The High Court in Spain has decided that it can proceed with its investigation of the torture that Lahcen Ikassrien alleges he suffered at Gitmo.

As a July 1, 2009 WikiLeaks cable released by Norway’s Aftenposten makes clear, the U.S. and Switzerland included the acceptance of three Gitmo detainees and a settlement in a suit accusing UBS of harboring tax cheats — along with an effort to shut down a Swedish company’s business with Iran — in negotiations “resolving all issues between our countries.” Favors involved in this deal may go deeply both ways: among those reportedly involved in the UBS scandal were American politicians.

In other words: Combatant Status Review Tribunals/Administrative Review Boards 2.0: Now With Lawyers. And that means the executive is going to have to come up with another series of rules, from scratch, to govern this review process. The courts have accepted — to the dismay of civil libertarians — wide prerogative for the executive in detention. But they’ve taken a dim view of ad-hoc solutions.

The British pay out millions in compensation for torture and wrongful imprisonment…meanwhile in this country there are crickets and dancing C-List celebrities to deal with.

In a country founded on “self evident truths” such as life, liberty, equality, and due process of law, the timeless quote from Ben Franklin speaks to the peril imposed when the founding principles are discarded or compromised …

Nouns give an essay substance, and verbs give it motion. Adjectives transform it from black and white into color.

Consider Carol Rosenberg’s comments on the rules at the US detention center at Guantanamo Bay. Like Ansel Adams, she works with black and white, giving us a picture of the administration of justice, such as it is, at Gitmo. Even if she doesn’t use adjectives, they come through on their own. Words like “silly” and “vengeful” and “clueless.”

Holder and Gates give the US a black eye with the way Gitmo represents our system of justice to the world. Rosenberg, on the other hand, does the constitution proud.

The last afternoon of panels is stacked, and three of our best have been scheduled at the same time, so FDL will attempt the unprecedented, unscripted and extremely dangerous triple liveblog!

Over on Emptywheel, Rayne will be covering Marcy as she takes on one of Obama’s signature broken promises: the failure to close the detention center at Guantanamo Bay. On our Elections page, Michael Whitney will liveblog a panel on marijuana policy and politics featuring Jon Walker. And at the FDL News Desk, my fingers will do their level best to keep up with David Dayen as he tackles the foreclosure crisis.

Writing earlier today, Salon’s Glenn Greenwald noted that, despite its approval by the House Armed Services Committee, several barriers remain to the Gitmo provision ultimately becoming law, including a forthcoming House floor vote, a markup in the Senate “and then, if it makes it that far, the President’s signature.” But as Greenwald noted, if the language is to be purged from the bill, “Democrats are going to have to insist on its removal. It remains to be seen if they are willing to do that.”

The government is banning journalists for using a name they’ve used in reports in the past, a name that is publicly known. Is this an attempt to prevent the public from making the connection between two Afghans who died in 2002 and Khadr’s treatment? And/or just an attempt to intimidate the press so the people who know the most about the Gitmo show trials (and particularly Khadr) don’t bring that knowledge to bear on their reporting?

A Federal Court in Washington DC has issued a very hard slap down by of the government’s continued use of bogus evidence obtained by brutal torture to try to justify continued detention of detainees at Guantanamo.