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Supreme Court Rules Enemy Combatants Can Challenge Detentions
Life After Death: U.S.-Appointed Iraqi Governing Council
Granted Wide Powers in Interim Government
Iraqis On Handover of Sovereignty: "We Do Not Approve
This Political Formula to Oppress Us"
Embedded Filmmaker Who Shot "Fahrenheit 9/11" Iraq
Footage Describes Humiliation and Sexual Abuse of Iraqi Families
in U.S. Raids
Saddam Hussein's Lawyer Discusses Case, Transfer of Custody
and Rights Violations
Supreme Court Rules Enemy Combatants Can Challenge
Detentions
In a rebuke to the Bush Administration, the Supreme Court
rules that the executive cannot hold enemy combatants without
giving them the ability to challenge their decision in court.
We speak with attorney Barbara Olshansky of the Center for
Constitutional Rights that filed the suit.[includes
transcript]
In a rebuke to the Bush Administration, the Supreme Court
yesterday ruled that while the executive branch technically
has the power to designate enemy combatants, prisoners have
a right to challenge their detention in court.
In a rebuke to the Bush Administration, the Supreme Court
yesterday ruled that while the executive branch technically
has the power to designate enemy combatants, prisoners have
a right to challenge their detention in court. In one opinion,
Justice Sandra Day O'Conner wrote the "We have long since
made clear that state of war is not a blank check for the
president when it comes to the rights of the nation's citizens."
In one of the major Supreme Court decisions, the justices
ruled 8-1 that U.S.-born citizen and enemy combatant Yaser
Hamdi could not be detained without giving him a way to challenge
the government's evidence. Justice Antonin Scalia wrote "The
very core of liberty secured by our Anglo-Saxon system of
separated powers has been freedom from indefinite imprisonment
at the will of the Executive."
In a second decision, the justices ruled 6-3 that federal
courts do have jurisdiction over enemy combatants at Guantanamo
Bay even though it"s not on U.S. soil.
The Supreme Court sidestepped a third major terrorism case,
ruling that a lawsuit filed on behalf of U.S. citizen Jose
Padilla improperly named Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld
instead of the much lower-level military officer in charge
of the Navy brig in South Carolina where Padilla has been
held for more than two years. The decision angered some of
the justices, who dissented.
- Barbara Olshansky, attorney with the Center
for Constitutional Rights. She is the author of Secret
Trials and Executions: Military Tribunals and the Threat
to Democracy.
Life After Death: U.S.-Appointed Iraqi Governing
Council Granted Wide Powers in Interim Government
We go to Baghdad to speak with Middle East correspondent
Mohamad Bazzi of Newsday who reports how the U.S.-appointed
Iraqi Governing Council guaranteed most of its members seats
in the interim government and will have the power to veto
laws, approve Iraq's 2005 budget and replace the Iraqi president
in case of death or resignation.
On the day of the so-called transfer of sovereignty in Iraq,
Middle East correspondent Mohamad Bazzi of Newsday writes:
"On the very day that the 25-member council dissolved
itself, June 1, it issued a little-noticed decree that guarantees
most of its members seats on the Iraqi National Council, a
de-facto legislature that will serve until elections are held
early next year. The 100-member assembly will have the power
to veto laws, approve Iraq's 2005 budget and replace the Iraqi
president and two vice presidents in case of death or resignation.
"Members of the Governing Council, which was appointed
by the U.S.-led occupation last July and was rejected by many
Iraqis as illegitimate, also guaranteed themselves seats on
an array of committees that will choose the remaining members
of the National Council. "By granting itself such wide
powers, critics say, the Governing Council risks tainting
the legitimacy of the new Iraqi government set to assume sovereignty
on Wednesday."
- Mohamad Bazzi, Middle East Correspondent for Newsday.
Iraqis On Handover of Sovereignty: "We Do Not
Approve This Political Formula to Oppress Us"
The day after the so-called transfer of power in Iraq we
speak with two Iraqis about the political situation and future
of their country: Iraqi women's rights activist Yanar Mohammed
joins us in our firehouse studio and we go to Baghdad to speak
with retired Iraqi engineer Ghazwan Al-Mukhtar.
At a NATO summit in Turkey yesterday, President Bush received
a note from National Security Advisor Condoleezza Rice. It
read: "Mr. President, Iraq is sovereign. Letter was passed
from Bremer at 10:26 AM Iraq time -- Condi."
Bush took the note, scrawled "Let Freedom Reign!"
and sent it back to her. He checked his watch and whispered
to British Prime Minister Tony Blair and the two shook hands.
This is how the White House reportedly learnt of the early
so-called transfer of sovereignty in Iraq.
In Baghdad, the transfer happened with such heavy security,
that journalists ushered into a small room to watch the surprise
ceremony didn't know what they had been invited to until it
was happening. Immediately after the ceremony, former proconsul
Paul Bremer was driven over to the airport and quietly hopped
on a plane. One American staffer called it a "tail-between-your-legs
exit." This according to the Washington Post.
At the NATO summit Bush announced "We pledged to end
a dangerous regime, to free the oppressed and to restore sovereignty.
We have kept our word." But many questions remain over
as to how much power the US has actually handed over. The
U.S. issued a number of far-reaching edicts before Bremer
left - including exempting U.S. contractors from Iraqi laws.
There still are about 150 American advisors in Iraqi ministries.
Not one fewer American soldier or Marine is on Iraqi soil
today. US Ambassador John Negroponte will head up the largest
embassy in the world.
Chief Middle East correspondent Robert Fisk of the London
Independent writes "Those of us who put quotation marks
around "liberation" in 2003 should now put quotation
marks around "sovereignty". Doing this has become
part of the reporting of the Middle East."
- Ghazwan Al-Mukhtar, retired Iraqi engineer speaking from
Baghdad.
- Yanar Mohammed, Director of the Organization of Women's
Freedom in Iraq, a group that works to stop atrocities against
Iraqi women and defend their rights. She also serves as
the Editor in Chief of the newspaper Al-Mousawat which stands
for "Equality."
Embedded Filmmaker Who Shot "Fahrenheit 9/11"
Iraq Footage Describes Humiliation and Sexual Abuse of Iraqi
Families in U.S. Raids
Swedish-Iraqi filmmaker Urban Hamid, who was embedded with
U.S. troops in Iraq for two and a half months, describes Iraqis
being bound, hooded, humiliated and sexually abused by U.S.
troops in neighborhood raids. The rarely-seen footage is broadcast
on Democracy Now![includes
transcript]
Michael Moore's new film Fahrenheit 9-11 has been shattering
box office record for a documentary and is being credited
by some with boosting public interest in current events in
Iraq. The film deals extensively with the build-up to the
war, as well as the occupation as well.
In producing the film, Moore relied on a number of independent
filmmakers on the ground in Iraq to get much of the footage
he uses to paint a picture of the occupation. One of the filmmakers
who provided Moore with some disturbing footage is in our
studio today.
- Urban Hamid, independent filmmaker who recently returned
from Iraq. His footage of U.S. troops taunting and humiliating
Iraqi prisoners appears in Michael Moore's latest film,
Fahrenheit 9/11.
Saddam Hussein's Lawyer Discusses Case, Transfer
of Custody and Rights Violations
Iraq's unelected Prime Minister Ayad Allawi says former
Iraqi president Saddam Hussein will appear before an Iraqi
judge to face charges, including genocide. We speak with Saddam
Hussein's lawyer Curtis Doebbler about the case.
Iraq's unelected Prime Minister Ayad Allawi said today that
Saddam Hussein and up to 11 other former Baath Party officials
will be transferred from U.S. to Iraqi legal custody. But
US civilian and military officials have made clear that the
former Iraqi president will not be physically handed over
to Iraqis and will remain a prisoner guarded by US forces.
Speaking at his first press conference, Allawi said Saddam
will appear before an Iraqi judge on Thursday in an initial
hearing, at which he will face charges, including genocide,
related to his 23 years of rule. However, he will remain in
a US-run jail.
Saddam was captured by the US last December 13 and is being
held at an undisclosed location, reportedly in or near Baghdad,
and has been interrogated by the CIA and FBI. Saddam has not
been seen in public since his capture, except on a video provided
by the US military.
He has been visited a handful of times by the International
Committee of the Red Cross. His lawyers charge that he has
been physically abused by his US jailers and has had his human
rights violated. Letters he has written to his family from
prison have been heavily censored by US officials.
The tribunal that will try Saddam has a budget of some $75
million. The US justice department has been gathering evidence
for a war crimes case against Saddam, while other international
groups have been sifting through the mass graves where US
officials say victims of his regime were buried. Ayad Allawi
said today that he and other unelected Iraqi officials were
still discussing whether to reinstate the death penalty.
- Curtis Doebbler, attorney who is part of Saddam Hussein's
legal team. He is speaking to us from Uzbekistan where he
is Visiting Professor of International Human Rights Law
at the Tashkent State Institute of Law.
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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