News -01-12-05 Health Fears for Torture Victims (Guardian Unlimited) "The four Britons soon to be released from Guantánamo Bay after up to three years in detention may need months of care when they arrive back home, experts in treating torture victims warned yesterday." 01-05 -01-18-05 Condoleeza Rice Quizzed by Senate (PBS.org) Provides reactions from Republican and Democratic Senators on Rice's responses to questions on the use of torture by the U.S. and the real reasons for the U.S. invading Iraq. 1-05 -01-20-06 Poor Oversight Alleged in Interrogations (LATimes.com) "Military prosecutors allege that Maj. Gen. Abed Hamed Mowhoush, 57, suffocated in the sleeping bag as Welshofer sat on him. Welshofer's murder trial, which began this week at the home base of the 3rd Armored Cavalry Regiment to which he was assigned in Iraq, opens a window into the murky world of military interrogations." "Welshofer described spending months in Iraq without any clear directives about how to manage interrogations. When rules came down, he said, they were vague and he soon found that his training did not apply." 01-06 -01-22-06 Army Officer Found Guilty of Homicide Death (CNN News) "An Army officer was found guilty of negligent homicide late Saturday in the death of an Iraqi general at a detention camp, but was spared a conviction of murder that could have sent him to prison for life." "Welshofer was accused of putting a sleeping bag over the head of Iraqi Maj. Gen. Abed Hamed Mowhoush, sitting on his chest and using his hand to cover the general's mouth while asking him questions in 2003." 01-06 -01-23-06 Muslim Detainees Return to U.S. to Sue Top Officials (New York Times) "As in the cases of all the Muslim immigrants rounded up in the New York area after the terror attacks, the six were never accused of a crime related to 9/11; officials eventually cleared all of them of links to terrorism. A report by the inspector general of the Justice Department found systemic problems with immigrant detentions and widespread abuse at the federal detention center where the six had been held; several guards have since been disciplined." 01-06 -02-18-05 AP: Iraqi Died During CIA Torture (ABC News) "An Iraqi whose corpse was photographed with grinning U.S. soldiers at Abu Ghraib died under CIA interrogation while in a position condemned by human rights groups as torture suspended by his wrists, with his hands cuffed behind his back, according to reports reviewed by The Associated Press." "The death of the prisoner, Manadel al-Jamadi, became known last year when the Abu Ghraib prison scandal broke. The U.S. military said back then that the death had been ruled a homicide. But the exact circumstances under which the man died were not disclosed at the time.""The prisoner died in a position known as 'Palestinian hanging,' the documents reviewed by The AP show. It is unclear whether that position was approved by the Bush administration for use in CIA interrogations." 2-05 -03-01-05 Judge: Charge Him or Release Him (MSNBC News) "A federal judge ordered the Bush administration Monday to either charge terrorism suspect Jose Padilla with a crime or release him after more than 2½ years in custody." "In a sound rebuke to the Bush administration, U.S. District Judge Henry Floyd in Spartanburg, S.C., said the government cannot hold Padilla indefinitely as an 'enemy combatant,' a designation President Bush gave him in 2002." “ 'The court finds that the president has no power, neither express nor implied, neither constitutional nor statutory, to hold petitioner as an enemy combatant,' Floyd wrote in a 23-page opinion that was a stern rebuke to the government. He gave the administration 45 days to take action." 3-05 -06-03-05 Judge: Faces of Prisoners Must be Concealed (Bloomberg News) "The Defense Department must black out the faces of Iraqi detainees depicted in some previously unreleased photos from Abu Ghraib prison chronicling abuse at the hands of U.S. soldiers, a federal judge ruled." 6-05 -06-15-05 House Blocks Portion of Patriot Act (ABC News) "In a slap at President Bush, lawmakers voted Wednesday to block the Justice Department and the FBI from using the Patriot Act to peek at library records and bookstore sales slips." 6-05 -06-30-05 Italians Deny Working With CIA on Abductions (International Herald Tribune) "Facing growing embarrassment and louder questions, the Italian government broke a week of silence on Thursday and denied that it played any role in kidnapping a terror suspect from Milan and flying him to Egypt in 2003." 6-05 -07-02-05 AP: Detainees Defy Gitmo Troops (ABC News) "Military authorities have previously disclosed some incidents of guard retaliation at Guantanamo Bay, which resulted in mostly minor disciplinary proceedings. What emerges from 278 pages of documents obtained by The Associated Press is the degree of defiance by the terrorism suspects at Guantanamo." 7-05 -07-22-05 Americans Try to Balance Privacy and Security (Christian Science Monitor) "The recent attacks in London by home-grown terrorists have intensified attention on homeland security in the US. And that in turn has raised new questions about protecting civil liberties and privacy during a new kind of war that knows no national borders." 7-05 -07-22-05 Londoners Shaken By Police Violence (New York Times) "It was around 10 a.m. on a sunny, summery Friday when London crossed a once-unthinkable line in its unfolding war on terror." "The officer with the gun 'held it down to the guy and unloaded five shots into him,' Mr. Whitby said." "The gunshots reverberated much further than the grimy confines of Stockwell station, in a hardscrabble neighborhood of south London. It was the first such shooting in memory. Between 1997 and September 2004, the police opened fire on 20 occasions, killing 7 people and wounding 11, according to the Metropolitan Police." 7-05 -07-22-05 Shoot to Kill Policy in London (TelegraphIndia.com) "A man, said by passengers to be “Asian”, was pinned down on the floor of an Underground train at Stockwell station in south London today and shot through the head five times by plainclothes policemen hunting for the London bombers." 7-05 -07-23-05 Discrepancies in Statements by Bush Officials Investigated (MSNBC News) "Special prosecutor Patrick J. Fitzgerald has been reviewing over the past several months discrepancies and gaps in witness testimony in his investigation of the unmasking of CIA operative Valerie Plame, according to lawyers in the case and witness statements." "After building criticism that someone in the administration had jeopardized an agent in political retaliation, Fitzgerald was appointed by the Justice Department in December 2003 to conduct an independent investigation." 7-05 -07-23-05 Man Killed by Police not Connected to Bombings (MSNBC News) "Police identified the man who was chased down in a subway and shot to death by plainclothes officers as a Brazilian and expressed regret Saturday for his death, saying they no longer believed he was tied to the recent terror bombings." "Friday’s shooting before horrified commuters prompted criticism of police for overreacting and expressions of fear that Asians and Muslims would be targeted by a 'trigger-happy culture' after two well-coordinated attacks in two weeks." "The man shot at the Stockwell subway station was identified as Jean Charles de Menezes, 27. Witnesses said he was wearing a heavy, padded coat when plainclothes police chased him into a subway car, pinned him to the ground and shot him in the head and torso." 7-05 -08-10-05 Legislator: Four Attackers Identified in 1999 (ABC News) "Members of the commission that uncovered the government's failures to share intelligence among agencies before the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks want to know whether U.S. defense intelligence officials knew for more than a year that four of the hijackers were part of an al-Qaida cell but failed to tell law enforcement." "Rep. Curt Weldon, a Pennsylvania Republican who serves as vice chairman of the House Armed Services and Homeland Security committees, said a classified military intelligence unit known as 'Able Danger' identified the men in 1999." 8-05 -08-26-05 Report: Tenet Could Face Reprimand (Guardian Unlimited) "The former CIA director George Tenet is among more than a dozen current and former officials who could be subject to disciplinary proceedings over the agency's performance before the September 11 attacks." 8-05 -09-10-05 Families Object to Museum (ABC News) "Holding up pictures of their loved ones and signs that read 'Preserve Sacred Ground,' more than 500 relatives of Sept. 11 victims rallied at the World Trade Center site Saturday against a proposed museum." 8-05 -10-05-05 Senate Votes Against Detainee Abuse (CNN News) "The Republican-controlled Senate voted Wednesday to impose restrictions on the treatment of terrorism suspects, delivering a rare wartime rebuke to President Bush." 9-05 -11-10-05 Blair Defeated on Anti-Terrorism Bill (MSNBC News) "The House of Commons’ vote to quash Tony Blair’s anti-terror legislation dealt the prime minister his first-ever defeat — an embarrassing setback that raises doubts about his political future." "Blair had staked his authority on the plan to detain terror suspects for 90 days without charge and doggedly refused to compromise. But some 49 of his own lawmakers, including 11 former ministers, joined forces with opposition parties to defeat the measure Wednesday." 11-05 -11-14-05 Two Iraqis Sue Secretary of Defense (ABC News) "Two Iraqi businessmen have sued U.S. Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, claiming they were arrested without cause and tortured for months in prison camps all over Iraq, including Abu Ghraib." "Sabbar, Khalid and six other detainees are being helped by attorneys from the American Civil Liberties Union and Human Rights First. Their lawsuit claims their rights under the U.S. Constitution and international law were violated." 11-05 -11-16-05 Senate and Cheney Divided Over Torture Ban (USA Today) "Vice President Dick Cheney has lobbied Republican senators to allow an exemption [for torture] for those held by the CIA if preventing an attack is at stake." 11-05 -11-28-05 German Court Defers Charges Against U.S. Administrators (Center for Constitutional Rights) "In a historic effort to hold high-ranking U.S. officials accountable for brutal acts of torture including the widely publicized abuses carried out at Abu Ghraib, on Tuesday November 30, 2004, the Center for Constitutional Rights (CCR) and four Iraqi citizens filed a criminal complaint with the German Federal Prosecutor’s Office at the Karlsruhe Court, Karlsruhe, Germany. Under the doctrine of universal jurisdiction, suspected war criminals may be prosecuted irrespective of where they are located. The Prosecutor refused to take the case on the grounds that they believed the United States would investigate the matter. CCR is appealing that decision." "The charges include violations of the German Code, "War Crimes against Persons," which outlaws killing, torture, cruel and inhumane treatment, sexual coercion and forcible transfers. The Code makes criminally responsible those who carry out the above acts as well as those who induce, condone or order the acts. It also makes commanders liable, whether civilian or military, who fail to prevent their subordinates from committing such acts." "The German Code of Crimes against International Law grants German Courts what is called Universal Jurisdiction for the above-described crimes. Article 1, Part 1, Section 1 states: 'This Act shall apply to all criminal offenses against international law designated under this Act, to serious criminal offences designated therein even when the offence was committed abroad and bears no relation to Germany.' This means that those who commit such crimes can be prosecuted wherever found: they, like pirates of old, are considered enemies of all humankind." 11-05 -12-09-05 Patriot Act a Threat to Individual Liberties? (MSNBC News) "Congressional Republican leaders are pressing for passage next week of a new Patriot Act to combat terrorism, but a Senate filibuster looms on a measure that liberal and conservative critics alike say is a threat to individual liberties." 12-05 -12-11-05 Planespotters Unravel CIA Abductions (Guardian Unlimited) "The recording of flights by spotters like Paul from places as far afield as Bournemouth and Karachi has unintentionally played a significant role in helping journalists and human rights groups expose the scale of the CIA's renditions system." 12-05 -12-14-05 White House Seeks an Exemption on Treatment of Detainees (MSNBC News) "Sen. John McCain and President Bush’s national security adviser remained at an impasse Wednesday over the senator’s proposed ban on cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment of foreign terrorism suspects." "After initially trying to kill the [McCain] provisions, the White House has more recently switched gears to lobby for an exemption to the ban for CIA officers." 12-05 -12-15-05 McCain Anti-Torture Amendment to Pass in Congress (MSNBC News) "As passed by the Senate and endorsed by the House, McCain’s amendment would prohibit 'cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment' of anyone in U.S. government custody, regardless of where they are held. It also would require that service members follow procedures in the Army Field Manual during interrogations of prisoners in Defense Department facilities." "In recent weeks, the [Bush] administration had sought to add language that would offer protection from prosecution for interrogators accused of violating the provision. But McCain rejected that, arguing it would undermine the ban by not giving interrogators reason to follow the law." 12-05 05-05-05 Freedom Tower to be Redesigned (CNN News) "The proposed tallest building in the world, meant to take the place of the twin towers of the World Trade Center, will be redesigned, New York Gov. George Pataki said Wednesday." 5-05

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