Gitmo Update - CAUTION: May Cause Hypertension

[Richard]

And so it all goes...

Richard's $.02

Afghan Jail Conditions Hamper Gitmo Prosecutions
Ben Fox, AP, 8 Aug 2009

U.S. military prosecutors allege that Ahmed al-Darbi has met with Osama bin Laden, trained at an al-Qaida terrorist camp, and plotted to blow up a ship in the Strait of Hormuz or off Yemen.

But the government may never be able to bring those allegations to court because of the torture the prisoner says he suffered in U.S. custody in Afghanistan. Al-Darbi says American troops subjected him to beatings, excruciating shackling, painfully loud music, isolation and threats of rape, according to a new affidavit obtained by The Associated Press. If al-Darbi's statements to interrogators were indeed obtained under such circumstances, they will likely be thrown out.

"I was frightened and there were times I wished I would die," the 33-year-old prisoner from Saudi Arabia said in the statement taken in July at Guantanamo, which was provided to the AP by his lawyer. "I felt that anything could happen to me and that everything was out of control."

Al-Darbi's is a test case of sorts for what will happen under the Obama administration to prisoners who allege their testimony was forced out of them under torture. His affidavit illustrates one of the greatest challenges facing President Barack Obama as he tries to determine what to do with the 229 prisoners still left at Guantanamo, the military prison at the U.S. base in Cuba. Obama has vowed to close the prison by early next year.

Under former President George W. Bush, the special war crimes tribunals known as Military Commissions allowed "coerced" statements from defendants at a judge's discretion. But the rules are changing for the 60 or so prisoners whom authorities had planned to prosecute: The Obama administration has prohibited the use of confessions obtained under "cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment." A Justice Department official has told Congress, which is drafting new rules for Military Commissions, that only "voluntary" statements are likely to withstand future court challenges.

But legal experts believe a number of cases can't be prosecuted because conditions were so harsh in Guantanamo, Afghanistan and secret CIA "black sites" elsewhere. The number of cases involved isn't known publicly since most of the background is still classified.

In some cases, Obama will have no choice but to release the prisoners or, if they are considered too dangerous, place them in "preventative" detention, said David Glazier, an associate professor at Loyola Law School in Los Angeles. Either scenario opens the president up to criticism, but Glazier, a former Naval officer and expert in military law, says it's better than allowing convictions that aren't reliable or would be viewed as illegitimate around the world.

"Some number of cases may not be prosecutable, but I also think it's safe to that they should not be prosecutable," he said.

Al-Darbi may be just such a case.

The affidavit, which was provided to the AP by al-Darbi's lawyer, is an unusually detailed first-person account of the harsh conditions at the heart of the issue. In October, a military judge threw out the confession of Guantanamo prisoner Mohammed Jawad because it was given to U.S. officials in Afghanistan after Afghan authorities threatened to kill his family. Jawad had been charged with wounding two U.S. soldiers and their interpreter with a grenade.

Al-Darbi was captured at the airport in Baku, Azerbaijan in June 2002. Several weeks later, the affidavit says, he was taken blindfolded to the U.S. base in Bagram, Afghanistan, through which many if not most of the Guantanamo detainees have passed.

Al-Darbi was held for eight months at Bagram. For the first two weeks, he was kept in isolation when not being interrogated, according to the affidavit. Later, it says, he went through a litany of harsh tactics, including being kicked and dragged around a room by U.S. troops while music blared in the background. At times, he was forced to kneel with his hands cuffed above his head through the night and repeatedly interrogated, often while hooded. He also describes a process in which he was hooded, shaken violently and subjected to water poured over his head.

"My view is that taken together all this treatment amounts to torture," said his attorney, Ramzi Kassem.

Al-Darbi is charged with conspiracy and providing material support for terrorism. He denies the charges, which carry a potential sentence of life in prison. In April 2008, at a hearing at the base, he called the Guantanamo tribunals a "sham" and a "scandal" and said he would not attend his trial.

Kassem says his client was taken into custody because he is a distant relation by marriage to Khalid al-Mihdhar, one of the hijackers who crashed a plane into the Pentagon on Sept. 11. Al-Darbi is married to a sister of the hijacker's wife.

The attorney late last year filed a motion to dismiss the charges, citing torture, and prosecutors have filed a written response. But the war crimes court has declined to release the court filings, and the prosecution team did not respond to requests for comment.

The chief Guantanamo war crimes prosecutor, Navy Capt. John F. Murphy, declined to discuss any specific case but said his team would follow the new rules. "We will introduce no evidence that's obtained by torture, no cruel, inhumane or degrading evidence," he said.

A former U.S. official who is familiar with the case said he doubts the government will be able to convict al-Darbi without the incriminating statements. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to discuss it.

The affidavit specifically accuses an American soldier, Army Pfc. Damien Corsetti, of stepping on the prisoner's handcuffs to make them tighten around his wrists. In a separate incident, the affidavit says, Corsetti placed his knees on al-Darbi's chest so he couldn't breathe.

The U.S. military has already tried Corsetti on charges including maltreatment and assault for allegedly abusing al-Darbi and other detainees at Bagram, where at least two prisoners died while in U.S. custody.

Corsetti was acquitted by a military jury in 2006. He was among 15 soldiers charged with mistreating detainees at Bagram. Nine were acquitted; the other six were either convicted or pleaded guilty.

Corsetti's lawyer, William Cassara, called al-Darbi "a stone cold liar." "I don't know if anyone else abused him; I just know my guy didn't," he said.

The military prosecutor in the case, Army Capt. Ellis, referred questions about al-Darbi to a military spokeswoman, who did not respond to requests for an interview. At the trial, Ellis said the accused soldier "crossed the line" with his treatment of detainees.

A military judge is scheduled to hold a hearing in September on the motion to dismiss charges against al-Darbi, who has been at Guantanamo more than six years.

"We believe no American system of justice should admit involuntary statements," said Jamil Dakwar, an American Civil Liberties Union lawyer who monitors Guantanamo for the rights group. "They are inherently unreliable and their admission will likely be the cause of reversals eventually."

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090808/...ed_confessions

[Pete]

Criminal investigation into CIA treatment of detainees expected

http://www.latimes.com/news/nationwo...,0,34626.story

"By Greg Miller and Josh Meyer
August 9, 2009
Reporting from Washington -- U.S. Atty. Gen. Eric H. Holder Jr. is poised to appoint a criminal prosecutor to investigate alleged CIA abuses committed during the interrogation of terrorism suspects, current and former U.S. government officials said.

A senior Justice Department official said that Holder envisioned an inquiry that would be narrow in scope, focusing on "whether people went beyond the techniques that were authorized" in Bush administration memos that liberally interpreted anti-torture laws........."

"......Opening a criminal investigation is something Holder "has come reluctantly to consider," the Justice Department official said, emphasizing that Holder had not reached a final decision but noting that, "as attorney general, he has the obligation to follow the law."........"

"Obligation to follow the law" - except in cases of voter intimidation by the New Black Panthers.

[nmap]

Interesting, is it not, the fascination the U.S. has with court trials?

We place ourselves at a position of profound disadvantage. I think this will, ultimately, produce a problem - perhaps then we'll realize that not everything needs to go in front of a judge.

[Richard]

Interesting, is it not, the fascination the U.S. has with court trials?

The real Judgment of Nuremburg - it's our legacy brought about by the so-called Greatest Generation - and IMO we're right to choose to live by it.

Richard's $.02

[nmap]

Originally Posted by Richard

The real Judgment of Nuremburg - it's our legacy brought about by the so-called Greatest Generation - and IMO we're right to choose to live by it.

That's a good point. Nuremberg did set the pattern.

Some day, perhaps, I will enjoy the privilege of purchasing your libation of choice while touching on the issues of the surpluses of society and the sustainability of actions.

The courtroom may be the morally superior option, not unlike the right to counsel and so forth. However, they have a cost - a price. We are used to having the wherewithal to pay that price. I am not at all sure that will continue into the future.

[Richard]

The courtroom may be the morally superior option, not unlike the right to counsel and so forth. However, they have a cost - a price. We are used to having the wherewithal to pay that price. I am not at all sure that will continue into the future.

I, too, often wonder about the future - but don't think we want to return to a world in which canonical law - other than philosophically - would trump our secularly codified legal system.

Richard's $.02

[Warrior-Mentor]

Originally Posted by Richard

And so it all goes...

Richard's $.02

But the government may never be able to bring those allegations to court because of the torture the prisoner says he suffered in U.S. custody in Afghanistan. Al-Darbi says American troops subjected him to beatings, excruciating shackling, painfully loud music, isolation and threats of rape, according to a new affidavit obtained by The Associated Press. If al-Darbi's statements to interrogators were indeed obtained under such circumstances, they will likely be thrown out.

If you haven't read the Manchester Documents, now is a good time.

If you go to the first one to come up in google:

The Department of Justice (DoJ) site, but it ONLY has 4 Lessons and 28 pages.

By comparison, The Smoking Gun has ALL 18 Lessons and 180 pages.

Interestingly:

Lesson 17 covers Interrogation and Investigation (15 pages)

Lesson 18 covers Prisons And Detention Centers (2 pages)

Why wouldn't DoJ want to let the American Public know what Al Qaeda has trained their terrorsists to do when detained?

You can find the FULL DOCUMENT here:
http://www.thesmokinggun.com/archive/jihadmanual.html

Bottomline, AQ TRAINS IT'S JIHADIs TO ACCUSE TORTURE.

Big shocker there. But the Main Stream Media fall for it and repeat it EVERY TIME.