Author: Scott Horton

Sibel Edmonds to lead protest over government secrecy Thursday morning

Today was to be the oral hearing on Sibel’s lawsuit fighting the State Secrets Privilege imposed over her case. The court has made the extraordinary decision to close the hearing to the public and to Sibel as well. Please come help show our outrage about the excessive secrecy imposed on her case! Sibel is organizing an impromptu protest in front of the courthouse.

Where: E. Barrett Prettyman United States Courthouse, Court of Appeals Courtroom, 333 Constitution Avenue, N.W., 5th Floor, Washington D.C.

When: Thursday, April 21, 9:00 a.m.-noon

Edmonds, a former Middle Eastern language specialist hired by the FBI shortly after 9/11, was fired in 2002 after repeatedly reporting serious security breaches and misconduct. Edmonds challenged her retaliatory dismissal by filing a lawsuit in federal court, but her case was dismissed last July after Attorney General John Ashcroft invoked the so-called “state secrets privilege,” and retroactively classified briefings to Congress related to her case.

The government has argued that every aspect of Edmonds’ case involves state secrets — including where she was born and what languages she speaks — and therefore cannot go forward. Edmonds is appealing to the United States Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit to reinstate her case. Several 9/11 family member advocacy groups filed a friend-of-the-court brief in her support. Ann Beeson, Associate Legal Director of the ACLU National Office, will argue on behalf of Edmonds. Oral arguments will be heard on April 21.

Beth Daley
Director of Communication
Project On Government Oversight
666 11th Street, NW, #500, Washington, DC 20010
Phone 202-347-1122 Fax 202-347-1116

Sibel Edmonds’ Website

Saturday beginning at 4pm Eastern time on the Weekend Interview Show, I’ll be talking with Jim Powell, author of Wilson’s War: How Woodrow Wilson’s Great Blunder Led to Hitler, Lenin, Stalin and World War II. In the second hour, the guests will be Elaine Cassel to discuss Ahmed Abu Ali, and Laurence M. Vance about his book, Christianity and War and Other Essays Against the Warfare State.

Update: Show’s over, Archives.

Today on the Weekend Interview Show, I‘ll be talking with Aaron Glantz about his new book, How America Lost Iraq, and in the second hour, Gordon Prather will return to give us the lowdown on the NPT, El Baradei, Iran, etc.

Update: Show’s over, archives.

Saturday on the Weekend Interview Show I’ll be talking with J. Forrest Sharpe of IHS Press about the soon to be released two book set, Neoconned, which includes essays by Justin Raimondo, Pat Buchanan, Samuel Francis, Joe Sobran, Charley Reese, Thomas Fleming, Eric S. Margolis, Laurence M. Vance, Alexander Cockburn, Robert Fisk, Noam Chomsky, Claes G. Ryn, Karen Kwiatkowski, Sgt. Al Lorenz, Ray McGovern, Gordon Prather, Tom Engelhardt and other Antiwar.com regulars. In the second hour, Jude Wanniski, will discuss his chapter one of Neoconned, The (Bogus) Case Against Saddam.

Update: Show’s over, Archives

It’s a good thing the natural right to live doesn’t apply to people who live across water from here, or the Schaivo Right might have to start opposing war.
According to MSNBC:

“WIESBADEN, Germany – A U.S. Army tank company commander told a military court Wednesday that he shot a gravely wounded, unarmed Iraqi man ‘to put him out of his misery,’ saying the killing was ‘honorable.’

“Taking the stand for the first time, Capt. Rogelio ‘Roger’ Maynulet, 30, described the events that led him to fire twice upon the Iraqi, maintaining that the man was too badly injured to survive.

“’He was in a state that I didn’t think was justified — I had to put him out of his misery,’ Maynulet said. He argued that the killing ‘was the right thing to do, it was the honorable thing to do.’

“Prosecutors at the court-martial say Maynulet violated military rules of engagement by shooting an Iraqi who was wounded and unarmed.

“Maynulet is being court-martialed on a charge of assault with intent to commit murder in the May 21, 2004, killing near Kufa, south of Baghdad. He has pleaded not guilty to the charge, which carries a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison, and his lawyers have argued that his actions were in line with the Geneva Conventions on the code of war.”

Just because the Predator Drone footage shows the man was waving his arms around, doesn’t mean he was alive at the time he was put out of his misery:

“An Army neurosurgeon, Richard Gullock, testified that it was unclear from the surveillance footage whether the driver was alive or dead at the time of the shooting. In the video, the man appeared to be waving his right arm before the first shot.

“’I am aware there can be similar movements in someone who can be considered clinically brain dead,’ Gullock said.

“However, a second neurosurgeon, Lt. Col. Rocco Armonda of the Walter Reed Medical Center in Washington, countered that the pattern of the man’s movements in the video ‘indicate he was alive.’”

If only he had just dehydrated the guy to death.

Update: AP: U.S. Soldier Convicted in Court-Martial

“WIESBADEN, Germany Mar 31, 2005 — A military court Thursday convicted a U.S. Army tank company commander of a lesser criminal charge in connection with the shooting death of a wounded Iraqi last year.

“Capt. Rogelio ‘Roger’ Maynulet was found guilty of assault with intent to commit voluntary manslaughter, which carries a maximum of 10 years in prison. Prosecutors had sought conviction on a more serious charge of assault with intent to commit murder, which carried a 20-year maximum.

“Maynulet, 30, of Chicago, stood at attention as Lt. Col. Laurence Mixon, the head of the six-member panel, read the verdict at the court-martial. The court was to reconvene later Thursday to consider Maynulet’s sentence.”

Airstrikes are ok. Execution is not. Everybody understand? Good.
Continue reading ““To Put Him Out of His Misery””

Saturday on the Weekend Interview Show, civil rights attorney Elaine Cassel will return to discuss the legal status of Ahmed Omar Abu Ali and Ali Saleh Kahlah al-Marri, Greg Palast will be back to discuss his Harper’s piece about the conflict between the oilmen and the neocons over how to treat Iraq’s resources, and former CIA analyst Chalmers Johnson will discuss his book, The Sorrows of Empire: Militarism, Secrecy and the End of the Republic.

Listen Live 4-6pm est
Archives

Update: Show’s over. Elaine couldn’t make it, Greg explained the neocon-oilman wars, and Chalmers expressed his sorrow.
Archives at weekendinterviewshow.com