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The Red Cross on Saddam Hussein, POWs in Iraq and Torture
at Abu Ghraib
Should President Bush Be Impeached?
From Paintball Practice to Prison: A Look At One of The Most
Controversial Terrorism Cases in the Country
Jury Acquits Idaho Webmaster Charged With Terrorism For Hosting
Anti-American Websites
The Red Cross on Saddam Hussein, POWs in Iraq and
Torture at Abu Ghraib
We go to Baghdad to speak with Nada Doumani, spokesperson
for the International Committee of the Red Cross about the
latest on the debate over what will happen to Saddam Hussein
and other Iraqi POWs after the June 30 so-called handover
of power.
The Iraqi official in charge of setting up a tribunal to
try former Iraqi government members, Salem Chalabi, says he
expects to file criminal charges against Saddam Hussein and
others before the June 30 so-called transfer of power. Salem
Chalabi is the nephew of US-backed Iraqi exile leader Ahmad
Chalabi who has been accused of leaking US secrets to Iran.
On Monday, Iraq's interim Prime Minister, Ilyad Allawi, said
he wants Hussein to be handed over to the interim Iraqi government
in two weeks but President Bush is refusing to set a timetable
to release him. Speaking to reporters outside the White House
yesterday, Bush said “appropriate security” must
be in place before the US would hand over Hussein.
President Bush speaking outside the White House yesterday.
US occupation leader Paul Bremer told the Washington Post
that the US could transfer legal custody of Hussein but would
retain physical custody. Hussein has been held at an undisclosed
location since his capture by US forces in December and is
being interrogated by the CIA and FBI.
Speculation about Saddam Hussein’s fate was raised
after the Red Cross insisted Sunday the US cannot continue
hold Hussein, who has been designated a prisoner of war by
the US, after the formal end to the occupation.
- Nada Doumani, spokesperson for the International Committee
of the Red Cross.
Should President Bush Be Impeached?
Attorney John Bonifaz argues the president has commited
high crimes by lying to the American public and Congress about
Iraq in the lead-up to the invasion. He makes his case in
the new book “Warrior-King: The Case For Impeaching
George W. Bush."
Next Tuesday on June 22nd, former President Bill Clinton’s
much-anticipated memoir, “My Life” will hit bookstores.
The 1,000-page book is expected to soar to the top of the
best-seller lists and pre-orders have already exceeded the
stated first printing of 1.5 million copies.
One of the main reasons for the book’s popularity is
undoubtedly Clinton’s account of the events that led
him to become the second American president in US history
to be impeached.
Clinton denied having had a sexual affair with Monica Lewinsky,
a young intern who had worked at the White House. But in December
1998, a Republican-dominated House voted to impeach Clinton,
charging him with lying under oath to a federal grand jury
and obstructing justice.
While Clinton was impeached over a personal scandal, some
say President George W Bush should be impeached for much serious
crimes. John Bonifaz makes that case in his latest book "Warrior-King:
The Case for Impeaching George W. Bush."
In February and March 2003, Bonifaz served as lead counsel
for a coalition of US soldiers, parents of soldiers, and six
Members of Congress - led by Representatives Conyers and Kucinich
- in a federal lawsuit challenging the authority of President
Bush and Secretary Rumsfeld to launch a war against Iraq absent
a congressional declaration of war or equivalent action.
The federal courts eventually ruled that they couldn't decide
the case because it raised "political questions"
to be addressed only by the political branches of government.
John Bonifaz is also the founder and general counsel of the
National Voting Rights Institute, a prominent legal center
in the campaign finance reform field.
- John Bonifaz, author of the new book "Warrior King:
The Case For Impeaching George W. Bush." Last year
Bonifaz and a coalition of U.S. soldiers, parents of soldiers
and six members of Congress sued the president and Defense
Secretary Donald Rumsfeld seeking to prevent them from waging
an undeclared and illegal war. He is a Boston-based attorney
and the founder of the National Voting Rights Institute.
From Paintball Practice to Prison: A Look At One
of The Most Controversial Terrorism Cases in the Country
In Virginia, a judge sentenced three men to prison Tuesday,
including one to life and another to 85 years, on terrorism
charges connected to a game of paintball. But the sentence
is coming under intense criticism – from the judge herself
who described the sentence as "appalling" and "Draconian."
We talk to one of the defendant’s attorneys who says
the ruling marks "the greatest miscarriage of justice
of any case" he has ever seen. In Virginia, three Muslim
men were sentenced to up to life in prison after the government
accused the men of training for holy war abroad by playing
paintball games in the Virginia woods. One man was sentenced
to life. Another to 85 years and the third got eight years.
The men were accused of being connected to the Pakistani group
Lashkar-i-Taiba which is trying to drive India from the disputed
region of Kashmir.
In an unusual development, the judge in the case, U.S. District
Court Judge Lonnie Brinkema, called the lengthy sentences
"appalling" and "draconian" but said she
had no choice under federal law. She said "We have murderers
who get far less time. I've sent Al Qaeda members planning
attacks on these shores to less time. This is sticking in
my craw. Law and justice at times need to be in tune."
One of the defendant's attorneys called the sentence "the
greatest miscarriage of justice of any case" he has been
involved in 34 years of practice.
- John Zwerling, attorney based in Alexandria Virginia.
He represented Seifullah Chapman in the Virginia Paintball
case. His client was sentenced on Tuesday to 85 years in
jail.
- David Cole, Washington-based constitutional attorney,
professor at Georgetown Law School and author of the book
"Enemy Aliens: Double Standards and Constitutional
Freedom in the War on Terrorism."
Jury Acquits Idaho Webmaster Charged With Terrorism
For Hosting Anti-American Websites
Attorney David Cole examines a recent court ruling that
he says marks one of the biggest defeats for the Justice Department
regarding the Patriot Act to date. A Saudi graduate student
was jailed for over a year and a half for designing websites
that linked to sites with terror ties. Cole asks, could the
New York Times be charged for linking to sites with terror
ties?
In February 2003, the FBI raided the home of Saudi student
at the University of Idaho. Sami Omar Al-Hussayen a 34 year-old
Ph.D. candidate who studied in the U.S. for nine years had
volunteered his time to a Michigan-based group, the Islamic
Assembly of North America, to set up a website that promoted
the study of Islam.
The website contained a link to another website set up by
a group the U.S. government had listed as a terrorist organization.
Another link pointed to a site that advocated suicide bombings
in Israel and Chechnya.
Al-Hussayen was arrested and charged with three counts of
terrorism, four counts of making false statements, and seven
counts of visa fraud. The terrorism charges against him were
made under the Patriot Act and charged him with providing
''expert guidance or assistance'' to groups deemed terrorist.
In the year before Al-Hussayen was arrested the government
closely tracked him by intercepting 29,000 emails and phone
calls.
Last week, after more than a year in jail, a jury found Al-Hussayen
innocent of most of the charges, including all three terrorism
charges dealing the Justice Department a major defeat.
The trial, which lasted seven weeks, featured a convicted
terrorist who said he was influenced by Al-Hussayen's Web
writings, and retired CIA operative, Frank Anderson, who was
the only witness called by defense attorneys. After the acquittal,
Anderson said “I am embarrassed and ashamed that our
government has kept a decent and innocent man in jail for
a very long time." Al Hussayen remains in prison on immigration
charges.
- David Cole, Washington-based constitutional attorney,
professor at Georgetown Law School and author of the book
"Enemy Aliens: Double Standards and Constitutional
Freedom in the War on Terrorism."
- Marwan Mossaad, a personal friend of Sami Omar Al-Hussayen.
He has visited Sami many times in jail. At the University
of Idaho both Sami and Marwan served terms as the heads
of the Muslim Student Association.
For a copy of today’s program, call 1 (800) 881 2359.
Our website is www.democracynow.org.
Our email address is mail@democracynow.org.
Democracy Now! is produced by Mike Burke, Sharif Abdel Kouddous,
Ana Nogueira, Elizabeth Press, Jeremy Scahill and Parvez Sharma.
Mike Di Filippo is our engineer.
Thanks also to Uri Galed, Angela Alston, Orlando Richards,
Simba Russeau, Johnny Sender, Rich Kim, Joe Murgio, John Randolph,
Chris Zucker, Karen Ranucci, Denis Moynihan, Eric Rweyemamu,
Jenny Filipazzo and Isis Phillips.
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