Tag: d.c.

In an effort to build a case for realistic hindsight, it’s high time to research the post- (if not pre-) 9/11 paths of current, former (and future?) Guantanamo Bay detainees in the “War on Terror.”

The AP sets an intriguing foundation for research/interrogation into the what/why with this report regarding the status of the 360 or so men released from detention since the January 2002 opening of Camp X-Ray @ Gitmo:

Once the detainees arrived in other countries, 205 of the 245 were either freed without being charged or were cleared of charges related to their detention at Guantanamo. Forty either stand charged with crimes or continue to be detained.

The WaPo’s A01 leads with compelling CIA testimony revealing some details of the spiriting away of alleged miscreants known as (my fave term of this young century) “extraordinary rendition.”

The June 2006 wiretapped exchange between two Italian secret agents uncovers plans to hand over suspects, including Abu Omar to the Americans. Unfortunate to read, but remarks from U.S. diplomats — namely John B. Bellinger, a legal adviser to Sec. State Rice, show a backwards recognition of circumstances, complete with denial and the notion that the U.S. still retains it’s powers of intimidation, etc:

“On the negative side of the ledger, we do continue to have these hysterical, inflated allegations denouncing the United States that unfortunately do fan the flames of suspicion and anti-Americanism.”

A series of question marks pop up — the road to mapping out this world-spanning web of alleged terror-management is taking shape. As active duty soldiers themselves begin taking a stand against the Long War , the U.S. government still contends it’s in a position to muzzle any and all dissent in the name of national security (whatever that is).

My preliminary sketchings include this map of the birthplaces of about half of the 759 detainees that passed through or remain at Guantanamo as documented by the Pentagon last May (see this .pdf).

As the big ugly picture becomes clearer, hopefully logic, remorse and reality will take some effect — as the WaPo also reports today, Canadian citizen Maher Arar, who was illegally deported by America and tortured in Syria remains on the U.S. “watch list.” All this in spite of the Canadian government’s $16 million judicial probe into Arar’s torture case His lawyers are asking that Ottawa compensate him $37 million (CDN dollars, I assume) for Canada’s cooperation with the U.S. in handing him over.

How pulselessly innocent must one be to not be presumed guilty? Will the Supreme Court find it’s own pulse? (see Hamdan / 2006 MCA)

Former SecDef Donald Rumsfeld evoked his madman self one more time in a memo submitted to the president prior to his “resignation” last month. The NYT has the story and the full memo.

Is Rumsfeld getting sympathy if not credit for what reads as a wholly ridiculous “sorry, buddy, I lied, we ARE losing” mea culpa?

Personally, I can’t seem to get past this particular passage:

Provide money to key political and religious leaders (as Saddam Hussein did), to get them to help us get through this difficult period.

It’s beyond me why this memo is grabbing headlines and moreso why it was considered by Baker’s Iraq Study Group. Their report will be released this week — its recommendations are expected to be resisted by the White House. But as evidenced by Paul Richter’s blunt reporting in today’s L.A. Times, Middle East leaders have had enough of Bush and his boys:

instead of flaunting stronger ties and steadfast American influence, the president’s journey found friends both old and new near a state of panic. Mideast leaders expressed soaring concern over upheavals across the region that the United States helped ignite through its invasion of Iraq and push for democracy — and fear that the Bush administration may make things worse.

In lieu of wasting anymore time on this rubbish, I’ll refer you to D-Day