It's now apparent that the biggest sham in American politics is Barack Obama's pledge to close Guantanamo and, more generally, to dismantle the Bush/Cheney approach to detaining accused Terrorists.

By ERIC SCHMITT. Published: September 12, 2009

WASHINGTON — The Obama administration soon plans to issue new guidelines aimed at giving the hundreds of prisoners at an American detention center in Afghanistan significantly more ability to challenge their custody, Pentagon officials and detainee advocates say.

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Tina Foster, the executive director of the International Justice Network, which is representing four Bagram detainees in a pending court case, expressed deep reservations.

“On paper, it appears [there are] going to be changes that will allow detainees more opportunity to present their side of the story,” Ms. Foster said in a telephone interview. “But I think the procedures are just words on pieces of paper unless someone is there to ensure they’re being followed and the detainee has the ability to understand them and avail themselves of them.”

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August 17, 2009

By Zaid al-Alaya'a

YEMEN - The conviction of Sheikh Mohammad al-Moayed and Sheikh Mohammad Zayde was secured by an arrogant and ignorant prosecution, said Lamis Deek, a Palestanina-American lawyer on the defense team of al-Moayed and Zayde last Sunday.

In a press conference organized by the al-Moayed and Zayde defense team, Deek said that the prosecution of the two put to trial first and foremost the Arabic language, Arab culture, and the Muslim religion; creating in that courtroom day and day again an atmosphere of irrational fear of  the Arab man and Arab society.

"The victory was not just for their own rights, but a victory for the rights of all people including the American people. They secured a victory not only for their own rights, but a victory for the rights of all people, including the American people," said Deek. 

Full story (link)

August 15, 2009

By Andy Worthington

In April 2006 -- four years and three months after Guantánamo opened -- the government finally conceded defeat, after the Associated Press took the Pentagon to court, and won. That month, the first ever list of prisoners (PDF) -- containing the names and nationalities of the 558 prisoners who had been subjected to the administration's Combatant Status Review Tribunals (one-sided reviews, designed to rubberstamp their prior designation as "enemy combatants") -- was released, and was followed in May by a list of the 759 prisoners held up to that point (including the 201 who had been released before the tribunals began), which included names, nationalities, and, where known, dates of birth and places of birth (PDF).

The government also released 8,000 pages of tribunal transcripts and allegations against the prisoners, which pierced the veil of secrecy still further, allowing outside observers, as well as lawyers, the opportunity to examine whether the government's claims that the prison was full of terrorists were true, and to conclude that, actually, the prison was largely populated by innocent men or low-level Taliban foot soldiers, recruited to fight an inter-Muslim civil war that began long before the 9/11 attacks, and had nothing to do with al-Qaeda or international terrorism.

Full story (link)