Dirty Bush to Hicks Defense Atty: Shut Up and Quit

I so like when we "defend democracy" by killing a huge bunch of random people while undermining the rule of law, do not you?

Imagine if one could imprison without trial for five, count them, five years, random people like -- Big Dick, Bubble Boy, Rummy, Condi . . . and treat them to the notoriously wonderful food at Gitmo along with Caribbean waterboarding for free. Plus the continual luxuriation of solitary confinement.

Imagine.

MAJOR MICHAEL MORI, the defence lawyer for David Hicks, could be removed from the case after threats from the chief US prosecutor, Colonel Morris Davis, to charge him under the Uniform Code of Military Justice.

The intervention may derail Hicks's trial, and possibly prompt his return to Australia. It would take months for a new lawyer to get to grips with the case and the new military commission process.

The Prime Minister, John Howard, has told the US that any action leading to further delays would be unacceptable and would prompt him to demand the return of Hicks, 31, after five years in Guantanamo Bay.

Colonel Davis has accused Major Mori of breaching Article 88 of the US military code, which relates to using contemptuous language towards the president, vice-president, and secretary of defence. Penalties for breaching the code include jail and the loss of employment and entitlements.

Major Mori denied he had done anything improper but said the accusations left him with an inherent conflict of interest.

"It can't help but raise an issue of whether any further representation of David and his wellbeing could be tainted by a concern for my own legal wellbeing," Major Mori told the Herald. "David Hicks needs counsel who is not tainted by these allegations."

Major Mori, who has been to Australia seven times, will seek legal advice. The issue will also have to be raised with Hicks when his legal team next sees him. . . Colonel Davis said Major Mori was not playing by the rules and criticised his regular trips to Australia.

"Not playing by the rules"? What? You mean there are rules?

Here's why someone wants Hick's lawyer to shut up and quit -- his counsel knows how to call a spade a spade. So, you know, let's ruin Mori's career, just like we ruined Lt. Cmr. Charles Swift, that other uppity counsel.

Courtesy of the Sydney Morning Herald.

David Hicks
Gitmo
Dirty Bush

Scooter Scooter Scooter -- What kind of a name is that for a grown man?

Waiting for the jury to come in after the Libby trial?

Don't bother with the MSM (mainstream media, for our stout handful of non-blogtopian gentle readers). Go directly to coverage at firedoglake.

Say, Jimmy, isn't firedoglake doing what the Fourth Estate is supposed to do, that is, before it morphed into the loudmouth useless braindead Bushist fascist media whore media? Wasn't all of the media supposed to be defending truth, not truthiness? Truth, justice and the American way -- as Sidney Blumenthal does, here.

But let's take time to tippy-toe down Memory Lane, just a bit. Reviewing the arguments presented in the Libby trial, one does love the little constellation of, um, like NINE , count them, NINE persons to whom Libby somehow managed to "blurt" a CIA covert agent's identity!

But hey, it didn't happen that way, people. It was all about Rove. It was all about Twinkie Sneezing. It was all about being SO BUSY Defenderering the Universe. But In the end, boo-hoo, just as Bubble Boy had become the Deciderer, somehow Libby is now revealed as the Forgetter-er.

Oopsie.

Three words:

Unique
Importance
Anger

Good mnemonic, UIA. Why, it's almost like CIA, is it not? Alliterative irony? Libby's behavior with regard to "Wilson's wife" was Unique -- testimony suggested he was acting in unusual ways, calling people he never called, going way out of his way. Libby's behavior showed the Importance to him of this information-- making time for special two hour lunches, even though he's so busy being the Defenderer of the Universe. Libby's behavior was driven by Anger -- to which many witnesses testified.

On a totally different note, hmm, can anyone say "Sealed vs. Sealed"?

Oh, and here's a little photo of Richard "Big Dick" Cheney. And a big one.

Cheney at Auschwitz. Golly. We're feeling really Jungian today, have you noticed?

The Libby trial summation somehow is just making me feel, so, so -- sentimental! Sentimental about Big Dick!

How about you?




Libby trial
CIA
CIA leak

Scooter's Twinkie-Sneeze Defense

So, what's with Scooter "What kind of a name is that for a grown man?" Libby's twinkie-sneeze defense, anyhow?

His lawyer brings out 6 journalists who testify that Scooter didn't sneeze on them -- so therefore Scooter didn't sneeze on anyone else?

Holds up on the classic level of "it wasn't me it was the twinkie" thing.

Secondly, their testimony seems to be more about suggesting that Scooter was not leaking, not about Scooter not lying. Or that Scooter was leaking just a little bit. Hunh? So? And?

Plus, it seems that our own aspens-esque Scooter "What kind of name is that for a grown man?" Libby turns out to be, according to defense testimony, the actual oh-so-busy personal DEFENDERER OF THE ENTIRE UNIVERSE! Wow!


How stupid do his lawyers think the jurors are?

Purty stupid.




Fabulous live-blogging continues at firedoglake.
Nice piece by Sidney Blumenthal at Salon, here, all about Scootie's hubris problems, and more!
(One must bow down before the recent incisive Super-Libbyguy Personal Defenderer of the Universe Defense, which is that poor Scootie has SO much on his mind (absorbing info that appears each day in the New York Times) that he had NO MENTAL SPACE left to remember things like that he forgot Valerie Plame's identity before he remembered ti! Thus, therefore his failure to remember was just you know one of those things, even though he was SO BUSY SAVING THE UNIVERSE that really you'd think he wouldn't have had ANY TIME IN HIS SO BUSY UNIVERSAL-DEFENDERER SO BUSY SCHEDULE MUCH LESS ANY INTEREST in taking Judith Miller for a two-hour "working" lunch at the St. Regis? Hmm?)
Libby trial
Plame, CIA
CIA leak

CIA: Keep Our Torture Secret

C.I.A. Wants Prison Tactics Secret

They want their torture kept secret?

Hmm. Why would that be?

There's no transparency for torture?

Can you say, "consciousness of guilt"?

The Central Intelligence Agency has told a federal court that Qaeda suspects should not be permitted to describe publicly the "alternative interrogation methods" used in secret C.I.A. prisons overseas.

In papers filed in the case of Majid Khan, a Pakistani who is among 14 so-called "high-value detainees" recently transferred to the Guantánamo Bay detention camp in Cuba, Justice Department and C.I.A. officials argued that allowing Mr. Khan to disclose details of his treatment could cause "extremely grave damage to the national security."

"Many terrorist operatives are specifically trained in counter-interrogation techniques," says a declaration by Marilyn A. Dorn, an official at the National Clandestine Service, a part of the C.IA. "If specific alternative techniques were disclosed, it would permit terrorist organizations to adapt their training to counter the tactics that C.I.A. can employ in interrogations."

Hey, Marilyn, I think they've already figured out about the hold-your-breath-till-you-turn-blue thing, don't you?

. . Lawyers for Mr. Khan, who lived in Maryland for several years and is accused of researching how to blow up gasoline stations and poison reservoirs, have alleged that he was tortured while in American custody and falsely confessed to crimes.

Do you suppose that the guy may have falsely confessed because of the, you know, torture?

Intelligence officials have acknowledged that some terrorism suspects were subjected to harsh [sic]interrogation techniques, including sleep deprivation, exposure to heat and cold and a simulated drowning technique. Human rights advocates believe the methods amount to torture, which is banned by international law, but United States officials deny the charge."

Well, see, according to Bushist fascism, if you don't actually call it torture, then it's not torture, right?

WaPo here. NY Times here.

CIA torture
human rights

It's Spring. Must Be Time for More All-American Abu Ghraib Torture/Humiliation Pix

Personally, one feels definitely sure that Jesus Christ definitely would torture definitely naked men who are seemingly covered in their own feces. Thanks to their Christian captors. You know, the values guys. And gals.

See how very quaint are the Genevas? To wit:

humane treatment of prisoners of war

Prisoners of war must be humanely treated at all times. Any unlawful act which causes death or seriously endangers the health of a prisoner of war is a grave breach of the Geneva Conventions. In particular, prisoners must not be subject to physical mutilation>, biological experiments, violence, intimidation, insults, and public curiosity. (Convention III, Art. 13)

Prisoners of war must be interred on land, and only in clean and healthy areas. (Convention III, Art. 22)

Prisoners of war are entitled to the same treatment given to a country’s own forces, including total surface and cubic space of dormitories, fire protection, adequate heating and lighting, and separate dormitories for women. (Convention III, Art. 25)

Prisoners of war must receive enough food to maintain weight and to prevent nutritional deficiencies, with account of the habitual diet of the prisoners. Food must not be used for disciplinary purposes. (Convention III, Art. 26)

Prisoners of war must receive adequate clothing, underwear and footwear. The clothing must be kept in good repair and prisoners who work must receive clothing appropriate to their tasks. (Convention III, Art. 27)

Prisoners of war must receive adequate medical attention. (Convention III, Art. 30)

Prisoners of war must receive due process and fair trials. (Convention III, Art. 82 through Art. 88)

Collective punishment for individual acts, corporal punishment, imprisonment without daylight, and all forms of torture and cruelty are forbidden. (Convention III, Art. 87)

Kkeep in mind--there's more fun spring pix yet to come. The Department of Defense has pretty much given up trying to hide them, as others in the military who view the Geneva Conventions as non-quaint, have been leaking said pics and videos to the media.

When the DOD was still actively trying to prevent the world from seeing the effects of Rummy's "gloves-off-green-light-for torture" policy, their lawyers used this precious rationale:

Attorneys for the government had argued that turning over visual evidence of abuse would violate the United States' obligations under the Geneva Conventions, but the ACLU, supported by experts in international law, said that obscuring the faces and identifiable features of the detainees would address any potential privacy concerns.

Yes, just like the reichwing blowhard spinners said, it's not the actual torture and humiliating treatment that violates the Geneva Conventions, but the showing of the pictures that's the problem. Yes, and they're so concerned all of a sudden about not violating the quaint Genevas. A late enlightenment.

My favorite part has always been the Bushists' deliberate creation of an absolutely new species of humans--that would be sub-humans: "the terrists" -- who no longer deserve humane treatment, because they're just, well, insufficiently human.

(You know, sort of like Jews seemed to Hitler. Like educated people seemed to the Khmer Rouge. They just ain't yoo-man).

There is this little problem about the ritually polluted victims being sacrificed at Gitmo and Abu Ghraib turning out to be not Osama-types at all but goat-herders and truckers in fact, but well never mind. Someone's got to be the container of our psychologically-projected evil, do they not?

You betcha.

Gore: Bush "Repeatedly, Persistently" Broke the Law

Here, the AP story on the Martin Luther King Day speech by Al Gore, calling for a special prosecutor to investigate illegal spying on American citizens.

Complete text of Gore's speech, here; Quicktime video highlights available as well, both via Raw Story.

Gore called Bush's illegal surveillance program

"a threat to the very structure of our government." Gore charged that the program has ignored the checks and balances of the courts and Congress.

Gore said that Bush's actions — which the president has defended as indispensable in the war against terrorism — represented a "direct assault" on the special federal court that considers, and decides whether to authorize, administration requests to eavesdrop on Americans.

Gore said the concerns are especially important on King's birthday because the slain civil rights leader was among thousands of Americans whose private communications were intercepted by the U.S. government. . .

Gore said that there is still much to learn about the National Security Agency's domestic surveillance program: "What we do know about this pervasive wiretapping virtually compels the conclusion that the president of the United States has been breaking the law repeatedly and persistently," he maintained. . .

Gore was repeatedly interrupted by applause Monday as he spoke to the American Constitution Society for Law and Policy and the Liberty Coalition, two organizations that expressed concern with the legality of the surveillance program.

Gore, also a former member of the Senate from Tennessee, proposed that a special counsel be appointed by Attorney General Alberto Gonzales to investigate whether there have been violations of the law.

Referring to reports that private telecommunications companies have provided the Bush administration with access to private information on Americans, Gore said any company that did so should immediately end its complicity in the program.

"IF THE PRESIDENT HAS THE INHERENT AUTHORITY TO EAVESDROP, IMPRISON CITIZENS ON HIS OWN DECLARATION, KIDNAP AND TORTURE, THEN WHAT CAN'T HE DO? . . . A PRESIDENT WHO BREAKS THE LAW IS A THREAT TO THE VERY STRUCTURE OF OUR GOVERNMENT."



Hallelujah!




Gore
Bush
illegal spying