The Obama administration is considering a change in the law for the military commissions at the prison at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba, that would clear the way for detainees facing the death penalty to plead guilty without a full trial.The provision could permit military prosecutors to avoid airing the details of brutal interrogation techniques. It could also allow the five detainees who have been charged with the Sept. 11 attacks to achieve their stated goal of pleading guilty to gain what they have called martyrdom. The proposal, in a draft of legislation that would be submitted to Congress, has not been publicly disclosed. It was circulated to officials under restrictions requiring secrecy. People who have read or been briefed on it said it had been presented to Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates by an administration task force on detention.
The provision could permit military prosecutors to avoid airing the details of brutal interrogation techniques. It could also allow the five detainees who have been charged with the Sept. 11 attacks to achieve their stated goal of pleading guilty to gain what they have called martyrdom.
The proposal, in a draft of legislation that would be submitted to Congress, has not been publicly disclosed. It was circulated to officials under restrictions requiring secrecy. People who have read or been briefed on it said it had been presented to Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates by an administration task force on detention.
Will this become another great perversity by the Obama administration?The Obama administration is considering a change in the law for the military commissions at the prison at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba, that would clear the way for detainees facing the death penalty to plead guilty without a full trial. The provision could permit military prosecutors to avoid airing the details of brutal interrogation techniques. It could also allow the five detainees who have been charged with the Sept. 11 attacks to achieve their stated goal of pleading guilty to gain what they have called martyrdom. The military law forbids death penalties based solely on guilty pleas for two good reasons: the guilty plea could be coerced the guilty plea could be way for people who are not guilty to commit a form of suicide. Such has happened for example in the case of the Beatrice Six four of which had falsely confessed in a rape and murder case and were later exonerated through DNA analysis.
Will this become another great perversity by the Obama administration?
The Obama administration is considering a change in the law for the military commissions at the prison at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba, that would clear the way for detainees facing the death penalty to plead guilty without a full trial. The provision could permit military prosecutors to avoid airing the details of brutal interrogation techniques. It could also allow the five detainees who have been charged with the Sept. 11 attacks to achieve their stated goal of pleading guilty to gain what they have called martyrdom.
The Obama administration is considering a change in the law for the military commissions at the prison at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba, that would clear the way for detainees facing the death penalty to plead guilty without a full trial.
The military law forbids death penalties based solely on guilty pleas for two good reasons:
Such has happened for example in the case of the Beatrice Six four of which had falsely confessed in a rape and murder case and were later exonerated through DNA analysis.
This may make sense domestically, but I'm less convinced the people he really needs to persuade will be impressed. keep to the Fen Causeway
Large number of voters are turning out for a tight election that could see a Hezbollah-led coalition defeat the current ruling US-backed majority. AFP - Lebanese voters flocked to the polls on Sunday in a high-stakes election that could see an alliance led by the Shiite militant group Hezbollah defeat the current ruling Western-backed coalition. Thousands of people, many sporting their party colours, lined up outside polling stations even before the vote opened in a country which has endured years of wars, sectarian unrest and political instability. "There is a huge turnout," a high-ranking security official told AFP. "We expected big crowds but not this early."
AFP - Lebanese voters flocked to the polls on Sunday in a high-stakes election that could see an alliance led by the Shiite militant group Hezbollah defeat the current ruling Western-backed coalition. Thousands of people, many sporting their party colours, lined up outside polling stations even before the vote opened in a country which has endured years of wars, sectarian unrest and political instability. "There is a huge turnout," a high-ranking security official told AFP. "We expected big crowds but not this early."
Observers of Sunday's parliamentary elections in Lebanon expect the Hezbollah-led opposition to win the majority. Analysts agree that the European Union will greet such an outcome cautiously, yet respectfully. Hezbollah is considered a terrorist organization by the United States, and a victory in Sunday's elections would certainly impact US-Lebanese relations. US Vice President Joe Biden said last month in Lebanon that Washington would weigh its continued military assistance on the outcome of the elections. The European Union, however, is expected to continue its association with its Mediterranean partner, analysts believe. "There will be continuity rather than rupture, as the first phase," said Michael Emerson, senior research fellow at the Center for European Policy Studies in Brussels. He said the EU would view the elections as "part of a civilian democratic process." "And it has to be treated with respect," Emerson said.
Hezbollah is considered a terrorist organization by the United States, and a victory in Sunday's elections would certainly impact US-Lebanese relations. US Vice President Joe Biden said last month in Lebanon that Washington would weigh its continued military assistance on the outcome of the elections.
The European Union, however, is expected to continue its association with its Mediterranean partner, analysts believe.
"There will be continuity rather than rupture, as the first phase," said Michael Emerson, senior research fellow at the Center for European Policy Studies in Brussels. He said the EU would view the elections as "part of a civilian democratic process."
"And it has to be treated with respect," Emerson said.
An anti-Syrian coalition led by Saad al-Hariri has defeated Hezbollah in Lebanon's parliamentary election on in a blow to Syria and Iran and a boost to the United States. REUTERS - An anti-Syrian coalition defeated Hezbollah in Lebanon's parliamentary election on Sunday in a blow to Syria and Iran and a boost to the United States. "Congratulations to Lebanon, congratulations to democracy, congratulations to freedom," the coalition's leader Saad al-Hariri said in a victory speech at his mansion in Beirut. The outcome was also welcome news for Saudi Arabia and Egypt, which back Hariri's "March 14" alliance - the date of a 2005 rally against Syria's military presence in Lebanon.
REUTERS - An anti-Syrian coalition defeated Hezbollah in Lebanon's parliamentary election on Sunday in a blow to Syria and Iran and a boost to the United States.
"Congratulations to Lebanon, congratulations to democracy, congratulations to freedom," the coalition's leader Saad al-Hariri said in a victory speech at his mansion in Beirut.
The outcome was also welcome news for Saudi Arabia and Egypt, which back Hariri's "March 14" alliance - the date of a 2005 rally against Syria's military presence in Lebanon.
Fidel Castro called the case of two Americans accused of spying for Cuba "strange" yesterday and questioned whether the timing of their arrests was politically motivated. In an essay read by a newscaster on state television, the former Cuban leader noted that the retired Washington couple were taken into custody just 24 hours after the Organization of American States voted to lift a decades-old suspension of Cuba's membership in that group. Though the US ultimately supported the OAS vote Wednesday, the administration of President Barack Obama initially wanted to see more democratic reforms on the communist island before Cuba was readmitted. Castro called the OAS vote "a defeat for United States diplomacy." Walter Kendall Myers and his wife, Gwendolyn, were arrested Thursday in Washington after a three-year investigation that began before Myers' retirement from the State Department in 2007.
Fidel Castro called the case of two Americans accused of spying for Cuba "strange" yesterday and questioned whether the timing of their arrests was politically motivated.
In an essay read by a newscaster on state television, the former Cuban leader noted that the retired Washington couple were taken into custody just 24 hours after the Organization of American States voted to lift a decades-old suspension of Cuba's membership in that group.
Though the US ultimately supported the OAS vote Wednesday, the administration of President Barack Obama initially wanted to see more democratic reforms on the communist island before Cuba was readmitted.
Castro called the OAS vote "a defeat for United States diplomacy."
Walter Kendall Myers and his wife, Gwendolyn, were arrested Thursday in Washington after a three-year investigation that began before Myers' retirement from the State Department in 2007.
If his performance in the television studios is anything to go by, Mir-Hossein Mousavi is scarcely the obvious choice to oust President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and bring Iran back in from the cold. A former hardliner, whose plodding style evokes comparisons from John Major to Leonid Brezhnev, he is as much a blast from Iran's revolutionary past as a breath of fresh reformist air.Yet the bespectacled 67-year-old, who was Iran's prime minister during its revolutionary heyday in the 1980s, has come out of retirement in an attempt to end what he describes as Mr Ahmadinejad's "disgraceful" presidency.
A former hardliner, whose plodding style evokes comparisons from John Major to Leonid Brezhnev, he is as much a blast from Iran's revolutionary past as a breath of fresh reformist air.
Yet the bespectacled 67-year-old, who was Iran's prime minister during its revolutionary heyday in the 1980s, has come out of retirement in an attempt to end what he describes as Mr Ahmadinejad's "disgraceful" presidency.
Years ago, as the Cold War was coming to an end, I said to my fellow leaders around the globe: The world is on the cusp of great events, and in the face of new challenges all of us will have to change, you as well as we. For the most part, the reaction was polite but skeptical silence. In recent years, however, during speaking tours in the United States before university audiences and business groups, I have often told listeners that I feel Americans need their own change -- a perestroika, not like the one in my country, but an American perestroika -- and the reaction has been markedly different. Halls filled with thousands of people have responded with applause. Over time, my remark has prompted all kinds of comments. Some have reacted with understanding. Others have objected, sometimes sarcastically, suggesting that I want the United States to experience upheaval, just like the former Soviet Union. In my country, particularly caustic reactions have come from the opponents of perestroika, people with short memories and a deficit of conscience. And although most of my critics surely understand that I am not equating the United States with the Soviet Union in its final years, I would like to explain my position.
Years ago, as the Cold War was coming to an end, I said to my fellow leaders around the globe: The world is on the cusp of great events, and in the face of new challenges all of us will have to change, you as well as we. For the most part, the reaction was polite but skeptical silence.
In recent years, however, during speaking tours in the United States before university audiences and business groups, I have often told listeners that I feel Americans need their own change -- a perestroika, not like the one in my country, but an American perestroika -- and the reaction has been markedly different. Halls filled with thousands of people have responded with applause.
Over time, my remark has prompted all kinds of comments. Some have reacted with understanding. Others have objected, sometimes sarcastically, suggesting that I want the United States to experience upheaval, just like the former Soviet Union. In my country, particularly caustic reactions have come from the opponents of perestroika, people with short memories and a deficit of conscience. And although most of my critics surely understand that I am not equating the United States with the Soviet Union in its final years, I would like to explain my position.
A couple of weeks ago, just ahead of Dick Cheney's speech on national security, The New York Times ran a story saying that 14 percent of released Guantanamo detainees had returned to the fight. Interestingly, Cheney quoted the same statistic in his speech, which for some of us recalled the time when the Times published bogus "revelations" about Saddam Hussein's nuclear program, just in time for Cheney to quote the story on Meet the Press that very morning.
But the article on which he based that statement was seriously flawed and greatly overplayed. It demonstrated again the dangers when editors run with exclusive leaked material in politically charged circumstances and fail to push back skeptically. The lapse is especially unfortunate at The Times, given its history in covering the run-up to the Iraq war. The article seemed to adopt the Pentagon's contention that freed prisoners had "returned" to terrorism, ignoring independent reporting by The Times and others that some of them may not have been involved in terrorism before but were radicalized at Guantánamo. It failed to distinguish between former prisoners suspected of new acts of terrorism -- more than half the cases -- and those supposedly confirmed to have rejoined jihad against the West. Had only confirmed cases been considered, one in seven would have changed to one in 20. Most of the caveats about the report were deep in the article, where they could hardly offset the impact of the headline, the first paragraph and the prominent position on Page 1.
The article seemed to adopt the Pentagon's contention that freed prisoners had "returned" to terrorism, ignoring independent reporting by The Times and others that some of them may not have been involved in terrorism before but were radicalized at Guantánamo. It failed to distinguish between former prisoners suspected of new acts of terrorism -- more than half the cases -- and those supposedly confirmed to have rejoined jihad against the West. Had only confirmed cases been considered, one in seven would have changed to one in 20.
Most of the caveats about the report were deep in the article, where they could hardly offset the impact of the headline, the first paragraph and the prominent position on Page 1.
The NYT has a history of being conduits for republican dis-information. Any subsequent correction intended to "balance" the damage simply ends up compounding it (by design). keep to the Fen Causeway
At least 31 people have been killed in a 24-hour orgy of violence in northern Peru where police clashed with Amazon Indians over land rights in the rainforest, government officials said.According to Prime Minister Yehude Simon, 22 police officers and nine civilians were killed Friday and Saturday after police forcibly re-opened a regional highway that thousands of Amazon Indian protesters had been blocking for days.The clashes mark the bloodiest unrest in Peru since the Shining Path, a violent Maoist rebel group, terrorized the country in the 1980s and 1990s in its battle against the government.
According to Prime Minister Yehude Simon, 22 police officers and nine civilians were killed Friday and Saturday after police forcibly re-opened a regional highway that thousands of Amazon Indian protesters had been blocking for days.
The clashes mark the bloodiest unrest in Peru since the Shining Path, a violent Maoist rebel group, terrorized the country in the 1980s and 1990s in its battle against the government.
