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Today's
Stories
June
3, 2004
Paul
de Rooij
Palestinian Misery in Perspective
June
2, 2004
Brian
Cloughley
The Liars are Winning
Ray
McGovern
How Far Would They Go? Beware "Credible
Intelligence"
Josh
Frank
The Anybody But Bush Offensive
Mike
Whitney
The Afghanistan Failure: Bush's Warlord Patriots
Jackie
Corr
Iraq and Ireland: Three Tales from Butte, Montana
Robert
Jensen
The US Lost the Iraq War...and It's a Good Thing, Too
Alexander
Cockburn
"Bye, Bye Boonville!"
June
1, 2004
Gary
Leupp
Instant Karma: Bush's Sins Catch Up
with Him
William
A. Cook
Manufacturers of Fear and Loathing in
Rafah
Dave
Lindorff
Will the Times Clean House?
Kevin
Zeese
Inside the Kerry / Nader Meeting: Did
the Kerry Campaign Lie About What Was Discussed?
Jacob
Levich
Coming Soon: Return of the Draft,
a Bipartisan Production
Kathy
Kelly
Voices in the Wilderness v. the US
Government
Website
of the Day
Remind Us
May
29 / 31, 2004
Lee
Ballinger / Dave Marsh
The Origins of Memorial Day
Janine
Pommy Vega
Memo for Memorial Day
Mike
Ferner
On Their Way to Abu Ghraib
Alfred
W. McCoy
The Cruel Shadow: the Long History of CIA Torture Research
Douglas
Valentine
An Open Letter to the NYT: Questions, Questions, Questions
Chris
White
First to Fight Culture: a Former Marine on the Marine Motto
Bruce
Anderson
The Awful Injustice to Tai Abreu
David
Vest
Get Ready for Kerry's War: the 100 Year Quagmire
Saul
Landau
Torture: the Logical Outcome of Bush's War for Democracy?
Kurt
Nimmo
Abu Hamza al-Mazri, Made in the USA
Elaine
Cassel
The Secrets of Surveillance: Ashcroft, Snoops, and Gag Orders
Will
Potter
The New War on "Terror": Protest the Torture of Chimps;
Get Arrested as a "Terrorist"
Ben
Tripp
They Fiddled While Nero Got the Matches
Dr.
Susan Block
Save Abu Ghraib!
Kia
Kojouri
Nukes, the US, Israel and Iran: an
Interview with Sasan Fayazmanesh
Mickey
Z
D-Day: 60 Years is Enough!
Jon
Brown
Correcting the Correction at the Times
Patrick
B. Barr
Pre-emptive War Insurance
Stephen
Gowans
Bad Apples in a Bad Barrel
Tom
Gorman
Gore on Bush in Iraq: the Approach May be Exotic, But It's Hardly
New
Dave
Zirin
Fighting for Boxers' Rights: an Interview with Eddie Mustafa
Muhammad
Gregory
Weiher
Bush to Arabs: "Go Get Yourself Some Democracy"
Erik
Cummings
Jung Meets Bush
Poets'
Basement
Davies, Ford, Kearney, McLellan and Albert
May
28, 2004
Rafael
Rodriguez Cruz
Curtain of Silence on the Cuban 5
Greg
Moses
Bush's Misleading Speech on Abu Ghraib
Dave
Lindorff
Dissing Independent Contractors:
Those Who Do the Dirty Work
Norman
Solomon
Leaping for Lies at the Times
Rep.
Bill Delahunt
Bush's Cruel New Rules on Cuba
Paul
McGeough
Chalabi Baba and the 40 Thieves
Niranjan
Ramakrishnan
India and Nehru: 40 Years After
Alexander
Cockburn
NYTs: "Maybe We Did Screw Up...a
Little"
May
27, 2004
Amy
Goodman / David Goodman
Fatal Errors: the Lies of Our Times
Douglas
Valentine
Ragging the Dogs of War at the
NYTs
John
L. Hess
The Times Confesses...Kind Of
Stew
Albert
Dellinger, the Wrestling Pacifist
Dave
Dellinger
a 1993 Interview
Christopher
Brauchli
Tax Breaks for Scions...to Hell with Poor Kids
Rampton
/ Stauber
Banana Republicans: Pumping Irony
May
26, 2004
Ron
Jacobs
Goodbye, David Dellinger: He Was a
Friend of Ours
Robert
Fisk
The Things Bush Didn't Say in His Speech
Zeynep
Toufe
New Draft UN Resolution Permits Perpetual Occupation
Conn
Hallinan
Bush and Sharon: the Oil Connection
Tom
Stephens
2 + 2 is On My Mind: More Morons
and War Crimes
Derek
Medley
Protesting Gov. Bigot
CounterPunch
Wire
FBI Abducts Artist; Seizes Art
Andrew
Cockburn
The Trail to Tehran
May
25, 2004
Joe
Bageant
The Covert Kingdom: On Earth as It
is in Texas
Col.
Dan Smith
A Question of Human Dignity
Gary
Handschumacher
Visiting Lori Berenson: Time to Bring Her Home
Toni
Solo
A Developing War in the Andes
Marc
Estrin
September Song: Disturbing Questions
About 9/11
Stephen
Banko, III
A Vietnam Vet on "Supporting the
Troops"
Website
of the Day
The Wizard of Whimsy
May
24, 2004
Ron
Jacobs
Dan Senor is Safe!
Kurt
Nimmo
Dirty Tricks & TortureGate: the
Missing Taguba Pages
Sam
Hamod
Gen. Zinni: "Wrong War, Wrong
Place, Wrong Time"
Mike
Whitney
The Wedding was a Bomb
Stan
Goff
Open Season on MAMs
Image
of the Day
A Photo from Abu Ghraib We Didn't See on the Front Page of the
NYTs
May
22 / 23, 2004
Paul
de Rooij
Colin Powell, a Political Obituary
Jeffrey
St. Clair
When War is Swell: Bush and the Carlyle Group
Elizabeth
Weill-Greenberg
Her Son Was Told He Wouldn't See Combat; Now He's Dead: an Interview
with Sue Niederer
Brian
Cloughley
America is Committing War Crimes in Iraq
Saul
Landau
Democracy in Latin America: Great for Investors; Not So Good
for People
Brandy
Baker
Feminists Stand By Their Man: Abortion, Judges and Kerry
Randall
Robinson
Bushwhacked in the Caribbean
Uri
Avnery
The Rape of Rafah
Ben
Tripp
Assume the Worst
Bruce
Anderson
News from Ecotopia: the Truth About the Wine Business
Josh
Ruebner
Why I Burned My Israeli Military Papers
Peter
Wolson, Ph. D.
Exhibitionistic Revenge at Abu Ghraib
Chloe
Cockburn
In Defense of "Troy": What Hector Could Teach Rummy
Linda
Burnham
Sexual Domination in Uniform: an American Value
Adrien
Rain Burke
War of the Necrophiliacs: Spc. Sabrina Harman and Her Corpse
David
Krieger
Charting a New Course for US Nuclear Policy
Ron
Jacobs
Turnaround
Poets'
Basement
Ford, Albert & LaMorticella
May 21, 2004
Ray
Close
The Canards of the Apologists
Christopher
Brauchli
"The Object of Torture is Torture"
Amira
Hass
Darkness at Noon
Jack
McCarthy
Camilo Mejia: Can the Son of a Sandinista Get a Fair Trial from
the US Army?
Bill
Kauffman
Nader v. Bush
Omar
Barghouti
No More Tears for America
Ghali
Hassan
Moral Failure of the "Free World" in Gaza
Christopher
Reed
How the CIA Taught the Portuguese to
Torture
Website
of the Day
Eric Idle on the Bush Administration: Fuck You, So Very Much
May
20, 2004
Andrew
Cockburn
The Truth About Chalabi
Kathy
Kelly
A Visit from the FBI
Niranjan
Ramakrishnan
Brown and Bored of Education in India
Tom
Stephens & John Philo
The War Crimes of Bush, Cheney & Co.
Sam
Bahour / Michael Dahan
Genocide by Public Policy
Robert
Ovetz
Ending the Race for the Last Turtle
Billy
Wilson
The Most Important Thing I Learned at School This Year
Website
of the Day
Rafah Today
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.
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June
3, 2004
Subverting
Justice
Pre-trial
Ruminations in the Padilla Case
By
MIKE WHITNEY
"We now know much of what
Jose Padilla knows, and what we have learned confirms that the
President made the right call and that that call saved lives."
James Comey, Deputy Attorney
General; press conference
Yesterday, the Ashcroft Dept of Justice
made another contribution to its catalogue of government sanctioned
demagoguery. An appearance by Deputy Attorney General James Comey
at a press conference provided fresh allegations in the case
of "dirty bomber" Jose Padilla. Ashcroft's assistant
gave a lengthy dissertation on Padilla's criminal background
and links with al Qaida, knowing full well that neither Padilla
nor his attorney would be allowed to refute the allegations.
The notion of defending oneself is a foreign concept in today's
Justice Dept.
The charges against Padilla
were described in excruciating detail with the obvious intention
of terrifying the public and trying to enlist greater support
for the government's shaky case. Comey's soliloquy showed how
adept the Ashcroft Justice Dept is at abandoning all sense of
restraint in a blatant attempt to prejudice a case pending before
the Supreme Court. It's rare when we can observe the concerted
efforts of government employees whose sole purpose in life is
subverting the course of justice; a talent that is highly valued
in the Bush White House.
The Comey speech was a masterstroke
of cynicism. His tale of Padilla's alleged plot to "blow
up apartment buildings" hit all the right notes; the perfect
blend of originality and raw terror. Needless to say, he didn't
bother to corroborate any of the allegations, but what the hell;
the charges would show up nicely on the front page of every newspaper
in the country just as he had planned.
It hardly seems worth mentioning
that no one knows under what conditions these confessions were
"extracted" from Padilla. After all, the Bush Administration's
commitment to the humane treatment of prisoners is already widely
appreciated, so why should the hapless Padilla warrant special
consideration? Treating suspects with dignity might be "quaint",
but it's hardly an effective way to run a war on terror.
Presently, Padilla is sitting
in solitary confinement in a brig in Charleston, S. Carolina
where he has been for the last two years. As yet, he has not
been charged with a crime and has only met with counsel briefly
on two separate occasions. In the new regime, the president has
the authority to ignore these nettlesome problems of due process
if he is dealing with "really bad guys." His system
reflects the conservative approach to finding "common sense"
solutions to legal issues, rather than wasting all that time
in court negotiating with "flannel-mouth" lawyers.
("Don't they sue corporations?")
These cases are now decided
according to the discretion of the President; a man whose exalted
sense of justice sent 152 people to their death in Texas during
his tenure as Governor.
Fortunately, the US 2nd Court
of Appeals has slowed the process of railroading Padilla. On
Dec.13, 2003 it issued the following ruling; "We also conclude
that Padilla's detention was not authorized by Congress, and
absent such authorization, the President does not have the power
under Article II of the Constitution to detain as an enemy combatant
an American citizen seized on American soil outside a zone of
combat."
Following this ruling, the
Bush Administration was ordered to release Padilla within a 30
day period, an obligation they have failed to meet. Instead,
they have continued to keep him solitary confinement without
any process in place to challenge the terms of his detention.
In the Bush galaxy of injustice, the provisions of the Bill of
Rights are only applied when the emperor is willing.
Deputy Attorney General Comey's
long-winded summary of Padilla's vagaries was designed to scare
the public, but it was noticeably lacking in evidence. The allegations
that Padilla was planning to blow up apartments seems far-fetched
at best. Al Qaida targets (typically) have some symbolic value.
Either they are reminders of American hegemony or they are directed
at critical parts of the infrastructure. (ie. The World Trade
Center, Khobar Towers, the Pentagon and the USS Cole, are all
symbols of American dominance. Attacks on these, resonate with
those who share the same ideology) The attacks are not usually
just the random killing of innocent people, but carefully chosen
political targets. So, it's not likely that Padilla was serious
about blowing up apartments. It seems much more probable that
the Justice Dept invented the whole story to prejudice the outcome
of the case; a "probability" that borders on absolute
certainty.
I have excerpted parts of the
Q and A section of the press conference with James Comey to give
readers the feel for the Dept of Justice's response to questions
that were omitted in the establishment press.
QUESTION: Why don't you bring
criminal charges against him now?
COMEY: Well, what we're going
to do is use all legal tools available to protect the American
people from Jose Padilla. I'm not ruling out that criminal charges
might not be an option some day. We, obviously, can't use any
of the statements he's made in military custody, which will make
that option challenging. (Comment; the confession was "extracted"
illegally)
QUESTION: So you would you
describe the release of this information as a coincidence considering
that the Supreme Court is about the rule on the Padilla issue?
COMEY: Yes, I would. If it
had been done sooner, it would have been released sooner. If
it wasn't done from a month from now, it would be done. This
was a huge task, worked on very, very hard by a lot of people
who care that the American people have the information to answer
some of these questions....I'm not doing this to influence the
Supreme Court case (Comment; Does anyone believe this?)
QUESTION: You said that if
you had picked him up under criminal charges that he would have
gotten a lawyer, would have clammed up and would have walked
free. But couldn't you have done what the Justice Department
does thousands of times every year and offered him a plea agreement
to work with you?
COMEY: All the time we offer
plea agreements and people cooperate if we have a hammer over
them. The challenge of the Padilla case, for me as the United
States attorney, was the absence of a hammer. If I can't credibly
threaten criminal charges, no lawyer in the world is going to
tell their client to talk to me, because a good lawyer would
know, what I'm sure Mr. Padilla's lawyers knew, that if you just
clam up, they can't do anything with this. (Comment; An admission
that they had no evidence against Padilla)
QUESTION: So at this point,
you have no plans to present any of this to a grand jury?
COMEY: No, we do not have any
plans to present this, the information I've given you today,
to a grand jury. I don't believe that we could use this information
in a criminal case, because we deprived him of access to his
counsel and questioned him in the absence of counsel. (Comment;
They intentionally broke the law and realize they won't be able
to prosecute their case)
QUESTION: ... if you're not
going to bring charges any time soon and yet he has access to
counsel, where does that leave him in the long run? Does he remain
in military custody until the war on terrorism is over, whenever
that is?
COMEY: Well, that's an issue
that we are thinking about actively. As we understand the law,
the president has the power to hold him as a soldier of the enemy
until the hostilities are over, whenever that might be. But there
may be other options for him that we will explore. (Comment;
If they can't abort the law entirely, they will look for a technicality.
In any event, Padilla is not getting out anytime soon)
COMEY; Our goal is to do whatever
the law allows to protect the American people from this character
(Comment; "Forget the law; we're in charge now")
We can see that the government
has no more of a case against Padilla now than it did two years
ago when Paul Wolfowitz opined, "He (Padilla) certainly
wasn't at the point of having a specific target. He had indicated
some knowledge of the Washington, D.C., area, but I want to emphasize
again, there was not an actual plan. We stopped this man in the
initial planning stages."
The planning stages? No conspiracy,
no weapon, no motive....no nothing! This is the rationale that
has kept Jose Padilla incarcerated for two years without any
legal recourse? Shredding the Constitution and all of its "supposed"
protections for what? To rid society of a man who "might"
at some future date, have ideas of committing an act of terror?
This is "preemptive justice"
in its purest, most insidious form. It is the presumption of
guilt and the overturning of 200 years of American jurisprudence.
The only possible outcome of preemptive justice is injustice;
a result that has already been institutionalized by the Bush
Administration's flagrant disregard for the rule of law.
The 2nd Court of Appeals articulated
a "straightforward" resolution to the Padilla predicament
when it ruled; "Padilla will be entitled to the constitutional
protections extended to other citizens.
Charge, try, and convict Padilla.
But do so under the same rules and protections as are accorded
any other citizen of the United States."
These are sentiments we can
all support.
Mike Whitney can be reached at: fergiewhitney@msn.com
Weekend Edition
Features for May 29 / 31, 2004
Mike
Ferner
On Their Way to Abu Ghraib
Alfred
W. McCoy
The Cruel Shadow: the Long History of CIA Torture Research
Douglas
Valentine
An Open Letter to the NYT: Questions, Questions, Questions
Chris
White
First to Fight Culture: a Former Marine on the Marine Motto
Bruce
Anderson
The Awful Injustice to Tai Abreu
David
Vest
Get Ready for Kerry's War: the 100 Year Quagmire
Saul
Landau
Torture: the Logical Outcome of Bush's War for Democracy?
Kurt
Nimmo
Abu Hamza al-Mazri, Made in the USA
Elaine
Cassel
The Secrets of Surveillance: Ashcroft, Snoops, and Gag Orders
Will
Potter
The New War on "Terror": Protest the Torture of Chimps;
Get Arrested as a "Terrorist"
Ben
Tripp
They Fiddled While Nero Got the Matches
Dr.
Susan Block
Save Abu Ghraib!
Kia
Kojouri
Nukes, the US, Israel and Iran: an
Interview with Sasan Fayazmanesh
Mickey
Z
D-Day: 60 Years is Enough!
Jon
Brown
Correcting the Correction at the Times
Patrick
B. Barr
Pre-emptive War Insurance
Stephen
Gowans
Bad Apples in a Bad Barrel
Tom
Gorman
Gore on Bush in Iraq: the Approach May be Exotic, But It's Hardly
New
Dave
Zirin
Fighting for Boxers' Rights: an Interview with Eddie Mustafa
Muhammad
Gregory
Weiher
Bush to Arabs: "Go Get Yourself Some Democracy"
Erik
Cummings
Jung Meets Bush
Poets'
Basement
Davies, Ford, Kearney, McLellan and Albert
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