It seems that the Obama Administration is hellbent on continuing the abuse of the “state secrets” privilege that the Bush Administration first abused to try to kill off embarrassing law suits; such is the saga of a case involving an Oregon Islamic charity pending in San Francisco. Obviously, this is not exactly “news”… but it’s still disappointing.

Ah, basking in the glow of a sleepy Sunday morning (made all the more sleepy after this morning’s surprisingly difficult Colon Cancer 15K in Central Park, caused by a cold morning and a late start which combined for an early breathing problem… ending in a rare “negative split” of finishing the second half faster than the first half… on this blog, it’s always about me, people…) And so… where to begin… why not with our friend (and interview subject) Terry Holdbrooks, and his big interview in Newsweek? And since we’re on the subject of how America treats its guests held...

This would be two seemingly disparate, but not that disparate at all, pieces in major magazines, the first a Newsweek article about Col. Lawrence Wilkerson, former Chief of Staff to Colin Powell, the second a Forbes column by NYU Professor Nouriel Roubini, currently the “it economist” because of his long-time moniker based on his forecasts of economic pessimism”Dr. Doom’… which, alas, has seemingly finally come to fruition. In the Newsweek piece, Col. Wilkerson tells us that there are at most two dozen or so actual terrorists at GTMO, including the 14 so-called “high-value” terrorists; rather than mince words, Col. Wilkerson...

The tragic death of stage and screen actress Natasha Richardson, at age 45, wife and mother of two, after what seemed a minor fall during a skiing lesson, comes as a reminder to us all that not a single one of us is guaranteed anything… anything… including that we, or anyone or anything else, will be here in an hour, let alone a day, a week, a year, a decade… Ms. Richardson certainly enjoyed a full and rich life, which in the end, is all any of us can really aspire to, even if, sadly in her case, it was...

The last time I saw this kind of a coordinated propaganda assault was, dare I say it, during the run-up to the Iraq War. And now, alas, it’s “my side,” led by my college classmate, The President, who rails against the current enemy the State, Emmanuel Goldstein… no wait… I mean… those greedy bastards at AIG’s credit default group who are getting hundreds of millions in bonuses that the President wants back. The thing is, of course, that just as then Senator Obama railed against a $150,000 junket taken by AIG executives during the debates against Senator McCain, this is...

I just thought that would be a cool thing to say. Never mind.

One of the issues being hotly litigated in the ongoing Guantanamo habeas corpus cases is the definition of “enemy combatant;” the significance of this term, of course, is that only a properly classified “enemy combatant” may be held in military custody for the duration of “hostilities.” Interestingly, what you might think would matter is the military’s own definition of “enemy combatant,” from the Defense Department’s own Dictionary of Military Terms, to wit, “Any person in an armed conflict who could be properly detained under the laws and customs of war. Also called EC.” But no… instead, as Scotusblog reports here,...

Guantanamo detainee Ghassan Abdullah al-Sharbi successfully moved to dismiss his own habeas corpus proceeding, on the ground that he did not want to participate in the process that he believed is entirely a sham. My interview with his now former attorney Robert Rachlin is here. BTW… given the astounding results to date… after over seven years, exactly three detainees have been released pursuant to habeas corpus order (while around two dozen more have been ordered released at one time or another, but are still at GTMO… with still over 200 in the hopper…), Mr. Al-Sharbi may have a point. Al-Sharbi,...

O.K… five GTMO “high value detainees” including Ron Jeremy Khalid Sheik Mohammed have long tried to confess their role in planning the September 11th attacks, as they did once again in a joint five-way document submitted to the now halted military commissions supposedly trying them for their terrorist acts. And of course, regular readers know that the horrifically inhumane conditions at GTMO include extreme isolation where, other than the occasional gloved hand of a guard, the prisoners have no human contact at all. Which is why it seems so curious that the “high value detainees” are permitted to meet among...

The Grey Lady gives us this reminder that the mafia consigliori lawyers in the Bush Administration who crafted the “legal opinions” nominally permitting other government officials to commit torture and other war crimes… are still out there. Some, like John Yoo, have tenure at a major university in the San Francisco Bay Area. Others, like Jay Bybee, had good timing, and have lifetime tenure on a federal court, also in the Bay Area. Jim Haynes, it seems, got a job with Chevron. Others, however, such as arch-villain David Addington and arch-stooge Alberto Gonzales… are having trouble finding jobs. As time...