Month: October 2007

Mukasey continues his ambiguities as he states in a letter to Congressmen and women that waterboarding “is repugnant” but fails to clarify his legal stance on the matter: Mukasey Losing Democrats’ Backing (Washington Post) NY Times op-ed columnist Paul Krugman slams neo-conservatives and some presidential candidates for letting fear substitute for facts when discussing foreign…

Washington Post editorial agrees that some Senators are right to push attorney general nominee Mike Mukasey to clarify his stance on waterboarding and other forms of torture, but also argues that the Bush administration and Congress share the blame because the former “condoned torture” and the latter “did too little to stop it”: The Waterboarding…

“This was not only about demanding justice as an outcome, but more importantly, justice as a process. American Muslims increasingly worry that the word ‘terrorism,’ even when uttered as an allegation, is sufficient to trump the ‘innocent until proven guilty’ axiom that is a cornerstone of our justice system.”—Ahmed Rehab, Executive Director CAIR-Chicago Fighting Imaginary…

In what was expected to be a near automatic confirmation for attorney general nominee Mike Mukasey, is now becoming less clear as some Senators are becoming concerned over his lack of explicit denunciation of torture interrogations currently used by the Bush administration: Attorney General Pick Facing New Resistance (New York Times) As Ankara rejects Iraqi…

New US sanctions against Iran will hit ordinary Iranians: ““These banks that are being designated are major banks that pay the monthly wages of Iranian workers…” US Imposes New Sanctions on Iran (Al Jazeera) Rather than recognizing already existing communities’ record system, India requires all marriages to be registered with the State putting rural residents at…

“The president has asserted the power to designate any organization or individual he chooses, here or abroad, without formal charges, a trial or hearing of any kind; without a statement of reasons; and on the basis of secret evidence. While full-scale criminal protections are not necessary, surely groups should be afforded a meaningful opportunity to…

Federal prosecutors fail to convict members of Palestinian charity Holy Land Foundation because, in the words of one juror, the case “was strung together with macaroni noodles. There was so little evidence.” Mistrial Declared in Islamic Charity Case (Washington Post) Members of Congress slam the White House for allowing Intelligence Committee members to see crucial…

Ankara braces itself for the possibility of a large cross-border raid after as 12 Turkish soldiers are killed and an unknown number are taken hostage along the Turkish/Iraqi Kurdish border in retaliation for an earlier raid killed at least 32 Kurdish militants: Turkey To Strike Back After 12 Slain (Los Angeles Times) DespitIn the face…

After years of unethical and ineffective torture interrogations by the CIA against 9/11 mastermind Khalid Sheikh Mohammed and other Al-Qaeda operatives, the FBI is slowly building its own cases against the militants because the CIA’s interrogations would be inadmissible in a US court: FBI Working to Bolster Al Qaeda Cases (Los Angeles Times) The New…