The Justice Department has asked a federal appeals court to impose tighter restrictions on the hundreds of lawyers who represent detainees at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba, and the request has become a central issue in a new legal battle over the administration’s detention policies.
Saying that visits by civilian lawyers and attorney-client mail have caused “intractable problems and threats to security at Guantánamo,” a Justice Department filing proposes new limits on the lawyers’ contact with their clients and access to evidence in their cases that would replace more expansive rules that have governed them since they began visiting Guantánamo detainees in large numbers in 2004.
The filing says the lawyers have caused unrest among the detainees and have improperly served as a conduit to the news media, assertions that have drawn angry responses from some of the lawyers.
Gonzo continues to do a bang-up job of pursuing dictatorship rights for Preznit. Gawd forbid anyone in the news media actually report what’s being done to waron terra detainees.
MOSCOW (Reuters) – Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Thursday he was suspending Russia’s obligations under the Conventional Forces in Europe (CFE) Treaty, a move he linked to U.S. plans for a missile defence shield in Europe.
Putin, in a hawkish annual speech to both houses of parliament, said the NATO signatories to the 1990 treaty were not respecting it, and the U.S. plan to put missile defence systems in Poland and the Czech Republic made matters worse.
He said Russia would look at withdrawing from the treaty altogether if negotiations he proposed with NATO countries failed to resolve Russia’s grievances.
Russia says the missile shield plan — which Washington says is intended to protect from attacks by so-called “rogue states” — is a threat to its national security.
OSLO (Reuters) – U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice dismissed as nonsense on Thursday the concerns of some Russian officials that a planned U.S. missile shield in eastern Europe could pose a strategic threat to Moscow.
“The idea that somehow 10 interceptors and a few radars in eastern Europe are going to threaten the Soviet strategic deterrent is purely ludicrous and everybody knows it,” she told reporters ahead of a NATO-Russia meeting in Oslo.
“The Russians have thousands of warheads. The idea that you can somehow stop the Russian strategic nuclear deterrent with a few interceptors just doesn’t make sense.”
Rice and NATO counterparts are to meet Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov in Oslo three days after U.S. Defence Secretary Robert Gates failed during a trip to Moscow to convince Russia the shield was not a strategic threat.
turns out the rules are for everyone else to follow: AP/Yahoo
Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said Thursday she has already answered the questions she has been subpoenaed to answer before a congressional committee and suggested she is not inclined to comply with the order.
Rice said she would respond by mail to questions from the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee on the Bush administration’s prewar claims about Saddam Hussein seeking weapons of mass destruction, but signaled she would not appear in person.
“I am more than happy to answer them again in a letter,” she told reporters in Oslo, where she is attending a meeting of NATO foreign ministers.
They all belong in jail, preferably in one of those extraordinary rendition countries they’re so fond of.
Of course, if the US didn’t have a reputation for attacking and occupying countries that weren’t a threat, we probably wouldn’t have this problem, would we?
Placing them on the Russian border made it pretty obvious who they are meant to threaten.
The lame bullshit is for suckers, and Americans.
Remember, the Cuban missile crisis started with a US build up along the Soviet border. The Soviets retaliated with missiles in Cuba. Then Kennedy had to decide whether to launch nuclear war (he didn’t).
But the US Government is currently controlled by people who WANT nuclear war.
I was trying to make some comment here but nothing I wrote seemed adequate-WTF indeed. I’d like to see a real shitstorm come down on those young men-by other MEN on campus who know the difference between humor and the crime of rape. I’ll now interrupt my non-laughing about their non-humorous article/joke to go throw up.
White House officials conducted 20 private briefings on Republican electoral prospects in the last midterm election for senior officials in at least 15 government agencies covered by federal restrictions on partisan political activity, a White House spokesman and other administration officials said yesterday.
The previously undisclosed briefings were part of what now appears to be a regular effort in which the White House sent senior political officials to brief top appointees in government agencies on which seats Republican candidates might win or lose, and how the election outcomes could affect the success of administration policies, the officials said.
The existence of one such briefing, at the headquarters of the General Services Administration in January, came to light last month, and the Office of Special Counsel began an investigation into whether the officials at the briefing felt coerced into steering federal activities to favor those Republican candidates cited as vulnerable.
Such coercion is prohibited under a federal law, known as the Hatch Act, meant to insulate virtually all federal workers from partisan politics. In addition to forbidding workplace pressures meant to influence an election outcome, the law bars the use of federal resources — including office buildings, phones and computers — for partisan purposes.
The administration maintains that the previously undisclosed meetings were appropriate. Those discussing the briefings on the record yesterday uniformly described them as merely “informational briefings about the political landscape.” But House Oversight and Government Reform Committee Chairman Henry A. Waxman (D-Calif.), who has been investigating the GSA briefing, said, “Politicization of departments and agencies is a serious issue. We need to know more about these and other briefings.”
Where did they hold these briefings? The EPA, the Commerce Dept., Health and Human Services, Interior, Labor, Housing and Urban Development, Treasury, Education, Agriculture and Energy, as well as NASA, the Small Business Administration, the Office of Science and Technology Policy, the Office of National Drug Control Policy and the U.S. Agency for International Development.
Is McCain really calling on Gonzo to go? (H/T: Video at TPM)
Relevant to the Wapo article cited by CG upthread, the Muckraker.com asks, Can Karl get away with it, Again? Looks like a clear violation of the Hatch Act.
“On the contrary, the government officials receiving the briefing were supposed to get the hint — as Tom Hamburger reported, “employees said they got a not-so-subtle message about helping endangered Republicans.” The briefing simply gave them the tools to be helpful in the next election. They were supposed to take the ball and run with it.”
“see the dramatic drop in sectarian violence?”
the deception of this administration continues unabated – the ‘surge’ is working because;
Car bombs and other explosive devices have killed thousands of Iraqis in the past three years, but the administration doesn’t include them in the casualty counts it has been citing as evidence that the surge of additional U.S. forces is beginning to defuse tensions between Shiite and Sunni Muslims.
President Bush explained why in a television interview on Tuesday. “If the standard of success is no car bombings or suicide bombings, we have just handed those who commit suicide bombings a huge victory,” he told TV interviewer Charlie Rose.
So does that mean we can’t count 9/11 in measures of global terrorism, because that was a suicide bombing?
· PM claims Islamists are routed, but attacks go on
· UN accuses all sides of committing war crimes
The Somali capital Mogadishu suffered some of the heaviest bombardment in nine days of fighting today, as Ethiopian tanks supporting the interim government shelled new areas of the city despite a claim by the Somali prime minister to have routed Islamist insurgents.
The Ethiopian assault has killed several hundred people, many of them civilians harmed by indiscriminate shelling that has destroyed homes and shops, and forced tens of thousands to flee the city as it spread to previously relatively peaceful parts of Mogadishu. Corpses lay scattered on the streets because it is too dangerous to collect them.
NAIROBI, 25 April 2007 (IRIN) – John Holmes, the United Nations Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs, warned that Somalia had become the most dangerous place in world for aid workers.
Holmes told the UN Security Council on Tuesday that none of the sides in the deadly fighting that has raged in Mogadishu in recent weeks was respecting the rules of war or making any allowance for aid operations.
“Civilians in Mogadishu are paying an intolerable price for the absence of political progress and dialogue and the failure of all parties to abide by the rules of warfare,” said Holmes, also the UN’s Emergency Relief Coordinator.
25 April 2007 – Large-scale indiscriminate killings and targeted assassinations continue to impede efforts to bring lasting stability and security to Iraq, according to the latest United Nations human rights report (pdf) released today on the strife-torn country, where causalities continue to climb despite recent efforts to stem in the bloodshed.
Although Government officials declared a drop in the number of killings in late February after the Baghdad Security Plan was launched, the UN Assistance Mission for Iraq (UNAMI) says the number of reported casualties rose again in March.
UNAMI also voiced concern regarding the handling of suspects arrested as part of the Plan. The new procedures “contained no explicit measures guaranteeing minimum due process rights.” Rather, the report argues, “they authorized arrests without warrants and the interrogation of suspects without placing a time limit on how long they could be held in pre-trial detention.”
still has complete confidence in Gonzo: NYT
Gonzo continues to do a bang-up job of pursuing dictatorship rights for Preznit. Gawd forbid anyone in the news media actually report what’s being done to waron terra detainees.
the detainees here.
What a horrifying story!
Putin freezes Russia’s arms treaty commitment
Rice calls idea of threat to Russia “ludicrous”
turns out the rules are for everyone else to follow: AP/Yahoo
They all belong in jail, preferably in one of those extraordinary rendition countries they’re so fond of.
Of course, if the US didn’t have a reputation for attacking and occupying countries that weren’t a threat, we probably wouldn’t have this problem, would we?
Wonder what Bush sees in Putin’s eyes now?
from the get go.
Iran? Ballistic missiles? Dream on.
Placing them on the Russian border made it pretty obvious who they are meant to threaten.
The lame bullshit is for suckers, and Americans.
Remember, the Cuban missile crisis started with a US build up along the Soviet border. The Soviets retaliated with missiles in Cuba. Then Kennedy had to decide whether to launch nuclear war (he didn’t).
But the US Government is currently controlled by people who WANT nuclear war.
It will be dicey.
The fellas of UCSD think rape makes a great April Fools’ Day joke for the campus newspaper.
WTF?
That’s sick.
Now we know where the McCain supporters are.
I was trying to make some comment here but nothing I wrote seemed adequate-WTF indeed. I’d like to see a real shitstorm come down on those young men-by other MEN on campus who know the difference between humor and the crime of rape. I’ll now interrupt my non-laughing about their non-humorous article/joke to go throw up.
Someone should send the article to their mothers and sisters.
taken to a whole ‘nother level: WashPo
Where did they hold these briefings? The EPA, the Commerce Dept., Health and Human Services, Interior, Labor, Housing and Urban Development, Treasury, Education, Agriculture and Energy, as well as NASA, the Small Business Administration, the Office of Science and Technology Policy, the Office of National Drug Control Policy and the U.S. Agency for International Development.
Craven criminals, they are.
New Harris Polls finds W at 28%, lowest level so far-WSJ
Huffpost headlines Mayor Bloomberg hopes Al Gore runs for president Can anyone recall Bloomberg was a Democrat and, is he about to jump the sinking SS GOP? SoS.
Is McCain really calling on Gonzo to go? (H/T: Video at TPM)
Relevant to the Wapo article cited by CG upthread, the Muckraker.com asks, Can Karl get away with it, Again? Looks like a clear violation of the Hatch Act.
“On the contrary, the government officials receiving the briefing were supposed to get the hint — as Tom Hamburger reported, “employees said they got a not-so-subtle message about helping endangered Republicans.” The briefing simply gave them the tools to be helpful in the next election. They were supposed to take the ball and run with it.”
“see the dramatic drop in sectarian violence?”
the deception of this administration continues unabated – the ‘surge’ is working because;
U.S. officials exclude car bombs in touting drop in Iraq violence
From your link (thanks for the roundup, btw!):
So does that mean we can’t count 9/11 in measures of global terrorism, because that was a suicide bombing?
Of course little george always had to go him one better.
with W, polls go poof! – so there’s no bottom.
I expect he’ll do poppy a whole lot better and if GOP die-hards cave, he may rush Ehud Olmert for his spot at 2%…
Thousands flee as shelling by Ethiopian tanks kills hundreds of civilians in Somali capital
SOMALIA: UN, EU urge humanitarian action
Casualty figures continue to climb in Iraq, UN report on rights violations says