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The New Print Edition of CounterPunch, Only for Our Newsletter Subscribers! How Cops Extort Confessions;
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The New Print Edition of CounterPunch, Only for Our Newsletter Subscribers!
How Cops Extort Confessions;
How the U.S. “Justice System” Really WorksNinety-two per cent of felony convictions in the U.S. are obtained by plea bargains or confessions. Without them the “justice system” would grind to a halt. In an important piece in our latest newsletter, available only to subscribers, Emily Horowitz shows how totally innocent people will “confess” under police pressure, even without physical torture. Horowitz outlines the powerful case for banning confessions altogether. Also in this new edition Marcus Rediker, co-author of the legendary The Many Headed Hydra, writes of popular heroism and resistance in the favelas of Medellin, Colombia. Alexander Cockburn reports on how America’s oldest bank, patronized by the global elites, washed billions smuggled out of Russia, and how the Russians might win their money back, shaking the world’s banking system if they do so. Serge Halimi describes the real battle for the soul of Europe. Get your copy today by subscribing online or calling 1-800-840-3683 Contributions to CounterPunch are tax-deductible. Click here to make a donation. If you find our site useful please: Subscribe Now! CounterPunch books and gear make great presents.
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Today's Stories August 21, 2008 Allan J. Lichtman August 20, 2008 Michael Neumann Ray McGovern Eric Walberg Fidaa Abed Daniel Haack Mike Whitney Website of the Day August 19, 2008 Paul Craig Roberts Deepak Tripathi Marwan Bishara Saul Landau William S. Lind Martha Rosenberg James Brittain Pratyush Chandra David Macaray Website of the Day August 18, 2008 Tariq Ali Gary Leupp Uri Avnery John Ross Farooq Sulehria Luis Rodriguez Manuel Garcia, Jr. Noah Baker Merrill Charles Thomson Website of the Day August 16 / 17, 2008 Alexander Cockburn Jeffrey St. Clair Deepak Tripathi Conn Hallinan Mike Whitney Robert Fantina Ray McGovern Nicole Colson Fatima Bhutto Jean-Luis Rocca David Michael Green Ramzi Kysia Dave Lindorff Lisa Martinovic Richard Rhames Don Santina Rannie Amiri Ramzy Baroud John Stanton Howard Lisnoff Ron Jacobs Seth Sandronsky Poets' Basement Website of the Weekend
August 15, 2008 Steve Niva David Remington Michael Winship Paul Craig Roberts Farzana Versey Harvey Wasserman Felice Pace Julian Critchley Website of the Day August 14, 2008 Saul Landau / Conn Hallinan Mike Whitney Reza Fiyouzat Ralph Nader Christopher Brauchli The Cheerleader in China Jack Bradigan Spula Patrick Irelan John Walsh Dan Bacher Website of the Day
August 13, 2008 Paul Craig Roberts David Remington Brian Cloughley Glen Ford Brendan Cooney Dave Lindorff Tom Lewis Stan Cox Alan Farago Martha Rosenberg Website of the Day August 12, 2008 Uri Avnery Anthony DiMaggio Bill Christison Eric Walberg Kate Connolly Diane Farsetta Peter Morici Thom Rutledge Lee Patton Niranjan Ramakrishnan Website of the Day August 11, 2008 Ishmael Reed Paul Craig Roberts Gary Leupp Douglas Kammen William Willers Greg Moses Jeff Leys Cynthia McKinney Alan Farago Website of the Day August 9 / 10, 2008 Alexander Cockburn Jeffrey St. Clair Bruce Jackson Kevin Young Chris Floyd Joshua Frank Robert Fantina Brendan Cooney Mark Almond Lois Gibbs Rev. William Alberts Kathy Kelly John Ross David Michael Green Bill Moyers / Ron Jacobs Richard Rhames David Yearsley Lee Sustar Brenda Norrell Ben Terrall Poets' Basement Website of the Weekend August 8, 2008 Patrick Cockburn Manuel Garcia, Jr. M. Shahid Alam Andy Worthington Lawrence J. Korb David Model Alan Farago Diop Olugbala Firmin DeBrabander Website of the Day August 7, 2008 Dr. Trudy Bond William Blum Paul Craig Roberts Ralph Nader Robert Weitzel Jacob G. Hornberger Binoy Kampmark David Macaray Howard Lisnoff Website of the Day August 6, 2008 Marc Herold Greg Moses Sheldon Rampton Kevin Young Michael Estrada Robert Weissman Dr. Susan Block Cindy Sheehan Ace Hoffman Website of the Day August 5, 2008 Paul Craig Roberts Jeff Halper Patrick Cockburn Nancy Welch Peter Morici Sousan Hammad Eamon Martin Shepherd Bliss Tim Matson Website of the Day August 4, 2008 Uri Avnery Saul Landau David W. Remington Rev. Jesse Jackson Dave Lindorff Peter Morici Joanne Mariner Ramzy Baroud Christian Wright Website of the Day August 2 / 3, 2008 Alexander Cockburn Jeffrey St. Clair Patrick Cockburn Winslow T. Wheeler James Abourezk Andy Worthington Brian Cloughley Robert Fantina Benjamin Dangl Marlene Martin David Yearsley Fatemeh Keshavarz David Michael Green Obama as Dukakis Harvey Wasserman Jason Hribal Phyllis Pollack Laray Polk Ron Jacobs David Macaray David Rosen Dan Bacher Joe Allen Poets' Basement Website of the Weekend August 1, 2008 Jonathan Cook Nikolas Kozloff Rannie Amiri Peter Morici Christopher Brauchli M. K. Bhadrakumar Patrick Cockburn James J. Brittain Dan Bacher Website of the Day
July 31, 2008 Michael Hudson Carl Finamore Mike Whitney Joshua Frank Andy Worthington Ralph Nader Bill Moyers / Robert Weissman Dave Lindorff Website of the Day July 30, 2008 Brian M. Downing Chuck Spinney William S. Lind David Ker Thomson Karl Grossman Mike Whitney Martha Rosenberg James Murren Dave Lindorff Ron Jacobs Website of the Day July 29, 2008 Jeffrey St. Clair John Ross Peter Morici Alison Weir Gary Leupp David Macaray Brenda Norrell Marjorie Cohn Eric Ruder Website of the Day July 28, 2008 Dr. Bryant Welch Kathy Kelly Mike Whitney Peter Morici Christopher Brauchli Clifton Ross Stephen Lendman Website of the Day
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August 21, 2008 The Driver and the Kangaroo-SkinnerThe Military Commission Trials, So FarBy JOANNE MARINER "We will continue to bring the world's most dangerous terrorists to justice," President George Bush said in 2006, explaining why Congress needed to pass a bill to allow detained terrorist suspects to be prosecuted in military commissions. That same month, the Republican-controlled Congress voted in favor of the legislation that the Administration wanted, and early the following year, the first detainees were charged. To date, the commissions have prosecuted only two people: a driver and a former kangaroo-skinner. Both were clearly not dangerous terrorists, at least in the view of the people charged with deciding their fates, and both received light sentences. The case of Salim Hamdan, Osama bin Laden's driver, is the first to have made it to trial; the other prosecution ended in a plea bargain. But the Hamdan trial, which ended this month, was at best a dress rehearsal for more consequential cases to come. It gave the government a chance to test out, in relatively low-stakes proceedings, some of the substantive and procedural arguments that it will rely on in future cases. To date, the US government has announced charges against 19 other men, including seven cases in which prosecutors are seeking the death penalty. While a number of these cases involve minor defendants like Hamdan, the seven death penalty prosecutions do not. Whether the seven defendants facing capital charges remain before military commissions, or end up being prosecuted in federal court, their trials will be closely watched and critically scrutinized. The trial of the alleged perpetrators of the September 11 attacks is, above all, the case by which the country's post-9/11 system of justice will be judged. If that trial is bungled-if it is seen as a sham-the whole of U.S. counterterrorism efforts will be badly damaged. The Hamdan Trial The two-and-a-half week trial of Salim Hamdan ended in a guilty verdict in early August. The defendant was convicted of five counts of providing "material support for terrorism" but was acquitted of arguably more serious charges of conspiracy. He was sentenced to five-and-a-half years of incarceration, which, because of time served, means that his sentence will expire at the end of the year. Although military prosecutors appeared outraged at the lenience of the sentence, the results should be understood, from a more strategic perspective, as a boon to the Administration. The direct stakes for the government were low; what was far more important was for the judgment to enhance the credibility of the military commissions themselves. While Hamdan was not acquitted, the fact that the commission found him not guilty on some charges, and gave him a low sentence on others, gave ammunition to those who claim that the commissions are not kangaroo courts. "We're pleased that Salim Hamdan received a fair trial," said a White House statement issued in the wake of the verdict, summarizing such views. But serious flaws in the proceedings were still apparent, flaws whose importance will be magnified in later, more high-stakes trials. Notably, the military commission's lax hearsay rules allowed government prosecutors to introduce into evidence inflammatory and prejudicial material that had little or no connection to the defendant. In addition, Hamdan's defense team received hundreds of pages of relevant documents-including information about reportedly abusive interrogations-only days before the trial began. Other documents trickled in after the trial was under way, making it near-impossible for the defense to conduct follow-up investigations. A key question-one that will most certainly crop up in future trials-involved evidence obtained under coercion. Although the military commissions judge excluded certain of the statements that Hamdan had made in Afghanistan, statements that Hamdan made at Guantanamo were admitted despite reports that he had been subject to sexual harassment, extensive sleep deprivation, and other abuse. Worse, the commission ruling that allowed these statements into evidence was so heavily redacted that its logic and reasoning remained hidden. Next on the Military Commissions Agenda Only one more trial-that of Omar Khadr-is scheduled to take place before the November 4 presidential elections. Khadr, a 21-year-old Canadian, was just 15 when he was captured and seriously injured in a firefight in Afghanistan on July 27, 2002. The US has accused Khadr of throwing the grenade that killed US Army Sergeant First Class Christopher Speer and injured two others. He is charged with murder, attempted murder, conspiracy, providing material support for terrorism, and spying. Although Khadr was a juvenile at the time of his capture, the United States has refused to acknowledge his status as a minor, or to apply universally recognized standards of juvenile justice in his case. Khadr's case is currently scheduled to go to trial on October 8. A few other cases-including those of Mohammed Jawad (who was only 17 years old when he was arrested), Ahmed Mohammed Ahmed al-Darbi, Mohammed Kamin, and Ali Hamza Ahmad Suliman al-Bahlul-have also made forward progress. It is possible that one or more of these cases may go to trial by next January. The Big Cases The most serious and high-stakes cases that are pending involve the five accused 9/11 defendants-Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, Ramzi bin al-Shibh, Walid bin 'Attash, Ali Abdul Aziz Ali and Mustafa al-Hawsawi-who are being tried together, and terrorist suspects Ahmed Ghailani and Abd al-Rahim al-Nashiri. The latter two defendants are accused of involvement in the 1998 bombing of the U.S. Embassy in Dar es Salaam, and the 2000 bombing of USS Cole, respectively. The defendants in these cases face not only the prospect of unfair trials, but also the prospect of the death penalty after unfair verdicts. By moving their cases to federal court, the next president could avoid this outcome. Joanne Mariner is a human rights attorney.
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