Archive for June 7th, 2009
Representative Jerrold Nadler, chairman of the Constitution, Civil Rights and Civil Liberties subcommittee of the House Judiciary committee, held a hearing yesterday to discuss the long-overdue State Secret Protection Act of 2009 (H.R. 984).
Ben Wizner, lawyer for the ACLU, testified at this hearing to argue in favor of the bill, which sets the boundaries for the executive branch’s use of the state secrets privilege.
The state secrets privilege is a rule in which the government can ask the court to remove certain evidence from a case because the evidence involves a “state secret,” confidential information that, if disclosed, could endanger national security. The Bush administration has utilized this rule more than any other administration in history (a record 23 times in four years), notably during an ACLU case, Mohamed et al. v. Jeppesen DataPlan. In this case, five men were kidnapped and tortured under the CIA’s “extraordinary rendition” program. And in both cases, the government asked the courts to block the cases completely, claiming that the lawsuits were too confidential and that state secrets could be revealed. In effect, the plaintiffs were not even allowed a trial.
But now the tide is finally turning. In April, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals overturned a lower court’s ruling on the Jeppesen case, noting, in Mr. Wizner’s words, that “the state secrets privilege should be applied to discrete pieces of evidence instead of entire cases.” And at yesterday’s hearing, most of the members and witnesses agreed with Mr. Nadler’s statement that “the Executive cannot be its own judge.”
Among other things, this bill would make sure that judges do a preliminary review of the supposedly confidential information before coming to a decision. It would provide a consistent procedure for all judges and ensure that the executive branch does not abuse its power.
We fully agree with witness Asa Hutchinson’s assertion that the executive branch should “not be immune to checks and balances,” as well as Hon. Patricia Wald’s statement that this “legislation is long overdue.” The three branches of government are supposed to be co-equal, and Congress is completely justified in creating legislation that balances the Executive’s power.
The state secrets privilege, as it is now, is much too broad; the executive branch cannot have complete immunity. This bill will finally help to rein in executive power, and hopefully provide long-overdue justice for Mohamed and others. As Chairman Nadler admirably put it, “every right must have a remedy.”
After Downing Street notes:
General Ricardo Sanchez, the former top coalition commander in Iraq, called for a Truth Commission so we might fully understand the failure of the military and civilian command to honor the pledge of our constitution.
Sanchez . . .stressed that the outcome must embrace a variety of solutions, including prosecution.
Sanchez stated, “When the president made the declaration that the Geneva Conventions no longer apply, we unleashed the hounds of hell and eliminated all the foundations for the training, ethics and structure we had built into our soldiers and our leaders for how to conduct these kinds of operations.”
Sanchez stated many problems could be traced to loyalties to individuals and political parties.
Former President Jimmy Carter is also calling for a truth commission with the possibility of prosecution:
“[I] like to see is a complete examination of what did happen, the identification of any perpetrators of crimes against our own laws or against international law,” said Carter. “And then after all that’s done, decide whether or not there should be any prosecutions.”
Found on Infowars
WILLIAM GLABERSON
The New York Times
The Obama administration is considering a change in the law for the military commissions at the prison at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba, that would clear the way for detainees facing the death penalty to plead guilty without a full trial.
The provision could permit military prosecutors to avoid airing the details of brutal interrogation techniques. It could also allow the five detainees who have been charged with the Sept. 11 attacks to achieve their stated goal of pleading guilty to gain what they have called martyrdom.
The proposal, in a draft of legislation that would be submitted to Congress, has not been publicly disclosed. It was circulated to officials under restrictions requiring secrecy. People who have read or been briefed on it said it had been presented to Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates by an administration task force on detention.
The proposal would ease what has come to be recognized as the government’s difficult task of prosecuting men who have confessed to terrorism but whose cases present challenges. Much of the evidence against the men accused in the Sept. 11 case, as well as against other detainees, is believed to have come from confessions they gave during intense interrogations at secret C.I.A. prisons. In any proceeding, the reliability of those statements would be challenged, making trials difficult and drawing new political pressure over detainee treatment.
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