More Problems with the Military Commissions

A military judge has refused to set a trial date for Guantanamo detainee Omar Khadr until the government complies with his order to turn over logs of Khadr's detention. Khadr was 15 when he was captured in Afghanistan. His military lawyers argued Khadr was tortured and that any statements he made as a result should not be admissible in his Commission trial. They claimed interrogators in Afghanistan threatened him with rape and abused him physically. One of Khadr's lawyers, Lt. Commander William Kuebler, stated "Picture a 15-year-old boy with those types of injuries being forced with his arms chained like this for extended period of time in Bagram, and think about the effect that would have on him and his willingness to co-operate with interrogators." The Toronto Star and Jurist have more details.


In another case a military judge barred Brig. Gen. Thomas W. Hartmann from having any more involvement in the first Military Commission trial. The judge ruled that Hartmann was aligned with the prosecution and therefore not neutral and unbiased. According to the NY Times, the chief Guantanamo prosecutor, Col. Morris D. Davis, stated "the general interfered in the work of the military prosecution office, pushed for closed-door proceedings and pressed to rely on evidence obtained through techniques that critics call torture."

Be the Change

We have hit some tough problems this semester - and your efforts are needed to solve these problems. You can do more than you think. As Robert Kennedy said:

"It is from numberless diverse acts of courage and belief that human history is shaped. Each time a man stands up for an ideal, or acts to improve the lot of others, or strikes out against injustice, he sends forth a tiny ripple of hope, and crossing each other from a million different centers of energy and daring those ripples build a current which can sweep down the mightiest walls of oppression and resistance."

So get involved...and here are some easy ways to do so:

Human rights and the treatment of U.S. detainees:







Extreme Poverty and the AIDS pandemic:











Darfur:










Tibet:





Feel free to add your own in the comments.

Con Law Updates

Quiz 4 scores are posted and the reading assignments have been updated on the online syllabus.

Review

Post your quiz review questions here.

Torture Authorized By Highest White House Officials - and President Bush

According to an ABC News report (video), "the most senior Bush administration officials discussed and approved specific details of how high-value al Qaeda suspects would be interrogated by the Central Intelligence Agency." These officials approved "enhanced interrogation techniques" considered to be torture by many - including the U.S. Army Field Manual. According to the report "some of the interrogation sessions were almost choreographed -- down to the number of times CIA agents could use a specific tactic." The senior officials involved were members of the National Security Council's Principals Committee including "Vice President Cheney, former National Security Advisor Condoleezza Rice, Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld and Secretary of State Colin Powell, as well as CIA Director George Tenet and Attorney General John Ashcroft." In response to the report President Bush told ABC News he knew and approved of the meetings.

At one point during these meetings Attorney General Ashcroft commented "Why are we talking about this in the White House? History will not judge this kindly."

Amnesty International
Human Rights First

Is U.S. Avoiding the Law by Trying Suspects in Afghanistan?

The United States has transferred approximately 50 detainees from its detention facility in Guantanamo Bay to U.S. funded prisons in Afghanistan.  There they are held indefinitely without any rights whatsoever.  This effectively circumvents Supreme Court rulings in Hamdi, Rasul and Hamdan that detainees are entitled to basic human rights protected in U.S. and international law.  Some of these detainees are being tried in secret Afghan military tribunals with evidence provided by the U.S.

  

See this International Herald Tribune story and this Washington Post story for more

  

Take action through Amnesty International.

Scalia Plays the Lyric

University of Baltimore
Spring Speaker Series: U.S. Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia
April 24, 2008

Time: 3:00 PM - 5:00 PM
Location: The Lyric
Contact Name: Office of External Relations
Contact E-mail: lawevents@ubalt.edu
Join the University of Baltimore School of Law in welcoming United States Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia to Baltimore. Justice Scalia will speak at 3 PM at the Lyric Opera House, located at 140 W. Mt. Royal Ave.

This event is free and open to the public, but pre-registration is required (see below for contact information). Seating will be on a first-come, first-served basis. Please plan on arriving early to ensure a seat.

Parking is extremely limited for this event, but several mass transit options are available. Baltimore's Light Rail stops 2 blocks from campus (University of Baltimore/Mt. Royal stop). In addition, Baltimore's Penn Station is approximately 3 blocks from campus and is serviced by Amtrak and MARC trains.

To register online, click here. For more information, email lawevents@ubalt.edu.