Login HereI really have too many e-mail accounts. I also am subscribed to too many e-mail lists on these e-mail accounts. The end result is that I sometimes miss it when I'm sent stories such as this one:
CIA photos 'show UK Guantanamo detainee was tortured'
By Robert Verkaik, Law Editor
Published: 10 December 2007
Lawyers for a British resident who the US government refuses to release from Guantanamo Bay have identified the existence of photographs taken by CIA agents that they say show their client suffered horrific injuries under torture.
The photographic evidence will be vital to clear Binyam Mohammed, 27, who the Americans want to bring before a Military Commission on charges of terrorism, say his lawyers.
Last week it emerged that Britain had negotiated the release of four detainees who have British residence status but Mr Mohammed, who speaks with a London accent, and at least three others are being held back.
In a letter sent to the Foreign Secretary David Miliband, Britain is urged to ask the US to stop the CIA destroying the pictures.
Clive Stafford-Smith, the legal director of Reprieve representing Mr Mohammed, said that he also knows the identity of the agents who were present when his client was allegedly beaten and tortured. Writing to Mr Miliband, he said: "Given the opportunity, we can prove that the evidence was the fruit of torture. Indeed, we can prove that a photographic record was made of this by the CIA. Through diligent investigation we know when the CIA took pictures of Mr Mohammed's brutalised genitalia, we know the identity of the CIA agents who were present including the person who took the pictures (we know both their false identities and their true names), and we know what those pictures show."
The wounds to Mr. Mohammed allegedly include a "slashed" penis, among other things.
Now, one would think that the mere accusation of such brutal treatment -- especially in the midst of the Democrats in Congress probing the CIA's destruction of videotapes documenting torture -- would have immediately made it to the front pages of America's newspapers, as well as the lead-news slot on our evening TV news programs.
But one would be wrong. Google News turned up bupkis on this for the past week:
What does that tell you about our wonderful media, friends?
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Hi there, PW
That is some serious Fuckery, PW!
Since we are discussing Muslims:
“Former senator Bob Kerrey, who recently endorsed Sen. Hillary Clinton’s presidential campaign, said during a television appearance on Monday that her primary opponent, Sen, Barack Obama, attended a “secular madrassa” as a child.
Kerrey was in the process of lauding Obama’s capacity to connect with the Muslim world when he made the claim, which has been discredited.”
Hate to be off here in the weeds, but the ’site meter’ shows that today was not a heavy usage day — it was a typical weekday for number of visits.
Query: What’s wrong with the site? And it is this site, not any of the others that I have visited today. Is there something at FDL that explains the very odd behavior today? Or not?
(Couldn’t load this comment to last thread for a while: ‘database error’ again.) (Finally was accepted to last thread; loading here to see if behavior is different.)
Please say something soothing so that I can put away my tinfoil.
I think Jane said earlier today they were having a “touch” of the DOS attack.
yep, a bit of it today.
PW…holy shit.
Once again, I am rendered speechless, but not for long. All I can think of is that there is a gestapo-like mentality permeating these torturers and those that order the torture.
More Neofascist behavior. Somehow, I have a sneaky feeling this has something to do with the destruction of the CIA tapes…timing and all. I get the feeling that a whole lot more really horrendous revelations are going to come out soon about what fuckery this Administration has really been up to.
The repetitive reports exhibiting and apparent obsession with the demasculation of torture subjects is particularly telling of some seriously deranged thinking.
Someone did blog this story last week—I think Larisa. (rustle, rustle) Yes, at her blog.
But, you know, the Independent is hardly obscure, you’d think someone would have picked it up from there, ‘lessn they was told it was none o their bizness.
(Techies, I’m having database problems that others have mentioned. This post might show up, but I can’t get preview and might even have to ditch the page and come back to read new comments.)
The wounds to Mr. Mohammed allegedly include a “slashed” penis, among other things….
“Hey, there’s nothing wrong with giving someone an unpleasnt afternoon !!”
Love,
Cliff May
I read that last week on After Downing Street. Just tracked down the story: looks like it was from the Miami Herald: herewith the link
The UK’s Guardian ran a detailed account of the poor man’s abuse a bit over two years ago. If you feel charitable, you might think that the MSM thought that it was no longer newsworthy. But then you’d have to see whether they ever had found it newsworthy.
OT: “The Advocate” (America’s foremost gay and lesbian magazine) has awarded the 2007 “Sissy Grandpa” award to Vice President Dick Cheney. We are SO going to war with Iran now.
The Telcoms exacting their revenge? Hmmm… ;-)
Anything is possible in a world where we are still debating whether waterboarding is torture.
You see, that’s exactly my point: if there had been a typical DOS attack, then shouldn’t the flood of hits have shown up on the ’site meter’? Instead, we have had an weekday just like last week (look at the 7-day review of total number of visitors). So, if it was a DOS attack, what kind was it? Rather surgical and specialized?
The Telcoms exacting their revenge? Hmmm… ;-)
I think they shoved a potato up our exhaust toobz.
And it’s still there…
The MSM is committed to not reporting the news. If it were we would not have gone into Iraq. And we wouldn’t be having these discussions.
And — BTW — the slowdown is still present. Things are taking f o r e v e r .
It might be as simple as school out for the holidays and people are off shopping and or travelling to see relatives…
All I want for Christmas
is my liberties,
my liberties,
my liberties…
I also was having trouble filing comments near the end of the previous thread. Was getting “database connection error” messages. Finally got through. Dell PC, Firefox.
Frustrating. To say the least.
I wonder whether Attorney General Mukasey has an opinion on whether “brutalized genitalia” constitutes torture…
We may be feeling what Net Partiality (as opposed to Net Neutrality) feels like. Personally, I don’t like it. It feels as though someone is jerking my chain without telling me the reason or asking my permission. Something inside starts to growl.
This is awesome…
http://chrisdodd.com/blog/dodd.....sa-victory
In a later post they give thanks to FDL…
This is sick, and needs treatment. I prescribe impeachment immediately.
It did, it was almost up to 10,000 per hour for awhile, but that doesn’t explain the whole day…something was up.
We in this house signed the petition sent to Harry Reid reminding Mr. Reid to support Senator Dodd in this telecom business. Have you done that yet?
War Crimes.
How much more evidence does the world need????
The cruelty……just sickening.
Hello, everyone!
Looks like Reid’s pulled the telco bill!
But of course, Mon Ami… 8-)
What is there to know about our wonderful media? Show me a link to today’s FISA events that is not a liberal blog. Reuters and NYT got it wrong, and I’m not finding a mention anywhere else.
CTuttle — yes, it is!
The understanding is that it will reappear next month?
Countdown mentioned. Correctly.
Hello PW. What a day, huh?
Here is Reid’s thank you for the contribution:
Dear Terry,
Thank you for your generous contribution to my Presidential campaign. With your help I can continue the fight to bring our nation back on track and to restore America’s promise.
While I deeply appreciate your financial assistance, I also encourage you to keep in touch and let me know your thoughts on the issues that matter to you. Keep checking my website for updates as I travel around the country.
Again, thank you for your contribution. I will continue to work hard to maintain the confidence you have shown in me and I thank you for your continued support and friendship.
Warm regards,
Chris Dodd
It will be interesting to see how the MSM pundits spin Dodd’s effort today and Reid’s pulling of the bill.
Re: Dodd…Hit this site too, I did:
http://blog.wired.com/27bstrok.....t-93973644
“Democrats Cave on Telecom Bill”
PW, this is an important post. I don’t know where it’s going, but I guarantee you…they’ve got real evidence.
Bushco…you are so toast.
Huggities to everyone!
“Democrats Cave on Telecom Bill”
I think you mean Dodd’s thank you, not Reid’s.
Yes, but, Dodd has promised to filibuster it if it contains immunity…!
One would have also thought that the FISA debate about how to take away our 4th Amendment rights would have been on the front pages somewhere but alas no.
I faxed all the Senators on the list and my own two. I also emailed the info to lots of people and Louisiana Democrat lists on Yahoo. So basically no one knew the vote was today because of Reid’s switcharoo combined with the fact that the traditional media was not covering it.
Oh and it still got tabled thanks to activists who got the word out and Senator Dodd! Yeah! Thank you so much Senator Dood, keep up the patriotic work. We have your back, although I know you couldn’t live with yourself if you did nothing and well…neither could I.
I hope you have a peaceful holiday Senator Dodd. You are the type of person we need leading this country. More please.
Something is happening here. What it is ain’t exactly clear.
Something is happening here. What it is ain’t exactly clear.
Mods?
Techies?
wow. i made 50+ calls just today, and i’ve never registered any of them on dodd’s site. i bet there are tons of people who, like me, made their calls, etc on their own.
Why did Reid pull this bill. Are we in for s’more Reidism?
OMG, you are so right. I was happy with Reid today too, but I sure didn’t send him any dinero!
Yes, but, Dodd has promised to filibuster it if it contains immunity…!
That’s Leadership, Folks! 8-)
Dodd. He da man.
Well, of course they would, and thank God for that. But CNN, MSNBC, ABC - their headlines have nary a mention. I’m trying to figure how a well intentioned, non-political junkie person would know much about anything in the world. Say you are trying to be better informed, but you don’t have much time. Logically, I think, you’d go to CNN, ABC, MSNBC, etc., and start with the headlines, then dig deeper as time permits. But if the headlines don’t even hint that more than a few things are even there to dig into…what to do?
This FISA business is truly huge! And the silence is deafening. But then, the wars are barely mentioned either, now that I think of it.
But there, there: according to ABC, Bush says the U.S. economy is safe and sound, so not to worry.
Is that a late entry to the Late Late Nite Protest Song Competition?
Did I ever mention that I love ya, Selise? *g*
I made some calls to my two Senators, their staffers seemed a little harried… ;-)
More from the Dodd folks!
Mind you, this is just what went to Congress via Dodd’s site. This isn’t counting the stuff that DFA did, or the phone calls by us or by folks at Daily Kos or Eschaton or countless other sites.
From http://chrisdodd.com/blog/some-stats-fisa-activism –
It would be perfect!
love ya too!
in fact - i love the whole world today. *g*
please, no pricking of my happy bubble. i’m gonna enjoy this one today. i’ll go back to cynicism and worry tomorrow.
I can imagine Mukasey’s response: “Well, it would depend upon the circumstances. You would have to look at the opinions from the Office of Legal Counsel and consider the President’s Article II powers. Finally, I would have wait for Dick Cheney to tell me what I think about it.”
It’s about the leadership.
I love you too, selise. You are a patriot that the obscure historians will hail in the future, if not now.
HUGS, SELISE!
NYT headline: “Telecom Industry Wins a Round in Eavesdropping”
Reuters headline: “Bush’s Phone Immunity Bill Wins Senate Vote” which was later amended to “Bush’s Phone Immunity Demand Wins Initial Senate Vote” which has now morphed into “Senate Postpones Consideration of Spy Bill”.
EW has links.
Heh, business as usual…
I’m curious about how much $$$ Dodd has collected today.
Up until this afternoon my voting aged children have barely tolerated my talking about what has been going on in our names, but they were in the livingroom when Senator Dodd was speaking on CSPAN 2 and his words got their attention. Suddenly it wasn’t mom’s opinion or just politics. All I can say is Thank you Senator Dodd, thank you for doing the right actions at the right time.
Yes indeed! . ((((selise)))).
(((loo hoo and all fld)))
Fuckery
Huggles to everyone! Free drinks on the house!
Cheers!!! Woo, Woooooooot!!!!!
uh, oh. nothing from me yet. better go fix that.
i figure even if i can only give a little at least it ad it helps with the overall number of donations. and lots of little bits can add up.
I’ll bet it’s in the high six figures, Loo Hoo.
Ummmm….we really have to get after Orrin Hackalugy for attacking the blogs today…that was really despicable. Major desperation, but still…despicable toward his fellow citizens.
Here’s Dodd’s site to contribute…
Hoping he can outdo Ron Paul.
But, LS, he had to attack some strawman, why not the Blogs? We’re the current fave of the Repugs…
I am tempted to say let George W. Bush suffer the same tortures he has sanctioned. I will not. For to do so would serve only to lower myself to his level.
How’s Rick Santorim doing tonight? Macaca?
Free drinks on the house!
Scotch & Soda on the rocks, please. Hold the Scotch.
Trying to make sure my thank you list is correct.
Dodd, Kennedy, Feingold, Boxer, Wyden, all did very well on the floor today.
Ten correct votes this morning: Dodd, Wyden, Hawkins, Kerry, Menendez, Boxer, Brown, Cantwell, Cardin, Feingold.
Am I missing any other senator worthy of thanks?
George Bush must have his day in court. He must be tried for his crimes against humanity.
A “secular madrassa” would be a non-religious madrassa (or school), which is what Obama attended for a few years. Just slime-bag Bob Kerrey trying to smear.
dodd had a list of people he thanked today. boxer was on it…. hmmm.. let me go check my recording.
ooops - you already had boxer. my bad. but i’ll still check the recording for you.
americablog has the list here
http://www.americablog.com/200.....uster.html
Isn’t Kennedy supposed to be on that list?
I’ll take the Scotch…hold the soda, hold the rocks…
Nevermind, make mine Tequila…/s
His in-house Blogger thanked the Lake too…
The 20th. century has produced many men of monstrous infamy. Among these, one was Russian. One was Austrian. And one is American.
I’ve had my say for the day. Goodnight. Merry Christmas. And a very happy new year.
Kennedy was in top form on the floor and he explained why he didn’t vote with the gang of ten..but I forget what he said.
My thanks go to Jane and Christy, for spearheading the push here at FDL, and to all the Firepups who hit the phones and faxes over the weekend and especially today.
It’s a marathon, not a sprint — but we can do a Snoopy happy dance along the way tonight!
Heh!!! Kiddo you rock!!
.Hmmm, yes, Kennedy. So perhaps it’s not definitive.
I’ve written 5 comments that I’ve then erased before posting…
That is a “tell” I guess as to how passionate I am but….I guess NSA is reading them anyway…waving!!! Hey guys/gals….doesn’t this piss you off????? Don’t you want liberty and justice for all??
Yeah!
It is not over by a longshot.
Regroup for freedom.
The NSA should be ashamed of themselves.
I find it pathetic that this country is so biased against Muslims that stating a fact is a smear.
Absolutely!!! NSA…go to your room…if you behave, you can have a treat…like freedom from domestic spying on your own families!!!!!! Or, freedom from a boss that tortures people….!!!!!!!! Get that!!???
I thought you did, now eat your cookies and behave…you can watch a movie if you would like to…NO..not that kind of movie!!
kennedy, feingold, wyden, bill nelson, boxer, brown, everyone who came to the floor to express their concerns, principally about this provision. and again i thank the majority leader, senator reid, who certainly gave me the opportunity to continue this effort. he has, at his disposal, procedures he could engage in. he did not utilize those. he allow this senator to make his case here, to extend this debate to 30 hours, which was what i was prepared to do, then offer amendments and engage in extended debate if necessary to stop this from going forward. that will apparently not be necessary now to engage in those efforts. so, i’m grateful to him that we are moving on to other issues here, grateful to my colleagues who gave me the chance to make this case… and hopeful that when we once pass fisa legislation , it will not include retroactive immunity. that would be the wrong thing to do
LS, you explicky da business like nobody else can. Love ya!
Why doesn’t Dodd bring up the fact that Bush wanted to spy on Americans before 911? It seems relevant to me.
christy came back from vacation just in time!
so shrub, the compassionate conservative president, goes medieval on us… our very own Elizabeth Bathory
Just got this email from Dodd’s campaing:
yes. pathetic.
Think he did, around mid-afternoon California time. Others may have as well, can’t recall who.
Why doesn’t Dodd bring up the fact that Bush wanted to spy on Americans before 911? It seems relevant to me.
I’m not sure he didn’t. Kennedy definitely did.
Here…an early present for those that have been through this grinder today…this pretty much recreates the feelings I experienced …I’m serious..sort of, but yes, I am (very serious facial expression):
http://www.biertijd.com/mediaplayer/?itemid=4262
selise, I asked earlier today if it were possible that Reid allowed or encouraged Dodd to make his statements today for good reason. I had to go back to work, so I’m wondering, is it possible that Reid set it up so that Americans had a chance to hear Dodd? Or was it just the fact that Dodd worked alone to force this issue being postponed.
Anyone?
Luv ya too Mon…check out the squirrrrrrel video…
for anyone who missed today’s exciting events on c-span… the archives should have the day’s webcast posted here in a day or so.
He absolutely did!!!
I would guess that one (or both) of 2 things changed Reid’s “mind”: the donations that Dodd has received, and/or Glenn’s petition. He was eating crow, and I don’t mean Raven.
I haven’t been on the ball today. I should go back and read all that was said. Thanks.
do not know. will have to see how this all plays out over the coming weeks to judge.
Anyone know whether there’s any chance of Reid switching over to the SJC version as the base? Of course telco immunity could still be added to that as an amendment.
LOL
he said his office had gotten thousands of phone calls and emails.
Loo Hoo, it was Dodd, not Reid! If Reid had honored Dodd’s hold on Telcom Immunity, we’d have avoided this scenario entirely…
I like the way it all fell out. Wonderful to see adults in charge for a change.
See my 111. Reid would’ve brought the Judiciary version to the floor if he had anticipated this reaction. Dodd took over for the rest of the session. Reid was too embarassed to continue.
I agree.
Reid didn’t appear to want the fight with the White House. Dodd recognized that the fight was going to happen whether Reid wanted it or not — so he stood up to fight for the Constitution and Rule of Law, and was proud to do so.
I was away from the TV and toobz all day, and so just heard about this about 45 minutes ago. Wow!
I have been trying to figure this out, too. I am grasping for a reason not to be pissed off at Schumer for voting Yea. So far, I haven’t found any explanations.
Clusterfuck got on teevee today to say that the economy sucks but that he isn’t sure what kind of tax cuts to use to fix it.
Awww… RIP Dan Fogelberg… Died of prostate cancer… 8-(
I heard Whitehouse saying “the admin is refusing to let the telco’s defend themselves, as it would violate national security” (defending the substitution amendment).
To which I SCREAMED “it’s between the admin and the telcos, NOT US!”
From an explanation by Kagro X, the “magic” hold that Reid didn’t honor is just a notification by a Senator that they will object to a UC. So instead of a UC, a motion to proceede is needed which can be debated and filibustered. That is why Harry “honors” Thug “holds”. The Thugs vote as a block so can they block the motion to proceed.
In tribute to Dan and Dodd, ‘Leader of the Band’…
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cy3GHCy49Dw
i don’t think i have a recording of that part. something about how kennedy didn’t want to delay the discussion. but kennedy was on the floor in support of dodd and gave wonderful speech. really, really amazing.
and kennedy was the first person that dodd thanked.
imo, kennedy gets put in the day’s hero column. schumer, on the other hand, is a loser. send him to the corner and make him wear the dunce cap.
Hence the 76-10 vote to proceed…
that was the cloture vote on the motion to proceed. we never got to the vote on the motion itself.
This hits us very close to home….RIP Dan Fogelberg.
Watertiger up with glad tidings of Ghoulian’s impending leap into oblivion.
So did Reuters and the NYT jump the gun or did they over spin and correct?
Either way-idiots.
True, that was what I meant… My Bad! 8-)
No entry. First you must hand in your ticket to go see the geek.
But that’s over anyway. I declare the contest’s over! It’s over. It’s over. Phil Ochs won.
Me neither. No explanation. And what about Mikulski? I thought she was a good guy.
mary mcc! did you see my email from a day or two ago?
What did Bill Nelson do/say? He’s the best senator I’ve got. I watched alot of C-SPAN today but I missed him.
Perhaps one factor in this development is fear of the geometric effect of holiday “over the dinner table” conversation. They’ve worried about this before.
The MSM have been dutiful, but blogger reaction and activism may look like a bell weather.
I wish we had taps on some phones today. Not sure how some of the big boy telco investors might be reacting. Particularly in light of the market. And how the telco’s E&O carriers might be seeing it. A lot of very angry customers acting immediately (boycotts, seeking alternatives, refusals to pay bills, etc) could be destabilizing. As could legal uncertainty about the constitutionality/effectiveness of such immunity legislation and the risk of a whistle blowing crescendo.
Also, some candidates may be assessing what a fight with the blogosphere will cost. Only thing certain is we got some insight into who is a statesman and who a political hack. I’m taking odds on how long Reid is going to keep his job..
mostly i make comments like that just to make sure i have it right. i figure if i don’t- you’ll tell me…. and this way, in the end, we are on the same page.
i don’t know… confess i wasn’t always paying close attention to the floor statements if they didn’t grab me. will have to listen again.
started lobbying on this issue with fdl about 20 months ago - visited senators offices (multiple times) in support of feingold’s resolution to censure bush for the illegal warrantless spying. kerry finally did sign on. met prof foland, revdeb, kathryn in ma, scarecrow and a bunch of other ma fld commenters (that was before scarecrow went big time) in our lobbying efforts and then in going to ct to canvass for ned lamont. that’s were i met tim and matt (although i don’t know them) and jan and siun and trex and other fdlers (i’ve never been to a ykos though).
so yeah - i think we’re a bell weather. but it took us almost 2 years to get this far, on this issue.
just think where we’ll be in two more years!
So you’re saying fdl had a bad case of DOS? Man, that’s nasty stuff. LOL
I thought they had been yelling about how great the Bush economy was for over a year now. So far as his Rich buddies, his Base are concerned, things are probably pretty good - unless they’re into mortgage lending.
He could try paying off some of our debt to at least provide cover for whomever the Republicans nominate. They’ll need to say they’re the party of fiscal discipline.
With all his pandering to the Rich I can’t possibly see how he’s going to fix things.
Consider this oddity: if you have a company and you sell a bunch of furniture, groceries, cars & stuff which cost you $1,000,000 (taxes, insurance, housing, labor, everything included) and you sell it for $1,500,000, then the question is whether the economy is doing $1.5M of economic activity (GDP stuff)? It’s been assumed that if someone is willing to pay that price, then that’s a valid economic activity. But, cash is supposed to reflect reality in some way. Over time many companies do the same and the ‘profits’ pile up. They don’t reflect the goods & services, just excess cash charged. What is that cash worth? Doesn’t it just become inflated worthless paper if there’s too much of it chasing goods & services?
Now, consider the American economy with all our cash floating around the world and the inflated .com boom (and bust) and the housing boom (and bust). Isn’t there a correlation between how much inflation of prices forces bubbles & busts?
Somehow we’ve got to find a better way or we’ll continually suffer from boom & bust despite the Fed trying to control inflation.
Difficult to imagine why Brown’s government, unlike Blair’s, hasn’t worked hard to release this man. The reported injuries - unless self-inflicted, which seems unlikely this side of a psychiatric ward - are incompatible with anything but torture.
One of the principal dilemmas of Big Dick’s regime is that having collected men virtually off the street for a few bucks each, and then tortured them thinking they were the “worst of the worst”, he must now keep them hostage lest the world recognize his war crimes. That would apply, frankly, even if these men had been what this administration claimed they were; since most of them are innocent, or petty players in the wrong place, Big Dick has an even bigger problem.
Adding to the dilemma to which Mr. Cheney has subjected this country is that none of the evidence obtained directly or indirectly via torture would be admissible in any legitimate civil or military court room. Hence, the serial JAG objections, and the attempt to muzzle them permanently by putting them under the political control of the DOD’s politically appointed general counsel, currently the reprehensible William Haynes, sock puppet of David Addington. (Honestly, these guys are criminal human illustrations of chaos theory: they exhibit the same charactersistics regardless of scale.)
For me, the bottom line is that regardless of the criminality of these men, after this length of incarceration and inhuman treatment, they deserve to be let free. Most of them with an abject apology and compensation. Worse for us all, the purposeful maltreatment of them all means that the few who deserve longer imprisonment cannot legally have it, because there is no or virtually no admissible evidence against them. Which means that far from making us safer, the present regime has made us far less safe across the board (except for the competence of those they inherited and couldn’t get rid of).
selise - you had asked what else Reid might have done to make Dodd’s chore more onerous or perhaps impossible. I’ve never seen the process used, but I see Senate Rule X is something called a “Special Order,” which comes into play with 2/3rds of the Senate in agreement with making the matter “special.”
I take this as a substitute for a motion to proceed to a matter, and I presume is outside of the category of items that can be handled via cloture (the debate upon any measure, motion, other matter pending before the Senate, or the unfinished business …).
Once the matter is pending, Dodd could have objected to amendments, voting on final passage and so forth, but the initial step of getting something pending is different under the procedure of Rule X, compared with the usual “motion to proceed” coupled with cloture in the event there is objection to the motion to proceed.