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Today's
Stories
June 14, 2005
Forrest Hylton
Stalemate
in Bolivia
Fred Gardner
The
Raich Decision: All Power to the Feds
Steve Breyman
Doing
the Right Thing is Also Politically Expedient
Paul Craig Roberts
Enabling Evil: Bush's Willing Executioners
June 13, 2005
Gary Leupp
Another
Damning Document
Dave Lindorff
The Inca and Us
John Stauber
Mad
Cow USA: the Cover-Up Begins to Unravel
Fred Gardner
Supreme Indignity: Medical Pot Doctors Respond to Justice Stevens
Evelyn J. Pringle
TeenScreen: the Lawsuits Begin
Norman Solomon
Letter From Tehran
Winslow T.
Wheeler
Neo-Con Unfurls the Big Picture
June
10 / 12, 2005
Alexander
Cockburn
Thomas Friedman's Imaginary World
Sharon
Smith
Torturers and Liars: Masters of Deception
Brian
Cloughley
"Support Our Torturers!"
Chris
Kromm
Home Cookin': Pentagon's Base Relignment Plan Would Increase
South's Share
Heather
Gray
A Day in Mississippi: Some Things Have Changed; Some Remain the
Same
Kevin
Zeese
What the Left Must Learn from 2004: an Interview with Josh Frank
Mickey
Z.
The Pentagon Papers, 34 Years Later
Gary
Leupp
A Review of Sison's "At Home in the World"
Eli
Stephens
The Asshole in El Paso: Why Posada Carriles Matters
Nick
Dearden
A Scottish Band in the Occupied Territories
Oscar
Olivera
Recovering Bolivia's Oil and Gas
Robert
Fisk
Screening "Kingdom of Heaven" in Beirut
Michael
Dickinson
Oh My God!: Gunning for Blasphemers
Poets'
Basement
Engel, Albert, Louise, Ford
Website
of the Weekend
Gravity's Rainbow, Illustrated
June 9, 2005
Len
Colodny
Felt Was Asked Under Oath in 1975
If He Was "Deep Throat"
Christopher
Brauchli
From Baseballs to Hand Grenades
Ron
Jacobs
Light a Candle; Curse the Darkness
Dave
Lindorff
US Media Shamed by Brit Journalist
Katrina
Yeaw / Alex Schmaus
Repression 101: Anti-War Students Sanctioned at SFSU
Alan
Farago
Spin Machine Busts a Gasket in the Everglades: Fed Judge Whacks
Jeb
Saul
Landau
The Charmed Life of a Mass Murderer
June
8, 2005
Jim
Hougan
Strange Bedfellows
Deep Throat, Bob Woodward and the CIA
Alan
Maass
Is Bolivia on the Edge of Revolution? an Interview with Tom Lewis
Jason
Leopold
Enron Lives!: Former Army Sec. White
Wants Govt. Money for New Energy Scam
Niranjan
Ramakrishnan
Exit Right, Advani: Unpardonable Acts of Statesmanship
Dave
Zirin
The Rotting Soul of the 49ers
Derrick
O'Keefe
Bush's Terrorist: the Case of Posada Carriles
Diana
Johnstone
Non, Neen, Angelene!
Why Defenders of the "Oui" are Wrong
Website
of the Day
The Meatrix
June
7, 2005
Forrest
Hylton
Bolivia's Agony of the Stalement Continues
Greg
Moses / Susan van Haitsma
Pushing Back the Violence
Lenni
Brenner
What Madison Would Think About the Air Force Academy's Offical
Fanatics
Col.
Dan Smith
Liberation vs. Survival in Iraq
Joshua
Frank
Dean at the DNC: the Establishment vs. the Elites
Dave
Lindorff
Fair-Weather Allies: US Denies French Fighters Emergency Landing
Rights
Margot
Veranes / Adrian Navarro
Xenophobia in the Desert: Racist Fever Becomes Law in Arizona
Michael
Neumann
Sharing Music: Property Gone Wild
June
6, 2005
Stew
Albert
Everybody Must Get Busted: Supremes
Rule Against the Sick
Paul
Craig Roberts
Federal Bureau of Entrapment
Nicole
Colson
Inside Walter Reed Hospital
Ali
Khan
Friendly Renditions to Muslim Torture
Chambers
Jason
Leopold
When Will Rumsfeld Be Indicted?
Charles
Walker Poff
Rumsfeld, China and Hypocrisy
Ramzy
Baroud
My Grandpa's Right of Return
Rep.
John Conyers
Did Bush Deliberately Deceive America About Iraq?
Evelyn
Pringle
TeenScreen's Top Pusher
Gary
Corseri
25 Reasons to Impeach Bush
Website
of the Day
Save This 200 Year Old Burr Oak from Bible Thumpers with Chainsaws
June
4 / 5, 2005
Alexander
Cockburn
France's Magnificent Non!
James
Petras
The Centrality of Peasant Movements
in Latin America
Robert
Fisk
Who Killed Samir?
Patrick
Cockburn
My Father, Claud Cockburn, the MI5 Suspect
Rev.
William Alberts
When Pride in Power Corrupts: the Story of a Methodist President,
His Bishops and an "Incompatible" Lesbian Minister
Saul
Landau
40 Interns and a Mule: Will the Dems Ever Take Advantage of the
Republicans' Blunders?
Mario
Lamo Jimenez
Dante with a Brush: Botero Immortalizes Bush
Dave
Lindorff
What is the Media Running From?
Lance
Selfa
Why Bush is Getting Away with Murder
Tom
Crumpacker
On the Use of State Terrorism: the Posada Precedent
Joshua
Frank
How Beltway Dems Sank Dean for America
Fred
Gardner
Don't Bogart That Taxable Commodity
Michael
Dickinson
Roll Out the Barrel: Blood, Oil and Baku
Roger
Martin
We Can See, But Not Far Enough
Reza
Fiyouzat
Welcome to the Third World
Ben
Tripp
Romance: Advice from a Pro
Graeme
Greenback
Pardon Me, While I Piss on this Bible
Poets'
Basement
Smith-Ferri, Albert, Engel, Smith
June
3, 2005
Paul
Craig Roberts
Welcome to a Has-Been Country
Joseph
Massad
Witch Hunt at Columbia
Jeff
Halper
The Process of Transfer Continues
Tom
Barry
The Immigration Debate: Whose Side Are You On?
Bruce
K. Gagnon
Bush Seeks Military Control of Space: "It's Our Destiny"
Joshua
Frank
Bombing Iran: Facts Don't Matter
Mickey
Z.
Deep Throat as Sideshow
Gary
Leupp
"Peddling Lies About How They
Were Mistreated"
Website
of the Day
Tattoo on My
Heart: Warriors of Wounded Knee, 1973
June
2, 2005
Paul
Craig Roberts
The Slave Traders of the Gitmo Gulag
Forrest
Hylton
Bolivia: the Agony of Stalemate
Mike
Whitney
Post-Mortem on the 4th Amendment: Warrants without Judges
Brian
Cloughley
Anarchy in Afghanistan; Ignorance in America
Mazin
Qumsiyeh
A Two-State Solution is No Solution
Russell
D. Hoffman
High Tension at San Onofre
Norman
Madarasz
"Le Jolie Mois de Mai": the Meaning of the French "Non"
Norman
Solomon
War Made Easy: from Vietnam to Iraq
David
Price
The Shallowness of Deep Throat
Website
of the Day
Fallujah on Film
June
1, 2005
James
Petras
Beyond Hypocrisy: the Deeper Meaning
of Posada
Justin
Delacour
Framing Venezuela: US Media Bias
Against Chavez
Edward
Jay Epstein
Was "Deep Throat" a Fictoid?
Omar
Barghouti / Lisa Taraki
The AUT Boycott: Freedom vs. "Academic"
Freedom
Dave
Lindorff
When War Goes Off the Script
Kevin
Zeese
Reality Check: Who to Believe on Iraq War and Gitmo?
Jason
Leopold
When Presidents Lie
William
S. Lind
Wreck It and Run
May
31, 2005
Sen.
Mike Gravel
Thank You, Mark Felt: We Need a New
Deep Throat
David
Krieger
US Nuclear Hypocrisy
Tad
Daley
The Nuclear Me-Too Club
Joshua
Frank
Pelosi at AIPAC: Israel Comes First
Richard
Gott
Chavez Leads the Way
Norman
Solomon
Time to Get Serious About Impeachment
Tom
Segev
Our Man in the Territories
Walter
Brasch
Killing Americans with Secrecy
Diana
Johnstone
The French "Non"
May
28 / 30, 2005
Alexander
Cockburn
There's Their Way or the Galloway
Richard
Lichtman
We Wuz Framed! the Consolations
of George Lakoff
Sharon
Smith
The Road to Abu Ghraib
Paul
Craig Roberts
Bush Opts for Civil War in Iraq
Dave
Lindorff
Whigged Out: the Dems Have Become
Merely a Vestigial Opposition Party
Ramzy
Baroud
Muslims Were Desecrated, Not Just
Their Holy Book
Brian
Cloughley
Why Are Nukes OK for You, But Not for Us?
Fred
Gardner
Advice from a Lawyer About Medical Pot
Lee
Sustar
Chavez Gets Proactive
Joshua
Frank
Isikoff Comes Clean: "Nobody in the US Said a Word, Until
the Riots"
Justin
E.H. Smith
What About the People? a Report from Romania
Jackie
Corr
A Montana History Lesson on Assfulness
Michael
Kimaid
Bush as Ahab
Toufic
Haddad
Lessons from the Reversal of the AUC Boycott
Justin
Taylor
The Fear of Paul Virilio
Amir
Butler
Searching for a Saladin
Ben
Tripp
Insomnia and Sarcasm
Poets'
Basement
Albert, Engel, Davies and Louise
May
27, 2005
Gary
Leupp
It Really is a Crusade!
Daniel
Estulin
Infiltrating Bilderberg 2005
Kevin
Zeese
Iraq Withdrawal Vote: If Walter "Freedom
Fries" Jones Can See the Light, Why Can't Nancy Pelosi?
Robert
Fisk
Mubarak's Goon Squads
Dave
Zirin
Why Pat Tillman's Parents Are No Longer
Silent
Website
of the Day
Stuckists
Hot Stories
Alexander Cockburn
Behold,
the Head of a Neo-Con!
Subcomandante
Marcos
The
Death Train of the WTO
Norman Finkelstein
Hitchens
as Model Apostate
Steve Niva
Israel's
Assassination Policy: the Trigger for Suicide Bombings?
Dardagan,
Slobodo and Williams
CounterPunch Exclusive:
20,000 Wounded Iraqi Civilians
Steve
J.B.
Prison Bitch
Sheldon
Rampton and John Stauber
True Lies: the Use of Propaganda
in the Iraq War
Wendell
Berry
Small Destructions Add Up
CounterPunch
Wire
WMD: Who Said What When
Cindy
Corrie
A Mother's Day Talk: the Daughter
I Can't Hear From
Gore Vidal
The
Erosion of the American Dream
Francis Boyle
Impeach
Bush: A Draft Resolution
Click
Here for More Stories.
|
June 14, 2005
Jules Lobel for the Constitution
Outsourcing
Torture and the Stop-Loss Program
By
ROBERT KENT
In a recent episode of the Massachusetts
School of Law's legal show, Educational Forum, host professor
Diane Sullivan welcomes author and law professor Jules Lobel
to discuss cases he is involved in that concern government abuses
of human rights for both civilians and military personnel, here
and abroad. Lobel, the Vice-President of the Center for Constitutional
Rights, is noted for taking on difficult cases involving government
abuses of power.
The first case Lobel discusses with host Sullivan involves Maher
Arar, a Canadian businessman who was detained for questioning
at Kennedy Airport under suspicion of association with possible
terrorists, held for several weeks in the U. S., then flown to
Syria, locked in a rat-infested cell and interrogated and tortured
for a year. All this transpired without due process of law,
and without knowledge by the victim's family-all because of unsubstantiated
suspicions by security officials.
Discussion of this case expands into thorough coverage of the
government's special rendition program under which suspected
terrorists are flown in private jets to other countries, illegally
held, interrogated, and tortured for unspecified periods, all
without due process, legal aid, or notification of next of kin.
This case which plainly demonstrates our government's outsourcing
of torture to foreign governments, further illustrates how the
Abu Ghraib scandal, abuses at the Guantanamo Bay prison facility,
and many yet-to-be-exposed torture cases happened, and points
to the highest reaches of our government as the source and authority
for these practices.
While these scandals are written off in the mainstream press
as the work of wayward soldiers taking procedures in their own
hands, Lobel says that the duplicity and responsibility for these
actions clearly point to the top-to the obvious complicity of
Ashcroft, Rumsfeld, and most likely, the President himself.
Lobel points out that the Maher Arar case and numerous like it,
recall the dark words attributed to German reverend Martin Niemoller,
and speak to the urgency of bringing to light all related human
rights abuses:
First they came for the
Communists,
and I didn't speak up,
because I wasn't a Communist.
Then they came for the Jews,
and I didn't speak up,
because I wasn't a Jew.
Then they came for the Catholics,
and I didn't speak up,
because I was a Protestant.
Then they came for me,
and by that time there was no one
left to speak up
for me. (Rev. Martin Niemoller, 1945)
The second lawsuit Lobel discusses
with Sullivan involves the American military's personnel strategy
called the Stop-Loss Program, which the government uses to forcibly
retain military personnel.
Discharged soldiers are fraudulently enticed back into military
duty with an Army reserve program called the "Try-One"
option under which the re-upped soldier is only committed for
one year before deciding whether to stay or not. At the end
of a year, however, the soldier is not allowed to leave the armed
forces, and many are sent to Iraq.
The eight similar cases Lobel is handling for American soldiers
in Iraq all involve the recurrent themes of duplicity and fraud
being committed by our government. In several cases, the relevant
language stating the government's right to hold over soldiers
was wholly left off soldiers' contracts. In others, the language
is applicable only because government authorities claim it is.
This callous use of the Stop-Loss program points to the trouble
the military is now facing stocking a depleted army in a difficult
time when there is no end to the war in sight and popular opinion
concerning it is shifting. Lobel says the long range effect
of duplicitous maneuvers to keep soldiers in service will only
backfire, because soldiers will not join a volunteer army when
their commitment can prove unlimited in time.
When Lobel and Sullivan wrap up and draw conclusions relevant
to all the various cases, they point out that all involve duplicity
at the highest levels of national government. Because of the
obvious power possessed by these high level officials, however,
the mainstream press and practically all others are reluctant
to take on the powers that be.
Robert Kent works at the U MASS School of Law.
He can be reached at: rkent@mslaw.edu
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