs, associate editor for Mike Riggs, sounds off on Holder’s position.
by Rick Rozoff
Featured Writer
Dandelion Salad
Stop NATO
Stop NATO-Opposition to global militarism
March 7, 2012
Press TV
March 6, 2012
AG’s targeted killing speech ‘a frightening development’
Watch via Press TV
Rick Rozoff, the manager of Stop NATO, censures Attorney General Eric Holder’s speech in which he insisted that the U.S. president has a right to order the assassination of U.S. citizens overseas, and called it “a frightening development.”
by Andy Worthington
Featured Writer
Dandelion Salad
www.andyworthington.co.uk
20 July, 2011
“Some issues,” the New York Times declared in an editorial on June 25, “require an unwavering stand. Preserving the role of law enforcement agencies in stopping and punishing terrorists is one of them. This country is not and should never be a place where the military dispenses justice, other than to its own.”
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by Steven Jonas, MD, MPH
Featured Writer
Dandelion Salad
crossposted on Buzzflash.com
May 13, 2010
As I have noted in a recent Commentary, the Preamble to the Constitution of the United States states: “We the people of the United States, in order to form a more perfect Union, establish justice, insure domestic tranquility, provide for the common defence, promote the general welfare, and secure the blessings of liberty to ourselves and our posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America.” Fascinating stuff. The “World’s Greatest Democracy,” no? Exceptional, no? Well, no, for the first. There may be a great democracy somewhere, but ours is more of a partial one. For many of our citizens, we surely ain’t it. But exceptional? Well, yes indeed. Why, both the Constitution and its implementation have been filled with exceptions since the document was first written.
https://dandelionsalad.wordpress.com/
American Civil Liberties Union
March 16, 2010
Tells House Subcommittee That Final Administration Decision On Trials Still “Weeks Away”
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
CONTACT: (202) 675-2312 or media@dcaclu.org
WASHINGTON – In testimony before a House Appropriations Subcommittee today, Attorney General Eric Holder defended the merits of his November decision to try the 9/11 defendants in federal criminal court, but nevertheless stated that the administration may still consider using the untested military commissions, instead. Holder said a final decision regarding the 9/11 suspects was “weeks away.”
Since 9/11, the military commissions have resulted in three terrorism-related convictions. Federal courts, on the other hand, have produced over 300.
by Andy Worthington
Featured Writer
Dandelion Salad
www.andyworthington.co.uk
7 January 2010
Yesterday evening, the Associated Press reported that, in court filings, Justice Department lawyers stated that Attorney General Eric Holder has decided that a sixth Guantánamo prisoner — an Afghan named Obaidullah — will be put forward for trial by Military Commission. On November 13, when Holder announced that five prisoners — including Khalid Sheikh Mohammed — would face federal court trials for their alleged involvement in the 9/11 attacks, he also announced that five other men, previously charged in the Bush administration’s Military Commissions, would be tried in revamped version of the Commissions that the administration and Congress concocted over the summer.
by Andy Worthington
Featured Writer
Dandelion Salad
www.andyworthington.co.uk
5 December 2009
On Monday, the Obama administration announced that it had transferred four prisoners from Guantánamo: Sabir Lahmar, an Algerian, was transferred to France; an unidentified Palestinian was transferred to Hungary; and two Tunisians, Adel Ben Mabrouk bin Hamida Boughanmi and Mohammed Tahir Riyadh Nasseri, were transferred to the custody of the Italian government.
Sabir Lahmar, an Algerian freed in France
By Ray McGovern
This item was first published at ConsortiumNews.com.
November 16, 2009 “Information Clearing House”
Media commentary on the upcoming 9/11 trial of Khalid Sheikh Mohammed has raised concerns that state secrets may be divulged, including details about how the Bush administration used torture to extract evidence about al-Qaeda.
“I think that we’re going to shine a light on something that a lot of people don’t want to look at” is how American Civil Liberties Union attorney Denny LeBoeuf put it, according to the New York Times on Saturday.
No problem, says Attorney General Eric Holder, who claims to have “great confidence” that other evidence – apart from what may have been gleaned from the 183 times Sheikh Mohammed was waterboarded, for example – will suffice to convict him.
Sister of Guantanamo inmate condemns detention – 13 Nov 09
AlJazeeraEnglish
November 13, 2009
The US has announced that five people held at Guantanamo Bay will face trial before a military commission.
Among them is Canadian detainee Omar Khadr. Khadr was only a teenager when he was brought to Guantanamo after being captured in Afghanistan for allegedly killing a US soldier there.
Canadian courts have ordered their government to request his repatriation. But the government is now fighting that ruling before the supreme court.
Al Jazeera’s Monica Villamizar sat down with Khadr’s sister Zaynab for an exclusive interview and began by asking her how her brother has been treated over the past seven years in detention.
by Andy Worthington
Featured Writer
Dandelion Salad
www.andyworthington.co.uk
13 November 2009
I was delighted to be invited to discuss Guantánamo on Democracy Now! this morning, just an hour after the story first broke that the Obama administration is preparing to bring Khalid Sheikh Mohammed and four other prisoners to the US mainland to face trials in federal court for their alleged involvement in the 9/11 attacks.
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Democracy Now!
Alleged 9/11 Mastermind and 4 Other Gitmo Prisoners to Stand Trial in NY Federal Court
Attorney General Eric Holder is expected to announce today that five men accused of plotting the September 11, 2001 attacks, including alleged mastermind Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, will be tried in a criminal court in New York instead of a military commission. The move marks one of the first major steps by the Obama administration to close the prison at Guantanamo. To assess the future of Guantanamo Bay and the more than 200 men still in detention there, we speak with British journalist and historian Andy Worthington, author of The Guantánamo Files: The Stories of the 774 Detainees in America’s Illegal Prison. [includes rush transcript]
by Andy Worthington
Featured Writer
Dandelion Salad
www.andyworthington.co.uk
9 October 2009
In a recent article, “On Guantánamo, Lawmakers Reveal They Are Still Dick Cheney’s Pawns,” I spelled out my despair and disgust at lawmakers from both parties (their names can be found here, here and here), who, since May, have voted for legislation severely curtailing President Obama’s ability to close the prison at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba by his self-imposed deadline of January 22, 2010, and who, as a result, have sent just one resounding message to the American people and the wider world: the ghost of Dick Cheney still stalks the corridors of power.
Warning
This video may contain images depicting the reality and horror of war/violence and should only be viewed by a mature audience.
torturedlaw
October 07, 2009
Tortured Law, a new 10-minute documentary by Alliance for Justice, examines the role lawyers played in authorizing torture, and calls upon Attorney General Holder to Join those calling on Attorney General Eric Holder to release the report of the DOJ Office of Professional Responsibility, and hold accountable those who ordered, designed, and justified torture.
You can join the call by signing Alliance for Justice’s petition http://ga1.org/campaign/release_tortu…
Sign up to host a screening in your area: http://www.afj.org/films-and-programs…
Vodpod videos no longer available.
h/t: ICH
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Proposed Appropriations Bill To Give Defense Department Authority To Suppress Torture Photos (10/7/2009)
American Civil Liberties Union
Congressional Conferees Agree To Language Allowing Defense Department To Exempt Photos From Freedom Of Information Act
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
CONTACT: (646) 206-8643 or (212) 549-2666; media@aclu.org, or (202) 675-2312; media@dcaclu.org
WASHINGTON – According to a conference summary, House and Senate conferees today approved language for the homeland security appropriations bill that, if passed, would grant the Department of Defense (DOD) the authority to continue suppressing photos depicting the abuse of prisoners in U.S. custody overseas. The language described in the summary appears to incorporate an amendment put forth by Senator Joe Lieberman (I-CT) that would allow DOD to exempt the photos from the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA). The photos were ordered released by a federal appeals court as part of an American Civil Liberties Union FOIA lawsuit.
by Andy Worthington
Featured Writer
Dandelion Salad
www.andyworthington.co.uk
9 Sept. 2009
Col. Lawrence Wilkerson served in the US military for 31 years and was Chief of Staff to Secretary of State Colin Powell from August 2002 until January 2005, two months after Powell’s resignation, when he left the State Department. He is now the chairman of the New America Foundation’s US-Cuba 21st Century Policy Initiative.
In the first part of this interview, Col. Wilkerson discussed fears within the State Department that war crimes were taking place in Afghanistan, how he suspected that the British Overseas Territory of Diego Garcia (leased to the US) was used to hold prisoners in the “War on Terror,” and, perhaps most significantly, how he had recently become convinced that the administration’s fear of another terrorist attack (which was, essentially, used to justify the implementation of “extraordinary rendition” and torture) subsided more rapidly than has been previously acknowledged, as the drive for war in Iraq took over.
by Andy Worthington
Featured Writer
Dandelion Salad
www.andyworthington.co.uk
8 Sept. 2009
The Spanish newspaper Público reported exclusively on Saturday that Judge Baltasar Garzón is pressing ahead with a case against six senior Bush administration lawyers for implementing torture at Guantánamo.
Back in March, Judge Garzón announced that he was planning to investigate the six prime architects of the Bush administration’s torture policies — former Attorney General Alberto Gonzales; John Yoo, a former lawyer in the Justice Department’s Office of Legal Counsel, who played a major role in the preparation of the OLC’s notorious “torture memos”; Douglas Feith, the former undersecretary of defense for policy; William J. Haynes II, the Defense Department’s former general counsel; Jay S. Bybee, Yoo’s superior in the OLC, who signed off on the August 2002 “torture memos”; and David Addington, former Vice President Dick Cheney’s Chief of Staff.
By Ted Rall
September 04, 2009 “Information Clearing House”
CIA Atrocities Revealed to a National Shrug
NEW YORK–Nazis. Americans are Nazis. We are Nazis.
Godwin’s Law be damned–it’s impossible to read the newly-released CIA report on the torture of Muslim prisoners without thinking of the Third Reich.
Sadism exists in every culture. A century ago, for example, Western adventurers who visited Tibet reported that the authorities in Lhasa, that supposed capital of pacifism, publicly gouged out criminals’ eyes and yanked out their tongues. But Nazi atrocities were stylistically distinct from, say, the Turkish genocide of the Armenians or the Rwandan massacres of the early 1990s. German war crimes were characterized by methodical precision, the application of “rational” technology to increase efficiency, the veneer of legality and the perversion of medical science.
Dandelion Salad 