Abu Zubaydah Experienced "Hard" Dislocation After Session 63
Whoever wrote Abu Zubaydah's psychological evaluation claimed to have succeeded in subjecting Abu Zubaydah to "hard" dislocation after his 63rd session of torture. And that claim was made before OLC approved the use of torture with him.
I've…
Government Admits Its Understanding of Abu Zubaydah Has "Evolved"
I wanted to return to the government's filing on Abu Zubaydah backing off the key claims on which our torture system is based. A year ago, the government filed its factual return to justify the detention of Abu Zubaydah. In response, AZ's lawyers…
Steven Kappes and Ibn Sheikh al-Libi
Jeff Stein has a long profile of Steven Kappes in the Washingtonian that challenges Kappes' reputation for competence. For example, he points out how Kappes tried to get Jeff Castelli--the guy in charge of the notoriously incompetent Abu Omar…
Government Admits Abu Zubaydah Suffered from Cognitive Impairment
Jason Leopold has made the full filing revealing the scope of the government's claims about Abu Zubaydah here. I'll be reading through it today, but I wanted to point to one more clear admission that would seem to undermine the claims the government…
Why DOJ Is Likely to Accept Vaughn Walker's Ruling
As I posted earlier, Judge Vaughn Walker ruled against the government in the al-Haramain case today. Basically, Walker ruled that al-Haramain had been illegally wiretapped and the case should move to settlement judgment (corrected per some lawyer).
But…
CCR Fights to Uphold Attorney-Client Privilege
So al-Haramain, at least for the moment, has won its case against the government. But there's an aspect of the case that often gets forgotten: al-Haramain argued not just that some of its employees were wiretapped, but that lawyers working for…
Breaking: Judge Walker Grants Summary Judgment Finding Gov't Liable Under FISA
Short version: al-Haramain wins!
Judge Walker just issued the following ruling in the al-Haramain case:
The court now determines that plaintiffs have submitted, consistent with FRCP 56(d), sufficient non-classified evidence to establish standing…
Chertoff's Fence
All this talk about Michael Chertoff's role in refusing CIA an advance declination for torture had gotten me wondering about the status of Chertoff's biggest policy initiative at the Department of Homeland Security: the fence along the Mexican…
Targeting al-Awlaki
There's actually what I think is a big scoop in this weird David Ignatius column on debates over whether we can target Anwar al-Awlaki. The scoop? The Yemeni government approached the US in October asking for help targeting al-Awlaki.
Last October,…
Eve Conant: Right Wing Terrorists Are Still "Ho Hum"
Newsweek's Eve Conant, in the guise of writing about progressive media, reviews several descriptions that consider the Hutaree militia a disturbing case of right wing domestic terrorism. She links to a Blue Texan post, quotes Rachel Maddow describing…
Our Torture Regime Based on Same Kinds of Lies and Bad Intell as the Iraq War
The third sentence of the Bybee Two Memo asserts Abu Zubaydah is "one of the highest ranking members of the al Qaeda terrorist organization."
You have asked for this Office's views on whether certain proposed conduct would violate the prohibition…
Steven Bradbury Didn't Disclose His Appendix M Opinion to Congress
As I posted a week ago, in April 2006 Steven Bradbury wrote one of the most egregious of all the egregious torture memos, one approving the new Army Field Manual, including its Appendix M laying out more intense interrogation methods. While…
Royce Lamberth: Let's Make a Deal
Royce Lamberth appears to be having a split the baby moment in the Richard Horn suit.
As you recall, back in the Clinton era, a DEA official sued the government for illegal spying on him. He alleged that State and CIA conspired to thwart his…
The Context of the July 13 Fax
As I pointed out in an earlier post, when Counterterrorism Center lawyer Jonathan Fredman sent the torturers in Thailand a green light for torture in August 2002, he relied on language about intent from a July 13, 2002 fax from John Yoo to John…
Abu Zubaydah's Drawings
Jason Leopold has a long article on Abu Zubaydah out that you should read in detail. It provides an update on AZ's torture diaries (which his lawyer now has, though in untranslated form). And the tidbit that one reason officials are so worried…
The Militiagan Wolverines
Here's a copy of in the indictment against the nine Hutaree milita members who were planning attacks on the government. (h/t scribe and Jeralyn)
Since we've been talking about whether right-wing extremists are organized enough to call terrorists,…
Yoo's Supervisors Didn't Know about the July 13, 2002 Fax
As I pointed out in my last post, when Jonathan Fredman wrote the Abu Zubaydah torture team in Thailand to tell them they had gotten the green light to torture, he cited not the Bybee One memo which had just been signed, but a July 13, 2002…
Abu Zubaydah's Torturers Relied on July 13 Yoo Fax, not Bybee Memo
There's an astounding passage in Bybee's Second Response to the OPR Report that reveals that Abu Zubaydah's torturers relied on a July 13, 2002 memo Yoo sent to John Rizzo, rather than the Bybee One Memo, for their general torture authorization.
In…
Koh v. Johnson: Material Support in Far Away "Battlefields"
I don't know about you. But I'm sort of bored with the Holder v. Rahm fight over torture and Gitmo. My hope is they'll start a military commission trial, it'll get delayed and challenged, and Holder will be able to demonstrate in terms even…
Can't Spell Militia without "MI" (and IN and OH)
Apparently, while I was sleeping, they turned my local sheriff's department into a staging center for FBI raids against a Christian-focused militia group less then 40 miles away.
The FBI conducted raids Saturday night in Washtenaw County and…
