DhafirTrial

By Jonathan Turley June 10, 2008

In a set back for the government, Dr. Sami Al-Arian was granted bail by Judge Leonie M. Brinkema today. Over the objections of the government and the pre-trial services, Judge Brinkema agreed that Dr. Al-Arian was not a flight risk and no danger to the community. (more…)

By John Pilger 7/10/08

In an article for the New Statesman, John Pilger describes the insidious militarisng of Britain as the effects of two colonial wars and the cover-up atrocities come home.

The military has created a wall of silence around its frequent resort to barbaric practices, including torture, and goes out of its way to avoid legal scrutiny. (more…)

[Yassin Aref was arrested in a government sting operation. Sentenced to 15 years in prison, his appeal was recently denied by the Second Circuit Court of appeals.

Dear Petra,

I am not surprised.

When they arrested me the first time, I was shocked (more…)

Glenn Greenwald Salon 7/07/08

“On July 4th America Celebrated the Rule of Law. On July 9th the Senate Will Vote to Bury It.”

Once passed by the Senate, the FISA bill will then immediately be sent by the Democratic Congress to an eagerly awaiting and immensely pleased President Bush, who will sign it into law, thereby putting a permanent and happy end to the scandal that began when — in December, 2005 — he was caught spying on the communications of American citizens in violation of the law. (more…)

By Jim Miles Palestine Chronicle 7/02/08

Marching Toward Hell — America and Islam after Iraq. Michael Scheuer. Free Press (Simon & Schuster), New York, 2008.

Michael Scheuer’s new work “Marching Toward Hell” is very clear with its overall purpose of exposing where American interests have gone wrong in their interactions with the various peoples, beliefs, and religions of the Middle East. As an ex-CIA agent (more…)

Glenn Greenwald Salon 7/03/08

A Bush-41-appointed Federal District Judge yesterday became the third judge — out of three who have ruled on the issue — to reject the Bush administration’s claim that Article II entitles the President to override or ignore the provisions of FISA. Yesterday’s decision by Judge Vaughn Walker of the Northern District of California also guts the central claims for telecom immunity and gives the lie to the excuses coming from Congress as to why the new FISA bill is some sort of important “concession.” More than anything else, this decision is but the most recent demonstration that, with this new FISA bill, our political establishment is doing what it now habitually does: namely, ensuring that the political and corporate elite who break our laws on purpose are immune from consequences. (more…)

Glenn Greenwald Salon 7/05/08

Nancy Soderberg was deputy national security advisor and an ambassador to the United Nations in the Clinton administration. Today, she has an Op-Ed in the Los Angeles Times defending the FISA bill and telecom amnesty. The entire Op-Ed is just a regurgitation of the same trite, vague talking points which the political elite are using to justify this bill, accompanied by the standard invocations of “National Security” which our Foreign Policy elite condescendingly toss around to justify whatever policy they’re claiming is necessary to protect us. But it’s the language that she uses — and the brazenness of the lying (and that’s what it is) to justify this bill — that’s notable here. (more…)

Bob Egelko San Francisco Chronicle 7/03/08

A federal judge in San Francisco dismissed a lawsuit Wednesday that sought to prove President Bush acted illegally in 2001 when he ordered the wiretapping of phone calls between Americans and suspected foreign terrorists without court approval. (more…)