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EXCLUSIVE! HOW THE FBI SPIED ON EDWARD SAID First look at secret files: How G-Men kept Said under surveillance from 1971. David Price traces years of snooping on US's best known Palestinian Is the US Constitution worth saving? Hmmm, maybe ... New York Times takes a year to make up its mind. Cockburn and St Clair on NYT and NSA ... CounterPunch Online is read by millions of viewers each month! But remember, we are funded solely by the subscribers to the print edition of CounterPunch. Please support this website by buying a subscription to our newsletter, which contains fresh material you won't find anywhere else, or by making a donation for the online edition. Remember contributions are tax-deductible. Click here to make a donation. If you find our site useful please: Subscribe Now! or write CounterPunch, PO BOX 228, Petrolia, CA 95558 |
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January 9, 2006 Paul Craig
Roberts January 9, 2006 Behzad Yaghmaian George Bisharat Dave Lindorff Norman Solomon Christopher Brauchli Aharon Shabati Andrew Cockburn
January 7 / 8, 2006 Lawrence Velvel James Petras J.L. Chestnut Mike Ely Andrew Wilson Lila Rajiva William Cook Ramor Ryan Thomas Kleine-Brockhoff Peter Montague Ron Jacobs Neve Gordon Fred Gardner Josh Mahon Dr. Susan Block Jeffrey St. Clair Poets' Basement Website of the Weekend
January 6, 2006 José
Pertierra Joe Allen Winslow T. Wheeler John Bomar Jason Leopold Norman Solomon Robert Pollin
January 5, 2006 Scott Boehm Zoltan Grossman Heather Gray Haninah Levine Pierre Tristam Remi Kanazi Gilad Atzmon Kathleen and
Bill Christison
January 4, 2006 Ron Jacobs Lila Rajiva Huibin Amee
Chew Pat Williams Linda Milazzo Nick Dearden James Petras Website of
the Day
January 3, 2006 James Ridgeway Laith al-Saud Dick J. Reavis Joshua Frank Rochelle Gause Missy Comley
Beattie Paul de Rooij
January 2, 2006 Paul Craig
Roberts Clancy Sigal Cindy Sheehan Alexander Cockburn
Dec. 31 / Jan. 1, 2005/6 Patrick Cockburn Alexander Cockburn Ralph Nader James Petras Peter Montague J.L. Chestnut, Jr. Vijay Prashad P. Sainath James Brooks Eileen E. Schell Christopher
Brauchli Jo Guldi Fred Gardner Ben Tripp St. Clair /
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December 30,2005 Evo Morales Earl Ofari
Hutchinson Dave Lindorff Gary Leupp Ron Jacobs Brian Concannon Sandra Lucas T.W. Croft Website of
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December 29, 2005 Norman Solomon Missy Comley
Beattie Dave Zirin Kevin Zeese Derrick O'Keefe Sam Bahour Macdonald Stainsby Bill &
Kathleen Christison Website of the Day
December 28, 2005 Jeffrey St.
Clair Lila Rajiva Amira Hass Joshua Frank David Swanson Richard Thieme Paul Craig
Roberts Website of the Day
December 27, 2005 Evan Jones Uri Avnery Mike Whitney Gideon Levy David Swanson Norman Solomon
December 26, 2005 Lawrence R.
Velvel Lance Olsen Ben Terrall Scott Boehm Charlie Ehlen Tom Kerr
December 24/25, 2005 Aleander Cockburn James Petras Ralph Nader Lila Rajiva Fred Gardner Ron Jacobs Dave Lindorff Gary Leupp Saul Landau John Chuckman Dr. Susan Block St. Clair / Vest / Pollack
/ Donnelly Poets' Basement Website of the Weekend
December 23, 2005 John Ross Chris Floyd Lawrence Mishel
/ Ross Eisenbrey Joanne Mariner Eric Johnson-Debaufre Ray McGovern J. L. Chestnut,
Jr. Website of
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December 22, 2005 Ingmar Lee Elisa Salasin Christopher
Brauchli Robin Blackburn Evelyn Pringle Amira Hass Francis A.
Boyle Stew Albert Website of
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December 21, 2005 Paul Craig
Roberts Lila Rajiva Joshua Frank Dave Zirin Ramzy Baroud Sonia Nettnin Ben Saul Jonathan Cronin Patrick Cockburn Website of
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December 20, 2005 Jackie Corr Earl Ofari
Hutchinson Michael Donnelly Gian Paulo
Accardo Pierre Tristam Norman Solomon Sen. Robert Byrd Dave Lindorff Website of the Day
December 19, 2005 Mike Marqusee Gary Leupp Ron Jacobs John Blair Gideon Levy Kevin Zeese Missy Comley Beattie Don Santina Website of the Day
December 17 / 18, 2005 Cockburn /
St. Clair Gabriel Kolko Susan Alcorn Werther Ralph Nader Patrick Cockburn Fred Gardner Dave Lindorff Ned Sublette Lee Sustar Jason Leopold Laura Carlsen Jeff White Ray McGovern Chris Floyd William Loren Katz Rose Miriam
Elizalde Greg Moses Heather Gray Alison Weir St Clair /
Walker / Pollack Poets' Basement Website of
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December 15, 2005 Oren Ben-Dor Stan Cox Joshua Frank Ben Terrall Patrick Cockburn Monica Benderman Walter A. Davis Vijay Prashad Website of
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Patrick Cockburn Paul Craig
Roberts Lawrence R. Velvel Wayne Garcia John Sugg Gary Leupp Ray McGovern Alan Maass April Hurley, MD Kevin Alexander
Gray
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Banko, III Patrick Cockburn Laura Carlsen Karl Grossman Niranjan Ramakrishnan Kevin Zeese Norman Solomon Michael G.
Smith Stew Albert Bob Dylan Phil Gasper Website of
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December 12, 2005 Paul Craig
Roberts Lawrence R.
Velvel Jessica Stewart George Bisharat Nate Mezmer Earl Ofari
Hutchinson Alison Weir Seth Sandronsky Patrick Cockburn Website of
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Alexander Cockburn Landau / Hassen Ralph Nader Linn Washington, Jr Bill Christison Mike Ferner Elizabeth Schulte Neve Gordon / Yigal Bronner Linda S. Heard Ingmar Lee Ray McGovern John Chuckman John Ryan Dick J. Reavis Christopher
Brauchli Behzad Yaghmaian Aseem Shrivastava John Ross Ben Tripp St. Clair / Pollack / Vest
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Lind Laura Carlsen Justin Akers Thomas Graham, Jr Norman Solomon Tariq Ali /
Robin Blackburn Website of
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/ Brendan Smith Joshua Frank William W.
Morgan Dave Lindorff Patrick Cockburn Harold Pinter Website of
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December 6, 2005 Ron Jacobs Patrick Cockburn Yifat Susskind Mike Whitney Pat Williams Paul Craig
Roberts Website of
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December 5, 2005 John Walsh Brian Cloughley Mokhiber /
Weissman Robert Jensen Norman Solomon Peter Rost, MD Lila Rajiva Website of the Day
Alexander Cockburn Lawrence R.
Velvel Rev. William Alberts Saul Landau Ralph Nader Paul Craig
Roberts Mike Whitney Allan Lichtman Dave Lindorff Brian Concannon,
Jr. Fred Gardner Manuel Garcia,
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December 2, 2005 Stan Goff Mike Ferner Christopher Brauchli Niranjan Ramakrishnan Manuel Talens Peter Phillips J.L. Chestnut,
Jr. Website of
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December 1, 2005 John Walsh,
MD Ron Jacobs Jenna Orkin Joshua Frank Tiffany Ten
Eyck Missy Comley Beattie Eli Stephens Elaine Cassel Website of
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January 10, 2006 Congress and Executive PowerPlaying with FireBy BRIAN J. FOLEY If the pundits are right, during this week's confirmation hearings for Supreme Court nominee Samuel A. Alito, Jr., we'll hear much about "Executive power." Senators will express concern that the Bush Administration has, over the past four years, expanded Executive power to include the power to torture people and imprison them indefinitely. These are powers that most Americans would denounce as dictatorial if another country's government claimed them, much less exercised them. Senators will ask Judge Alito for assurance that he shares these concerns. The questions, however, will seem moot and even hypocritical. Late last year, the Senate overwhelmingly passed an amendment (by Senators Lindsey O. Graham (R-SC) and Carl M. Levin (D-MI)) to the 2006 defense appropriations bill that has resulted in legalizing the Executive's powers to imprison people indefinitely and torture them. The Graham-Levin Amendment The new law repudiates the U.S. Supreme Court's decision in Rasul v. Bush, 124 S. Ct. 2686 (2004), which held that non-U.S. prisoners at the U.S. Naval Base at Guantanano Bay, Cuba (GTMO) could access the federal courts via claims based in habeas corpus, 28 U.S.C. 2241, federal questions, 28 U.S.C. 1331, and the Alien Tort Statute, 28 U.S.C. 1350. Now, the prisoners' only access to U.S. courts is limited to appeals of the outcome of GTMO proceedings, and limited to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit. The new law also specifically states that the military officers who sit in judgment may use evidence obtained by coercion, if they decide it has "probative value." Some Members of Congress may have believed they were simply enacting a law to reduce the number of cases going to federal court, or to streamline what may be seen as a messy process for GTMO cases, or as "tort reform" for GTMO. But the effect of the law is to give the Executive unreviewable power. Here's how: A person can be captured, shackled and sent to GTMO and never given a CSRT hearing. He has no right to the hearing, because he cannot enforce that right in a court. He can be tortured, because he cannot go to court to enforce a right not to be tortured. (This law renders the McCain anti-torture amendment to the same defense appropriations bill a dead letter.) The avenues that the Supreme Court in Rasul said were open have been cut off. Let's assume a prisoner is given a CSRT hearing and is deemed an "enemy combatant." If he appeals under this new law, review will be limited: the Court of Appeals will not engage in fact-finding. Review will be deferential to the government: the new law states that the CSRT process itself requires a rebuttable presumption in favor of the government's evidence, and that the burden of proof is by the preponderance of the evidence. Review likewise will be limited for those found to be "enemy combatants" who go on to be tried and convicted for specific crimes by a military commission. Any sentence that is not a capital sentence, or is less than 10 years imprisonment, will be reviewed only at the court's discretion. Review is not likely to be granted, nor is the appeal likely to succeed, if the Administration continues stacking the D.C. Circuit and Supreme Court with "Executive-friendly" judges. There is one possible saving grace to prevent the Court of Appeals from turning into a kangaroo court: the new law states that the court's appellate jurisdiction includes, "to the extent the Constitution and laws of the United States are applicable, whether the use of such standards and procedures to make the determination [of enemy combatant status or a guilty finding by a military commission] is consistent with the Constitution and laws of the United States." However, the court simply might decide that the Constitution doesn't apply to GTMO proceedings. And such challenges may be raised only by prisoners who are given a hearing in the first place. The court lacks jurisdiction to address any other sorts of claims. Constitutional? Perhaps. Unwise? Definitely. Congress may not have exceeded its own powers in stripping the courts of jurisdiction and eliminating habeas corpus. Under Article III, Congress can control the appellate jurisdiction of the Supreme Court and can "ordain and establish" lower federal courts (and abolish them if it wished). Under Article I (9), Congress can suspend the right to habeas corpus, "when in cases of rebellion or invasion the public safety may require it." But Congress has acted unwisely. The law violates the wisdom that has informed our democracy since its inception. It disables the system of checks and balances, because now, the judiciary cannot conduct meaningful reviews of the military proceedings at GTMO. Politicians from the Executive branch might assure us that they're convicting the real terrorists and protecting us from harm when in fact the convictions are based on unreliable evidence, including hearsay and coerced testimony. These politicians can tell us they are developing investigative skills, but without more rigorous requirements concerning evidence of guilt, they will most likely just be creating goon squads. The law unwisely limits the longstanding right to habeas corpus forged in England. Habeas corpus requires than the Executive can be forced to justify its detention of any person. It is a check for preventing the Executive from becoming too powerful. After all, an Executive that can jail anyone it dislikes, for as long as it likes, is a formidable power indeed. Also, the law is an overreaction to 9/11. Fear is understandable, but Congress should recognize that we are not really in a state of "rebellion or invasion," as the Constitution requires for the suspension of habeas corpus; nor is public safety clearly threatened. Repeated fears of "dirty bombs" and remote-controlled planes spraying anthrax make it easy to overlook that there have been no Al Qaeda attacks on U.S. soil since 9/11 not a single bomb, not a single jihadist shooting up a shopping mall, not a single zealot ramming his car into a busy, pedestrian-crammed crosswalk. No major political, sporting or entertainment event has been cancelled due to the threat of terrorism. The government has not required owners of dangerous facilities such as chemical plants to step up security. Even if we were attacked today, we should keep in mind that the peaceful period between 9/11 and now more than four years exceeds the entire length of the U.S. involvement in World War II, as well as the Civil War. One might argue that the new law doesn't decrease our civil liberties, as it applies only to foreigners, and the Executive thus cannot use it to squelch political dissent or crush political enemies. The distinction between U.S. citizens and non-citizens is an arbitrary one, however, where national security is concerned, and it's not likely to stand. If a man wants to nuke New York, does it really make a difference that he was born in Detroit, and not Dubai? Indeed, a terrorist with U.S. citizenship is more dangerous than a foreign one in that he can move freely in and out of our borders, and blend in as he plots and plans. It won't take long for both Congress and the Executive to realize this. Playing With Fire Granting the Executive the power to torture people and jail them indefinitely, without meaningful judicial review, is like playing with fire. The flames can quickly spread out of control. One person who now knows how
swiftly this fire spreads is Senator Carl Levin, who helped start
it by brokering the Senate amendment. Now that a revised version
has been signed into law, the Administration has announced that
it will file motions to dismiss 186 "enemy combatant"
cases from federal courts this week. On January 4, Senator Levin
released a press statement condemning the Administration's move. Plain wrong? As much as I'd like to agree with the good Senator, I'm not so sure. The language is vague at best. And for whatever its worth, Senator Levin's coauthor, Senator Lindsey Graham, told the Washington Post that he disagrees with him. The courts will have to decide. Senator Levin should know as, indeed, every Member of Congress should know that when drafting laws to increase the Executive's power, he should be excruciatingly clear about any limits that he thinks might exist. To be any less vigilant is not just wrong. It's dangerous. BRIAN J. FOLEY is an assistant professor of law at Florida Coastal School of Law. Email him at brian_j_foley@yahoo.com. Visit his website at www.brianjfoley.com.
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from CounterPunch Books! The Case Against Israel By Michael Neumann  Grand Theft Pentagon: Tales of Greed and Profiteering in the War on Terror by Jeffrey St. Clair                           Sick of sit-on-the-Fence speakers, tongue-tied and timid? CounterPunch Editors Alexander Cockburn and Jeffrey St Clair are available to speak forcefully on ALL the burning issues, as are other CounterPunchers seasoned in stump oratory. Call CounterPunch Speakers Bureau, 1-800-840-3683. Or email beckyg@counterpunch.org. |
