“I am troubled by the possibility that leak investigations may chill the investigative journalism that holds government accountable.” – President Obama WITH THE IRS scandal dogging the White House, due to the fetish like prophylactic protection penchant of White House aides, President Obama turned to counterterrorism and invoking Osama bin Laden, in a speech that [...]
Tag Archives | Gitmo
Gitmo Torture Memoir of Mohamedou Ould Slahi
SLATE has published excerpts of a Gitmo torture memoir that should be required reading in Congress and in the Obama administration. It should then be passed to Ron Fournier who recently wrote a sloppy love poem to George W. Bush. The first installment of the torture memoir is here, but hold on, because it unmasks, [...]
Obama on Syria, Alleged Benghazi Whistle-Blowers, Gitmo [Transcript] *Updated*
TODAY in his news conference Syria was the subject of the first question. President Obama restated that President Bashar Assad’s possible use of chemical weapons is an international community position that shouldn’t surprise anyone. Obama then stated that what isn’t known is how the chemical weapons were used and what exactly happened, with a “clear [...]
Bush Legacy and Library in Torture’s Shadow
But there is another building, far from Dallas on land leased from Cuba, that symbolizes Mr. Bush’s legacy in a darker, truer way: the military penal complex at Guantánamo Bay where Mr. Bush imprisoned hundreds of men after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, a vast majority guilty of no crime. [New York Times] A LIBRARY [...]
George W. Bush Library Opens, Amnesia Ensues
It took less than 4 1/2 years of the Obama presidency for President George W. Bush to mount his comeback. While doing absolutely nothing on his own behalf (he’s been the most silent ex-president in my lifetime), his approval is up to 47 percent according to The Post/ABC poll. That’s up 14 points from his [...]
A New Kind of Torture at Gitmo Because Congress Won’t Act
I do not want to die here, but until President Obama and Yemen’s president do something, that is what I risk every day. [New York Times] THE STORY of his treatment at Gitmo starts with the Yemeni detainee saying he’s been on a hunger strike since February and has lost 30 pounds. He then states [...]
Captured in Jordan, Bin Laden’s Son-in-Law, “The Mouthpiece of Bin Laden,” Pleads Not Guilty in New York Courtroom
Osama bin Laden’s son-in-law pleaded not guilty Friday morning to charges of trying to kill Americans. Sulaiman Abu Ghaith, who served as an al Qaeda spokesman, was captured and taken to the United States, federal officials announced Thursday. [CNN] THERE WAS an immediate reaction to the decision to try Abu Ghaith in a civilian courtroom. [...]
Gitmo, Eleven Years and Counting
Today is the 11th anniversary of the day the first prisoner arrived at the United States’ military prison at Guantanamo Bay. As reported by, among others, Mary Shaw at Intrepid, two days after taking office in 2009, President Obama. … issued an executive order calling for the Guantanamo prison to be closed within a year, [...]
President Obama’s “Whining” Statement Attached to Signing NDAA 2013 [Video]
OSAMA bin Laden is dead, but politicians continue to allow the blood thirsty terrorist to strangle our democratic republic from the grave. President Obama signing the NDAA, which codifies indefinite detention into the American fabric, is a capitulation to the right and all that’s unholy about the “war on terror,” which now a Democratic president [...]
Report: Former “Dangerous” Gitmo Detainee Responsible for Benghazi Terrorist Attack [Video Update]
LAST NIGHT FNC’s Ed Henry reported via Twitter that the man who is thought to have led the Benghazi consulate terrorist attack was Sufyan Ben Qumu, a former Gitmo detainee. A State Department profile of Sufyan Ben Qumu, aka Sofiane Ibrahim Gammu, is below. It describes the terrorist as “a dangerous man with no qualms [...]
Civil Liberties Take a Hit in 2012 Democratic Platform
IN 2008 indefinite detentions were out. In Pres. Obama’s first term they’re a reality. Welcome to what happens when a candidate enters the Presidents Club. The section of the 2012 Democratic platform titled “Staying True to our Values at Home” states that “We must always seek to uphold these values at home, not just when [...]
DoD Inspector General Report on Interrogations Released After Truth-Out FOIA Request
A DECLASSIFIED DoD Inspector General’s report obtained by Truth-Out titled “Investigation of Allegations of the Use of Mind-Altering Drugs to Facilitate Interrogations of Detainees” reveals information for the first time about interrogations at Guantanamo. The impetus of the investigations and Truth-Out’s FOIA request was a
Pres. Jimmy Carter Calls Pres. Obama Out on Administration’s International Human Rights Violations
**UPDATED BELOW** At a time when popular revolutions are sweeping the globe, the United States should be strengthening, not weakening, basic rules of law and principles of justice enumerated in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. But instead of making the world safer, America’s violation of international human rights abets our enemies and alienates our [...]
Supreme Court Defers to Government on Terrorism Policy
THE SUPREME COURT leveled an extraordinary amount of power into the government’s hands on Monday. Lyle Denniston of SCOTUSBLOG lays it out. One day before the fourth anniversary of its most important ruling during the government’s “war on terrorism,” the Supreme Court confirmed emphatically on Monday that it is not now inclined to further second-guess [...]
Chaos at 9/11 Trial, Where the T-word Won’t Be Heard
**updated** We now know much about the brutal mistreatment of prisoners in secret prisons, inflicted according to specific legal guidance from Yoo and others in the Justice Department—although the Obama administration is shamefully still seeking to suppress the details, arguing that Guantanamo detainees should be barred even from discussing the facts in their public trials. [...]
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