Security Check
Sen. Lindsey Graham Wants to Put Detainees Slated for Release Into DHS Limbo
March 10, 2010 | Posted by Danielle Belton
Sen. Lindsey Graham is proposing that the Department of Homeland Security take over the cases of detainees who've been slated for release. Not to free them, mind you. But to put them in a different jail from Gitmo. This is just among the many bad ideas Graham has about Gitmo in his effort to play "Let's Make A Deal" with the White House. But what makes any deal with Graham even LESS worth it is that Graham doesn't have the support to get the right wing of his party to vote for ANY compromise on Gitmo. They want it open -- forever. Graham's compromise keeps all the worst parts about Gitmo and Republicans STILL aren't happy, so why is the White House even bothering? Read More »
McCain and Lieberman: For Indefinite Detention of ... Everyone
March 09, 2010 | Posted by Danielle Belton
Right now Sens. John McCain and Joe Lieberman are floating a bill that would allow for American citizens to be detained without charge. Sure it's unconstitutional, an affront to our values and an invasion of government into our lives -- something conservatives always claim to be against -- but that's never stopped them before. Read More »
Welcome to Washington Politics at its Worst! KSM belongs in a U.S. Criminal Court
March 05, 2010 | Posted by Danielle Belton
The Washington Post reported today that President Obama's advisers are likely to recommend that he try so-called 9/11 mastermind Khalid Sheikh Mohammed in a military commission. Is there going to be a reversal from Attorney Gen. Eric Holder's initial decision to try KSM in U.S. court to suddenly an overly politicized stance? Why would the President's advisers push for a failed system from the Bush/Cheney administration that has been ruled unconstitutional on several occasions, has been rife with problems and has only convicted three suspects in ten years? All this because White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel is trying to win the approval of South Carolina Sen. Lindsey Graham? Who put the partisans in charge of our justice system? KSM belongs in a civilian court. Read More »
Deal or No Deal? NO DEAL Mr. President!
March 03, 2010 | Posted by Danielle Belton
Rahm Emanuel, President Obama’s Chief of Staff is wheeling and dealing over the closing of the Guantanamo Bay prison with Republican Senator Lindsay Graham (S-SC). Graham’s price for supporting the closing of Gitmo? Undermine the foundation of America’s system of justice and replace what we know works with what we no doesn’t. Rahm Emmanuel may think that this is a good deal. It isn’t. We need to tell President Obama not to take it before its too late. Read More »
Rahm Emanuel, Lindsey Graham Form Unlikely Alliance on Guantanamo Bay
March 02, 2010 | Posted by Danielle Belton
While we don't always agree, Sen. Lindsey Graham has said repeatedly that he's for the closing of the prison at Guantanamo Bay. Recently Politico reported that Graham is working closely with White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel regarding how to close Guantanamo. The White House and the Department of Justice are pushing for stateside, criminal trials for several Gitmo detainees while Sen. Graham is staunchly against trying detainees in civilian courts. Can an agreement be reached? Read More »
And Justice For None
March 01, 2010 | Posted by Danielle Belton
Last week the Department of Justice delivered a slap on the wrist for torture memo authors John Yoo and Jay Bybee. But what's more disturbing than the DOJ's reluctance to take on two lawyers regarding the illegal torture that occurred during the Bush-Cheney administration is the fact that it's 2010 and we're likely to never see anyone held accountable for breaking both U.S. and international law on torture. Read More »
Grassley Gets the Numbers Wrong on Guantanamo
February 25, 2010 | Posted by Danielle Belton
Sen. Chuck Grassley picked a not-so-new line of attack on stateside, criminal trials for Guantanamo Bay detainees this week. He claims it's more cost efficient to try the suspects at Guantanamo Bay. Maybe he doesn't know that the operating costs for Gitmo is between $90 and $118 million a year compared to the estimated $40 to $50 million it would cost to keep detainees in a facility like the prison in Thomson, Ill. Read More »
Glenn Beck Gets The Gold In Our Right Wing Olympics, But His Ideas Lose Big
February 24, 2010 | Posted by Danielle Belton
Right wing talking points on everything from torture to terrorism trials is taking a beating this week! Throughout CPAC the crazier the better it was for "getting tough" on terrorism. But as Beck said in his speech, "it is still morning in America. It just happens to be kind of a head-pounding, hung-over, vomiting for four hours kind of a morning," and who was delivering that CPAC hangover? A tall, stiff glass of the truth. First Gen. Colin Powell came out for criminal trials for terrorists and Guantanamo Bay detainees. Then Gen. David Petraeus repeated that he's for the closure of Guantanamo Bay and against torture. THEN a known would-be terrorist became the 73rd al Qaeda related terrorist to be convicted in New York City's courts since 2001 and, surprisingly, the world didn't end, New York didn't collapse into disarray and al Qaeda is not roaming the streets of lower Manhattan. The truth is really mucking up the works for those who'd rather play politics with our national security. I wonder what they're response will be to all this actual factual? I'm going with "The truth doesn't count because it didn't call shotgun before hijacking our narrative!" Read More »
Criminal Trials Work: The Case of the Would-Be New York Subway Bomber
February 23, 2010 | Posted by Danielle Belton
Najibullah Zazi pleaded guilty Monday to plotting to bomb the New York Subway system. He was never held in Guantanamo Bay. He was held in U.S. custody. He wasn't tried by military commission. He was tried in a U.S. court. And his trial was held in New York City, the same city he plotted his attack. He has offered to give up his contacts. He is giving up intelligence. And all this happened following the rule of law. How much more proof do people need that the right wing argument against criminal trials for terrorists is a purely political one? It's not grounded in any facts or logic or sound reasoning. It's just about creating a wedge issue to drive people apart and win votes in the fall. Read More »
Glenn Beck Going For the Gold In CPAC Olympics (Vote!)
February 22, 2010 | Posted by Danielle Belton
Voting is up through tomorrow to pick who wins the gold, silver and bronze in the battle of the Right Wing Olympics! Have you voted yet? Read More »
Colin Powell Backs Criminal Trials for Gitmo Detainees (Video)
February 21, 2010 | Posted by Danielle Belton
Former Secy. of State Colin Powell appeared on CBS's Face the Nation Sunday and came out in favor of stateside, criminal trials for Guantanamo Bay detainees. One has to wonder -- how will the Cheneys respond to that? We're guessing first a round of crickets chirping to be quickly followed up with a lot of blustering, bloviating and the usual shilling of fear-mongering hype. Watch. Read More »
CPAC: The Right Wing Olympics
February 20, 2010 | Posted by Tom Andrews, Ryan Anderson and Danielle Belton
Maybe you haven't noticed but it's a time for champions! Olympic champions in Vancouver! But there's another race afoot for the fastest and the fleetest in the world of conservative ideologues. It's called CPAC, where the stars -- past, present and future -- of the right wing come to shine. A place where torture is for heroes. Guantanamo equals security. And Dick Cheney is a rock star. Won't you help us dole out the gold, silver and bronze for these champions of ultra conservatism? Read More »
Is The Washington Post Pro-Torture?
February 19, 2010 | Posted by Danielle Belton
Washington Post Editorial Page Editor Fred Hiatt recently announced his latest hire -- pro-torture ideologue and former Bush White House speechwriter Marc Thiessen. We're calling on Hiatt to not hire Thiessen and not give him a platform to spread his dangerous pro-water boarding rhetoric. Read More »
Join Us: Tell Democrats to Fight Back
February 18, 2010 | Posted by Danielle Belton
We're sending a clear message to Democratic leaders: It's time to push back. Right now Congressional Republicans are promoting an election year strategy of attacking Democrats on National Security in order to divide the party. The issue they are going after is criminal trials for Khalid Sheikh Mohammed and other former Guantanamo Bay detainees. They want to stop the trials. We can't let this happen. Criminal trials for terrorism suspects are not only the best way to get justice, but demonstrate that we practice what we preach. By holding criminal trials we show the world that we believe in our system of justice. Join us in telling President Obama, Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Majority Leader Harry Reid to stand up to right wing attacks and fight for the rule of law. Read More »
The Real Fight For Criminal Trials
February 17, 2010 | Posted by Danielle Belton
As right wing Republicans increase their attacks on criminal trials for terrorism suspects like Khalid Shiekh Mohammad many facts are being obscured in the difference between criminal trials and military commission. Attacking the criminal justice system and the FBI for their handling of the alleged Christmas Day Bomber, many right wingers are ignoring the fact that our justice system has a long history of investigating, capturing, interrogating and prosecuting terrorists. Want to know more? We have the facts. Read More »
WATCH: Biden Goes After Dick Cheney On Terror Trials
February 16, 2010 | Posted by Danielle Belton
Vice President Joe Biden called out former Vice President Dick Cheney during the Sunday talk shows on Valentines Day. He was relentless in pointing out Cheney's hypocrisy, directly challenging Cheney's "memory" of the eight years of the Bush Administration. In Cheney's criticism of President Obama for wanting to prosecute terrorists in criminal court, Biden said Bush had done the same thing -- prosecuting more than 300 terrorists on U.S. soil and locking them up in federal prisons. Cheney then admitted that he was for waterboarding suspected terrorists, operating outside of the law, even as President Bush had moved away from the tactic in his second term. Watch Biden slap down Cheney after the jump. Read More »
The Politics of Justice
February 16, 2010 | Posted by Danielle Belton
The President is re-injecting himself into the debate over the civil trials of Khalid Shiekh Mohammed and four others, and Attorney General Eric Holder has started to change his rhetoric on the importance of holding civil trials. What's going on? What changed between now and when Holder made his announcement in November? Things got "political." Partisan and political. What should have been standard-operating-procedure -- trying terrorism suspects in American courts -- has become a round-robin of recriminations as the right wing attacks the Obama Administration for doing something the Bush Administration did hundreds of times -- prosecute and convict terrorists in US courts. Read More »
New Yorker Magazine Looks at Tough Times for Holder, Terrorism Trials
February 11, 2010 | Posted by Danielle Belton
It's not going to be easy to prosecute terrorism suspects. Not when people on the right demagogue the rule of law. Check out Jane Mayer's piece in The New Yorker where she takes a look at how poisonous the political environment has become as the right wing attacks the Justice Department for trying to prosecute terrorists. Read More »
Fear: The Wedge Issue For All Political Seasons
February 10, 2010 | Posted by Danielle Belton
Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell has read the political tea leaves (re: polls) and has learned that National Security is the ticket! And by ticket, we mean a great thing to use as wedge issue to divide Democrats, spread fear and misinformation to the American public and, *Sen. McConnell crosses fingers* lead to victory in the fall. Read More »
Brennan: Republicans Playing “Political Football” On National Security
February 08, 2010 | Posted by Danielle Belton
What do Rep. Pete Hoekstra, Senate GOP leader Mitch McConnell, House Minority Leader John Boehner and Republican Sen. Kit Bond all have in common? As soon as the would-be Christmas Day underwear bomber, Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, was apprehended and under questioning, these Republicans were notified that he was in FBI custody. Did they ask about how the suspect would be handled? Did they object to him being read his Miranda Rights? Did they raise one eyebrow in protest? Not if you ask White House counterterrorism chief John Brennan who said he briefed these men the night of the incident. Yet now they're Obama and the Department of Justice's largest critics. I wonder how that came about? Obviously "weak on terrorism" was polling higher than "follow the rule of law" the next day. Let the games of "political football" begin.
Read More »
