Entirely predictable. They’re getting all outraged and pulling the "activist judges" crap. Here, for example, is the editorial at NRO: As yesterday’s decision again demonstrates, this Court would rather impose its preferences on us than simply follow the law. We should find this unacceptable in any case. But when the consequences of the Court’s arrogance rise to the level of … Read More
Bin Laden Hearts Bush
Remember back in the 2004 election, when the GOP talking point was that bin Laden was rooting for a Democrat to win? It was repeated over and over again, and parroted by the media. Of course, that was just a talking point. The truth is, Bush has been berry berry good to bin Laden. Al Qaeda, once a fringe radical … Read More
Hamdan Perspectives
What Hamdan means — and doesn’t mean: There’s plenty of good analysis at OrinKerr.com and of course SCOTUSBlog. Orin Kerr also cites an interesting New Yorker piece about David Addington, Bush’s "legal mind behind the war on terror" It’s pretty clear from the Hamdan decision that Addington, among others, were simply barking up the wrong tree. The article quotes an … Read More
The Myth Of Al Qaeda
Michael Hirsch writes a convincing article on how, thanks to Bush’s wars, al Qaeda has emerged from a rag-tag group of (admittedly dangerous and occasionally successful) religious fanatics to a full-fleged global mainstream movement — all since 9/11. He concludes: But there was substantial evidence showing that, up to 9/11, Al Qaeda could barely hold its act together, that it … Read More
More on Hamdan: Torture and the Geneva Conventions, AUMF and FISA
Marty Lederman has pinpointed the BIG news about Hamdan decision, which is this: More importantly, the Court held that Common Article 3 of Geneva aplies as a matter of treaty obligation to the conflict against Al Qaeda. That is the HUGE part of today’s ruling. The commissions are the least of it. This basically resolves the debate about interrogation techniques, … Read More
Breaking News: SCOTUS Rules Against Bush On Gitmo Detainees
Just got the CNN email alert which says: The Supreme Court rules President Bush overstepped his authority with military war crimes trials for foreigners held at Guantanamo Bay in a case involving a former driver for Osama bin Laden. No full story yet. Obviously, I’ll be updating this…. UPDATE: Marty Lederman on what the Hamdan case is about: There is … Read More
Faux Outrage
The GOP/Bush outrage against the New York Times for supposedly spilling anti-terrorist operational secrets is bullshit. Back in 2002, the United States Customs Office was openly talking about Operation Green Quest, a program to track the financial programs of would-be terrorists. In fact, the government published a pamphlet about it. In fact, the pamphlet went into greater detail than the … Read More
Freedom Of The Press Threatened
The winger forces, including Bush himself, are screaming for the collective head of the New York Times for its article revealing that the United States monitors bank transactions of would-be terrorists. (Interestingly — or perhaps not — the rightwing wrath is directed solely at The New York Times, not at the conservative Wall Street Journal or L.A. Times, which also … Read More
SCOTUS News
Lot of things coming from the Supreme Court today. I’ll combine it all here: (1) In Hudson v. Michigan, a recent controversial decision involving the "knock & announce" tactics of police raids, Scalia apparently "twisted the words" of an eminent criminolgist to reach his conclusion. The criminiologist complains here. (2) SCOTUS announced today that it will hear a case about … Read More
Fighting Terrorists In Iraq So We Won’t Have To Fight Them Here?
Of the seven al Qaeda terrorists arrested in an alleged plot against the Sears Tower, five were U.S. citizens. While they are purportedly Muslim (except for the one Roman Catholic), it appears that none of them were of Arabic descent. Quick, let’s invade America! RELATED: Larry Johnson reminds us that the government has claimed to capture domestic Al Qaeda members, … Read More
A Laughable Bluff
According to the A.P. the U.S is weighing the possibility of shooting down N. Korean long-range ballistic missiles: [Pentagon’s Missile Defense Agency spokeman Rick] Lehner would not comment on possible use of the U.S. missile defense system, but two other defense officials said Tuesday that the administration is weighing responses to a missile test, including attempting to hit it in … Read More
The Dark Side Indeed
Here’s a textbook example of how it works with the Bush Administration. You can read about it in Bart Gellman’s review of Ron Suskind’s new book: Al-Qaeda member Abu Zubaydah was captured in March 2002. Zubaydah’s captors discovered he was mentally ill and charged with minor logistical matters, such as arranging travel for wives and children. The President was informed … Read More
Winning At All Costs?
Well, it seems clear that the two kidnapped U.S. Marines, now dead, were tortured before their lives were taken by beheading. [SIDENOTE: Already, the A-list conservative bloggers are attacking family members of the two deceased soldiers] There are basically two schools of thought on torture. The first — which is an honest position — is that we are fighting barbarians, … Read More
“Reasonable” Confinement
Unbelieveable: General Formica found that in the third case at a Special Operations outpost, near Tikrit, in April and May 2004, three detainees were held in cells 4 feet high, 4 feet long and 20 inches wide, except to use the bathroom, to be washed or to be interrogated. He concluded that two days in such confinement "would be reasonable; … Read More
Resurgence Of Taliban In Afghanistan
Bush 2004: And as a result of the United States military, Taliban no longer is in existence. And the people of Afghanistan are now free. (Applause.) In other words when you say something as President you better make it clear so everybody understands what you’re saying, and you better mean what you say. WH Press Secretary Tony Snow, this weekend: … Read More