What Are We Hiding and Why?

The heady days of "hope" are long gone and we are now faced with the dilema of supporting a president most  of us only supported in theory.  He was unknown, untested and now, it seems, untruthful.  A man of the law who runs for president must completely comprehend and accept his campaign promises of transparency in governance and justice for ALL (not JUST US).  What is Obama protecting by messing around with linguistics in policy?  What have we done to maintain our security?  Why are lies and obstructions more pallatable to some citizens than truth and setting things straight?

The question that's haunting me is what could a person possibly do to make them "untriable?"  The answer keeps coming back that it isn't the prisoner who is untriable, but the legal system which "dissappeared" law abiding citizens.  Which brings us back to the question of what our president is  doing to protect and maintain our democracy, because democracy HAS to be for all, or it just ain't democracy.

I hope you have sufficiently digested and recovered from yesterday's food fest to stomach this.  And get ready when the news breaks out of our new Afghani Gitmo in Bagram.

(Image: Lance Page / t r u t h o u t;
Adapted: christophe dune / Flickr)

Obama's Fifth Category: The "Untriable" 

Tuesday 24 November 2009

[...]  According to The Washington Post, quoting an unnamed official, there are some 75 prisoners in this "fifth category." And the administration's position is that these people are untriable because the evidence against them was obtained through torture or because public trials would involve and potentially expose an unacceptable volume of classified material.

[...]  The Obama administration gave the human rights community apoplexy when it referred to "preventive detention." Now, it is simply saying that it's not going to seek any additional authority from Congress for such preventive detention. Which perhaps gives us a clue to the approach the administration has in mind. In a study by the Obama-friendly Center for American Progress, analyst Ken Gude suggests that the Obama administration "incarcerate detainees convicted in US criminal courts in maximum-security US prisons and transfer those who will remain in military custody to Bagram prison in Afghanistan." (Emphasis mine.)

That latter group would presumably include the untriable. Which appears to create a neo-GITMO at Bagram in Afghanistan.

http://www.truthout.org/1124094

Canada Flip Flops on Torture

Did someone get their nuts squeezed? Monsieur Bernier does look a bit, er, stressed. How awful to be stuck in a “diplomatic” position over reprehensible policies. You can't cover your ass and be a nudist at the same time!
The link to the original Reuters report follows the sorry attempt to reframe shit for brains:
Torture watch list with US, Israel not govt policy: Canada FM
1 day ago
OTTAWA (AFP) — Canadian Foreign Minister Maxime Bernier disavowed Saturday the inclusion of Israel and the United States on an official list of countries where prisoners can be tortured, and said the document would be revised.
"I regret the embarrassment caused by the public disclosure of the manual used in the (Foreign Affairs) department's torture awareness training," Bernier said in a statement.[...] Training diplomats to make them more aware of torture began after Syrian-Canadian Maher Arar in 2002 was deported by the United States to Syria, where he was imprisoned for nearly a year and said he was tortured.
A Canadian inquiry cleared Arar of all suspicions of terrorism and the Canadian government issued an apology and awarded him a substantial compensation. [my bold]
http://afp.google.com/article/ALeqM5g3U1eWP6wkS7eJJxucVIEFyrLz_w
Canada places U.S., Israel on torture watch list
Thu Jan 17, 2008 3:13pm EST
By David Ljunggren
OTTAWA (Reuters) - Canada's foreign ministry has put the United States and Israel on a watch list of countries where prisoners risk being tortured and also classifies some U.S. interrogation techniques as torture, according to a document obtained by Reuters on Thursday.
[...] The document -- part of a training course on torture awareness given to diplomats -- mentions the U.S. jail at Guantanamo Bay in Cuba where a Canadian man is being held.
The man, Omar Khadr, is the only Canadian in Guantanamo. His defenders said the document made a mockery of Ottawa's claims that Khadr was not being mistreated.
[...] Other countries on the watch list include Syria, China, Iran, Afghanistan, Mexico and Saudi Arabia.
http://www.reuters.com/article/worldNews/idUSN1762987120080117

Thank You, Congressman Nadler!

U.S. leaders apologize to Arar
'This was a kidnapping,' U.S. congressman says of Canadian's arrest and deportation to Syria The Star.com [Toronto] Oct 19, 2007
Tim Harper WASHINGTON–Republicans joined with Democrats yesterday to offer Maher Arar something he has never received from the Bush administration – an apology for the U.S. role in wrongly detaining him, then sending him to Syria where he was tortured.
The 37-year-old wireless technology consultant listened by video link from Canada as an American legislator provided the most damning, blanket condemnation of the government's so-called security dossier, which it maintains contains evidence that Arar still poses a threat to the U.S.
"There is nothing there," said New York Democrat Jerrold Nadler.
… The administration even denied him entry to tell his story in person, said a clearly agitated Nadler.
He said he could not recall having to go to such lengths to get a witness to appear before a committee, and said he looked forward to personally apologizing to Arar on American soil.
… The surprise was the reaction of California Republican Dana Rohrabacher, a conservative who defended the rendition program, but also offered heartfelt apologies to Arar and said that he should be compensated.
…[Delahunt said] "We've seen enough dossiers from this administration – dossiers on weapons of mass destruction and the link between Saddam Hussein and 9/11."
http://www.thestar.com/News/World/article/268463

Waist Deep in Our Big Muddy

What kind of a nation have we become? In the past week we've seen more coverage around civil society issues, such as the tasered student and a reverend trying to get back into court get tackled, thrown to the ground and beaten, IN THE COURT HALL! (See, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qiradcejA6o) The details of what happened in Jena, LA just makes it obvious we are being dragged deeper into the slag heap of moral decay. (See, http://www.nytimes.com/2007/09/21/us/21jena.html?_r=1&hp=&adxnnl=1&oref=slogin&adxnnlx=1190348677-kG+Shl91rQvz46yhB5eYHQ
Republicans blocked a measure restoring habeas corpus for detainees, making us the land of the disappeared, see http://www.nytimes.com/2007/09/20/washington/20detain.html and the Euro is now at $1.40, so we will have a harder time finding bargains with those European bitches grabbing them out of OUR stores. (see http://www.nytimes.com/2007/09/21/business/worldbusiness/21dollar.html?hp.)

But Carlos Arredondo deserved to be treated like a man, not attacked by bullies. This story is just tragic.

The People Who Assaulted a Gold Star Father
on September 15th

Here are photos of members of "Gathering of Eagles" who assaulted gold star father Carlos Arredondo in broad daylight in Washington, D.C., on September 15, 2007, throwing him to the ground and kicking him.

http://www.afterdowningstreet.org/carlos