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Home » Context of 'October 26, 2006: Alleged '20th Hijacker' Likely Will Never Be Put on Trial'
Context of 'October 26, 2006: Alleged '20th Hijacker' Likely Will Never Be Put on Trial'
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May 5, 2006: Prosecution, Defense Spar over Rove's Possible Testimony
Judge Reggie Walton holds a hearing to discuss numerous issues surrounding the upcoming Lewis Libby trial. One of the key areas of discussion is the involvement and expected testimony of White House political strategist Karl Rove (see July 8, 2003, July 8 or 9, 2003, 11:00 a.m. July 11, 2003, October 8, 2003, October 15, 2004, October 14, 2005, and April 26, 2006). The Libby defense team wants to compel the disclosure of a raft of classified White House and CIA documents concerning Rove's actions in the Valerie Plame Wilson identity leak, but special counsel Patrick Fitzgerald, saying he does not intend to call Rove as a witness, is refusing to ask the White House for those documents (see After October 28, 2005, January 31, 2006, February 6, 2006, and (February 16, 2006)). Fitzgerald admits to being legally compelled to turn over any material he has on witnesses he intends to call, but will not agree to go after material regarding witnesses he does not intend to call, especially when that material may prove to be to the defense's benefit. For Libby, lawyer Theodore Wells says he intends to call Rove as a witness, and he wants Fitzgerald to battle with the White House for documents pertaining to Rove's involvement in the leak. Fitzgerald retorts, as he has before, that the material Wells and his team are asking for is not germane to a perjury defense. In the process, Wells falsely claims that a legal precedent exists for forcing a government prosecution to seek evidence the defense wants, and Walton is briefly taken in by his deception before learning that Wells is misrepresenting the case law. Fitzgerald says flatly: "I'm responsible for the government's case… and turning over my obligations. I am not responsible for preparing the defense case. And the case law, and Your Honor cited it. It is material defined by the indictment and the government's case in chief. You just can't say I'm going to call 20 witnesses so give me everything about them. We then would have effectively open-file discovery or beyond that and I don't agree with that reading of the law." The conversation, especially on Fitzgerald's part, is circumspect, with all parties well aware that the hearing is being held in open court. However, Walton is somewhat testy with Wells during one exchange. Referring to Wells's stated intention to introduce former ambassador Joseph Wilson's classified CIA report on the Iraq-Niger uranium claims (see March 4-5, 2002), Walton says, "I don't see how this is relevant to the case." Any focus on Wilson's report would turn the trial into an inquiry on "statements the president made in the State of the Union (see Mid-January 2003 and 9:01 pm January 28, 2003). You want to try the legitimacy of us going to war." [US District Court for the District of Columbia, 5/5/2006 ; Bloomberg, 5/5/2006; Marcy Wheeler, 6/15/2006]
Defense: Libby Small Part of Larger White House Operation - Wells makes a statement that indicates he and his fellow attorneys intend to try to prove that Libby was indeed a small part of a much larger White House operation. He says: "It wasn't just him [Libby]. He was involved in what was a multi-agency response. It was [sic] Office of the Vice President. It was the Office of the President." Former prosecutor Christy Hardin Smith calls Wells's statement a "'Hello, Karl' moment," and notes that Wells is trying to go in at least two different directions: Libby's memory is demonstrably faulty (see January 31, 2006) and he is being made into a White House scapegoat. Smith observes, "Team Libby is going to have a very tough time indeed if they are going to play such substantially adverse ends of the spectrum against each other at trial in order to raise reasonable doubt in the jurors' minds." [Christy Hardin Smith, 5/12/2006]
Author: Defense May Not Intend to Call Rove, Maneuvering for Materials Instead? - Author and blogger Marcy Wheeler, who is closely following the case, will later write that she is not at all sure that Libby's lawyers really intend to call Rove as a defense witness. "But they seem awfully interested in getting all the materials relating, presumably, to Rove's conversation with [columnist Robert] Novak (see July 14, 2003). They sure seem interested in knowing what Rove said, and whether they can make certain arguments without Rove refuting those arguments." [Marcy Wheeler, 6/15/2006]
Entity Tags: Karl C. Rove, Christy Hardin Smith, Bush administration (43), Joseph C. Wilson, Theodore Wells, Reggie B. Walton, Marcy Wheeler, Executive Office of the President, Office of the Vice President, Lewis ("Scooter") Libby, Patrick J. Fitzgerald
Timeline Tags: Niger Uranium and Plame Outing
May 10, 2006: Fitzgerald, Libby Lawyers Battling over 'Size' of Libby Case
Conservative columnist Byron York writes that in his view, one of the overarching conflicts between Patrick Fitzgerald's prosecution team and the defense team of Lewis Libby is that of the "size" of the case. Fitzgerald wants to focus on the "little case," the narrow parameters of the perjury charges Libby faces: namely, did Libby lie under oath when he told Fitzgerald's grand jury that he learned of Valerie Plame Wilson's CIA identity from NBC reporter Tim Russert (see June 23, 2003, 8:30 a.m. July 8, 2003, 2:24 p.m. July 12, 2003, Late Afternoon, July 12, 2003, and July 10 or 11, 2003)? Fitzgerald, York writes, has abandoned his pursuit of the larger case—who leaked Plame Wilson's identity, why was it leaked, and did it violate the Intelligence Identities Protection Act, the Espionage Act, or some other law? York writes: "He has learned about the Big Case as much as one man with subpoena power, no supervision, unlimited funds, and no hesitation to threaten reporters with jail can learn. He just doesn't want to talk about it." On the other hand, Libby's team wants to focus on the larger case. Was Libby merely following orders from senior Bush administration officials who felt "under attack" by Plame Wilson's husband, war critic Joseph Wilson, and others? York writes: "Libby might have simply forgotten some of the details, and because of that testified incorrectly, his lawyers contend, because he was focusing on the big picture. If Libby's defense team had its way, the whole thing—the Big Case—would be re-fought in the courtroom." Judge Reggie Walton is trying to balance the two interests, York observes, and finding it understandably difficult to do so. [National Review, 5/10/2006]
Entity Tags: Joseph C. Wilson, Bush administration (43), Byron York, Lewis ("Scooter") Libby, Patrick J. Fitzgerald, Valerie Plame Wilson, Reggie B. Walton, Tim Russert
May 11, 2006: USA Today Reports NSA, Telecom Firms Cooperating in NSA Domestic Surveillance
USA Today headline. [Source: CBS News]USA Today reports that "[t]he National Security Agency (NSA) has been secretly collecting the phone call records of tens of millions of Americans, using data provided by the nation's three biggest telecommunications providers, AT&T, Verizon, and BellSouth," according to "people with direct knowledge of the arrangement." None of the sources would allow USA Today to identify them by name, job, or affiliation. The USA Today story claims that the NSA program "does not involve the NSA listening to or recording conversations," but does use "the data to analyze calling patterns in an effort to detect terrorist activity," according to their sources. One source says that the NSA program is compiling "the largest database ever assembled in the world," with the goal of creating "a database of every call ever made" within US borders. President Bush has said that the NSA program is focused exclusively on international calls, and for the calls to be recorded, "one end of the communication must be outside the United States." However, this is now shown not to be the case (see January 16, 2004). A US intelligence official says that the NSA program is not recording the actual phone calls themselves, but is collecting what he calls "external" data about the communications to allow the agency to emply "social network analysis" for insight into how terrorist networks are connected with one another. Another large telecommunications company, Qwest, has refused to help the NSA eavesdrop on customer calls (see February 2001, February 2001 and Beyond, and February 27, 2001). USA Today's sources say that the NSA eavesdropping program began after the 9/11 attacks, a claim that is not bolstered by the facts (see 1997, February 27, 2000, February 27, 2000, December 2000, February 2001, February 2001, February 2001 and Beyond, February 2001, Spring 2001, April 2001, April 4, 2001, July 2001, Before September 11, 2001, and Early 2002). The sources say that the three companies agreed to provide "call-detail records," lists of their customers' calling histories, and updates, which would allow the agency to track citizens' calling habits. In return, the sources say, the NSA offered to pay the firms for their cooperation. After the three firms agreed to help the agency, USA Today writes, "the NSA's domestic program began in earnest" (see After September 11, 2001, After September 11, 2001, October 2001, September 2002, and Spring 2004). NSA spokesman Don Weber says the agency is operating strictly "within the law," but otherwise refuses to comment. Former US prosecutor Paul Butler says that the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA), which governs surveillance operations by US intelligence agencies, "does not prohibit the government from doing data mining" (see 1978). White House press spokesman Dana Perino says, "There is no domestic surveillance without court approval," and all surveillance activities undertaken by government agencies "are lawful, necessary, and required for the pursuit of al-Qaeda and affiliated terrorists." All government-sponsored intelligence activities "are carefully reviewed and monitored," she adds, and says that "all appropriate members of Congress have been briefed on the intelligence efforts of the United States" (see October 11, 2001 and October 25, 2001 and November 14, 2001). Don Weber, a senior spokesman for the NSA, refuses to discuss the agency's operations, saying: "Given the nature of the work we do, it would be irresponsible to comment on actual or alleged operational issues; therefore, we have no information to provide. However, it is important to note that NSA takes its legal responsibilities seriously and operates within the law." All three firms released similar comments saying that they would not discuss "matters of national security," but were complying with the law in their alleged cooperation with the NSA. The Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) is suing AT&T for what it calls its complicity in the NSA's "illegal" domestic surveillance program (see January 31, 2006). [USA Today, 5/11/2006]
Entity Tags: Verizon Communications, USA Today, Qwest, Paul Butler, Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, Jane Harman, AT&T, BellSouth, National Security Agency, Dana Perino, Don Weber
May 12, 2006: Fitzgerald Submits List of News Articles He Intends to Present as Evidence
Special counsel Patrick Fitzgerald files a brief with the court concerning the newspaper articles he intends to introduce during the trial of former White House official Lewis Libby. Fitzgerald says he intends to submit only one article in its entirety, a copy of the New York Times op-ed written by former ambassador Joseph Wilson (see July 6, 2003), and he intends to instruct the jury that the op-ed is not necessarily being submitted for its factual accuracy so much as for the handwritten annotations made on the copy by Vice President Dick Cheney (see May 14, 2006). Fitzgerald says he also intends to submit five other news articles in redacted form, including Robert Novak's article that outed Valerie Plame Wilson (see July 14, 2003). Fitzgerald's brief reads in part: "The July 14 Chicago Sun Times column by Mr. Novak is relevant because on the day the article was published, a CIA official was asked in the defendant's presence, by another person in the OVP [Office of the Vice President], whether that CIA official had read that column. (The CIA official had not.) At some time thereafter… the CIA official discussed in the defendant's presence the dangers posed by disclosure of the CIA affiliation of one of its employees as had occurred in the Novak column. This evidence directly contradicts the defense position that the defendant had no motive to lie because at the time of his interview and testimony the defendant thought that neither he nor anyone else had done anything wrong. Moreover, the evidence rebuts the defense assertion that the defendant could have easily forgotten his conversations with reporters Cooper and Miller on July 12 (see 2:24 p.m. July 12, 2003 and Late Afternoon, July 12, 2003) if he learned of the potential consequences of such disclosures as a result of the publication of the Novak column on July 14. Instead, the evidence about the conversation concerning the Novak column provides a strong motivation for the defendant to provide false information and testimony about his disclosures to reporters." [US District Court for the District of Columbia, 5/12/2006 ; US District Court for the District of Columbia, 5/12/2006 ]
Entity Tags: Valerie Plame Wilson, Joseph C. Wilson, Lewis ("Scooter") Libby, Patrick J. Fitzgerald, Robert Novak, Richard ("Dick") Cheney
May 13, 2006: Justice Department Files Brief for Dismissal of AT&T Lawsuit on 'State Secrets' Grounds
The Justice Department files a brief with the US District Court of Northern California asking that the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF)'s lawsuit against AT&T (see January 31, 2006) be dismissed on the grounds that it would breach "state secrets" vital to "national security." The Justice Department publicly announced its intentions of asking that the lawsuit be dismissed on those grounds two weeks ago (see April 28, 2006). EFF is suing AT&T for compromising its customers' privacy by colluding with the National Security Agency (NSA) in that agency's domestic surveillance program. The lawsuit is Hepting, et al v. AT&T, often shortened in the media to Hepting v. AT&T. The government submits a number of secret documents to Judge Vaughn Walker as evidence, along with a heavily redacted document submitted for public perusal. Other documents include affidavits from the Director of National Intelligence, John Negroponte, and the head of the NSA, Lieutenant General Keith Alexander. Some observers believe that Walker, a conservative appointed to the bench by President George H.W. Bush, will quickly comply with the government's request. However, as AT&T whistleblower Mark Klein (see December 15-31, 2005 and July 7, 2009), who is working with EFF on the lawsuit (see Early January 2006), will later write, Vaughn is independent-minded and possessed of a "strong libertarian bent," and will not be so prone to do the government's bidding as some believe. [Klein, 2009, pp. 72-73] Walker's first hearing on the brief will be held four days later (see May 17, 2006).
Entity Tags: John Negroponte, AT&T, Electronic Frontier Foundation, Keith Alexander, Mark Klein, US Department of Justice, Vaughn Walker, National Security Agency
May 14, 2006: Document Implicates Cheney in Libby Outing of Plame Wilson
A photograph of the copy of Wilson's op-ed annotated by Dick Cheney. [Source: Department of Justice / New York Times] (click image to enlarge)Special prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald, pursuing charges that former vice-presidential chief of staff Lewis "Scooter" Libby lied to his grand jury about revealing the identity of CIA undercover agent Valerie Plame Wilson (see January 2004, March 5, 2004, and March 24, 2004), introduces into evidence a document that directly implicates Libby's former boss, Vice President Dick Cheney, in Libby's allegedly criminal behavior.
Notated Clipping - Fitzgerald submits an original clipping of a New York Times op-ed written by Plame Wilson's husband, Joseph Wilson, challenging the Bush administration's claims that Iraq had attempted to purchase uranium from Niger (see July 6, 2003). The clipping bears notations in Cheney's own hand, as well as Cheney's fingerprints. Cheney's commentary reads: "Have they done this sort of thing before? [Cheney is referring to the CIA's decision to send Wilson to Niger to investigate the uranium claims—see February 21, 2002-March 4, 2002.] Send an amb. to answer a question. Do we ordinarily send people out to do pro bono work for us? Or did his wife send him on a junket?" It is unclear when Cheney made the notes, but prosecutors believe they were taken before the July 14, 2003 column by Robert Novak that outed Plame Wilson (see July 14, 2003). According to Fitzgerald's filing, Cheney's copy of the op-ed is now "at the center of the sequence of events leading" to Libby's alleged perjury and obstruction of justice. [CNN, 5/14/2006; New York Times, 5/14/2006; Newsweek, 5/16/2006]
'Acutely Focused' Attention of Cheney, Libby on Wilson - The filing goes on to state that Cheney's notes support the idea that Wilson's op-ed drew the attention of Cheney and Libby, and "acutely focused" their attention on Wilson's assertions "and on responding to those assertions.… The article, and the fact that it contained certain criticisms of the administration, including criticism regarding issues dealt with by the Office of the Vice President, serve both to explain the context of, and provide the motive for, many of the defendant's statements and actions at issue in this case. The annotated version of the article reflects the contemporaneous reaction of the vice president to Mr. Wilson's op-ed article, and thus is relevant to establishing some of the facts that were viewed as important by the defendant's immediate superior, including whether Mr. Wilson's wife had sent him on a junket." [CNN, 5/14/2006; Newsweek, 5/16/2006] Libby testified before the grand jury about the annotated op-ed, and that testimony is now entered into evidence. Libby said he recalled discussing the issues with Cheney, and said of those conversations: "I recall that along the way he asked, 'Is this normal for them to just send somebody out like this uncompensated, as it says?' He was interested in how did that person come to be selected for this mission. And at some point, his wife worked at the agency, you know, that was part of the question." A prosecutor asked Libby, "Was it a topic that was discussed on a daily basis… on multiple occasions each day in fact?" Libby answered, "Yes, sir." Libby acknowledged that during that time, Cheney indicated that he was upset about the Wilson article and what he considered to be false attacks on his credibility, saying: "I recall that he was very keen to get the truth out. He wanted to get all the facts out about what he [Cheney] had or hadn't done—what the facts were or were not. He was very keen on that and said it repeatedly. 'Let's get everything out.'" During his testimony before the grand jury, prosecutors did not believe Libby's assertion that Cheney might have "scribbled" notes on the Wilson op-ed on July 14, the day Novak's column was published. Libby testified: "And I think what may have happened here is what he may have—I don't know if he wrote, he wrote the points down. He might have pulled out the column to think about the problem and written on it, but I don't know. You'll have to ask him." [National Journal, 1/12/2007]
Cheney's Other Actions - Fitzgerald has already asserted that Cheney had attempted to pass Wilson's trip to Niger off as a "junket"—essentially a taxpayer-funded excursion with little real purpose—to discredit Wilson's claims about the Iraq-Niger affair. Fitzgerald has also asserted that Cheney, acting with the approval of President Bush, authorized Libby to disclose some of the classfied portions of the 2002 National Intelligence Estimate on Iraq (see October 1, 2002, June 23, 2003, 8:30 a.m. July 8, 2003, and Late Afternoon, July 12, 2003) to reporters to rebut some of Wilson's claims. The Cheney notes provide, in reporter Michael Isikoff's words, "significant new context to that assertion." The notes show that Cheney had "personally raised questions about Wilson's trip right after the publication of the Wilson column—and five days before Libby confirmed to Time reporter Matt Cooper that he had 'heard' that Wilson's wife… had played a role in sending him to Africa" (see July 13, 2005). [CNN, 5/14/2006; Newsweek, 5/16/2006]
Cheney 'at Center of Campaign to Discredit Wilson' - Authors Lou Dubose and Jake Bernstein later write, "The annotation places Cheney at the center of the campaign to discredit Wilson, aware early on that Wilson's wife was a CIA agent." [Dubose and Bernstein, 2006, pp. 217] Plame Wilson herself will write: "Given Cheney's vaunted decades of government service, it is frankly unbelievable that he would ask such questions. He would have known that the CIA frequently sends US citizens abroad, on a pro bono basis, to answer specific intelligence questions. It is even quite possible that the CIA debriefed employees of Halliburton, the multinational company that Cheney headed prior to becoming vice president, when they returned from business trips in restricted countries of interest to the United States. Cheney's marginal notes should be more accurately interpreted as marching orders to staff on how to spin Joe's story so that Cheney could stay as far from it as possible while simultaneously undermining Joe's credibility." (Emphasis in the original.) [Wilson, 2007, pp. 288]
Entity Tags: George W. Bush, Michael Isikoff, Jake Bernstein, Joseph C. Wilson, Lewis ("Scooter") Libby, Lou Dubose, Valerie Plame Wilson, Office of the Vice President, Patrick J. Fitzgerald, Matthew Cooper, Richard ("Dick") Cheney, Robert Novak
May 17, 2006: Online News Site Publishes Whistleblower's AT&T Memo
Wired News, the online technical news site, publishes a copy of AT&T whistleblower Mark Klein's unclassified memo written in 2004 (see January 16, 2004). Klein has joined the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) in its lawsuit against AT&T. Klein has evidence that AT&T colluded with the National Security Agency (NSA) to illegally wiretap Americans' domestic telephone and Internet communications. [Wired News, 5/17/2006]
Entity Tags: Electronic Frontier Foundation, AT&T, National Security Agency, Mark Klein, Wired News
May 18, 2006: NSA Director Hayden Says Warrantless Wiretapping Program Would Have Prevented 9/11
Former NSA director and soon-to-be CIA director Michael Hayden says that a program in which the NSA listens in on calls between the US and other countries without obtaining warrants would have prevented 9/11, had it been in place then. Hayden tells a Senate hearing discussing his confirmation as CIA director, "Had this been in place prior to the attacks, the two hijackers who were in San Diego, Khalid Almihdhar and Nawaf Alhazmi, almost certainly would have been identified as who they were, what they were, and most importantly, where they were." Hayden also says, "I can demonstrate in closed session how the physics and the math would work." [US Congress, 5/18/2006 ] However, the NSA actually intercepted the calls between Alhazmi and Almihdhar in the US and an al-Qaeda communications hub in Yemen (see Early 2000-Summer 2001), which it knew had been in contact with Osama bin Laden (see November 1996-Late August 1998) and was also involved in the East African embassy bombings (see August 4-25, 1998) and the attack on the USS Cole (see Mid-August 1998-October 2000). Before 9/11, the NSA was entitled to pass on information about the calls to the FBI, but did not do so, even though the FBI had specifically asked for information about calls between the communications hub in Yemen and the US (see Late 1998 and (Spring 2000)). Various explanations for this failure are offered after 9/11 (see Summer 2002-Summer 2004 and March 15, 2004 and After).
May 19, 2006: Libby Continues to Argue for Provision of Classified Documents, Contends that Op-Ed Should Not Be Presented
The Libby defense team files a brief with the court arguing that the special counsel's recent filing about presentation of news articles into evidence is unsatisfactory (see May 12, 2006), and says that the prosecution must not be allowed to present a copy of former ambassador Joseph Wilson's New York Times op-ed (see July 6, 2003), annotated with notes written by Vice President Dick Cheney (see May 14, 2006), into evidence. The defense says that Lewis Libby had never seen the op-ed before the FBI showed it to him in November 2003 (see October 14, 2003 and November 26, 2003). "These arguments are tantamount to an acknowledgment that the state of mind of witnesses other than Mr. Libby will be important at trial," Libby's lawyers write. The defense also reiterates arguments that the government must provide classified documents for Libby to mount an adequate defense (see May 12, 2006), and reassures Judge Reggie Walton that they do not intend "to use this case to reargue the reasons why the United States invaded Iraq." They acknowledge that given the fact that a jury will made up of Washington, DC, residents, "such an approach would be a foolish and self-destructive trial strategy." [US District Court for the District of Columbia, 5/19/2006 ; NBC News, 5/20/2006; Washington Post, 5/20/2006]
Entity Tags: Lewis ("Scooter") Libby, Joseph C. Wilson, Reggie B. Walton, Richard ("Dick") Cheney
May 21, 2006: Attorney General: Government Can Prosecute Journalists for Leaking Classified Information
Attorney General Alberto Gonzales says that the government has the right to prosecute journalists for publishing classified information. "There are some statutes on the book which, if you read the language carefully, would seem to indicate that that is a possibility," he says during an ABC News interview. "That's a policy judgment by the Congress in passing that kind of legislation. We have an obligation to enforce those laws. We have an obligation to ensure that our national security is protected." Asked if he is considering prosecuting the New York Times for revealing the Bush administration's warrantless wiretapping program (see December 15, 2005), Gonzales says the Justice Department is trying to determine "the appropriate course of action in that particular case." He continues: "I'm not going to talk about it specifically. We have an obligation to enforce the law and to prosecute those who engage in criminal activity." Experts believe that Gonzales is probably referring to the 1917 Espionage Act, which prohibits government officials from passing classified information to anyone without proper clearance; those same experts say that the Espionage Act was never intended to apply to the press. Furthermore, journalists are protected from such prosecution by the First Amendment. Gonzales says that while the Bush administration respects the right of freedom of the press, "it can't be the case that that right trumps over the right that Americans would like to see, the ability of the federal government to go after criminal activity." [New York Times, 5/22/2006] Thirty years ago, then-White House chief of staff Dick Cheney recommended such prosecution against a journalist who revealed the existence of a Cold War-era submarine program (see May 25, 1975). In 2007, reporter and author Charlie Savage will write that in 1975, the attorney general had scuttled the idea. Now, the attorney general is embracing the idea. [Savage, 2007, pp. 175-176]
Entity Tags: US Department of Justice, Alberto R. Gonzales, Bush administration (43), New York Times, Charlie Savage, Richard ("Dick") Cheney
May 22, 2006: News Publication Explains Why It Published Sealed Documents in AT&T Lawsuit
Wired News logo. [Source: Delve Networks]Evan Hansen, the editor in chief of Wired News, an online technical news site, explains why the site published a set of documents from AT&T whistleblower Mark Klein (see December 15-31, 2005 and July 7, 2009). Klein is working with the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) in that organization's lawsuit against AT&T for invading its customers' privacy by taking part in the National Security Agency's warrantless domestic wiretap operation (see January 31, 2006). The presiding judge, Vaughn Walker, has denied requests from the EFF and a number of news organizations to unseal the documents and make them public. For its part, AT&T wants the documents to remain sealed, claiming they are proprietary and that it would suffer harm if they were disclosed (see April 6-8, 2006). Hansen and the Wired News senior staff disagree. "In addition," Hansen writes, "we believe the public's right to know the full facts in this case outweighs AT&T's claims to secrecy." Hansen erroneously says that the documents seem "to be excerpted from material that was later filed in the lawsuit under seal," though "we can't be entirely sure, because the protective order prevents us from comparing the two sets of documents." Klein later writes that the Wired News staff "confused my 2004 memo (see January 16, 2004) with my court-sealed legal declaration" (see February 23-28, 2006); even so, Klein will write, "it was true that all of the AT&T documents were still under court seal." Hansen says Wired News reporter Ryan Singel received the Klein documents from "an anonymous source close to the litigation." Hansen also writes: "We are filing a motion to intervene in the case in order to request that the court unseal the evidence, joining other news and civil rights organizations that have already done so, including the EFF, the San Francisco Chronicle, the Los Angeles Times, the San Jose Mercury News, the Associated Press, and Bloomberg. Before publishing these documents we showed them to independent security experts, who agreed they pose no significant danger to AT&T. For example, they do not reveal information that hackers might use to easily attack the company's systems." Hansen writes that Wired's publication of the documents does not violate Walker's gag order concerning the documents' publication, as the order specifically bars the EFF and its representatives—and no one else—from publishing or discussing them. "The court explicitly rejected AT&T's motion to include Klein in the gag order and declined AT&T's request to force the EFF to return the documents," he notes (see May 17, 2006). [Wired News, 5/22/2006; Klein, 2009, pp. 75]
Entity Tags: Vaughn Walker, AT&T, Electronic Frontier Foundation, Evan Hansen, Mark Klein, Ryan Singel, Wired News, National Security Agency
May 23, 2006: Bin Laden Possibly Releases New Tape, Says Moussaoui and Guantanamo Prisoners Have Nothing to Do with 9/11
A new 5-minute audiotape is released by a person said to be Osama bin Laden. The voice on the tape says that Zacarias Moussaoui and the vast majority of prisoners held in Guantanamo Bay had nothing to do with 9/11. The speaker says that Moussaoui "has no connection whatsoever with the events of September 11th" and "his confession that he was assigned to participate in those raids is a false confession which no intelligent person doubts is a result of the pressure put upon him for the past four and a half years." The voice also says that, as Moussaoui has not named a support team, he cannot have been slated to pilot a hijacked airliner, and that, as he was learning to fly, he cannot have been intended to be the 20th hijacker. Further, if Moussaoui had known the 9/11 group, he would have called lead hijacker Mohamed Atta and told him to flee the country (note: jail house calls can be recorded, so this may not have been wise (see August 17, 2001)). There are various theories about Moussaoui's closeness to the 9/11 plot, but he was supported by some of the people who supported the hijackers (see January 30, 2003). The speaker also says that the detainees in Guantanamo Bay "have no connection whatsoever to the events of September 11th, and even stranger is that many of them have no connection with al-Qaeda in the first place, and even more amazing is that some of them oppose al-Qaeda's methodology of calling for war with America." The apparent reason so many detainees are being held: "(I)t is necessary to create justifications for the massive spending of hundreds of billions on the Defense Department and other agencies in their war against the Mujaheddin." [MSNBC, 5/23/2006] One Guantanamo detainee, Mohamed al-Khatani, was allegedly supposed to meet lead hijacker Mohamed Atta in the US, but was refused entry to the country, indicating that he was scheduled to be involved in 9/11 (see August 4, 2001 and July 2002).
Entity Tags: Osama bin Laden, Zacarias Moussaoui
May 24, 2006: Fitzgerald May Call Cheney to Testify
Vice President Dick Cheney may be called to testify for the prosecution in the Lewis Libby perjury and obstruction trial, says special counsel Patrick Fitzgerald in a brief filed with the court. Libby once served as Cheney's chief of staff and Cheney could authenticate handwritten notes he wrote on a copy of an op-ed written by war critic Joseph Wilson (see May 14, 2006). Furthermore, Fitzgerald says, Cheney's "state of mind" is directly relevant to the question of Libby's alleged lying to FBI agents (see October 14, 2003 and November 26, 2003) and a grand jury (see March 5, 2004 and March 24, 2004) about leaking the identity of CIA official Valerie Plame Wilson. Libby "shared the interests of his superior and was subject to his direction," Fitzgerald writes in court documents. "Therefore, the state of mind of the vice president as communicated to [the] defendant is directly relevant to the issue of whether [the] defendant knowingly made false statements to federal agents and the grand jury regarding when and how he learned about [Plame Wilson's] employment and what he said to reporters regarding this issue." Libby's lawyers have asserted that Fitzgerald would not subpoena Cheney's testimony, an assertion that Fitzgerald says is premature. "To the best of government's counsel's recollection, the government has not commented on whether it intends to call the vice president as a witness." [US District Court for the District of Columbia, 5/24/2006 ; US District Court for the District of Columbia, 5/24/2006 ; Associated Press, 5/25/2006] Criminal defense lawyer Jeralyn Merritt, covering the Libby prosecution at the progressive blog TalkLeft, explains that Fitzgerald is more concerned with authenticating the handwritten notes Cheney made on Wilson's op-ed than he is in putting Cheney on the stand. Merritt writes, "Fitz believes this blows a big hole in Libby's testimony that he learned of Wilson's wife working for the CIA from Tim Russert on July 10 or 11th" (see 12:00 p.m. June 11, 2003, 2:00 p.m. June 11, 2003, 5:27 p.m. June 11, 2003, (June 12, 2003), and July 10 or 11, 2003). [Jeralyn Merritt, 5/24/2006] Salon reporter Tim Grieve believes that Fitzgerald may well be planning on having Cheney take the stand. In his column, Grieve writes that according to his interpretation of Fitzgerald's brief, "Fitzgerald makes it clear—without saying so explicitly—that he'd like to put Cheney on the stand [t]o question him about the conversations he had with Libby about Wilson's column, and in the process to undercut Libby's claim that those conversations didn't involve the identity of Wilson's wife." [Salon, 5/24/2006]
Entity Tags: Richard ("Dick") Cheney, Lewis ("Scooter") Libby, Tim Grieve, Jeralyn Merritt, Valerie Plame Wilson, Patrick J. Fitzgerald, Tim Russert
May 26, 2006: Judge Dismisses Most of Defense Requests for News Organizations, Reporters' Notes and Documents
Judge Reggie Walton orders the Lewis Libby defense team's subpoena for former New York Times reporter Judith Miller's notes and documents to be quashed (see May 16, 2006 and After), a ruling that the Washington Post terms "the latest in a string of court defeats for media efforts to shield news-gathering activities from the legal process." "The First Amendment does not protect news reporters or news organizations from producing documents when the news reporters are themselves critical to both the indictment and prosecution of criminal activity," Walton writes. But, he continues, "all other motions [referring to other journalists' and news organizations' attempts to quash similar subpoenas] are granted in part and denied in part." Miller's notes and records not already in evidence "are simply not relevant" to the case at hand, Walton rules, and chides the Libby defense lawyers for trying to seek unspecified evidence—in essence, demanding materials be turned over in the hopes of finding something useful. "This is not the proper role [such] subpoenas are intended to play in the criminal arena," Walton writes. "Rather they may be used solely to secure specifically identified evidence for trial that is relevant and admissible." He agrees with the quash motions that many of the defense's subpoenas are "fishing expeditions." Walton withholds final judgment on the relevance of some of the New York Times's records, though he writes that he doubts the materials will ever prove relevant. He does not approve the subpoenas for records from NBC News and its reporter Andrea Mitchell. Walton does, however, order Time magazine to turn over some documents pertaining to an article written by its reporter Matthew Cooper (see July 13, 2005), saying that "a slight alteration" between information in the drafts could be relevant in Libby's stated intention to paint Cooper as dishonest. [Bloomberg, 5/26/2006; Washington Post, 5/26/2006; US District Court for the District of Columbia, 5/26/2009 ; US District Court for the District of Columbia, 5/26/2009 ]
Entity Tags: New York Times, Judith Miller, Andrea Mitchell, Lewis ("Scooter") Libby, NBC News, Time magazine, Washington Post, Matthew Cooper, Reggie B. Walton
Late May, 2006: Bush Administration Seeks Dismissal of Lawsuit on 'State Secrets' Grounds
The Bush administration submits a legal brief arguing that the Electronic Frontier Foundation's lawsuit against AT&T, alleging that firm cooperated with the NSA's domestic surveillance program (see January 31, 2006), should be thrown out of court because of the government's "state secrets" privilege (see March 9, 1953). Justice Department lawyers want Judge Vaughn Walker to examine classified documents that they say will convince him to dismiss the lawsuit. However, the government does not want the defense lawyers to see that material. "No aspect of this case can be litigated without disclosing state secrets," the government argues. "The United States has not lightly invoked the state secrets privilege, and the weighty reasons for asserting the privilege are apparent from the classified material submitted in support of its assertion." [CNET News, 5/26/2006]
Entity Tags: US Department of Justice, Electronic Frontier Foundation, AT&T, Vaughn Walker, Bush administration (43)
June 1-2, 2006: Military Analyst Receives Pentagon Help in 'Trying to Put the Best Possible Face on' Shooting of Iraqi Civilians by Marines
E-mail from Jeffrey McCauseland. [Source: US Department of Defense] (click image to enlarge)The Pentagon holds a private briefing for a select group of military analysts (see January 14, 2005) on the topic of the Haditha shootings and investigations, involving several US Marines shooting two dozen unarmed Iraqi civilians. After the briefing, one analyst, retired General Jeffrey McCauseland, appears on CNN to discuss the shootings. He e-mails a Pentagon official (whose name is redacted from the e-mail) after his appearance and says: "Just wanted to thank you again because the material you sent me very early this morning was very useful in trying to explain what is going on and trying to put the best possible face on it. You are a pro…" [Salon, 5/12/2008]
Entity Tags: US Department of Defense, CNN, Jeffrey McCauseland
Timeline Tags: US Military, Iraq under US Occupation, Domestic Propaganda
June 2, 2006: Judge Dismisses Much of Defense Motions to Compel Discovery of Classified Information
Judge Reggie Walton issues an order disallowing, in large part, the Libby defense team's motions to compel discovery of an array of government classified documents (see March 17, 2006, April 5, 2006, May 12, 2006, and May 19, 2006). "[T]he defendant's motion to compel is largely without merit," Walton writes. He recognizes that the charges against Lewis Libby are impacted by former ambassador Joseph Wilson's criticism of the Iraq invasion (see July 6, 2003), Wilson's trip to Niger (see February 21, 2002-March 4, 2002), and the exposure of Wilson's wife, Valerie Plame Wilson, as a CIA official (see July 14, 2003). Walton intends to allow a "limited" amount of evidence to be admitted in regards to these concerns, but, he writes, "these events have merely an abstract relationship to the charged offenses." [US District Court for the District of Columbia, 6/2/2006 ] Walton also compels prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald to turn over "substitutes" for classified documents pertaining to Plame Wilson's employment history with the CIA, potential damage caused by Plame Wilson's identity disclosure, and the names of "three individuals whose identities were redacted from classified documents previously made available to the defense." [US District Court for the District of Columbia, 6/2/2006 ] According to Salon's Tim Grieve, Walton is clearly siding with Fitzgerald's "small case" view over the Libby team's "big case" view (see May 10, 2006), focusing primarily on the issue of Libby's alleged perjury and disallowing Libby's efforts to refocus the case on the Bush administration's response to criticisms of its handling of the Iraq war. [Salon, 6/2/2006]
Entity Tags: Joseph C. Wilson, Reggie B. Walton, Lewis ("Scooter") Libby, Valerie Plame Wilson, Tim Grieve, Patrick J. Fitzgerald
June 5, 2006: Former Justice Department Official Argues Data Mining is Not Electronic Surveillance
George Terwilliger, a former deputy attorney general under George H. W. Bush, argues that the current Bush administration's controversial data mining program (see Late 1999 and After September 11, 2001) is not illegal. Terwilliger tells the conservative National Review, "I think it's fair to say that the statutes contemplate the transfer of this generic type of data much more on a case-by-case rather than a wholesale basis," meaning that the law calls for a court order only in cases when the government is making a targeted request for information. But, he adds, "I don't see anything in the statute that forbids such a wholesale turnover." Terwilliger's argument echoes the arguments of the Bush Justice Department, which argues that the data mining program—part of the NSA's "Stellar Wind" surveillance program (see Spring 2004 and December 15, 2005)—does not technically constitute "electronic surveillance" under the law. Both the Fourth Amendment and the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, as interpreted by the courts, define such actions as "electronic surveillance," according to a number of legal experts, including law professor Orin Kerr. And, Ars Technica reporter Julian Sanchez notes in 2009, "the Stored Communications Act explicitly makes it a crime to 'knowingly divulge a record or other information pertaining to a subscriber to or customer of such service… to any governmental entity.'" Sanchez will call Terwilliger's argument "very strange," but will note that Terwilliger is the attorney for then-Attorney General Alberto Gonzales and "a prominent defender of the administration's surveillance policies." Sanchez will conclude that while the argument "might pass for clever in a high school debate round… [i]t would be deeply unsettling if it [passes] for anything more in the halls of power." [National Review, 6/5/2006; Ars Technica, 12/16/2008]
Entity Tags: US Department of Justice, Alberto R. Gonzales, 'Stellar Wind', Bush administration (43), National Security Agency, Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, Julian Sanchez, George Terwilliger, Orin S. Kerr
June 6, 2006: FBI Spokesman Says 'No Hard Evidence' Connects Bin Laden to 9/11
When asked why Osama bin Laden's wanted poster only mentions his alleged involvement in the East African embassy bombings, but not 9/11, Rex Tomb of the FBI's public affairs unit says, "The reason why 9/11 is not mentioned on Osama bin Laden's Most Wanted page is because the FBI has no hard evidence connecting bin Laden to 9/11." [Milli Gazette, 6/11/2006] The Washington Post will later pick up this story and say that bin Laden's alleged involvement in the 9/11 operation is not mentioned on the poster because he has not been indicted for it (see August 28, 2006).
Entity Tags: Federal Bureau of Investigation, Osama bin Laden, Rex Tomb
June 8, 2006: Al-Zarqawi Reported Killed in Iraq; His Importance and Extent of Al-Qaeda Ties Remain in Dispute
The dead Abu Musab al-Zarqawi. [Source: US army]Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, the supposed leader of al-Qaeda in Iraq, is apparently killed in a US airstrike north of Baghdad. There are contradictory details of what exactly happened in the airstrike, and three days later the Washington Post will report that "circumstances surrounding the killing [remain] cloudy." [Washington Post, 6/10/2006] His killing is hailed by US and Iraqi officials as the most significant public triumph for US-allied forces since the 2003 capture of Saddam Hussein. For instance, Defense Secretary Rumsfeld calls him "the leading terrorist in Iraq and one of three senior al-Qaeda leaders worldwide." The Washington Post calls al-Zarqawi the "mastermind behind hundreds of bombings, kidnappings and beheadings in Iraq." [Washington Post, 6/8/2006; Washington Post, 6/10/2006] These pronouncements and media reports ignore a revelation made two months earlier by the Washington Post that the US military has been engaged in a propaganda campaign to exaggerate al-Zarqawi's importance. The newspaper had reported that Zarqawi wasn't behind nearly as many attacks as commonly reported (see October 4, 2004 and April 10, 2006). Even a Washington Post article about the propaganda surrounding al-Zarqawi published two days after his death will fail to mention any of the details provided in the Post's original reporting on the campaign. [Washington Post, 6/10/2006] Later in the month, an audiotape surfaces in which bin Laden supposedly praises al-Zarqawi as a martyr (see June 30, 2006), calling him a "brave knight" and a "lion of jihad." US officials say the tape is genuine, however it should be noted that a letter from 2004 said to tie al-Zarqawi to al-Qaeda leadership is believed by many experts to be a US-government promoted hoax (see April 10, 2006). [Washington Post, 6/30/2006] Al-Zarqawi did pledge loyalty to bin Laden in 2004, but they don't appear to have been closely linked before then and there even are doubts about how close their relationship was after that time (see October 17, 2004).
Entity Tags: Al-Qaeda, Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, Donald Rumsfeld, Osama bin Laden
Timeline Tags: Complete 911 Timeline, Iraq under US Occupation
June 10, 2006: Wilson Cheered by Progressives at Blogger Convention
Joseph Wilson poses with Yearly Kos participant Natasha Chart. [Source: Pacific Views (.org)]Former ambassador Joseph Wilson, who became the target of a White House smear campaign after he publicly criticized the government's push for war with Iraq (see June 2003, June 3, 2003, June 11, 2003, June 12, 2003, June 19 or 20, 2003, July 6, 2003, July 6-10, 2003, July 7, 2003 or Shortly After, 8:45 a.m. July 7, 2003, 9:22 a.m. July 7, 2003, July 7-8, 2003, July 11, 2003, (July 11, 2003), July 12, 2003, July 12, 2003, July 18, 2003, October 1, 2003, April 5, 2006, and April 9, 2006), receives a standing ovation from the audience at his appearance at the Yearly Kos convention in Las Vegas. The convention is a group of bloggers and citizen journalists, mostly liberals and progressives, organized by the Daily Kos Web site. About a thousand convention goers gather to hear Wilson speak during one of the day's panel discussions. Wilson says he will not be intimidated by what he calls a White House campaign to obscure lies told during the run-up to the war in Iraq. "We must and we can stand up to the schoolyard bullies and insure that these decisions on war and peace and other major issues are undertaken with the consent of the governed," he says. Wilson goes on to say that the indictment of former White House official Lewis Libby (see October 28, 2005) and the disclosures about the case that have come in subsequent court filings have vindicated him against critics who claim he lied or misrepresented the facts surrounding his 2002 mission to Africa (see February 21, 2002-March 4, 2002 and July 6, 2003). "As facts emerge, of course, the dwindling number of those who still believe the thesis of 'Wilson is a liar, or has been discredited,' are either victims of the ongoing disinformation campaign or the willful perpetrators of it," he says. Wilson affirms that neither he nor his wife, exposed CIA official Valerie Plame Wilson, intend to run for elective office. "I can assure you that neither she [nor] I intend to do anything other than return to our private lives," he says.
Former CIA Agent Reaffirms Damage Done by Plame Wilson's Exposure - One of Wilson's panel colleagues, former CIA agent and State Department official Larry Johnson (see September 30, 2003, October 3, 2003, October 11, 2003, October 22-24, 2003, and October 23-24, 2003), says partisan Republicans have lost sight of the gravity of what he believes was a deliberate campaign to expose Plame Wilson's status for political reasons. "How it is that conservative Republicans can excuse what is nothing short of treason is beyond me," he says. Johnson describes himself as "a lifelong conservative." He reiterates his earlier statements that Plame Wilson was not publicly known as a CIA official before being "outed" by columnist Robert Novak (see July 14, 2003). "Valerie Plame, Valerie Wilson was an undercover CIA officer until the day her name appeared in Robert Novak's column," Johnson says. Libby's lawyers have said they have witnesses who will testify that Plame Wilson's CIA affiliation was known outside the government, but they have not identified those witnesses. Plame Wilson's exposure did "damage… to the intelligence operations of the Central Intelligence Agency and ultimately to the security of this nation," Johnson tells the audience. White House political strategist Karl Rove, whom Wilson once said should be "frog marched" out of the White House in handcuffs (see August 21, 2003), should have his security clearance revoked and be fired, Johnson says, regardless of whether he is indicted.
Journalists: Media Did Not Do Its Job in Covering Story - Another panel member, the Washington Post's Dan Froomkin, says journalists have become so preoccupied by the jailing of fellow reporter Judith Miller (see October 7, 2004) that they have lost sight of the broader story. "The really sad moment for journalism here is, faced with this incredibly important story, reporters didn't go out and develop sources for this story," he says. "This is a hell of a story." Froomkin calls Miller "a humiliated and discredited shill," presumably for the Bush administration. Fellow panel member Murray Waas of the National Journal says most major news outlets have not adequately covered the story. "There's no reporter for any major news organization covering it even one or two days a week," he says. "I don't know why." Waas says that perhaps some editors have ignored the story because it involves leaks to reporters at those same news outlets. "Their own role is so comprised that they hope it just goes away," he says. [New York Sun, 6/10/2006]
Entity Tags: Karl C. Rove, Daily Kos, Central Intelligence Agency, Bush administration (43), Dan Froomkin, Judith Miller, Larry C. Johnson, Robert Novak, Joseph C. Wilson, Valerie Plame Wilson, Murray Waas
June 13, 2006: Fitzgerald Will Not Prosecute Rove
Special counsel Patrick Fitzgerald, investigating the Valerie Plame Wilson identity leak (see December 30, 2003), informs White House deputy chief of staff Karl Rove that he does not plan to file charges against him in conjunction with the leak. [Associated Press, 6/13/2006; Washington Post, 7/3/2007]
'No Deal' - Rove's lawyer Robert Luskin says that he negotiated no deals with Fitzgerald to spare his client from prosecution: "There has never, ever been any discussion of a deal in any way, shape, or form." [Jeralyn Merritt, 6/13/2006]
'A Chapter that Has Ended' - The decision follows months of wrangling between Fitzgerald's team and Luskin. Neither Fitzgerald nor Luskin give any details about the issues and actions behind the decision, but Luskin says, "We believe that the special counsel's decision should put an end to the baseless speculation about Mr. Rove's conduct." Rove spokesman Mark Corallo says that Rove made no deals with Fitzgerald to cooperate with the investigation, and that the decision is based solely on Fitzgerald's findings. President Bush says of the news: "It's a chapter that has ended. Fitzgerald is a very thorough person. I think he's conducted his investigation in a dignified way. And he's ended his investigation.… There's still a trial to be had. And those of us involved in the White House are going to be very mindful of not commenting on this issue." Christopher Wolf, a lawyer for Plame Wilson and her husband, Joseph Wilson, says that the couple is considering filing a civil suit against Rove. "The day still may come when Mr. Rove and others are called to account in a court of law for their attacks on the Wilsons," Wolf says. [New York Times, 6/13/2006; Associated Press, 6/13/2006]
Rove 'Elated' - Corallo describes Rove as "elated" over the news. Legal analyst Andrew Cohen says: "Prosecutors have ethical obligations not to indict someone when they don't think they can win at trial and I suspect that may be what happened here. For whatever reason Fitzgerald the prosecutor didn't believe he could take a case against Rove to a jury and win it." [CBS News, 6/13/2006]
A Variety of Responses - Democratic National Committee (DNC) chairman Howard Dean says of Rove: "He doesn't belong in the White House. If the president valued America more than he valued his connection to Karl Rove, Karl Rove would have been fired a long time ago. So I think this is probably good news for the White House, but it's not very good news for America." [Associated Press, 6/13/2006] "The notion of the leak and the overall White House involvement, that ain't over," says Representative Rahm Emanuel (D-IL). "Obviously, we know that 'Scooter' Libby is not Karl Rove. But you have the vice president of the United States involved, or at least his office was involved." Representative Henry Waxman (D-CA) says that Fitzgerald's decision not to prosecute Rove should trigger a Congressional investigation into whether Rove mishandled classified information when he discussed Plame Wilson with reporters. Though Fitzgerald conducted a "narrow" criminal invesigation, Waxman says, Congress should examine the broader issue of whether Rove deserved to keep his high-level security clearance (see July 13, 2005). [Los Angeles Times, 6/14/2006] The Republican National Committee (RNC) circulates quotes from Democratic lawmakers attacking Rove under the headline of "Wrong Again: Prejudging Karl Rove Is Latest Example of Democrats' Overheated Rhetoric and False Statements." "What you had in this case was an unbelievable example of misjudgment for political purposes by leading Democrats," says RNC chairman Ken Mehlman. He adds that the entire Rove imbroglio is just an example of how Democrats "rush to judgment." Democratic leaders "owe [Rove] an apology," Mehlman says. [Washington Post, 6/13/2006; Los Angeles Times, 6/14/2006] Plame Wilson and her husband, former ambassador Joseph Wilson, are deeply disappointed at the decision. In 2007, Plame Wilson will write: "It was hard to process that someone who had appeared before a grand jury five times (see April 26, 2006), and had admitted that he had spoken to Robert Novak and Matt Cooper in the week before my name was published (see July 8, 2003, July 8 or 9, 2003, and 11:00 a.m. July 11, 2003), would face no consequences for his actions.… While our faith in Fitzgerald's skills and integrity remained unshaken, we couldn't help but wonder, along with everyone else, what the special prosecutor had received or heard from Rove to prompt his decision." [Wilson, 2007, pp. 250] Criminal defense lawyer Jeralyn Merritt, writing for the progressive blog TalkLeft, writes that she believes Rove has "cooperated with Fitzgerald by testifying to the grand jury five times and providing whatever information he had without a safety net. Without a 5k. Without assurances he would not be indicted. That's a hell of a risk, but Luskin pulled it off. My hat's off to Luskin.… I'm ready to put this to bed. Karl Rove walked. He's one of the rare subjects of an investigation who was able to talk his way out of an indictment." [Jeralyn Merritt, 6/13/2006] Former prosecutor and blogger Christy Hardin Smith, writing for the progressive blog FireDogLake, writes: "If Luskin is coming out and saying publicly that they got a letter from Pat Fitzgerald which says that Rove will not be charged, there are two things that I want to see and know: (1) what does the letter actually say, word for word; and (2) does it say something along the lines of 'Please thank Karl for his cooperation in this matter.'" Smith adds: "Patrick Fitzgerald and his team are career professionals. You do not charge someone with a criminal indictment merely because they are scum. You have to have the evidence to back up any charges—not just that may indicate that something may have happened, but you must have evidence that criminal conduct occurred and that you can prove it. You charge the evidence you have, you try the case you can make, and you don't go down a road that will ultimately be a waste of the public's money and time once you have ascertained that the case is simply not there. It doesn't mean that you don't think the SOB that you can't charge isn't a weasel or guilty as hell, it just means that you can't prove it. (And, fwiw [for what it's worth], those times are the worst of your career, because you truly hate to let someone go when you know in your gut they've done something wrong.)" [Christy Hardin Smith, 6/13/2006]
Entity Tags: Henry A. Waxman, Valerie Plame Wilson, Republican National Committee, Andrew Cohen, Christopher Wolf, George W. Bush, Christy Hardin Smith, Rahm Emanuel, Robert Luskin, Mark Corallo, Howard Dean, Patrick J. Fitzgerald, Joseph C. Wilson, Jeralyn Merritt, Ken Mehlman, Karl C. Rove, Lewis ("Scooter") Libby
June 23, 2006: Government Admits AT&T Lawsuit Documents Not Classified
In a follow-up hearing, Judge Vaughn Walker of the US District Court of Northern California hears arguments by AT&T and the Justice Department as to whether he should dismiss a lawsuit against AT&T by the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF—see January 31, 2006). The EFF argues that AT&T violated its customers' privacy by colluding with the National Security Agency (NSA) in that agency's allegedly illegal domestic wiretapping project. The government asserts that the lawsuit would jeopardize "state secrets" if permitted to go forward (see May 22, 2006). In today's hearing, Justice Department lawyer Peter Keisler admits to Walker that the documents presented on behalf of the EFF by AT&T whistleblower Mark Klein (see December 15-31, 2005 and July 7, 2009) and others are not classified. "None of the documents they (EFF) have submitted… implicate any privileged [classified] matters," Keisler tells Walker. The judge says, "Including the Klein documents." Keisler agrees, saying: "We have not asserted any privilege over the information that is in the Klein and Marcus (see March 29, 2006) documents.… Mr. Klein and Marcus never had access to any of the relevant classified information here, and with all respect to them, through no fault or failure of their own, they don't know anything." Klein will later write that Keisler's admission is a crippling blow to the government's assertion that the EFF documentation would compromise national security if made public or submitted in open court. [Klein, 2009, pp. 77]
Entity Tags: US Department of Justice, AT&T, Electronic Frontier Foundation, Mark Klein, Vaughn Walker, National Security Agency, Peter Keisler
June 26, 2006: Lawsuit Shows NSA Worked with AT&T to Spy on American Citizens Seven Months before 9/11 Attacks
Lawyers file court documents alleging that the National Security Agency (NSA) worked with AT&T to set up a domestic wiretapping site seven months before the 9/11 attacks. The papers are filed as part of a lawsuit, McMurray v. Verizon Communications, which cites as plaintiffs AT&T, Verizon, and BellSouth customers whose privacy was allegedly violated by the NSA warrantless wiretapping program (see May 12, 2006); it also alleges that the firms, along with the NSA and President Bush, violated the Telecommunications Act of 1934 and the US Constitution. AT&T, Verizon, and BellSouth have been accused of working with the NSA to set up domestic call monitoring sites (see October 2001). Evidence that the NSA set up domestic surveillance operations at least seven months before the 9/11 attacks is at the core of the lawsuit (see Spring 2001). The suit is similar to one filed against AT&T by the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF—see January 31, 2006) and other such lawsuits. A lawyer for the plaintiffs in McMurray, Carl Mayer, says: "The Bush administration asserted this [the warrantless wiretapping program] became necessary after 9/11. This undermines that assertion." AT&T spokesman Dave Pacholczyk responds, "The US Department of Justice has stated that AT&T may neither confirm nor deny AT&T's participation in the alleged NSA program because doing so would cause 'exceptionally grave harm to national security' and would violate both civil and criminal statutes." Verizon has denied being asked by the NSA for its customer phone records, and has refused to confirm or deny "whether it has any relationship to the classified NSA program." BellSouth spokesman Jeff Battcher says: "We never turned over any records to the NSA. We've been clear all along that they've never contacted us. Nobody in our company has ever had any contact with the NSA." The NSA domestic wiretapping program is known as "Pioneer Groundbreaker," a part of the larger "Project Groundbreaker" (see February 2001). According to Mayer and his fellow lawyer Bruce Afran, an unnamed former employee of AT&T provided them with information about NSA's approach to AT&T. (That former employee will later be revealed as retired technician Mark Klein—see Late 2002, July 7, 2009, December 15-31, 2005, and April 6, 2006). The lawsuit is on a temporary hiatus while a judicial panel rules on a government request to assign all of the telecommunications lawsuits to a single judge. [Bloomberg, 6/30/2006]
Entity Tags: Verizon Wireless, US Department of Justice, National Security Agency, George W. Bush, Jeff Battcher, Bruce Afran, BellSouth, AT&T, Mark Klein, Carl Mayer, Electronic Frontier Foundation, Dave Pacholczyk
June 30, 2006: Supreme Court Rules Existing Guantanamo Military Commissions Are Illegal; Detainees There Have Legal Rights
Salim Ahmed Hamdan in 1999. [Source: Pubic domain via the New York Times]In the Hamdan v. Rumsfeld case, the Supreme Court rules 5-3 to strike down the Bush administration's plans to try Guantanamo detainees before military commissions. Ruling in favor of detainee Salim Ahmed Hamdan (see November 8, 2004), the Court rules that the commissions are unauthorized by federal statutes and violate international law. Writing for the majority, Justice John Paul Stevens says, "The executive is bound to comply with the rule of law that prevails in this jurisdiction." The opinion throws out each of the administration's arguments in favor of the commissions, including its assertion that Congress had stripped the Supreme Court of the jurisdiction to decide the case. One of the major flaws in the commissions, the Court rules, is that President Bush unilaterally established them without the authorization of Congress. [New York Times, 6/30/2006] During the oral arguments three months before, Hamdan's lawyer, Neal Katyal, told the Court: "The whole point of this [proceeding] is to say we're challenging the lawfulness of the tribunal [the military commissions] itself. This isn't a challenge to some decision that a court makes. This is a challenge to the court itself, and that's why it's different than the ordinary criminal context that you're positing." [Savage, 2007, pp. 274-275]
Major Defeat for Bush Administration - Civil libertarian and human rights organizations consider the ruling a shattering defeat for the administration, particularly in its assertions of expansive, unfettered presidential authority. Bush says in light of the decision, he will work with Congress to "find a way forward" to implement the commissions. "The ruling destroys one of the key pillars of the Guantanamo system," says Gerald Staberock, a director of the International Commission of Jurists. "Guantanamo was built on the idea that prisoners there have limited rights. There is no longer that legal black hole." The ruling also says that prisoners held as "enemy combatants" must be afforded rights under the Geneva Conventions, specifically those requiring humane treatment for detainees and the right to free and open trials in the US legal system. While some form of military trials may be permissible, the ruling states that defendants must be given basic rights such as the ability to attend the trial and the right to see and challenge evidence submitted by the prosecution. Stevens writes that the historical origin of military commissions was in their use as a "tribunal of necessity" under wartime conditions. "Exigency lent the commission its legitimacy, but did not further justify the wholesale jettisoning of procedural protections." [New York Times, 6/30/2006] In 2007, author and reporter Charlie Savage will write, "Five justices on the Supreme Court said Bush had broken the law." [Savage, 2007, pp. 275]
Hardline Conservative Justices Dissent - Stevens is joined by Justices David Souter, Stephen Breyer, and Ruth Bader Ginsburg. Justice Anthony Kennedy issues a concurring opinion. Dissenting are Justices Samuel Alito, Antonin Scalia, and Clarence Thomas. Thomas, in a dissent signed by Scalia and Alito, calls the decision "untenable" and "dangerous." Chief Justice John Roberts recused himself from the case because of his participation in a federal appeals court that ruled in favor of the administration (see November 8, 2004).
Not Charged for Three Years - Hamdan is a Guantanamo detainee from Yemen, captured in Afghanistan in November 2001 and taken to Guantanamo in June 2002. He is accused of being a member of al-Qaeda, in his function as driver and bodyguard for Osama bin Laden. He was not charged with a crime—conspiracy—until mid-2004. [New York Times, 6/30/2006]
Entity Tags: Samuel Alito, US Supreme Court, Salim Ahmed Hamdan, Stephen Breyer, Ruth Bader Ginsburg, John G. Roberts, Jr, Al-Qaeda, Antonin Scalia, Bush administration (43), Center for Constitutional Rights, Anthony Kennedy, John Paul Stevens, David Souter, International Commission of Jurists, Gerald Staberock, Geneva Conventions, Clarence Thomas
Timeline Tags: Torture of US Captives, Complete 911 Timeline, Civil Liberties
June 30, 2006: Law Professor: Supreme Court Ruling Codifies Bush Detention Policy as War Crime
Former Justice Department official Marty Lederman, now a Georgetown law professor, writes of the Hamdan v. Rumsfeld case (see June 30, 2006): "Focusing just on the [military] commissions aspect of this misses the forest for the trees. This ruling means that what the CIA and the Pentagon have been doing [detaining prisoners without due process] is, as of now, a war crime, which means that it should stop immediately." [Savage, 2007, pp. 276]
Entity Tags: US Department of Defense, Bush administration (43), Martin ("Marty") Lederman, Central Intelligence Agency
(Mid-2006): US Transfers 'Ghost' Prisoner Ghul to Pakistani Custody
Al-Qaeda leader Hassan Ghul is secretly transferred from US custody to Pakistani custody. The Pakistani government will later release him and he will apparently rejoin al-Qaeda. In early 2004, Ghul was captured in Iraq and put in the CIA's secret prison system (see January 23, 2004). He became a "ghost detainee" because the US refused to admit they even held him. In 2006, the Bush administration decides to close most of the CIA's secret prisons and transfer most of the important al-Qaeda prisoners to the Guantanamo prison. But Ghul is given to the Pakistani government instead, apparently as a goodwill gesture. According to a 2011 article by the Associated Press, "[T]he move frustrated and angered former CIA officers, who at the time believed Ghul should have been moved to Guantanamo along with 14 other high-value detainees" (See September 2-3, 2006). The ISI, Pakistan's intelligence agency, promises that it will make sure Ghul is never released. But after only about a year, Pakistan will secretly let Ghul go and he apparently will return to working with al-Qaeda (see (Mid-2007)). [Associated Press, 6/15/2011] Ghul is given to Pakistan even though he is linked to a Pakistani militant group supported by the ISI, Pakistan's intelligence agency, and the ISI had a history of protecting him from arrest (see (2002-January 23, 2004)). Also, Ghul is released even though he told US interrogators key information about Osama bin Laden's courier that will eventually prove key to the discovery of bin Laden's location (see Shortly After January 23, 2004 and Late 2005).
Entity Tags: Hassan Ghul, Central Intelligence Agency, Pakistan Directorate for Inter-Services Intelligence, Pakistan
Timeline Tags: Torture of US Captives, Complete 911 Timeline, War in Afghanistan
July 3, 2006: ACLU: Just-Released Torture Report a 'Whitewash'
The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) accuses the Defense Department of releasing a "whitewash" report on prisoner abuse in Iraq, Afghanistan, and Guantanamo Bay. The "Church report," compiled in 2004 (see May 11, 2004), has just been released to the public in response to a Freedom of Information Act request from the ACLU. The report's executive summary was released in 2005, but the entirety of the report has now been made available. "Despite its best efforts to absolve high-ranking officials of any blame, the Church report cannot hide the fact that abusive and unlawful interrogation techniques authorized by Secretary [of Defense Donald] Rumsfeld were used in Guantanamo Bay, Iraq, and Afghanistan," says ACLU lawyer Amrit Singh. "The facts speak for themselves, and only underscore the need for an independent investigation into command responsibility for the widespread and systemic abuse of detainees held in US custody abroad." The report only focused on cases closed before September 30, 2004, did not attempt to determine the culpability of senior officials, and used abuse statistics that the Church investigation itself admitted were incomplete and out of date. The ACLU writes that the Church report "skirts the question of command responsibility for detainee abuse, euphemistically labeling official failure to issue interrogation guidelines for Iraq and Afghanistan as a 'missed opportunity.' In addition, it references a 'failure to react to early warning signs of abuse… that should have prompted… commanders to put in place more specific procedures and direct guidance to prevent further abuse.' The report provides details of how techniques such as 'stress positions'—authorized by Secretary Rumsfeld for Guantanamo Bay in December 2002—came to be used in Afghanistan and Iraq. It specifically notes, moreover, that the 'migration' of interrogation techniques intended for Guantanamo Bay to Iraq was 'neither accidental nor uncontrolled.' Yet, the report concludes that there is 'no link between approved interrogation techniques and detainee abuse.'" [American Civil Liberties Union, 7/3/2006]
Entity Tags: US Department of Defense, American Civil Liberties Union, Donald Rumsfeld, Amrit Singh
July 8, 2006: Lawyer: 'Hamdan' Ruling Leaves No More Arguments for Legality of NSA Surveillance Program
Civil liberties lawyer and columnist Glenn Greenwald states that the recent Supreme Court ruling in Hamdan v. Rumsfeld (see June 30, 2006), finding that the Bush administration's Guantanamo Bay military commissions violate both federal law and the Geneva Conventions, also proves that the NSA's warrantless wiretapping program is illegal (see December 15, 2005). "To arrive at its decision," Greenwald writes, "the Court emphatically rejected the administration's radical theories of executive power, and in doing so, rendered entirely discredited the administration's only defenses for eavesdropping on Americans without the warrants required by law. Actual compliance with the Court's ruling, then, compels the administration to immediately cease eavesdropping on Americans in violation of FISA," the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (see 1978). "If the administration continues these programs now, then they are openly defying the Court and the law with a brazeness and contempt for the rule of law that would be unprecedented even for them." Greenwald notes that FISA prohibits any surveillance of American citizens without judicial approval and oversight. The Bush administration has already admitted to conducting just such surveillance (see December 17, 2005 and December 21, 2005), and President Bush has even stated his intention to expand the program (see December 19, 2005). The Justice Department and a number of administration officials have attempted to claim the NSA surveillance program is both legal and necessary (see December 19, 2005, December 19, 2005, December 21-22, 2005, and Early 2006); Greenwald writes that the Hamdan decision "decimated" those claims, a conclusion shared by a number of legal experts (see January 9, 2006). Moreover, he writes, there is no remaining excuse for Democratic senators not to endorse Senator Russ Feingold's resolution to censure Bush for violating FISA (see March 12, 2006 and After). The argument advanced by, among others, Senator Barack Obama (D-IL), that Bush believed he was complying with the law because his lawyers told him he was in compliance, is no longer relevant in light of Hamdan, Greenwald argues. "[T]here is no longer any good faith basis left for violating FISA. Ongoing warrantless eavesdropping can only be ordered by the president with a deliberate intent to break the law. After Hamdan, there are no more excuses left for the president to violate FISA, and there is therefore no more excuse left for Democratic senators to refuse to take a stand with Sen. Feingold against the administration's lawbreaking." Bush has two clear choices, Greenwald writes: either to comply with FISA or openly defy the Supreme Court. "If we are a country that continues to operate under the rule of law, compliance with the Supreme Court's ruling compels the immediate cessation of the president's warrantless eavesdropping program, as well as what are undoubtedly the other, still-secret programs prohibited by law but which have been justified by these same now-rejected theories of unlimited executive power. Put simply, after Hamdan, there are no more excuses left for the president's refusal to comply with the law." [Crooks and Liars, 7/8/2006]
Entity Tags: Geneva Conventions, Barack Obama, Bush administration (43), Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, Glenn Greenwald, US Department of Justice, US Supreme Court, George W. Bush, National Security Agency
July 9-10, 2006: Potential 2008 Presidential Candidate Lists Federal Programs, Agencies He Would Eliminate, Including Social Security, Federal Reserve
Libertarian Representative Ron Paul (R-TX), contemplating a run for the 2008 presidential nomination, discusses the many federal programs, agencies, and bureaus he would eliminate if he had the power. He would do away with the CIA, the Federal Reserve, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), the IRS, and the Department of Education, among others. He would eliminate Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid. He would abolish the federal income tax (see April 28, 1999). He would zero out federal funding for public education, leaving that to local governments. Paul recently refused to vote for federal funds to aid victims of Hurricane Katrina, explaining that to do so would "rob" other Americans "in order to support the people on the coast." He routinely votes against federal subsidies for farmers. He supports absolute gun rights, and absolutely opposes abortion, though he thinks regulations supporting or denying abortion should be left up to the states. He wants to repeal federal laws regulating drugs and allow prohibited drugs such as heroin to be sold legally. Paul says the US should withdraw from the United Nations and NATO, and wants the country to stop giving foreign aid to any country for any reason, calling such assistance "foreign welfare." He even says President Lincoln should never have taken the nation to war to abolish slavery. Referring to the years before the income tax, Paul says: "We had a good run from 1776 to 1913. We didn't have it; we did pretty well." As for Social Security, "we didn't have it until 1935," Paul says. "I mean, do you read stories about how many people were laying in the streets and dying and didn't have medical treatment?… Prices were low and the country was productive and families took care of themselves and churches built hospitals and there was no starvation." Historian Michael Katz describes himself as aghast at Paul's characterization of American life before Social Security. "Where to begin with this one?" he asks. "The stories just break your heart, the kind of suffering that people endured.… Stories of families that had literally no cash and had to kind of beg to get the most minimal forms of food, who lived in tiny, little rooms that were ill-heated and ill-ventilated, who were sick all the time, who had meager clothing." Charles Kuffner of the Texas progressive blog Off the Kuff writes, "I can only presume that the Great Depression never occurred in whatever universe Paul inhabits." [Washington Post, 7/9/2006; Charles Kuffner, 7/10/2006]
Entity Tags: United Nations, US Food and Drug Administration, North Atlantic Treaty Organization, Ron Paul, US Department of Education, US Federal Reserve, Charles Kuffner, Central Intelligence Agency, Internal Revenue Service, Michael Katz
Timeline Tags: Global Economic Crises, Domestic Propaganda, 2008 Elections
July 12, 2006: Bush Administration Agrees to Follow Geneva Conventions with All Al-Qaeda Suspects in US Custody
Daniel Dell'Orto. [Source: US Department of Defense]Shortly after the Supreme Court rules that the Geneva Conventions apply to detainees suspected of terrorist affiliations (see June 30, 2006), the Bush administration publicly agrees to apply the Conventions to all terrorism suspects in US custody, and the Pentagon announces that it is now requiring all military officials to adhere to the Conventions in dealing with al-Qaeda detainees. The administration says that from now on, all prisoners in US custody will be treated humanely in accordance with the Conventions, a stipulation that would preclude torture and "harsh interrogation methods." Until the ruling, the administration has held that prisoners suspected of terrorist affiliations did not have the right to be granted Geneva protections (see February 7, 2002). Lawyer David Remes, who represents 17 Guantanamo detainees, says, "At a symbolic level, it is a huge moral triumph that the administration has acknowledged that it must, under the Supreme Court ruling, adhere to the Geneva Conventions. The legal architecture of the war on terror was built on a foundation of unlimited and unaccountable presidential power, including the power to decide unilaterally whether, when and to whom to apply the Geneva Conventions." But in the wake of the ruling the administration is pressuring Congress to introduce legislation that would strip detainees of some of the rights afforded them under the Conventions, including the right to free and open trials, even in a military setting. "The court-martial procedures are wholly inappropriate for the current circumstances and would be infeasible for the trial of these alien enemy combatants," says Steven Bradbury, the acting chief of the Justice Department's Office of Legal Counsel. Bradbury and Daniel Dell'Orto, the Defense Department's principal deputy attorney general, have repeatedly urged lawmakers to limit the rights of detainees captured in what the administration terms its war on terrorism. Dell'Orto says Congress should not require that enemy combatants be provided lawyers to challenge their imprisonment. Congressional Democrats have a different view. Senate Judiciary Chairman Patrick Leahy (D-VT) says, "I find it hard to fathom that this administration is so incompetent that it needs kangaroo-court procedures to convince a tribunal of United States military officers that the 'worst of the worst' imprisoned at Guantanamo Bay should be held accountable" for crimes. "We need to know why we're being asked to deviate from rules for courts-martial." [Washington Post, 7/12/2006]
Entity Tags: US Department of Justice, US Supreme Court, US Department of Defense, Patrick J. Leahy, Al-Qaeda, Daniel J. Dell'Orto, David Remes, Geneva Conventions, Office of Legal Counsel (DOJ), Steven Bradbury
July 13, 2006: Plame Wilson, Husband Sue Cheney, Rove, Libby
Valerie Plame Wilson, the former CIA agent whose undercover status was blown by a White House leak of her identity (see July 14, 2003), sues Vice President Dick Cheney, White House aide Karl Rove, and former White House aide Lewis "Scooter" Libby. Plame Wilson accuses them and other White House officials of conspiring to destroy her career as a CIA operative as well as conspiring to besmirch the reputation and integrity of her husband, former ambassador Joseph Wilson, who is also part of the lawsuit. The suit does not specify monetary damages to be assessed. [Associated Press, 7/13/2006; New York Times, 7/14/2006; Washington Post, 7/3/2007] The Wilsons will later add former Deputy Secretary of State Richard Armitage (see June 13, 2003 and July 8, 2003) to the suit. [Associated Press, 5/17/2007]
Alleges Constitutional, Civil Rights Violations - The lawsuit claims that Cheney, Rove, Libby, and 10 yet-to-be-named government officials—named "John Does 1-10" in the lawsuit—violated the Wilsons' First Amendment rights to free speech, their Fifth Amendment rights to equal protection under the law, and their right to privacy and property. The suit alleges that the defendants conspired to deprive the Wilsons of their civil rights, as well as charging the defendants with neglecting to prevent civil rights violations, public disclosure of private facts, and civil conspiracy. (The "John Doe" defendants will be included when the Wilsons learn who else was involved.) The Wilsons file their lawsuit one day before the statute of limitations would have expired on any such lawsuit. In 2007, Plame Wilson will write that her husband had talked of such a lawsuit since her outing in 2003, but she had consistently avoided the idea. "I got angry, defensive, and emotional," she will recall. "I didn't want to talk about it; the leak was still too raw for me and I wasn't ready yet to think rationally through what such an action would mean." But when Plame Wilson began to come to terms with the ramifications of the leak to her personal and professional life, she "began to tally up the costs of the campaign to smear Joe and to out me carelessly: the near destruction of Joe's reputation and his consulting business, the end of my career, the wholesale invasion of our privacy, threats to our physical security, the chronic level of stress that had adversely affected our health in myriad ways, and two small children wondering why their parents were fighting again. A lawsuit couldn't completely remedy the situation, but to me, it began to look more appealing." [US District Court for the District of Columbia, 7/13/2006 ; New York Times, 7/14/2006; Wilson, 2007, pp. 252-254]
Trying to Accomplish Three Things in Lawsuit - In discussing the idea, the Wilsons decided that the lawsuit could possibly accomplish three things:
Finding the truth behind what Plame Wilson calls "the erroneous 16 words about the uranium from Niger" and how they made it into President Bush's 2003 State of the Union speech (see Mid-January 2003 and 9:01 pm January 28, 2003);
Holding "government officials accountable for actions that might be illegal or unconstitutional"; and
Serving "as a deterrent to future public servants who might think they are above the law." [US District Court for the District of Columbia, 7/13/2006 ; Wilson, 2007, pp. 252-254]
Rove: Allegations 'without Merit' - Rove spokesman Mark Corallo says, "Without even having had a chance to review the complaint, it is clear that the allegations are absolutely and utterly without merit." [Associated Press, 7/13/2006] Rove's lawyer Robert Luskin gives a similar statement to the press: "The allegations are without merit. We may comment further when we have an opportunity to review the complaint." [New York Times, 7/14/2006]
'Exposing Administration Wrongdoing' - With the continuing attempts from the White House and conservative elements in the media to downplay and/or rewrite the history of the leak (see July 13, 2006), Plame Wilson will write, "Our civil suit seemed to be the only means by which we could expose the administration's wrongdoing." [Wilson, 2007, pp. 252-254]
Problems with Lawsuit - The lawsuit will face difficulties in bringing the law to bear against Cheney and Rove. The basis for suing federal officials is a 1982 Supreme Court case that says federal officials may be sued for violating someone's constitutional rights if a reasonable person would believe they had violated "clearly established law." The Libby investigation has not yet produced solid evidence that there was a deliberate, illegal effort to leak Plame Wilson's identity. [New York Times, 7/14/2006]
Entity Tags: Bush administration (43), Joseph C. Wilson, Karl C. Rove, Mark Corallo, George W. Bush, Robert Luskin, Richard ("Dick") Cheney, Valerie Plame Wilson, Lewis ("Scooter") Libby, Richard Armitage
July 14, 2006: Wilsons: Lawsuit Intended to Force Accountability on White House Officials
The day after Joseph Wilson and his wife, outed CIA agent Valerie Plame Wilson, file a lawsuit against White House officials over the conspiracy to smear Wilson's character and expose Plame Wilson as a covert intelligence agent (see July 13, 2006), Plame Wilson speaks about the affair to reporters for the first time. She will later describe herself as suffering from a "dry mouth and shaking knees" as she speaks. She tells reporters in part: "I am proud to have served my country by working at the Central Intelligence Agency. I and my former CIA colleagues trusted our government to protect us as we did our jobs. That a few reckless individuals within the current administration betrayed that trust has been a grave disappointment to every patriotic American; Joe and I have filed this action with a heavy heart but with renewed purpose. I feel strongly that those who acted so recklessly, and who acted in such a harmful way, need to answer for their shameful conduct and to explain their actions in a court of law." Wilson also releases a statement to the press, which says in part: "[T]his remains a nation of laws. No administration official however powerful is above the law and I have confidence in the American system of justice. This suit is about the pursuit of justice." [Buzzflash (.com), 7/14/2006; Wilson, 2007, pp. 254-255]
Entity Tags: Central Intelligence Agency, Bush administration (43), Valerie Plame Wilson, Joseph C. Wilson
July 15, 2006: UN Sanctions North Korea over Missile Tests
The United Nations Security Council unanimously votes to sanction North Korea for its illict ballistic missile tests (see July 3-5, 2006). The resolution demands UN members bar exports and imports of missile-related materials to North Korea and that it halt its ballistic missile program. [BBC, 12/2007]
Entity Tags: United Nations Security Council
Mid-July, 2006: Wilsons Represented by Watchdog Organization in Lawsuit against White House
Shortly after Joseph Wilson and his wife, outed CIA agent Valerie Plame Wilson, file a lawsuit against White House officials over the conspiracy to smear Wilson's character and expose Plame Wilson as a covert intelligence agent (see July 13, 2006), the Wilsons are joined in the lawsuit by a nonpartisan watchdog organization, Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW). The organization agrees to represent the Wilsons on a pro bono basis. [Wilson, 2007, pp. 255-256]
Entity Tags: Valerie Plame Wilson, Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, Bush administration (43), Joseph C. Wilson
July 20, 2006: Judge Refuses Government Request to Dismiss AT&T Lawsuit
Judge Vaughn Walker of the US District Court of Northern California rejects a request by the Justice Department to dismiss a lawsuit by the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF—see January 31, 2006) against AT&T. The EFF argues that AT&T violated its customers' privacy by colluding with the National Security Agency (NSA) in that agency's allegedly illegal domestic wiretapping project. The government has asserted that the lawsuit would jeopardize "state secrets" if permitted to go forward (see May 22, 2006 and June 23, 2006). According to AT&T whistleblower Mark Klein, working with the EFF in the lawsuit, Walker "ridicule[s]" the government's request for dismissal on state secrets grounds, finding that "[t]he government has opened the door for judicial inquiry by publicly confirming and denying material information about its monitoring of communications content.… AT&T and the government have for all practical purposes already disclosed that AT&T assists the government in monitoring communication content. [T]he government has publicly admitted the existence of a 'terrorist surveillance program' (see After September 11, 2001, After September 11, 2001, October 2001, and September 2002).… Considering the ubiquity of AT&T telecommunications services, it is unclear whether this program could even exist without AT&T's acquiescence and cooperation." EFF had given Walker the ammunition for his finding by providing him with a raft of media stories about AT&T's involvement in the NSA surveillance program, as well as media coverage of Klein's assertions (see April 12, 2006 and May 17, 2006). "The very subject matter of this action is hardly a secret" any longer, Walker finds (see May 24, 2006). "[D]ismissing this case at the outset would sacrifice liberty for no apparent enhancement of security." Walker also rejects a separate motion to dismiss by AT&T, which had argued that its relationship with the government made it immune from prosecution. Marc Rotenberg of the Electronic Privacy Information Center (EPIC) says: "This cases arises against the backdrop of the accountability of the government as it pursues its surveillance program. This is a significant victory for the principle of government accountability." AT&T spokesman Walt Sharp refuses to give a direct comment about the ruling, but says that AT&T has always protected its customers' privacy (see February 2001 and Beyond, February 2001, and Late 2002-Early 2003). The government will obtain a stay of Walker's ruling while it files an appeal, preventing the EFF documents from being publicly disseminated. [New York Times, 7/21/2006; Klein, 2009, pp. 78-79]
Entity Tags: Mark Klein, AT&T, Electronic Frontier Foundation, Marc Rotenberg, US Department of Justice, Walter Sharp, Vaughn Walker, National Security Agency
July 28, 2006: White House Lawyers Ignore JAG Lawyers' Objections to Use of Secret Evidence in Detainee Trials
Following up on the Supreme Court's recent Hamdan ruling that the Bush administration's military commissions trial system is illegal (see June 30, 2006), a dozen members of the Judge Advocate General (JAG) corps meets with a team of White House lawyers. The JAG officers are experts in military law; much of their training centers on how to best conduct their legal proceedings in line with the Geneva Conventions. Most JAG officers had opposed the Bush administration's decision to ignore Geneva (see June 8, 2004) in its treatment of detainees; in return, the White House's civilian lawyers had dismissed the JAG officers as, in author and reporter Charlie Savage's words, "closed minded, parochial, and simplistic." The JAGs view the Hamdan ruling as vindication of their objections; for its part, the Justice Department is eager to be able to say that it incorporated the JAGs' views in its proposed legislation for a new system of detainee trials. The JAGs' overriding concern is to ensure that no secret evidence can be used against detainees in future trials. Defendants must be able to see and respond to all evidence used against them, the JAGs believe, otherwise the trials are not in compliance with Geneva. The original military commissions required that defendants and their lawyers be removed from the courtroom when classified evidence was introduced, a practice that the military lawyers believe was a basic violation of defendant rights. Unfortunately for the JAGs, they quickly learn that the White House lawyers are uninterested in their views. When they take their seats in a Justice Department conference room, the White House lawyers inform them that there is no reason to discuss the secret evidence question, because more senior officials will ultimately make that decision. Instead, the JAGs are limited to discussing minor technical issues and typographical changes. The meeting does allow Attorney General Alberto Gonzales to testify to Congress in early August that "our deliberations have included detailed discussions with members of the JAG corps," whose "multiple rounds of comments… will be reflected in the legislative package." Unlike the White House lawyers, Congress will listen to the JAG officers, and will outlaw the use of secret evidence in detainee trials. [Savage, 2007, pp. 279-281]
Entity Tags: Bush administration (43), Alberto R. Gonzales, US Department of Justice, Geneva Conventions, Judge Advocate General Corps
Late July 2006: Islamist Militant Group Conquers Capital of Somalia with Help from Arms Dealer Victor Bout
A map of the 2006 advance of the Islamic Courts Union in Somalia. [Source: Public domain / James Dahl]In late July 2006, the Islamic Courts Union (ICU), an Islamist militant group, conquers the Somali capital of Mogadishu. Somalia has long been divided by various warlords and factions, but the ICU soon takes over much of the country. Within days of taking Mogadishu, a number of large Russian-made cargo planes begin landing in Mogadishu's newly reopened airport, bringing in weapons for the ICU. US military officials order an investigation as to who is supplying the ICU, and within weeks US intelligence concludes that the planes are owned by companies linked to Victor Bout, the world's biggest illegal arms dealer. Soon, intelligence confirms that Bout is working closely not only with Islamist militias in Somalia, but also their allies in nearby Eritrea. [Farah and Braun, 2007, pp. 254-255] The ICU will lose control of Mogadishu and much of Somalia in December 2006 after Ethiopia invades the country (see December 24, 2006-January 2007), but the group continues fighting. Bout's flights will continue into 2007. In July 2007, a Sunday Times reporter posing as a middleman for the ICU will arrange an arms deal with Alexander Radionov, who runs a front company linked to Bout. Had the reporter paid, Radionov would have parachuted eight tons of ammunition into Somalia. [Sunday Times (London), 7/15/2007] Bout had previously worked with other al-Qaeda linked Islamist groups, including the Taliban (see Summer 2002), but he has also been supplying the US military in Iraq since war began there in 2003 (see Late April 2003).
Entity Tags: Islamic Courts Union, Alexander Radionov, Victor Bout
August 3, 2006: US Finally Designates Saudi Charity Behind Bojinka Plot a Terrorism Financier
The US and UN finally officially designates the Philippines and Indonesian branches of the International Islamic Relief Organization (IIRO) as a financier of terrorism. Abdul Al-Hamid Sulaiman Al-Mujil, executive director of the IRRO's far east division, is similarly designated as well. The IIRO is a major charity connected to the Saudi government that has long been suspected of financing Islamic militant groups (see January 1996). It was reported shortly after 9/11 that the US left the IIRO off a list of designated terrorism financiers so as to not embarrass the Saudi government (see October 12, 2001). The Philippine IIRO branch in particular has been publicly accused of funding al-Qaeda since the mid-1990s, due to the activities of Mohammed Jamal Khalifa, bin Laden's brother-in-law who headed that branch when he funded the Bojinka plot in the early 1990s (see 1987-1991). [Associated Press, 8/3/2006; Manila Times, 12/12/2006] A US Treasury Department press release says Al-Mujil has been nicknamed the "million dollar man" for his "long history of providing support to terrorist organizations." He is accused of funding the Abu Sayyaf group in the Philippines and Jemaah Islamiyah in Indonesia. He is said to have had relationships with bin Laden and Khalid Shaikh Mohammed. The press release also calls "a senior al-Qaeda member" and accuses the current director of the IIRO's Philippine branch, Abd al-Hadi Daguit, "a trusted associate of Khalifa." But curiously, Khalifa himself is still not officially listed, nor is Daguit. He will die in mysterious circumstances several months later. [Treasury Department, 8/3/2006]
Entity Tags: Abu Sayyaf, US Department of the Treasury, Osama bin Laden, Khalid Shaikh Mohammed, Al-Qaeda, International Islamic Relief Organization, Abd al-Hadi Daguit, Abdul Al-Hamid Sulaiman Al-Mujil, Jemaah Islamiyah
August 5, 2006: Al-Zawahiri Apparently Announces Egyptian Militant Group Is Merging with Al-Qaeda, but Some Members Deny This
Ayman al-Zawahiri announcing a link-up between al-Qaeda and Al-Gama'a al-Islamiyya. [Source: Al Jazeera]A man thought to be al-Qaeda second-in-command Ayman al-Zawahiri releases a new video recording, which is aired on Al Jazeera. In the video he says that the Egyptian group Al-Gama'a al-Islamiyya has joined forces with al-Qaeda and the two will form "one line, facing its enemies." The spiritual leader of Al-Gama is the "Blind Sheikh," Sheikh Omar Abdul-Rahman, currently in prison in the US on terror charges (see (April 25-May 1989) and 1997-2002). Al-Gama'a al-Islamiyya leader Mohamed Hakaima appears in the video and confirms the link-up. Before it was folded into al-Qaeda, Al-Zawahiri himself headed the Egyptian organization Islamic Jihad, which had sometimes worked with Al-Gama'a al-Islamiyya. However, Al-Gam'a al-Islamiyya, which renounced violence in 1998 following which hundreds of its members were released from jail, denies the alliance, and analysts say that Hakaima is not a top leader in the organization. It issues a statement in Egypt that "categorically denies" al-Zawahiri's claims, and a former leader, Sheikh Abdel Akher Hammad, says, "If [some] brothers… have joined, then this is their personal view and I don't think that most Al-Gama'a al-Islamiyya members share that same opinion." [CNN, 8/5/2006; Al Jazeera, 8/7/2006]
Entity Tags: Sheikh Abdel Akher Hammad, Ayman al-Zawahiri, Al-Qaeda, Mohamed Hakaima, Al-Gama'a al-Islamiyya
August 10, 2006: Bojinka-Like Plot to Destroy Aircraft Is Foiled; Feasibility and Urgency of Plot Later Questioned
Rashid Rauf. [Source: Warrick Page/ Getty Images]British police arrest 24 people in connection with a plot to blow up aircraft flying from Britain to the United States. Metropolitan Police Deputy Commissioner Paul Stephenson says the plot was "intended to be mass murder on an unimaginable scale." [CNN, 8/10/2006] Secretary of Homeland Security Michael Chertoff describes the plot as "well-advanced and well-thought-out and… really resourced to succeed." [MSNBC, 8/10/2006] He also likens it to the foiled 1995 Bojinka plot, one portion of which involved blowing up up to a dozen airplanes over the ocean using liquid explosives smuggled onto the planes. [CNN, 8/11/2006] The British threat warning level is raised to critical and London's Heathrow Airport is closed to most European flights. US officials say the plot involved hiding liquid explosives in carry-on luggage, and up to 12 flights would have been targeted. A senior US congressional source says the plotters planned to carry sports drinks onto the flights, which would then be mixed with a gel-like substance. The explosives would be triggered by the electrical charge from an iPod or mobile phone. Administration officials say the plot involved British Airways, Continental, United, and American Airlines. The plotters intended to detonate the devices over New York, Washington, San Francisco, Boston, and Los Angeles. Officials say the plot demonstrates "very strong links to al-Qaeda" and was nearly operational. In the US, the Department of Homeland Security raises the terror threat to the highest level, red, meaning "severe," for commercial flights originating in Britain and bound for the US. In addition, the threat level is raised to orange, or "high," for all commercial flights operating in or coming to the US. [CNN, 8/10/2006] British officials say the death toll could have exceeded the 2,700 of the September 11 attacks, with one source calling the plot "our 9/11." The arrests were spurred by the detention in Pakistan of one of the plotters, Rashid Rauf. The Pakistanis arrested him at the behest of US Vice President Dick Cheney (see Before August 10, 2006 and Between July 28 and August 9, 2006). [Guardian, 8/11/2006] Officials say some plotters already had tickets for flights and planned to stage test runs over the weekend. Despite the 24 arrests, five suspects in Britain are still being urgently hunted. One official says, "They didn't get them all." But British officials claim the arrests in London and Birmingham snare all the alleged "main players." [MSNBC, 8/10/2006] British Home Secretary John Reid says the operation is ongoing and more arrests may be made. US officials say the suspects are all British citizens between the ages of 17 and 35, with some being of Pakistani ethnicity. They add that some of the suspects had been monitored by British intelligence for several months. Deputy Assistant Commissioner Peter Clarke, head of the Metropolitan Police Service Anti-Terrorist Branch, says the arrests follow an "unprecedented level of surveillance" over several months involving meetings, movements, travel, spending, and the aspirations of a large group of people. [CNN, 8/10/2006]
Liquids, Gels, Electronics Banned from Flights - Homeland Security bans all liquids and gels except baby formula and prescription medications in the name of the ticket holder in carry-on luggage on all flights. Passengers traveling from and through British airports are temporarily permitted to only carry-on items on a restricted list. These items have to be carried in transparent plastic bags. No liquids can be carried on board, including liquid medications "unless verified as authentic." All electronic items are also banned. [Detroit Free Press, 8/10/2006]
Arrests, Alert Questioned - In the days following the security operation, the arrests will meet with some skepticism. Stephen Glover of the Daily Mail points to previous baseless terror scares in the US and Britain, as well as questioning the political motivations of the home secretary. [Daily Mail, 8/16/2006] Douglas Fraser of the Herald in Edinburgh suggests the "political component" of the operation has caused skepticism. He says the intelligence services are taking credit for foiling a major plot by "ramping up the level of public concern about the threat." He notes that the timing coincides with an attempt by the government of Prime Minister Tony Blair to return to an issue it was defeated on before: increasing to 90 days the amount of time that people can be detained without charge in the case of alleged terrorist offenses. [VOA News, 8/18/2006] Sean O'Neill and Stewart Tendler of the London Times urge the public and the media to wait for solid evidence before accepting the version of events presented by the government. They say previous bungled anti-terror operations have put pressure on the authorities to build a solid case in public. [London Times, 8/12/2006] In response to these criticisms, intelligence services will be hesitant to release much information publicly, but confirm to The Guardian that surveillance and tips from informants pointed to a plot in the making. Police identify the explosives to be used in the plot as TATP (triacetone triperoxide) and HMTD (hexamethylene triperoxide diamine), both peroxide-based liquid explosives. [Guardian, 8/19/2006] Police will also reveal that the raids uncovered jihadist materials, receipts of Western Union money transfers, seven martyrdom videos, and the last will and testament of one plotter. [New York Times, 8/28/2006]
Some Suspects to Be Released; Security Measures Probably Unnecessary - However, The Guardian does indicate that some of the arrested suspects are likely to be released and that the security measures instituted following the arrests are almost certainly unnecessary. [Guardian, 8/19/2006] Contradicting earlier reports, a senior British official will suggest an attack was not imminent, saying the suspects had not yet purchased any airline tickets. In fact, some do not even have passports. [MSNBC, 8/14/2006] Over two and a half weeks after the arrests, a target date for the attacks and number of planes involved will still be undetermined by investigators. The estimate of 10 to 12 planes is characterized by officials as speculative and exaggerated. Clarke acknowledges the police are still investigating "the number, destination, and timing of the flights." [New York Times, 8/28/2006]
12 Suspects to Be Tried - Twelve suspects will be charged with terrorism offences near the end of August 2006. Trials are expected to start in January 2008 at the earliest. Prosecutor Colin Gibbs says he expects "a very long trial of [between] five and eight months." [IOL, 9/4/2006]
Entity Tags: Michael Chertoff, Paul Stephenson, US Department of Homeland Security, Peter Clarke, Metropolitan Police Service Anti-Terrorist Branch, Sean O'Neill, Rashid Rauf, John Reid, Al-Qaeda, Douglas Fraser, United Airlines, Frances Townsend, Stephen Glover, British Airways, American Airlines, Stewart Tendler, Continental Airlines
August 11, 2006: CIA Provides Summaries of Cheney Briefings to Libby Defense Team
The CIA provides short summaries of Vice President Dick Cheney's daily security briefings to defense attorneys for Cheney's indicted former chief of staff, Lewis Libby. The documents are provided as per a March court order (see March 10, 2006). They have been turned over in batches since May 2006; the final documents have just been turned over. The briefing summaries cover the period in the summer of 2003 when Libby was allegedly discussing Valerie Plame Wilson's CIA identity with journalists. They also cover several weeks in the fall of 2003 when Libby was questioned by the FBI (see October 14, 2003 and November 26, 2003), and March 2004 when Libby testified before a federal grand jury (see March 5, 2004 and March 24, 2004). [Associated Press, 8/11/2006]
Entity Tags: Central Intelligence Agency, Richard ("Dick") Cheney, Lewis ("Scooter") Libby
August 15, 2006: Former Heads of 9/11 Commission Release Book; Claim Their Commission was 'Set Up to Fail' by Bush Administration
Thomas Kean and Lee Hamilton, the former chairman and vice chairman of the 9/11 Commission, release a book giving a behind-the-scenes look at their 20-month investigation of the September 11 attacks. [Associated Press, 8/4/2006] They begin their book, titled Without Precedent, saying that, because their investigation started late, had a very short time frame, and had inadequate funding, they both felt, from the beginning, that they "were set up to fail." [Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, 8/21/2006; Rocky Mountain News, 8/25/2006] They explain the difficulties they faced in obtaining certain government documents and describe how the commission almost splintered over whether to investigate the Bush administration's use of 9/11 as a reason for going to war. It says that if original member Max Cleland—a strong proponent of this line of inquiry—had not resigned (see December 9, 2003), the commission probably would not have reached unanimity. It also calls their gentle questioning of former New York Mayor Rudolph Giuliani during his May 2004 testimony, "a low point" in the commission's handling of witnesses at its public hearings (see May 19, 2004). [Associated Press, 8/4/2006; New York Daily News, 8/5/2006; New York Times, 8/6/2006] Despite the problems it faced, when discussing his book with the CBC, Hamilton says he thinks the commission has "been reasonably successful in telling the story" of 9/11. [Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, 8/21/2006] Without Precedent, however, contains little new information about the events of 9/11. Intelligence expert James Bamford says there is "an overabundance of self-censorship by the authors." [New York Times, 8/20/2006]
Entity Tags: Thomas Kean, Lee Hamilton
August 17, 2006: Judge Finds NSA Warrantless Wiretapping Program Unconstitutional
Federal district court judge Anna Diggs Taylor rules that the NSA's warrantless wiretapping program (see Early 2002) is unconstitutional and orders it ended. She amends her ruling to allow the program to continue while the Justice Department appeals her decision. The decision is a result of a lawsuit filed by the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) and other civil liberties groups. Taylor rules that the NSA program violates US citizens' rights to privacy and free speech, the Constitutional separation of powers among the three branches of government, and the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (see 1978). Taylor writes: "It was never the intent of the framers to give the president such unfettered control, particularly where his actions blatantly disregard the parameters clearly enumerated in the Bill of Rights. There are no hereditary Kings in America and no powers not created by the Constitution. So all 'inherent powers' must derive from that Constitution." [Verdict in ACLU et al v. NSA et al, 8/17/2006 ; Washington Post, 8/18/2006] The program "violates the separation of powers doctrine, the Administrative Procedures Act, the First and Fourth amendments to the United States Constitution, the FISA and Title III," Taylor writes, and adds, "[T]he president of the United States… has undisputedly violated the Fourth in failing to procure judicial orders." [CNN, 8/17/2006]
Judge Lets One Portion Stand - Taylor rejects one part of the lawsuit that seeks information about the NSA's data mining program (see October 2001), accepting the government's argument that to allow that portion of the case to proceed would reveal state secrets (see March 9, 1953). Other lawsuits challenging the program are still pending. Some legal scholars regard Taylor's decision as poorly reasoned: national security law specialist Bobby Chesney says: "Regardless of what your position is on the merits of the issue, there's no question that it's a poorly reasoned decision. The opinion kind of reads like an outline of possible grounds to strike down the program, without analysis to fill it in." The White House and its Republican supporters quickly attack Taylor, who was appointed to the bench by then-President Jimmy Carter, as a "liberal judge" who is trying to advance the agenda of Congressional Democrats and "weaken national security." For instance, Senator Mike DeWine (R-OH) says that halting the program "would hamper our ability to foil terrorist plots." [Washington Post, 8/18/2006]
Democrats, Civil Libertarians Celebrate Ruling - But Democrats defend the ruling. For instance, Senator John Kerry (D-MA) says the ruling provides a much-needed check on the unfettered power of the Bush White House. "[N]o one is above the law," says Kerry. [Washington Post, 8/18/2006] Lawyers for some of the other cases against the NSA and the Bush administration laud the decision as giving them vital legal backing for their own court proceedings. "We now have a ruling on the books that upholds what we've been saying all along: that this wiretapping program violates the Constitution," says Kevin Bankston, who represents the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) in its class-action case against AT&T for its role in the NSA's surveillance program (see January 31, 2006). [Washington Post, 8/18/2006] Legal expert and liberal commentator Glenn Greenwald writes that Taylor's ruling "does not, of course, prohibit eavesdropping on terrorists; it merely prohibits illegal eavesdropping in violation of FISA. Thus, even under the court's order, the Bush administration is free to continue to do all the eavesdropping on terrorists it wants to do. It just has to cease doing so using its own secretive parameters, and instead do so with the oversight of the FISA court—just as all administrations have done since 1978, just as the law requires, and just as it did very recently when using surveillance with regard to the [British] terror plot. Eavesdropping on terrorists can continue in full force. But it must comply with the law." Greenwald writes: "[T]he political significance of this decision cannot be denied. The first federal court ever to rule on the administration's NSA program has ruled that it violates the constitutional rights of Americans in several respects, and that it violates criminal law. And in so holding, the court eloquently and powerfully rejected the Bush administration's claims of unchecked executive power in the area of national security." [Salon, 8/17/2006]
White House Refuses to Comply - The Bush administration refuses to comply with Taylor's ruling, asserting that the program is indeed legal and a "vital tool" in the "war on terrorism." It will quickly file an appeal, and law professors on both sides of the issue predict that Taylor's ruling will be overturned. [Savage, 2007, pp. 206]
Lawsuit Ends with White House 'Compromise' - The lawsuit will end when the White House announces a "compromise" between the wiretapping program and FISC (see January 17, 2007).
Entity Tags: John Kerry, Kevin Bankston, Mike DeWine, US Department of Justice, Peter Hoekstra, Glenn Greenwald, National Security Agency, George W. Bush, James Earl "Jimmy" Carter, Jr., Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, Alberto R. Gonzales, American Civil Liberties Union, AT&T, Anna Diggs Taylor, Bush administration (43), Bobby Chesney, Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court, Electronic Frontier Foundation
August 18, 2006: Judge Withholds Some Classified Documents from Defense in Libby Trial
Judge Reggie Walton issues a court order that withholds certain "extremely sensitive" classified documents from the Lewis Libby defense team. Walton writes that he "carefully reviewed" the requests from special counsel Patrick Fitzgerald and from the CIA to withhold the documents. The documents were provided to him ex parte and in camera, and Walton determined that they were irrelevant to the Libby defense efforts. Walton writes that the documents are "extremely sensitive and their disclosure could cause serious if not grave damage to the national security of the United States." Walton has previously allowed other classified documents to be provided to Libby, and the CIA has provided documents requested by Libby that Walton has released to the defense (see December 14, 2005, January 9, 2006, January 20, 2006, January 23, 2006, January 23, 2006, January 31, 2006, (February 16, 2006), February 21, 2006, February 24, 2006. February 27, 2006, March 1, 2006, March 2-7, 2006, March 10, 2006, March 17, 2006, April 5, 2006, May 3, 2006, May 12, 2006, May 19, 2006, and June 2, 2006). Many of the documents provided to Libby are redacted versions or summaries of the classified documents he viewed during his morning intelligence briefings. [MSNBC, 8/18/2006] Former prosecutor Christy Hardin Smith, writing for the progressive blog FireDogLake, writes of Walton's decision: "That there is material so sensitive in this case that Libby is not entitled to it at all… speaks volumes to me in terms of what was endangered by him and Karl Rove opening their yaps in order to exact some political payback and CYA for Dick Cheney and the Bush administration. Putting personal political fortune ahead of the security of the entire United States during a time of armed conflict to cover your bosses' *sses for lying the nation into war? Now THAT is unpatriotic." [Christy Hardin Smith, 8/19/2006]
Entity Tags: Lewis ("Scooter") Libby, Central Intelligence Agency, Christy Hardin Smith, Reggie B. Walton, Patrick J. Fitzgerald
August 21, 2006: Former 9/11 Co-Chairman Addresses Various 'Conspiracy Theories' About 9/11 Attacks
Former 9/11 Commission co-chair Lee Hamilton. [Source: CBC]Lee Hamilton, the former co-chair of the 9/11 Commission, gives a wide-ranging interview to the CBC about Without Precedent, a book he recently co-authored about his time on the 9/11 Commission (see August 15, 2006). In the interview he discusses the various "conspiracy theories" surrounding the events of 9/11. The interviewer, Evan Solomon, mentions to him a recent Zogby poll (see May 17, 2006) that found that 42% of Americans agreed that "the US government, and its 9/11 Commission, concealed or refused to investigate critical evidence that contradicts the official explanation of September 11th." Hamilton calls this lack of trust in the Commission's report "dispiriting," but attacks the "conspiracy theory people," saying, "when they make an assertion they do it often on very flimsy evidence." He addresses some of the various "conspiracy theories" that have been put forward about 9/11:
In order to contradict the allegation that the Twin Towers were brought down deliberately with pre-planted explosives, Hamilton says the WTC collapsed (see 8:57 a.m. September 11, 2001) because "the super-heated jet fuel melted the steel super-structure of these buildings and caused their collapse." He adds, "There's a powerful lot of evidence to sustain that point of view, including the pictures of the airplanes flying into the building."
With regard to the collapse of WTC Building 7 (see (5:20 p.m.) September 11, 2001), which some people claim was also caused by explosives, he argues, "[W]e believe that it was the aftershocks of these two huge buildings in the very near vicinity collapsing. And in the Building 7 case, we think that it was a case of flames setting off a fuel container, which started the fire in Building 7, and that was our theory on Building 7." However, the interviewer points out that the 9/11 Commission's final report does not actually mention the collapse of Building 7, and Hamilton says he does not recall whether the Commission made a specific decision to leave it out.
In reply to a question about why the debris of Building 7 were moved quickly from the scene without a thorough investigation, even though nobody died in Building 7 and there was no need for rescue operations there, Hamilton responds, "You can't answer every question when you conduct an investigation."
When asked whether Saeed Sheikh sent Mohamed Atta $100,000 for the 9/11 plot (see Early August 2001 and Summer 2001 and before), Hamilton replies, "I don't know anything about it." When the interviewer presses him about whether the Commission investigated a possible Pakistani Secret Service (ISI) connection to the attacks, Hamilton replies, "They may have; I do not recall us writing anything about it in the report. We may have but I don't recall it."
Asked about Secretary of Transportation Norman Mineta's claim that Vice President Dick Cheney was in the presidential bunker beneath the White House at 9:20 a.m. on 9/11 (see (Between 9:20 a.m. and 9:27 a.m.) September 11, 2001), almost 40 minutes earlier than the Commission claimed he had arrived there, Hamilton replies, "I do not recall." When pressed, he expands, "Well, we think that Vice President Cheney entered the bunker shortly before 10 o'clock. And there is a gap of several minutes there, where we do not really know what the Vice President really did. There is the famous phone call between the President and the Vice President. We could find no documentary evidence of that phone call."
When the interviewer points out that Richard Clarke's account conflicts with the Commission's over what time authorization was received from Dick Cheney to shoot down Flight 93 (see (Between 9:45 a.m. and 9:56 a.m.) September 11, 2001 and (Between 10:00 a.m. and 10:15 a.m.) September 11, 2001), Hamilton retorts, "Look, you've obviously gone through the report with a fine-toothed comb, you're raising a lot of questions—I can do the same thing."
The interviewer also asks Hamilton whether he has any unanswered questions of his own about 9/11. Hamilton's response is: "I could never figure out why these 19 fellas did what they did. We looked into their backgrounds. In one or two cases, they were apparently happy, well-adjusted, not particularly religious - in one case quite well-to-do, had a girlfriend. We just couldn't figure out why he did it. I still don't know." [Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, 8/21/2006]
Entity Tags: Saeed Sheikh, World Trade Center, Richard ("Dick") Cheney, Pakistan Directorate for Inter-Services Intelligence, Lee Hamilton, 9/11 Commission, Richard A. Clarke, Mohamed Atta, Norman Mineta
August 22, 2006: Press Learns that Woodward May Have Learned of Plame Wilson's Identity from State Department Official
The press reveals that then-Deputy Secretary of State Richard Armitage met with Washington Post author Bob Woodward in June 2003 at the same time Woodward has admitted to learning from a confidential administration source that Valerie Plame Wilson was a CIA agent (see June 13, 2003). The information comes from Armitage's 2003 appointment calendars, made available to the Associated Press through a Freedom of Information Act request. The revelation makes it likely that Armitage was the first Bush administration official to reveal that Plame Wilson was a CIA agent. Woodward admitted almost a year ago that a "current or former" administration official divulged Plame Wilson's CIA identity to him (see November 14, 2005). Neither Woodward nor Armitage will comment on the allegations. At the same time, Newsweek reporter Michael Isikoff publishes the story in his magazine. [Associated Press, 8/22/2006; New York Times, 8/23/2006; Newsweek, 9/4/2006] Lewis Libby's defense lawyer, William Jeffress, says of the report: "I would hope that the facts on that would come out. We have asked for information as to Woodward's source in discovery, but that has been denied." Melanie Sloan, a lawyer representing Valerie Plame Wilson and her husband Joseph Wilson in their lawsuit against Libby, Vice President Dick Cheney, and White House official Karl Rove (see July 13, 2006), says "it sure sounds like" Armitage was the first to reveal Plame Wilson's CIA status to a member of the press. However, Sloan adds, if Armitage revealed Plame Wilson's identity to columnist Robert Novak (see July 8, 2003), who outed Plame Wilson (see July 14, 2003), then far from indicating Libby's or Rove's innocence in exposing Plame Wilson's identity, it merely widens the conspiracy. "Then I think maybe Armitage was in on it," Sloan says. "The question is just what was Armitage's role?" [Associated Press, 8/22/2006] The Washington Post soon receives confirmation of Armitage's role in the leak from a former State Department colleague. [Washington Post, 8/29/2006] Many members of the press learn about Armitage from an upcoming book, Hubris, by Michael Isikoff and David Corn. According to the book, Woodward dismissed Armitage's outing of Plame Wilson as "gossip." Armitage also revealed Plame Wilson's name to columnist Robert Novak (see July 8, 2003). [Wilson, 2007, pp. 256] Partly as publicity for the book, Isikoff prints two "teaser" articles in Newsweek revealing Armitage as the source. One article is dated September 4, but appears on the Internet in late August. The articles also reveal that Armitage leaked Plame Wilson's identity to both Woodward and Novak. [Newsweek, 8/27/2006; Newsweek, 9/4/2006]
Entity Tags: Bob Woodward, Bush administration (43), David Corn, Associated Press, Michael Isikoff, Lewis ("Scooter") Libby, William Jeffress, Melanie Sloan, Richard Armitage, Valerie Plame Wilson, Robert Novak
August 28, 2006: Bin Laden Still Not Indicted for 9/11
The Washington Post notes that Osama bin Laden has still not been indicted for his alleged role in 9/11 and that his entry in the FBI's Ten Most Wanted list only mentions his involvement in the 1998 African embassy bombings. The FBI says the reason bin Laden is not officially wanted for 9/11 or the bombing of the USS Cole is that he has not yet been charged with involvement in the operations by the US. Bin Laden's entry on a separate list, of the 25 most wanted terrorists, also fails to mention his alleged involvement in 9/11. According to the Post, "The curious omission underscores the Justice Department's decision, so far, to not seek formal criminal charges against bin Laden" for 9/11. [Washington Post, 8/28/2006]
Entity Tags: Federal Bureau of Investigation, Osama bin Laden
Late August-Early September, 2006: Conservative Pundits, Mainstream Editorials Claim Armitage Revelation Proves No Conspiracy in CIA Agent Leak
Conservative pundits and columnists launch a new barrage of attacks and accusations against former ambassador Joseph Wilson (see July 6, 2003) and his wife, outed CIA agent Valerie Plame Wilson (see July 14, 2003). The pundits use the recent revelation that former Deputy Secretary of State Richard Armitage was apparently the first administration official to leak Plame Wilson's name to the press (see August 22, 2006 and September 7, 2006). They claim that the new information proves that there was never a conspiracy to "out" Plame Wilson (see June 23, 2003, July 7, 2003, 8:30 a.m. July 8, 2003, July 8, 2003, 11:00 a.m. July 11, 2003, Late Afternoon, July 12, 2003, and Before July 14, 2003), but that her status as a covert CIA agent was revealed merely as a result of harmless gossip from Armitage, who is not considered a major part of the neoconservative axis of power within the White House. [Washington Post, 9/1/2006]
Blaming Armitage and the State Department - The Wall Street Journal blames Armitage for allowing the Plame Wilson identity leak investigation to go on while he remained mute, allowing "political opportunism and internal score-settling" to drive the investigation when it never should have taken off. "The White House, in short, was not engaged in any campaign to 'out' Ms. Plame [Wilson]," the editorial states. Since the prosecution of Lewis Libby for perjury and obstruction during the investigation is not likely to be dropped, the editorial concludes, President Bush should end it by pardoning Libby. [Wall Street Journal, 8/30/2006] The New York Sun also chastizes Armitage for standing silent "while the president's critics sullied the good names of Messrs. Cheney, Libby, and Rove." [National Review, 7/19/2004; New York Sun, 8/30/2006] A similar position is advocated by neoconservative John Podhoretz, writing for the New York Post, who also says that the Armitage revelation should result in special counsel Patrick Fitzgerald dropping all charges against Libby. [New York Post, 8/29/2006] Neoconservative Frank Gaffney, writing for the online political publication TownHall, accuses both Armitage and former Secretary of State Colin Powell, as well as other senior State Department officials, of being "disloyalists" who "wage[d] war" against the Bush administration "from behind enemy lines"—from his position in the State Department, essentially functioning as a saboteur for unnamed liberal interests, and to win ground the State Department lost in conflicts with the White House. Gaffney goes further, accusing other State Department officials of intentionally sabotaging US nuclear negotiation efforts with North Korea (see September 19-20, 2005 and July 15, 2006). He accuses Armitage of "destructive and disloyal behavior" and "appeasement" towards North Korea and other US opponents. [Town Hall (.com), 9/5/2006] San Francisco Chronicle writer Debra Saunders calls the entire affair nothing more than "gossip," and notes that an admission by White House deputy chief of staff Karl Rove that he confirmed Plame Wilson's identity (see July 10, 2005 and October 14, 2005) is virtually meaningless. The only "abuse of power" that has come to light during the investigation, Saunders opines, is the investigation itself. [Minneapolis Star-Tribune, 9/6/2006]
Libby 'Exonerated' by Armitage Admission - The New Hampshire Union Leader calls the investigation a "non-issue" promulgated by "conspiracy nuts" now proven wrong by the Armitage admission. [New Hampshire Union Leader, 8/30/2006] Syndicated columnist Linda Chavez says the "exculpatory" Armitage revelation exonerates Libby, and calls his prosecution "malicious" and unwarranted. [Creators Syndicate, 8/30/2006]
Wilson, 'Leftists' to Blame - Slate's Christopher Hitchens goes further, attacking the "Joseph Wilson fantasy" that Iraq had not attempted to buy uranium from Niger (see March 4-5, 2002, (March 6, 2002) and March 8, 2002), calling the idea that the White House deliberately attempted to smear Wilson's character a "paranoid fantasy" (see June 2003, June 3, 2003, June 11, 2003, June 12, 2003, June 19 or 20, 2003, July 6, 2003, July 6-10, 2003, July 7, 2003 or Shortly After, 8:45 a.m. July 7, 2003, 9:22 a.m. July 7, 2003, July 7-8, 2003, July 11, 2003, (July 11, 2003), July 12, 2003, July 12, 2003, July 18, 2003, October 1, 2003, April 5, 2006, and April 9, 2006), and concluding that the entire Plame Wilson imbroglio was the result of a "venom[ous] interdepartmental rivalry" between Armitage's State Department and the White House, blown entirely out of proportion by liberal critics of the Bush administration. [Slate, 8/29/2006] A National Review editorial blames the New York Times editorial board and "shrieking" "leftist adversaries" of the Bush administration for the investigation, and, like Chavez and others, calls for the immediate end of the Libby prosecution. [National Review, 8/30/2006] The Weekly Standard's Fred Barnes compiles a "rogues list" of "the Plamegate Hall of Shame," including Armitage, his former boss Colin Powell, Patrick Fitzgerald, the Justice Department, Joseph Wilson, and the media. "So instead of Cheney or Rove or Libby," Barnes writes, "the perennial targets of media wrath, the Plamegate Hall of Shame consists of favorites of the Washington elite and the mainstream press." And like the others, Barnes calls on Fitzgerald to immediately terminate his investigation as well as his prosecution of Libby. [Weekly Standard, 9/2/2006] And the Washington Times's editor in chief Wesley Pruden rounds off the attacks, rather ghoulishly predicting that the next time Plame Wilson will be mentioned in the press is when "a nice obituary in the Washington and New York newspapers and a few lines of a telegraph dispatch on a page with the truss ads in Topeka" is printed. He calls Plame Wilson, who headed the CIA's Joint Task Force on Iraq (see April 2001 and After), "the queen of the clipping scissors and pastepots at the CIA" (see September 29, 2003), and calls the leak investigation a "fraud." [Washington Times, 9/5/2006]
Picked Up by Mainstream Media - Many in the mainstream media echo the new line of attack, with the Washington Post's editorial board joining the other editorials and columnists in demanding that the Libby prosecution be immediately terminated. Echoing a Wall Street Journal guest editorial from almost a year before (see November 3, 2005), the Post editorial claims that because Plame Wilson's husband, former ambassador Joseph Wilson, went public with his knowledge of the Bush administration's false claims that Iraq had attempted to purchase uranium from Niger (see July 6, 2003), he is ultimately responsible for outing his wife. The Post writes: "Mr. Wilson chose to go public with an explosive charge, claiming—falsely, as it turned out—that he had debunked reports of Iraqi uranium-shopping in Niger and that his report had circulated to senior administration officials. He ought to have expected that both those officials and journalists such as Mr. Novak would ask why a retired ambassador would have been sent on such a mission and that the answer would point to his wife. He diverted responsibility from himself and his false charges by claiming that President Bush's closest aides had engaged in an illegal conspiracy. It's unfortunate that so many people took him seriously." The allegation that Wilson had "falsely… debunked reports of Iraqi uranium-shopping in Niger" is itself false, as Wilson's report further proved that no such deals ever took place (see March 4-5, 2002, (March 6, 2002) and March 8, 2002). [Washington Post, 9/1/2006] The New York Times's conservative columnist, David Brooks, joins in the attacks, calling the exposure of Plame Wilson a "piffle" (see Before September 16, 2003, October 3, 2003, October 11, 2003, October 22-24, 2003, October 23-24, 2003, October 29, 2005, and February 13, 2006) blown out of proportion by a group of Congressional Democrats and the 2004 presidential campaign of John Kerry. Like the others, he blames Armitage for "keep[ing] quiet while your comrades are being put through the ringer [sic]." [New York Times, 8/31/2006] Days later, the Post's David Broder writes that Karl Rove, one of the White House officials who outed Plame (see July 8, 2003 and 11:00 a.m. July 11, 2003), had been treated badly by reporters and pundits, and deserved a round of apologies. [Washington Post, 9/7/2006]
'Marvel of Wingnut Logic' - Author Jane Hamsher, writing for the progressive blog FireDogLake, hammers the Post editorial and its presumed author, op-ed editor Fred Hiatt, writing with some apparent outrage: "[T]o argue that somehow this [Armitage] leak—which played no part in the concerted administration effort to bully, intimidate, and punish Joe Wilson—should somehow excuse Scooter Libby and Karl Rove's subsequent actions is a true marvel of wingnut logic. Incredibly it is somehow okay to rob the liquor store, shoot the owner, rape the cashier, and spatter the walls with blood because someone else was caught shoplifting there the week before. It is the Sistine Chapel of bad faith editorials." [Jane Hamsher, 9/1/2006]
Comparisons to Soviet Propaganda - Plame Wilson herself is "furious" at reading the Post editorial and other, similar writings. In her 2007 book Fair Game, she will write, "I suddenly understood what it must have felt like to live in the Soviet Union and have only the state propaganda entity, Pravda, as the source of news about the world." Plame Wilson calls the allegations that her husband is responsible for outing her "flatly untrue," and shows the writers' "ignorance about how our clandestine service functions." She notes that the FBI had known of the Armitage leak since October 2003, and that since "the FBI didn't shut down the investigation" this indicated "they had good reason to believe that Libby and Rove were lying to them." [Wilson, 2007, pp. 257-260]
Entity Tags: Fred Hiatt, Washington Post, Wall Street Journal, Christopher Hitchens, Valerie Plame Wilson, Colin Powell, Frank Gaffney, Fred Barnes, Debra Saunders, David Brooks, David Broder, US Department of State, Wesley Pruden, New York Times, John Podhoretz, Richard Armitage, George W. Bush, Joseph C. Wilson, Karl C. Rove, Jane Hamsher, Linda Chavez, New York Sun, Lewis ("Scooter") Libby, New Hampshire Union Leader, National Review
Fall 2006: Former Judge Advocate at Guantanamo Says Interrogators Took Ideas from Survival Training, Television Show '24'
Actor Kiefer Sutherland as 'Jack Bauer.' [Source: Stuff.co.nz]Law professor Phillippe Sands begins a series of interviews with the former staff judge advocate for the US Army in Guantanamo, Lieutenant Colonel Diane Beaver. She is the author of a legal analysis that was used by the Bush administration to justify its extreme interrogation techniques (see October 11, 2002). Sands describes her as "coiled up—mistreated, hung out to dry." She is unhappy with the way the administration used her analysis, and notes that she was guided in her work at Guantanamo by personnel from the CIA and Defense Intelligence Agency. She believes that some of the interrogation techniques were "reverse-engineered" from a training program called SERE—Survival, Evasion, Resistance, and Escape—though administration officials have denied this. Several Guantanamo personnel were sent to Fort Bragg, SERE's home, for a briefing on the program (see December 2001, January 2002 and After, Mid-April 2002, Between Mid-April and Mid-May 2002, July 2002, July 2002, July 2002, and August 1, 2002). Military training was not the only source of inspiration. Fox's television drama 24 came to a conclusion in the spring of 2002, Beaver recalls. One of the overriding messages of that show is that torture works. "We saw it on cable," Beaver remembers. "People had already seen the first series. It was hugely popular." The story's hero, Jack Bauer, had many friends at Guantanamo, Beaver adds. "He gave people lots of ideas." She recalls in graphic terms how excited many of the male personnel became when extreme interrogation methods were discussed. "You could almost see their d_cks getting hard as they got new ideas," she will say. "And I said to myself, You know what? I don't have a d_ck to get hard—I can stay detached." The FBI and the Naval Criminal Investigative Service refused to become involved in aggressive interrogations, she says (see Late March through Early June, 2002 and December 17, 2002). [Vanity Fair, 5/2008]
Entity Tags: Naval Criminal Investigative Service, Diane E. Beaver, Federal Bureau of Investigation, Fox Broadcasting Company, Phillippe Sands, Georgetown University
September 2-3, 2006: US Temporarily Closes Secret CIA Prisons, Transfers Top Suspects to Guantanamo for Military Tribunals
Mohamad Farik Amin. [Source: FBI]The US temporarily closes a network of secret CIA prisons around the world and transfers the most valuable prisoners to the US prison in Guantanamo, Cuba, for eventual military tribunals. The prison network will be reopened a short time later (see Autumn 2006-Late April 2007). There were reportedly fewer than 100 suspects in the CIA prisons; most of them are apparently sent back to their home countries while fourteen are sent to Guantanamo. All fourteen have some connection to al-Qaeda. Seven of them reportedly had some connection to the 9/11 attacks. Here are their names, nationalities, and the allegations against them.
Khalid Shaikh Mohammed (KSM) (Pakistani, raised in Kuwait). He is the suspected mastermind of 9/11 attacks and many other al-Qaeda attacks. A CIA biography of KSM calls him "one of history's most infamous terrorists."
Mustafa Ahmed al-Hawsawi (Saudi). He allegedly helped finance the 9/11 attacks.
Hambali (Indonesian). He attended a key planning meeting for the 9/11 attacks in Malaysia (see January 5-8, 2000) and is accused of involvement in many other plots, including the 2002 Bali bombings (see October 12, 2002).
Khallad bin Attash (a.k.a. Tawfiq bin Attash) (Yemeni). He also attended a key planning meeting for the 9/11 attacks in Malaysia (see January 5-8, 2000) and had a role in other plots such as the 2000 USS Cole bombing (see October 12, 2000).
Ali Abdul Aziz Ali (Pakistani, raised in Kuwait). He allegedly helped finance the 9/11 attacks and arranged transportation for some hijackers. His uncle is KSM.
Ramzi bin al-Shibh (Yemeni). A member of the Hamburg al-Qaeda cell with Mohamed Atta and other 9/11 hijackers. The CIA calls him the "primary communications intermediary" between the hijackers and KSM. He also attended a key planning meeting for the 9/11 attacks in Malaysia (see January 5-8, 2000).
Abd al-Rahim al-Nashiri (Saudi). He is said to have been one of the masterminds of the USS Cole bombing (see October 12, 2000). He also attended a key planning meeting for the 9/11 attacks in Malaysia (see January 5-8, 2000).
The remaining seven suspects are alleged to have been involved in other al-Qaeda plots:
Abu Zubaida (Palestinian, raised in Saudi Arabia). He is said to be a facilitator who helped make travel arrangements for al-Qaeda operatives. He is also alleged to have organized a series of planned millennium attacks.
Ahmed Khalfan Ghailani (Tanzanian). He was indicted for a role in the 1998 African embassy bombings (see 10:35-10:39 a.m., August 7, 1998). He is also said to be an expert document forger.
Majid Khan (Pakistani). He lived in the US since 1996 and is said to have worked with KSM on some US bomb plots (see March 5, 2003).
Abu Faraj al-Libbi (a.k.a. Mustafa al-'Uzayti) (Libyan). He allegedly became al-Qaeda's top operations officer after KSM was captured.
Mohamad Farik Amin (a.k.a. Zubair) (Malaysian). He is a key Hambali associate and was allegedly tapped for a suicide mission targeting Los Angeles.
Mohammed Nazir Bin Lep (a.k.a. Lillie) (Malaysian). He is a key Hambali associate. He is accused of providing funds for the 2003 bombing of the Marriott hotel in Jakarta, Indonesia (see August 5, 2003). He was allegedly tapped for a suicide mission targeting Los Angeles.
Gouled Hassan Dourad (Somali). He allegedly scouted a US military base in Djibouti for a planned terrorist attack.
The fourteen are expected to go on trial in 2007. [Knight Ridder, 9/6/2006; Central Intelligence Agency, 9/6/2006; USA Today, 9/7/2006]
Entity Tags: Majid Khan, Mustafa Ahmed al-Hawsawi, Mohamad Farik Amin, Mohammed Nazir Bin Lep, Ramzi bin al-Shibh, Hambali, Gouled Hassan Dourad, Abd al-Rahim al-Nashiri, Abu Faraj al-Libbi, Khallad bin Attash, Abu Zubaida, Ali Abdul Aziz Ali, Central Intelligence Agency, Ahmed Khalfan Ghailani, Khalid Shaikh Mohammed
Timeline Tags: Torture of US Captives, Complete 911 Timeline, 9/11 Timeline
September 5, 2006: Washington Times Calls Plame Wilson Investigation an Attempt by 'Leftists' to Destroy Bush Presidency
Rowan Scarborough. [Source: NNDB (.com)]Washington Times reporter Rowan Scarborough writes an extensive analysis of the Plame Wilson identity leak investigation, calling it an attempt by liberals to bring down a Republican president just as the Nixon-era Watergate scandal did (see October 18, 1972 and June 27, 1973), and accuses "leftists" throughout Congress and the media of orchestrating a smear campaign against former White House official Lewis Libby. Special counsel Patrick Fitzgerald is little more than a tool of those "leftists," he writes. Scarborough, who is not identified as the author by the Times but is identified on the reprint of the article on the Libby Legal Defense Fund Web site, reviews and echoes many of the same criticisms others on the right have already stated, that since Libby was not the first administration official to leak Valerie Plame Wilson's identity to a reporter, he must be innocent of the charges against him (see Late August-Early September, 2006). "[T]he 'scandal' is played out," Scarborough writes, and the hopes of liberals to see the destruction of the Bush administration are "shattered." Scarborough says that Libby (see June 23, 2003, 8:30 a.m. July 8, 2003, 2:24 p.m. July 12, 2003, and Late Afternoon, July 12, 2003) and former Deputy Secretary of State Richard Armitage (see June 13, 2003 and July 8, 2003) revealed Plame Wilson's identity for no other reason than to set the record straight about Plame Wilson sending her husband, Joseph Wilson, to Niger to investigate claims that Iraq had tried to purchase uranium from that country (see February 19, 2002, July 22, 2003, October 17, 2003, and July 20, 2005). Armitage and Libby were concerned, Scarborough writes, that Wilson went to Niger at the behest of Vice President Dick Cheney (see (February 13, 2002)), when in actuality, Scarborough states, Wilson went to Niger, and subsequently printed an influential op-ed in the New York Times (see July 6, 2003), "to chastise the president for citing a British intelligence report in his January 2003 State of the Union address about a possible Niger-Iraq connection" (see Mid-January 2003 and 9:01 pm January 28, 2003). Scarborough claims falsely that neither the White House nor CIA Director George Tenet knew of Wilson's trip to Niger (see March 8, 2002); he cites false information promulgated by Republican members of the Senate Intelligence Committee in that body's report on prewar intelligence and Iraqi WMD (see July 9, 2004), and contradictory statements by conservative columnist Robert Novak (see July 14, 2003, July 21, 2003, September 29, 2003, October 1, 2003, December 14, 2005, July 12, 2006, and July 12, 2006), who outed Plame Wilson in his column (see July 14, 2003). Like many of his colleagues, Scarborough blames Wilson for the exposure of his wife's CIA identity. [Washington Times, 9/5/2006; Libby Legal Defense Trust, 9/5/2006]
Entity Tags: Robert Novak, Joseph C. Wilson, George J. Tenet, Bush administration (43), Lewis ("Scooter") Libby, Richard Armitage, Libby Legal Defense Fund, Senate Intelligence Committee, Patrick J. Fitzgerald, Rowan Scarborough, Valerie Plame Wilson
September 6, 2006: Bush Admits Existence of Secret CIA Prisons, Announces Plans to Try Top Al-Qaeda Leaders in Military Tribunals
Bush acknowledging the secret CIA prison network. [Source: Gerald Herbert / Associated Press]In a speech, President Bush acknowledges a network of secret CIA prisons and announces plans to try 14 top al-Qaeda terrorist suspects in military tribunals. [Knight Ridder, 9/6/2006]
Admits Existence of Detainees in CIA Custody - Bush tells his listeners: "In addition to the terrorists held at Guantanamo, a small number of suspected terrorist leaders and operatives captured during the war have been held and questioned outside the United States, in a separate program operated by the Central Intelligence Agency.… Many specifics of this program, including where these detainees have been held and the details of their confinement, cannot be divulged.… We knew that Abu Zubaida (see March 28, 2002) had more information that could save innocent lives, but he stopped talking.… As his questioning proceeded, it became clear that he had received training on how to resist interrogation. And so the CIA used an alternative set of procedures… The procedures were tough, and they were safe, and lawful, and necessary.… These procedures were designed to be safe, to comply with our laws, our Constitution, and our treaty obligations. The Department of Justice reviewed the authorized methods extensively and determined them to be lawful. I cannot describe the specific methods used—I think you understand why." Bush then adds that Zubaida "began to provide information on key al-Qaeda operatives, including information that helped us find and capture more of those responsible for the attacks on September 11" (see June 2002). Another high-value detainee, 9/11 planner Khalid Shaikh Mohammed (see Shortly After February 29 or March 1, 2003), provided "many details of other plots to kill innocent Americans" (see March 7 - Mid-April, 2003 and August 6, 2007). [Vanity Fair, 12/16/2008; New York Review of Books, 3/15/2009] The 14 prisoners will be put on trial as soon as Congress enacts the Military Commissions Act (MCA—see October 17, 2006), which he is sending to Congress for its approval today. [Savage, 2007, pp. 308-309]
Political Reasons to Acknowledge CIA Prisons - The US government has never officially acknowledged the existence of the CIA prisons before, despite numerous media accounts about them. Bush's speech comes less than two months before midterm Congressional elections and also comes as the White House is preparing new legislation to legalize the CIA's detention program and shield US officials from prosecution for possible war crimes. Knight Ridder comments that the speech "appeared to be intended to give him more leverage in his negotiations with Congress over how to try suspected terrorists.… In addition to the potential political benefits, Bush had other reasons to make the program public. A Supreme Court ruling in June struck down the administration's plan to bring terrorist suspects before military tribunals and called into question the legality of secret CIA detentions." [Knight Ridder, 9/6/2006]
Sites Closed Down? - Other administration officials say the CIA prison network has been closed down, at least for the time being. (In fact, it will be reopened a short time later (see Autumn 2006-Late April 2007).) Reportedly, "fewer than 100" suspects had ever been in CIA custody. It is not known who they were or what happened to all of them, but most of them reportedly were returned to their home countries for prosecution. Fourteen "high-value" suspects, including accused 9/11 mastermind Khalid Shaikh Mohammed, were transferred from the secret CIA prisons to the prison in Guantanamo, Cuba in the days just prior to Bush's speech (see September 2-3, 2006).
Torture is 'against [US] Values' - Bush says: "I want to be absolutely clear with our people and the world: The United States does not torture. It's against our laws, and it's against our values. I have not authorized it—and I will not authorize it." However, he says the Geneva Conventions' prohibition against "humiliating and degrading treatment" could potentially cause legal problems for CIA interrogators. Other administration officials say harsh interrogation techniques such as waterboarding were used in the CIA prisons. Such techniques are considered by many to be forms of torture. Bush claims that information gleaned from interrogations in the secret prisons helped thwart attacks on the US and provided valuable information about al-Qaeda operations around the world. [Knight Ridder, 9/6/2006; Washington Post, 9/7/2006]
Entity Tags: Geneva Conventions, Central Intelligence Agency, George W. Bush, Military Commissions Act, Abu Zubaida, Khalid Shaikh Mohammed
Shortly After September 6, 2006: Red Cross Interviews of Top Al-Qaeda Prisoners Indicate They Were Illegally Tortured by CIA
Shortly after 14 high-ranking al-Qaeda prisoners are transferred from secret CIA prisons to the US-controlled Guantanamo prison in Cuba (see September 2-3, 2006), the International Committee of the Red Cross is finally allowed to interview them. The prisoners include 9/11 mastermind Khalid Shaikh Mohammed, Ramzi bin al-Shibh, Hambali, and Abu Zubaida. The Red Cross has a policy of not publicizing or commenting its findings. However, some US officials are shown the report on the interviews with these prisoners and apparently some of these officials leak information to the New Yorker about one year later. The New Yorker will report, "Congressional and other Washington sources familiar with the report said that it harshly criticized the CIA's practices. One of the sources said that the Red Cross described the agency's detention and interrogation methods as tantamount to torture, and declared that American officials responsible for the abusive treatment could have committed serious crimes. The source said the report warned that these officials may have committed 'grave breaches' of the Geneva Conventions, and may have violated the US Torture Act, which Congress passed in 1994. The conclusions of the Red Cross, which is known for its credibility and caution, could have potentially devastating legal ramifications." [New Yorker, 8/6/2007]
Entity Tags: Ahmed Khalfan Ghailani, Mustafa Ahmed al-Hawsawi, Ramzi bin al-Shibh, Khallad bin Attash, Abd al-Rahim al-Nashiri, Abu Zubaida, Mohamad Farik Amin, Mohammed Nazir Bin Lep, Khalid Shaikh Mohammed, Ali Abdul Aziz Ali, Central Intelligence Agency, Majid Khan, International Committee of the Red Cross, Abu Faraj al-Libbi, Hambali, Gouled Hassan Dourad
September 8, 2006: Senate Finds White House Lied about Links between Iraq, Al-Qaeda
A bipartisan Senate report finds that no credible evidence of any links between al-Qaeda and Saddam Hussein's government ever existed, despite repeated and insistent claims by the White House and its allies (see Early 1995), March-June 1998, (2:40 p.m.) September 11, 2001, Shortly After September 11, 2001, September 18, 2001, September 19, 2001, September 21, 2001, October 27, 2001, 2002, February 6, 2002, March 22, 2002, July 25, 2002, September 12, 2002, September 15, 2002, September 25, 2002, October 1, 2002, October 2, 2002, October 7, 2002, October 7, 2002, December 2, 2002, Mid-January 2003, January 26, 2003, January 28, 2003, January 28, 2003, February 1, 2003-February 4, 2003, February 5, 2003, February 5, 2003, February 6, 2003, February 8, 2003, February 9, 2003, February 11 or 12, 2003, February 16, 2003, March 9, 2003, March 17, 2003, March 17-18, 2003, Shortly After April 9, 2003, July 9, 2003, September 7, 2003, September 14, 2003-September 17, 2003, September 28, 2003, December 17, 2003, January 8, 2004, January 9, 2004, Early June 2004, June 14, 2004, June 15, 2004, June 15, 2004, October 4, 2004, May 2005, October 2005, (2006), January 31, 2006, March 29, 2006, and September 10, 2006). Panel Democrats say that the White House knew the intelligence surrounding its claims of such links was flawed and unreliable.
Tenet Admitted to Giving in to Pressure - They note that in July former CIA Director George Tenet told the panel that the White House pressured him to support its arguments and that he agreed despite the findings of his own analysts. "Tenet admitted to the Intelligence Committee that the policymakers wanted him to 'say something about not being inconsistent with what the president had said,'" says Intelligence Committee member Carl Levin (D-MI). Such compliance was, in hindsight, "the wrong thing to do," Tenet added, according to Levin. "Well, it was much more than that," Levin says. "It was a shocking abdication of a CIA director's duty not to act as a shill for any administration or its policy." Tenet also admitted that he erred in issuing a statement after President Bush's October 7, 2002 speech saying that Bush's claims were consistent with CIA findings (see October 7, 2002).
Republicans Say Report Just 'Election-Year Politicking' - Republican committee members insist that there is little new information about prewar intelligence or claims about Iraq's links to terrorism. Ranking committee member Pat Roberts (R-KS) accuses Levin and other Democrats of trying to "use the committee… insisting that they were deliberately duped into supporting the overthrow of Saddam Hussein's regime.… That is simply not true, and I believe the American people are smart enough to recognize election-year politicking when they see it." Democrats retort that the report speaks for itself.
Impeachment Not Warranted - However, committee Democrats such as John Rockefeller (D-WV) say that the report does not prove any criminal behavior from Bush or his top officials, and say that impeachment of Bush or anyone else is not warranted.
Hussein Opposed to US Policies - An FBI summary quoted in the report shows Hussein acknowledging that his government had met with al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden, but denying any collusion. Hussein said he opposed only US policies, and added that "if he wanted to cooperate with the enemies of the US, he would have allied with North Korea or China," according to the FBI summary.
Other Portions of Report - Other sections of the report find that no evidence existed to support claims that Iraq was reconstituting its nuclear program (see February 7, 2001, February 12, 2001, November 14, 2001, May 2002-September 2002, September 9, 2002, January 9, 2003, March 8, 2003, May 25, 2003, and May 30, 2003), had possessed biological weapons in 2003 (see 2002, 2002-March 2003, Mid-January 2002, March 22, 2002, August 2002, September 2002, September 24, 2002, December 2002, End of December 2002, January 9, 2003, and March 7, 2003), used the Salman Pak facility to train Islamist terrorists (see September 8, 2006), or that Iraqi officials met with 9/11 hijacker Mohamed Atta in the months before the 9/11 attacks (see September 8-10, 2006). The report also finds that the White House relied heavily on false intelligence from Ahmed Chalabi and the Iraqi National Congress (see After August 2, 1989, (1994), January 1996, November 6-8, 2001, Between February 12, 2002 and March 31, 2002, Between February 12, 2002 and March 31, 2002, Summer 2002, and June 26, 2002). [Senate Intelligence Committee, 9/8/2006 ; Associated Press, 9/9/2006]
Entity Tags: Iraqi National Congress, Bush administration (43), Ahmed Chalabi, Carl Levin, George J. Tenet, Saddam Hussein, Central Intelligence Agency, Osama bin Laden, Pat Roberts, Senate Intelligence Committee, John D. Rockefeller, Mohamed Atta
Timeline Tags: Iraq under US Occupation
September 10, 2006: Cheney Still Asserts Al-Qaeda-Hussein Connection and Refuses to Deny Atta-Iraqi Agent Meeting Took Place
Vice President Cheney appears on Meet the Press two days after a bipartisan Senate report asserts that there was no link of any sort between the Iraqi government and al-Qaeda before 9/11, except for one meeting held in 1995. Cheney claims he has not read the report yet, but he says, "whether or not there was a historic relationship between Iraq and al-Qaeda. The basis for that is probably best captured in George Tenet's testimony before the Senate Intel Commission, an open session, where he said specifically that there was a pattern of relationship that went back at least a decade between Iraq and al-Qaeda.… [Militant leader Abu Musab] al-Zarqawi was in Baghdad after we took Afghanistan and before we went into Iraq. You had the facility up at Kermal, poisons facility, ran by Ansar al-Islam, an affiliate of al-Qaeda.… [The Iraqi government] was a state sponsor of terror. [Saddam Hussein] had a relationship with terror groups. No question about it. Nobody denies that." [Meet the Press, 9/10/2006] In fact, the Senate report determined that although al-Zarqawi was in Baghdad, the Iraqi government tried hard to find him and catch him, and that Ansar al-Islam was in a part of Iraq outside the control of the Iraq government and the government was actively opposed to them as well. The report claims there was no meeting between hijacker Mohamed Atta and an Iraqi agent in Prague in April 2001. [US Senate and Intelligence Committee, 9/8/2006 ] But regarding that meeting, Cheney still does not deny it took place, even though it has been widely discredited. "We don't know. I mean, we've never been able to, to, to link it, and the FBI and CIA have worked it aggressively. I would say, at this point, nobody has been able to confirm…" [Meet the Press, 9/10/2006] Earlier in the year, Cheney had conceded that the meeting "has been pretty well knocked down now at this stage, that that meeting ever took place" (see March 29, 2006).
Entity Tags: Ansar al-Islam, Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, Al-Qaeda, Saddam Hussein, Ahmed Khalil Ibrahim Samir al-Ani, Mohamed Atta, Richard ("Dick") Cheney
September 13, 2006: Novak: Armitage Mischaracterized Leak Conversation
Conservative columnist Robert Novak, who outed CIA official Valerie Plame Wilson three years ago (see July 14, 2003) after receiving the information about her from, among other sources, then-Deputy Secretary of State Richard Armitage (see July 8, 2003), writes of the Armitage leak. Novak writes that he feels free to discuss it publicly now that Armitage has publicly admitted to being one of Novak's sources (see September 7, 2006).
Accusation of Misrepresentation - Novak says Armitage misrepresented the nature of their conversation, and wants "to set the record straight based on firsthand knowledge." Armitage was not passing along information that he "thought" might be the case, Novak writes. "Rather, he identified to me the CIA division where Mrs. Wilson worked [counterproliferation], and said flatly that she recommended the mission to Niger by her husband, former Amb[assador] Joseph Wilson. Second, Armitage did not slip me this information as idle chitchat, as he now suggests. He made clear he considered it especially suited for my column."
Armitage Leak Discredits 'Left-Wing Fantasy' of White House Smear Campaign - Novak then says that Armitage's identity as one of the Plame Wilson leakers discredits the "left-wing fantasy of a well-crafted White House conspiracy to destroy Joe and Valerie Wilson" (see June 2003, June 3, 2003, June 11, 2003, June 12, 2003, June 19 or 20, 2003, July 6, 2003, July 6-10, 2003, July 7, 2003 or Shortly After, 8:45 a.m. July 7, 2003, 9:22 a.m. July 7, 2003, July 7-8, 2003, July 11, 2003, (July 11, 2003), July 12, 2003, July 12, 2003, July 18, 2003, October 1, 2003, and April 5, 2006). Armitage was a long-time skeptic of the Iraq invasion, as was Wilson, and Novak himself writes that he "long had opposed military intervention in Iraq." After his July 2003 column, "[z]ealous foes of George W. Bush transformed me improbably into the president's lapdog.… The news that [Armitage] and not Karl Rove was the leaker was devastating news for the Left." Novak is apparently not admitting that Rove was a primary source for the Plame Wilson column (see July 8, 2003, July 8 or 9, 2003, and 11:00 a.m. July 11, 2003). Novak also writes that he finds it difficult to believe Armitage's claim that he only realized he was Novak's source for the leak after reading Novak's October 1, 2003 column (see October 1, 2003). He calls Armitage's disclosure "tardy" and "tainted," since in Novak's view, Armitage's silence "enabled partisan Democrats in Congress to falsely accuse Rove of being my primary source." [Chicago Sun-Times, 9/14/2006]
Author: Novak Changed Story for Fourth Time - Progressive author and blogger Marcy Wheeler accuses Novak of "changing his story for the fourth time" (see July 12, 2006) in his recounting of the Armitage episode. In his original column (based in part on Armitage's confirmation—see July 8, 2003 and July 14, 2003), Novak called Valerie Plame Wilson "an agency operative on weapons of mass destruction," and credited that information to an unnamed CIA source (later revealed to be CIA spokesman Bill Harlow—see (July 11, 2003) and Before July 14, 2003). In an October 2003 column (see October 1, 2003), Novak named "a senior administration official"—Armitage—as his source for Plame Wilson's status as an employee of the CIA's counterproliferation division, which works on WMD (see April 2001 and After). During a subsequent interview with Fox News anchor Brit Hume, Novak again changed Armitage's description of Plame Wilson's duties at the CIA. Novak has also changed his story on whether Armitage's leak was deliberate or merely "chitchat," as Armitage has claimed. Novak told Newsday reporters that he "didn't dig out" information on Plame Wilson, "it was given to me.… They thought it was significant, they gave me the name and I used it." In his October 2003 column, he revised his story, saying he "did not receive a planned leak" and called Armitage's information "an offhand revelation." In this current column, he reverts to claiming that Armitage deliberately leaked the information. [Marcy Wheeler, 9/13/2006]
Entity Tags: Marcy Wheeler, Joseph C. Wilson, George W. Bush, Bill Harlow, Karl C. Rove, Richard Armitage, Robert Novak, Valerie Plame Wilson
Timeline Tags: Domestic Propaganda, Niger Uranium and Plame Outing
September 15, 2006: Al-Qaeda-Linked Attack on Oil Facilities in Yemen Is Foiled
Two simultaneous suicide attacks on oil and gas installations in Yemen fail. The Safer refinery in Marib and the al-Dhabba terminal in Hadramout are attacked by four suicide bombers with car bombs, but Yemeni security forces blow the cars up just before they reach their targets. The four suicide bombers and one security guard are killed. The attacks come just a few days after al-Qaeda number two leader Ayman al-Zawahiri called for attacks on oil facilities in the Persian Gulf region. A Yemeni court later sentences 32 men to between two and 15 years in jail for their roles in the attacks. Three of them are alleged al-Qaeda operatives tried in absentia who escaped from prison earlier in 2006 (see February 3, 2006). [BBC, 11/7/2007] Anwar al-Awlaki, an imam for several of the 9/11 hijackers while they lived in the US, was arrested in Yemen earlier in the month (see Early September 2006-December 2007). He allegedly also has a role preparing for the foiled attacks. [Australian, 11/3/2006; Australian, 11/4/2006] The attempted attacks also come just days before Yemen's presidential elections. Yemeni President Ali Abdallah Saleh, in power since 1978, quickly uses the attacks to criticize his opponent, because one of the opponents' guards was accused of being involved. The guard is later acquitted. Saleh wins reelection. [New York Times, 3/1/2008] In 2008, one anonymous senior Yemeni official will tell the Washington Post that some important al-Qaeda members have had a long relationship with Yemen's intelligence agencies and have targeted political opponents in the past. [Washington Post, 5/4/2008]
Entity Tags: Anwar al-Awlaki, Ayman al-Zawahiri, Al-Qaeda, Ali Abdallah Saleh
Timeline Tags: Alleged Use of False Flag Attacks, Complete 911 Timeline
September 17, 2006: Former Guantanamo Detainee Protests Possible Denial of Detainees' Right to Court Hearings
Abu Bakker Qassim. [Source: McClatchy News]Abu Bakker Qassim, a Chinese Muslim and a member of that country's Uighur minority, writes a column for the New York Times concerning what he says is his wrongful imprisonment at the Guantanamo Bay detention facility. Qassim is writing to protest Congress's consideration of passing legislation that would deny Guantanamo detainees their habeas corpus right to challenge their detentions in federal court. Qassim says he and 17 of his fellow Uighurs fled Chinese government oppression and went to Afghanistan, where they were captured by Pakistani bounty hunters and "sold… to the United States military like animals for $5,000 a head. The Americans made a terrible mistake." After he and four other Uighurs were granted court hearings, US authorities deported them to Albania. "Without my American lawyers and habeas corpus, my situation and that of the other Uighurs would still be a secret," he writes. "I would be sitting in a metal cage today. Habeas corpus helped me to tell the world that Uighurs are not a threat to the United States or the West, but an ally. Habeas corpus cleared my name—and most important, it let my family know that I was still alive." Qassim says that like his fellow Uighurs, he is "a great admirer of the American legal and political systems." He continues: "I have the utmost respect for the United States Congress. So I respectfully ask American lawmakers to protect habeas corpus and let justice prevail. Continuing to permit habeas rights to the detainees in Guantanamo will not set the guilty free. It will prove to the world that American democracy is safe and well." [New York Times, 9/17/2006] Because of this editorial, Qassim and four other Uighurs will be dubbed "returning to terrorist activities" by the Pentagon (see January 13-14, 2009).
Entity Tags: New York Times, Abu Bakker Qassim
September 21, 2006: Walton: Rules of Evidence Will Govern Disclosure of Classified Evidence
Judge Reggie Walton issues an order on the use of classified evidence in the Lewis Libby perjury and obstruction trial (see December 14, 2005, January 9, 2006, January 23, 2006, January 31, 2006, (February 16, 2006), February 21, 2006, February 24, 2006, February 27, 2006, March 1, 2006, March 2-7, 2006, March 10, 2006, March 17, 2006, April 5, 2006, May 12, 2006, May 19, 2006, June 2, 2006, and August 18, 2006). The order is largely procedural, acknowledging the deep divisions between the prosecution and the defense on the issue, and concluding "that the Federal Rules of Evidence and the restrictions they impose control whether information subject to CIPA [Classified Information Procedures Act] proceedings is admissible during a trial." The order indicates that Walton is inclined to find at least somewhat in favor of the defense and may order many of the classified materials requested by the Libby defense team to be presented as evidence, leading the Associated Press to report "a victory to the defense" in the ruling. Walton also reminds prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald that if his concerns about a possible breach of national security are that strong, he is free to stop the disclosure of classified information by dropping the charges against Libby (see After October 28, 2005, January 31, 2006, February 6, 2006, (February 16, 2006), and September 27, 2006). [US District Court for the District of Columbia, 9/21/2006 ; MSNBC, 9/21/2006; Associated Press, 9/21/2006]
Entity Tags: Patrick J. Fitzgerald, Lewis ("Scooter") Libby, Reggie B. Walton
September 22, 2006: Dean: Military Commissions Act Befits 'Totalitarian State' More than a Democracy
Former Nixon White House counsel John Dean is troubled by the Military Commissions Act (MCA) (see October 17, 2006) currently under consideration in Congress. The MCA authorizes military tribunals instead of criminal court trials for suspected terrorists. Dean supported the idea of tribunals when they were first suggested in 2001, but, he writes: "[T]he devil… arrived later with the details. It never occurred to me (and most people) that Bush & Co. would design a system more befitting a totalitarian state than a democratic nation that once led the world by its good example." After a previous tribunal procedure was struck down by the Supreme Court (see June 30, 2006), Bush sent another proposal to Congress in early September. Where the bill did not actively rewrite the Court's findings, it ignored them altogether, Dean writes. Dean finds the law a stunning reversal of decades—centuries, in some instances—of US jurisprudence and international law, including its dismissal of Geneva protections, its retroactive protection for US officials who may have tortured detainees, and its dismissal of habeas corpus rights for detainees. Dean calls the proposed legislation "shameful," and writes: "This proposal… is going to tell us a great deal about where we are as a nation, for as General [Colin] Powell said, 'The world is beginning to doubt the moral basis of our fight against terrorism. To redefine [the Geneva Conventions] would add to those doubts.' As will amending the war crimes law to absolve prior wrongs, denying detainees 'a regularly constituted court affording all the judicial guarantees which are recognized as indispensable by civilized peoples,' and enacting a law that insults the Supreme Court." [FindLaw, 9/22/2006]
Entity Tags: US Supreme Court, Bush administration (43), Military Commissions Act, Colin Powell, Geneva Conventions, John Dean
September 25, 2006: 9/11 Commissioner Reveals Secret Deal to Keep Bush and Clinton Testimony Classified until 2009
The 9/11 Commission interviewed presidents Bill Clinton and George W. Bush in 2004 (see April 29, 2004) but the details of what was revealed in these interviews were not included in the commission's final report (with one exception, see August 6, 2001). On this day, former 9/11 Commission Richard Ben-Veniste says, "I had hoped that we had—we would have made both the Clinton interview and the Bush interview a part of our report, but that was not to be. I was outvoted on that question.… I didn't have the votes.… I think the question was that there was a degree of confidentiality associated with that and that we would take from that the output that is reflected in the report, but go no further. And that until some five years' time after our work, we would keep that confidential. I thought we would be better to make all of the information that we had available to the public and make our report as transparent as possible so that the American public could have that." [CNN, 9/25/2006]
Entity Tags: George W. Bush, Richard Ben-Veniste, 9/11 Commission, William Jefferson ("Bill") Clinton
September 27, 2006: Libby Trial Judge Holds Hearing on 'Graymail' Issue
Judge Reggie Walton holds a hearing with prosecutors for special counsel Patrick Fitzgerald and representatives from Lewis Libby's defense team on the issue of "graymail," which Fitzgerald has alleged is a tactic being employed by Libby's team (see After October 28, 2005, January 31, 2006, February 6, 2006, and (February 16, 2006)). "Graymail" is the attempt by one side in a court proceeding to derail the proceeding by insisting on the use of classified materials as evidence, and demanding mistrials or dropped charges if and when those classified materials are disallowed. Libby's lawyers have privately and publicly implied that they will reveal national security secrets if the case actually goes to trial. The hearing, which is delayed because of a bomb threat, is the first of several hearings to be held on the subject. Fitzgerald wants to curtail the introduction of classified documents during the trial, while Libby's lawyers want to introduce reams of classified documents into evidence (see May 10, 2006). Fitzgerald has argued repeatedly that many of the classified documents requested by Libby are irrelevant to the case at hand. Libby wants to introduce a number of highly classified presidential briefings to show his heavy and varied workload, as support for his defense that he was too overworked to testify accurately before the FBI (see October 14, 2003 and November 26, 2003) and Fitzgerald's grand jury (see March 5, 2004 and March 24, 2004). Walton has already reminded Fitzgerald that he can dismiss the charges against Libby if he feels the upcoming trial will expose national security secrets. [MSNBC, 9/26/2006; Christy Hardin Smith, 9/27/2006]
Entity Tags: Patrick J. Fitzgerald, Reggie B. Walton, Lewis ("Scooter") Libby
September 28, 2006: Obama Criticizes Military Commissions Act
Senator Barack Obama (D-IL) speaks out against the Military Commissions Act (MCA), which gives the federal government wide latitude to incarcerate and interrogate "terror suspects" without charge or due process of the law (see October 17, 2006). Obama says that "political considerations" for the upcoming midterm elections played a significant role in the timing of the bill, but "what we're doing here today—a debate over the fundamental human rights of the accused—should be bigger than politics. This is serious. If this was a debate with obvious ideological differences—heartfelt convictions that couldn't be settled by compromise—I would understand. But it's not." Obama notes that in five years of the Bush administration's system of military tribunals, "not one terrorist has been tried. Not one has been convicted. And in the end, the Supreme Court of the United States found the whole thing unconstitutional (see June 30, 2006), which is why we're here today. We could have fixed all of this in a way that allows us to detain and interrogate and try suspected terrorists while still protecting the accidentally accused from spending their lives locked away in Guantanamo Bay. Easily. This was not an either-or question." Congress could have written and passed legislation that would have established "a real military system of justice that would sort out the suspected terrorists from the accidentally accused," one that would be in line with domestic law and the Geneva Conventions. Instead, "politics won today.… The administration got its vote, and now it will have its victory lap, and now they will be able to go out on the campaign trail and tell the American people that they were the ones who were tough on the terrorists." Meanwhile, Obama says, questions about the efficacy and legality of the Bush system of justice persist, al-Qaeda and the Taliban are regrouping "while we look the other way," and the administration is bent on fighting a war in Iraq "that our own government's intelligence says is serving as al-Qaeda's best recruitment tool.… This is not how a serious administration would approach the problem of terrorism." [US Senate, 9/28/2006]
Entity Tags: Military Commissions Act, Barack Obama, Bush administration (43)
September 29, 2006: New Book Causes Controversy Over Previously Unmentioned 9/11 Warning
Original cover to Woodward's 'State of Denial.' [Source: Barnes and Noble]Journalist Bob Woodward's new book State of Denial is released. While the book focuses mainly on politics regarding the Iraq war, it also describes an urgent warning that then-CIA Director George Tenet gave to Condoleezza Rice, National Security Adviser at the time, and other White House officials on July 10, 2001 (see July 10, 2001). [New York Times, 9/29/2006; New York Daily News, 9/29/2006; Washington Post, 10/1/2006] This warning had been mentioned in passing in a 2002 Time magazine article, but it had escaped widespread attention until Woodward's book. [Time, 8/4/2002] The meeting is particularly controversial because neither the 9/11 Congressional Inquiry nor the 9/11 Commission mentioned in it in their final reports. The 9/11 Commission had learned about it from Tenet in early 2004 (see January 28, 2004). Rice and a number of 9/11 Commissioners deny knowing about the July meeting for several days, until documentation surfaces in the media detailing the meeting and Tenet's testimony to the commission (see October 1-2, 2006 and September 30-October 3, 2006). Details about the July meeting and surrounding controversies are reported on by the mainstream media for about a week, but there are no articles on it in any prominent newspaper after October 3, 2006. On October 5, Sen. John Kerry (D-MA) formally asks Sen. Richard Lugar (R-IN), chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, for hearings about the revelations in Woodward's book, including controversies surrounding the July meeting. Kerry says in a letter to Lugar, "It is necessary to understand the mistakes of the past in order to ensure they are not repeated, and having testimony from the parties under oath will help to sharpen recollections and clarify the exact nature of this important meeting." However, no hearings take place. [Kerry, 10/5/2006]
Entity Tags: Bob Woodward, Condoleezza Rice, Bob Kerry, 9/11 Commission
Autumn 2006-Late April 2007: Al-Qaeda Leader Is Kept in Secret CIA Prison, Revealing that CIA Prison System Is Still Operating
Video footage of Abd al-Hadi al-Iraqi, apparently at a night campsite. [Source: IntelCenter]In autumn 2006, Abd al-Hadi al-Iraqi, said to be an adviser to Osama bin Laden, is captured and then detained in a secret CIA prison (see Autumn 2006). President Bush announced on September 6, 2006 that the secret CIA prisons were emptied, at least temporarily (see September 2-3, 2006 and September 6, 2006), and it is not known if al-Hadi is transferred to CIA custody before or after this announcement. The CIA keeps al-Hadi's detention secret from not only the public but also from the Red Cross until late April 2007, when it is publicly announced that al-Hadi has been transferred to the US military prison at Guantanamo. Only then is the Red Cross allowed to examine him. President Bush's September 2006 announcement was in response to a US Supreme Court decision that rules that all detainees, including those like al-Hadi held in secret CIA prisons, are protected by some provisions of the Geneva Conventions. Then in October 2006 Congress passed the Military Commissions Act, which forbids abuse of all detainees in US custody, including those in CIA custody. The CIA claims that it has no legal responsibility to alert the Red Cross about detainees such as al-Hadi, but without notifying watchdog organizations such as the Red Cross, there is no way to really know if detainees being held by the CIA are being illegally abused or not. Mary Ellen O'Connell, a professor of international law at Notre Dame Law School, says al-Hadi's case raises the possibility that President Bush has secretly given the CIA a new mandate to operate outside the constraints of the Military Commissions Act: "This suggests that the president has signed some sort of additional authority for the CIA." [Salon, 5/22/2007]
Entity Tags: Central Intelligence Agency, Mary Ellen O'Connell, International Committee of the Red Cross, Abd al-Hadi al-Iraqi
Timeline Tags: Torture of US Captives, Complete 911 Timeline
October 1-2, 2006: Condoleezza Rice Denies Attendance in Urgent Pre-9/11 Al-Qaeda Briefing, but State Department Confirms She Was There
Secretary of State Rice says that she does not recall the meeting on July 10, 2001, when CIA Director Tenet and other officials briefed her about the al-Qaeda threat (see July 10, 2001). "What I am quite certain of is that I would remember if I was told, as this account apparently says, that there was about to be an attack in the United States, and the idea that I would somehow have ignored that I find incomprehensible." [Associated Press, 10/2/2006] Rice says she has no recollection of what she variously calls "the supposed meeting" and "the emergency so-called meeting." [Editor & Publisher, 10/1/2006; McClatchy Newspapers, 10/2/2006] The Washington Post comments that "Rice added to the confusion… by strongly suggesting that the meeting may never have occurred at all—even though administration officials had conceded for several days that it had." Hours after Rice's latest denial, the State Department confirms that documents show Rice did attend such a meeting on that date. However, State Department spokesman Sean McCormack then says, "The briefing was a summary of the threat reporting from the previous weeks. There was nothing new." The Washington Post notes that when it was pointed out to McCormack that Rice asked for the briefing to be shown to Defense Secretary Rumsfeld and Attorney General Ashcroft (see July 11-17, 2001), "McCormack was unable to explain why Rice felt the briefing should be repeated if it did not include new material." [Washington Post, 10/3/2006]
Entity Tags: John Ashcroft, Sean McCormack, Condoleezza Rice, US Department of State, Al-Qaeda, George J. Tenet, Donald Rumsfeld
October 5, 2006: Former Marine Chief of Staff: Rumsfeld Has 'Systematically Emasculated' the US Military; Iraq a 'Debacle'
The US commander for Europe, General James Jones, confirms that he made a damning quote to author Bob Woodward. In Woodward's September, 2006 book State of Denial, Jones is quoted as saying that Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld had "systematically emasculated" the military's leadership. Jones confirms to a Washington Post reporter that he indeed said those words to Woodward. According to the book, Jones, formerly the Marine Chief of Staff, called the war in Iraq a "debacle," and added, "The Joint Chiefs have been systematically emasculated by Rumsfeld." According to the book, Jones also told Marine General Peter Pace, who was about to become the chairman of the Joint Chiefs, "You should not be the parrot on the secretary's shoulder." Pace has denied that Jones made such a remark to him. Jones says that the quotes are correct—though he now says Iraq is less of a "debacle" than a "big problem"—but adds, "[H]ad I seen [the book], I probably would have suggested that the tone was more critical than I intended it to be." Jones says: "I do not associate myself with the so-called revolt of the generals. I believe that general officers, both active and retired, have an obligation to let their views be known," but should do so in a "helpful" way. Of his comments about Rumsfeld, he says, "We're a team, we're together, we have occasional family disagreements." [Washington Post, 10/5/2006; Roberts, 2008, pp. 158, 247]
Entity Tags: Bob Woodward, James L. Jones, Peter Pace, Donald Rumsfeld, Joint Chiefs of Staff
October 6 - December 14, 2006: International Committee of the Red Cross Interviews 14 Detainees Formerly in Secret CIA 'Detention Network'
In two separate sessions, from October 6-11 and again from December 4-14, officials of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) interview 14 detainees newly transferred from a variety of CIA secret "black sites" to Guantanamo. The transfers followed President Bush's acknowledgment that the CIA has maintained a number of these sites and his announced intention to have a number of the detainees sent to the Cuban facility (see September 17, 2001 and September 6, 2006).
ICRC Access - The ICRC is legally bound to monitor compliance with the Geneva Conventions and to supervise the treatment of prisoners of war; previously, it had not been allowed to see the detainees, and in some cases were never informed of their detention. The ICRC officials interview each prisoner in private, with the intention of producing "a description of the treatment and material conditions of detention of the 14 during the period they were held in the CIA detention program."
Interviews - The 14 have been held for periods ranging "from 16 months to almost four and a half years." The ICRC's report, never intended for public consumption, will be released to the CIA several months later (see February 14, 2007) and revealed in a book in early 2009 (see March 15, 2009). Some of the detainees, concerned about the possible repercussions that may ensue from their discussions, ask the ICRC to withhold their names from some allegations, though most of the report attributes specific narratives and allegations to particular prisoners. Almost every allegation is independently corroborated by other, named detainees.
'Striking Similarity' - In 2009, author Mark Danner will write, quoting the ICRC report: "[I]ndeed, since the detainees were kept 'in continuous solitary confinement and incommunicado detention' throughout their time in 'the black sites,' and were kept strictly separated as well when they reached Guantanamo, the striking similarity in their stories, even down to small details, would seem to make fabrication extremely unlikely, if not impossible. 'The ICRC wishes to underscore,' as the writers tell us in the introduction, 'that the consistency of the detailed allegations provided separately by each of the 14 adds particular weight to the information provided below.'"
Topics of Report - The report covers the following areas:
Main elements of the CIA detention program;
Arrest and transfer;
Continuous solitary confinement and incommunicado detention;
Other methods of ill-treatment;
Suffocation by water (the ICRC term for waterboarding);
Prolonged stress standing;
Beatings by use of a collar;
Beating and kicking;
Confinement in a box;
Prolonged nudity;
Sleep deprivation and use of loud music;
Exposure to cold temperature/cold water;
Prolonged use of handcuffs and shackles;
Threats;
Forced shaving;
Deprivation/restricted provision of solid food;
Further elements of the detention regime.
Conclusion - The report concludes: "The allegations of ill-treatment of the detainees indicate that, in many cases, the ill-treatment to which they were subjected while held in the CIA program, either singly or in combination, constituted torture. In addition, many other elements of the ill-treatment, either singly or in combination, constituted cruel, inhuman, or degrading treatment." Danner will write, "Such unflinching clarity, from the body legally charged with overseeing compliance with the Geneva Conventions—in which the terms 'torture' and 'cruel, inhuman, and degrading treatment' are accorded a strictly defined legal meaning—couldn't be more significant." [New York Review of Books, 3/15/2009]
Entity Tags: International Committee of the Red Cross, Geneva Conventions, Central Intelligence Agency, Mark Danner
October 9, 2006: Military Commissions Act 'Unnecessary,' 'Abusive,' Says Human Rights Watch
Joanne Mariner, an attorney with the civil liberties organization Human Rights Watch, calls the Military Commissions Act (see October 17, 2006) "exceedingly harmful" and a "grab-bag of unnecessary and abusive measures" that creates for detainees "a system of justice that is far inferior to that of the federal courts and courts-martial." The bill does not directly address detention, Mariner writes, but does nothing to limit detention and, she believes, will be used by the administration to justify its current detention practices. [FindLaw, 10/9/2006]
Entity Tags: Joanne Mariner, Human Rights Watch, Military Commissions Act
October 16, 2006: Columnist Who Exposed Plame Wilson Attacks Book that Exposed State Department Leaker, Reveals White House Source for Post Articles
Columnist Robert Novak, a recipient of several White House leaks regarding covert CIA official Valerie Plame Wilson (see July 7, 2003, July 8 or 9, 2003, (July 11, 2003), and Before July 14, 2003) and the author of the column exposing Plame Wilson (see July 14, 2003), publishes a column in the conservative Weekly Standard attacking the authors of Hubris, a book that identified former Deputy Secretary of State Richard Armitage as the original leaker of Plame Wilson's identity (see June 13, 2003, July 8, 2003, September 6, 2006, and September 7, 2006).
Attacks Co-Author of Book - Novak focuses primarily on "stereotypical leftist activist" co-author David Corn, whom he accuses of engendering the entire Plame Wilson identity leak investigation with a column questioning the propriety of Novak's exposure of a covert CIA official (see July 16, 2003), and writes that Corn and other "enemies of George W. Bush" used the investigation to try to "bring down a president" (Bush). Now, Novak writes, Corn is in the ironic position of having co-authored a book "that has had the effect of killing the story." (Novak credits co-author Michael Isikoff, not Corn, with discovering the Armitage leak.) To regain traction, Novak writes, "Corn has been frantic… to depict an alternate course in which [White House official Karl] Rove, [former White House official Lewis] Libby, and Vice President Cheney attempted, by design and independently, to do what Armitage purportedly accomplished accidentally." Armitage's leak was a gossipy "slip-up" that occurred simultaneously with what Corn and Isikoff called "a concerted White House effort to undermine a critic of the war," former ambassador Joseph Wilson. Novak says the "conspiracy theory" of a White House effort to denigrate and smear Wilson is specious (see June 2003, June 3, 2003, June 11, 2003, June 12, 2003, June 19 or 20, 2003, July 6, 2003, July 6-10, 2003, July 7, 2003 or Shortly After, 8:45 a.m. July 7, 2003, 9:22 a.m. July 7, 2003, July 7-8, 2003, July 11, 2003, (July 11, 2003), July 12, 2003, July 12, 2003, July 18, 2003, October 1, 2003, April 5, 2006, and April 9, 2006), and calls the book's detailed recounting of the misdeeds of the White House surrounding the Wilson smear and the Plame Wilson exposure "tiresome." Novak dismisses Hubris as little more than "an unmitigated apologia for the Wilsons."
Justifies Own Cooperation with Prosecution - He goes on to justify his repeated (and unreported) testimonies before the Patrick Fitzgerald grand jury (see October 7, 2003, February 5, 2004, and September 14, 2004), saying since Fitzgerald already knew who his sources for the Plame Wilson leak were (Libby, Armitage, and CIA official Bill Harlow), "there was no use in not testifying about them," and he "feared facing the same legal juggernaut that sent Judith Miller of the New York Times to jail" (see July 6, 2005).
Claims Plame Wilson Not Covert - Novak says that no one—Armitage, Libby, Rove, nor himself—could be prosecuted for outing Plame Wilson because she "was not a covert operative under the terms of the law" (see Fall 1992 - 1996, Late 1990s-2001 and Possibly After, April 22, 1999, (July 11, 2003), Before July 14, 2003, July 22, 2003, July 30, 2003, September 30, 2003, October 11, 2003, October 22-24, 2003, January 9, 2006, February 13, 2006, and September 6, 2006).
Exposes White House Source - Novak concludes the article by identifying former White House press aide Adam Levine (see February 6, 2004 and October 26, 2005) as the source for the "1x2x6" articles published by the Washington Post (see September 28, 2003 and October 12, 2003). [Weekly Standard, 9/23/2006]
Entity Tags: Michael Isikoff, George W. Bush, David Corn, Bill Harlow, Adam Levine, Judith Miller, Lewis ("Scooter") Libby, Richard Armitage, Valerie Plame Wilson, Richard ("Dick") Cheney, Karl C. Rove, Robert Novak
October 17, 2006: Military Commission Act Becomes Law; Authorizes Torture, Restricts Fundamental Legal Rights
President Bush signs the Military Commissions Act into law. [Source: White House]President Bush signs the Military Commissions Act (MCA) into law. [White House, 10/17/2006] The MCA is designed to give the president the authority to order "enemy detainees" tried by military commissions largely outside the scope of US civil and criminal procedures. The bill was requested by the Bush administration after the Supreme Court's ruling in Hamdi v. Rumsfeld (see June 28, 2004) that the US could not hold prisoners indefinitely without access to the US judicial system, and that the administration's proposal that they be tried by military tribunals was unconstitutional (see June 28, 2004). [FindLaw, 10/9/2006] It is widely reported that the MCA does not directly apply to US citizens, but to only non-citizens defined as "enemy combatants. [CBS News, 10/19/2006] However, six months later, a Bush administration lawyer will confirm that the administration believes the law does indeed apply to US citizens (see February 1, 2007).
Sweeping New Executive Powers - The MCA virtually eliminates the possibility that the Supreme Court can ever again act as a check on a president's power in the war on terrorism. Similarly, the law gives Congressional approval to many of the executive powers previously, and unilaterally, seized by the Bush administration. Former Justice Department official John Yoo celebrates the MCA, writing, "Congress… told the courts, in effect, to get out of the war on terror" (see October 19, 2006). [Savage, 2007, pp. 319, 322]
'Abandoning' Core 'Principles' - The bill passed the Senate on a 65-34 vote, and the House by a 250-170 vote. The floor debate was often impassioned and highly partisan; House Majority Leader John Boehner (R-OH) called Democrats who opposed the bill "dangerous," and Senate Judiciary Committee member Patrick Leahy (D-VT) said this bill showed that the US is losing its "moral compass." Leahy asked during the debate, "Why would we allow the terrorists to win by doing to ourselves what they could never do, and abandon the principles for which so many Americans today and through our history have fought and sacrificed?" Senate Judiciary Committee chairman Arlen Specter (R-PA) had said he would vote against it because it is "patently unconstitutional on its face," but then voted for it, saying he believes the courts will eventually "clean it up." Specter's attempt to amend the bill to provide habeas corpus rights for enemy combatants was defeated, as were four Democratic amendments. Republicans have openly used the debate over the MCA as election-year fodder, with House Speaker Dennis Hastert (R-IL) saying after the vote that "House Democrats have voted to protect the rights of terrorists," and Boehner decrying "the Democrats' irrational opposition to strong national security policies." Democrats such as Senator Barack Obama (D-IL) say they will not fight back at such a level. "There will be 30-second attack ads and negative mail pieces, and we will be called everything from cut-and-run quitters to Defeatocrats, to people who care more about the rights of terrorists than the protection of Americans," Obama says. "While I know all of this, I'm still disappointed, and I'm still ashamed, because what we're doing here today—a debate over the fundamental human rights of the accused—should be bigger than politics." [Washington Post, 10/19/2006] After winning the vote, Hastert accused Democrats who opposed the bill of "putting their liberal agenda ahead of the security of America." Hastert said the Democrats "would gingerly pamper the terrorists who plan to destroy innocent Americans' lives" and create "new rights for terrorists." [New York Times, 10/19/2006]
Enemy Combatants - The MCA applies only to "enemy combatants." Specifically, the law defines an "unlawful enemy combatant" as a person "who has engaged in hostilities or who has purposefully and materially supported hostilities against the United States or its co-belligerents," and who is not a lawful combatant. Joanne Mariner of Human Rights Watch says the definition far exceeds the traditionally accepted definition of combatant as someone who directly participates in hostilities. But under the MCA, someone who provides "material support" for terrorists—whether that be in the form of financial contributions or sweeping the floors at a terrorist camp—can be so defined. Worse, the label can be applied without recourse by either Bush or the secretary of defense, after a "competent tribunal" makes the determination. The MCA provides no guidelines as to what criteria these tribunals should use. Taken literally, the MCA gives virtually unrestricted power to the tribunals to apply the label as requested by the president or the secretary. Mariner believes the definition is both "blatantly unconstitutional" and a direct contradiction of centuries of Supreme Court decisions that define basic judicial rights. [FindLaw, 10/9/2006] Under this definition, the president can imprison, without charge or trial, any US citizen accused of donating money to a Middle East charity that the government believes is linked to terrorist activity. Citizens associated with "fringe" groups such as the left-wing Black Panthers or right-wing militias can be incarcerated without trial or charge. Citizens accused of helping domestic terrorists can be so imprisoned. Law professor Bruce Ackerman calls the MCA "a massive Congressional expansion of the class of enemy combatants," and warns that the law may "haunt all of us on the morning after the next terrorist attack" by enabling a round of mass detentions similar to the roundup of Japanese-American citizens during World War II. [Savage, 2007, pp. 322]
Military Commissions - The MCA mandates that enemy combatants are to be tried by military commissions, labeled "regularly constituted courts that afford all the necessary 'judicial guarantees which are recognized as indispensable by civilized peoples' for purposes of common Article 3 of the Geneva Conventions." The commissions must have a minimum of five commissioned military officers and a military judge; if death is a possible penalty, the commissions must have at least 12 officers. The defendant's guilt must be proven beyond a reasonable doubt; convictions require a two-thirds vote. Sentences of beyond 10 years require a three-quarters vote, and death penalties must be unanimously voted for. Defendants may either represent themselves or by military or civilian counsel. The court procedures themselves, although based on standard courts-martial proceedings, are fluid, and can be set or changed as the secretary of defense sees fit. Statements obtained through methods defined as torture are inadmissible, but statements take by coercion and "cruel treatment" can be admitted. The MCA sets the passage of the Detainee Treatment Act (DTA—see December 15, 2005) as a benchmark—statements obtained before the December 30, 2005 enactment of that law can be used, even if the defendant was "coerced," if a judge finds the statement "reasonable and possessing sufficient probative value." Statements after that date must have been taken during interrogations that fall under the DTA guidelines. Defendants have the right to examine and respond to evidence seen by the commission, a provision originally opposed by the administration. However, if the evidence is classified, an unclassified summary of that material is acceptable, and classified exculpatory evidence can be denied in lieu of what the MCA calls "acceptable substitutes." Hearsay evidence is admissible, as is evidence obtained without search warrants. Generally, defendants will not be allowed to inquire into the classified "sources, methods, or activities" surrounding evidence against them. Some human rights activists worry that evidence obtained through torture can be admitted, and the fact that it was obtained by torture, if that detail is classified, will not be presented to the court or preclude the evidence from being used. Public access to the commissions will be quite limited. Many experts claim these commissions are illegal both by US constitutional law and international law. [FindLaw, 10/9/2006]
Secret Courts - The military tribunals can be partially or completely closed to public scrutiny if the presiding judge deems such an action necessary to national security. The government can convey such concerns to the judge without the knowledge of the defense. The judge can exclude the accused from the trial if he deems it necessary for safety or if he decides the defendant is "disruptive." Evidence can be presented in secret, without the knowledge of the defense and without giving the defense a chance to examine that evidence, if the judge finds that evidence "reliable." And during the trial, the prosecution can at any time assert a "national security privilege" that would stop "the examination of any witness" if that witness shows signs of discussing sensitive security matters. This provision can easily be used to exclude any potential defense witness who might "breach national security" with their testimony. Author and investigative reporter Robert Parry writes, "In effect, what the new law appears to do is to create a parallel 'star chamber' system for the prosecution, imprisonment, and elimination of enemies of the state, whether those enemies are foreign or domestic." [Consortium News, 10/19/2006]
Appeals - Guilty verdicts are automatically appealed to a Court of Military Commission Review, consisting of three appellate military justices. The DC Circuit Court of Appeals has extremely limited authority of review of the commissions; even its authority to judge whether a decision is consistent with the Constitution is limited "to the extent [that the Constitution is] applicable."
Types of Crimes - Twenty-eight specific crimes fall under the rubric of the military commissions, including conspiracy (not a traditional war crime), murder of protected persons, murder in violation of the bill of war, hostage-taking, torture, cruel or inhuman treatment, mutilation or maiming, rape, sexual abuse or assault, hijacking, terrorism, providing material support for terrorism, and spying. [FindLaw, 10/9/2006]
CIA Abuses - The MCA, responding to the recent Supreme Court decision of Hamdan v. Rumsfeld (see June 30, 2006) that found the CIA's secret detention program and abusive interrogation practices illegal, redefines and amends the law to make all but the most pernicious interrogation practices, even those defined as torture by the War Crimes Act and the Geneva Conventions, legal. The MCA actually rules that the Geneva Conventions are all but unenforceable in US courts. It also provides retroactive protection under the law to all actions as far back as November 1997. Under the MCA, practices such as waterboarding, stress positioning, and sleep deprivation cannot be construed as torture. [FindLaw, 10/9/2006] The MCA even states that rape as part of interrogations cannot be construed as torture unless the intent of the rapist to torture his victim can be proven, a standard rejected by international law. The MCA provides such a narrow definition of coercion and sexual abuse that most of the crimes perpetrated at Abu Ghraib are now legal. [Jurist, 10/4/2006] Although the MCA seems to cover detainee abuse for all US agencies, including the CIA, Bush says during the signing of the bill, "This bill will allow the Central Intelligence Agency to continue its program for questioning key terrorist leaders and operatives." International law expert Scott Horton will note, "The administration wanted these prohibitions on the military and not on the CIA, but it did not work out that way." Apparently Bush intends to construe the law to exempt the CIA from its restrictions, such as they are, on torture and abuse of prisoners. [Salon, 5/22/2007]
No Habeas Corpus Rights - Under the MCA, enemy combatants no longer have the right to file suit under the habeas corpus provision of US law. This means that they cannot challenge the legality of their detention, or raise claims of torture and mistreatment. Even detainees who have been released can never file suit to seek redress for their treatment while in US captivity. [FindLaw, 10/25/2006]
Retroactive Immunity - The administration added a provision to the MCA that rewrote the War Crimes Act retroactively to November 26, 1997, making any offenses considered war crimes before the MCA is adopted no longer punishable under US law. Former Nixon White House counsel John Dean will write in 2007 that the only reason he can fathom for the change is to protect administration officials—perhaps including President Bush himself—from any future prosecutions as war criminals. Dean will note that if the administration actually believes in the inherent and indisputable powers of the presidency, as it has long averred, then it would not worry about any such criminal liability. [Dean, 2007, pp. 239-240]
Entity Tags: Human Rights Watch, Joanne Mariner, US Supreme Court, Patrick J. Leahy, Military Commissions Act, John Dean, George W. Bush, Scott Horton, Geneva Conventions, Bruce Ackerman, Dennis Hastert, American Civil Liberties Union, Amnesty International, Detainee Treatment Act, Arlen Specter, War Crimes Act, Barack Obama, Central Intelligence Agency, Bush administration (43), John Boehner
October 18, 2006: US Military's Central Command Says Iraq Sliding towards 'Chaos'
The chart presented during the CENTCOM briefing. [Source: New York Times]A briefing by the US Central Command (CENTCOM) says that Iraq is sliding towards a complete breakdown of order. The briefing features a chart used by the military as, in the words of New York Times reporter Michael Gordon, "a barometer of civil conflict." Gordon describes the slide as providing "a rare glimpse into how the military command that oversees the war is trying to track its trajectory, particularly in terms of sectarian fighting." The briefing was prepared by CENTCOM's intelligence directorate, overseen by Brigadier General John Custer. The slide contains a color-coded bar chart titled "Index of Civil Conflict," which tracks the sharp rise in sectarian violence since the bombing of a Shi'ite shrine in February (see February 22, 2006), and documents a subsequent rise in violence despite US efforts to contain conflicts in and around Baghdad. Gordon describes the chart as tracking, among other factors, "the ineffectual Iraqi police and the dwindling influence of moderate religious and political figures," and not so much more traditional factors like "the enemy's fighting strength and the control of territory." The chart shows Iraq moving quickly away from "peace," the ideal condition on the far left of the chart, to a point labeled "chaos" on the right side. Gordon notes, "As depicted in the command's chart, the needle has been moving steadily toward the far right of the chart." A CENTCOM official says, "Ever since the February attack on the Shiite mosque in Samarra, it has been closer to the chaos side than the peace side." [New York Times, 11/1/2006]
Entity Tags: John Custer, Michael Gordon, US Central Command
October 19, 2006: Torture and Executive Power Advocate Celebrates Military Commissions Act
John Yoo, a former Justice Department official, celebrates the passage of the Military Commissions Act (see October 17, 2006). Yoo writes that Congress has ordered "the courts, in effect, to get out of the war on terror." The bill is not so much a victory for the presidency, Yoo writes, as it is a loss for the judiciary, a "stinging rebuke to the Supreme Court. It strips the courts of jurisdiction to hear any habeas corpus claim filed by any alien enemy combatant anywhere in the world." It supersedes the Court's ruling in Hamdan v. Rumsfeld (see June 30, 2006), which Yoo calls "an unprecedented attempt by the court to rewrite the law of war and intrude into war policy… [a] stunning power grab." Now, he writes: "Congress and the president did not take the court's power grab lying down. They told the courts, in effect, to get out of the war on terror, stripped them of habeas jurisdiction over alien enemy combatants, and said there was nothing wrong with the military commissions. It is the first time since the New Deal that Congress had so completely divested the courts of power over a category of cases. It is also the first time since the Civil War that Congress saw fit to narrow the court's habeas powers in wartime because it disagreed with its decisions. The law goes farther. It restores to the president command over the management of the war on terror. It directly reverses Hamdan by making clear that the courts cannot take up the Geneva Conventions. Except for some clearly defined war crimes, whose prosecution would also be up to executive discretion, it leaves interpretation and enforcement of the treaties up to the president. It even forbids courts from relying on foreign or international legal decisions in any decisions involving military commissions." Yoo had previously authored numerous torture memos (see October 4, 2001, November 6-10, 2001, November 20, 2001, December 21, 2001, December 28, 2001, January 9, 2002, January 11, 2002, January 14, 2002, January 22, 2002, January 24-26, 2002, March 13, 2002, July 22, 2002, August 1, 2002, August 1, 2002, and March 14, 2003) and opinions expanding the power of the president (see September 21, 2001, September 25, 2001, September 25, 2001, October 23, 2001, October 23, 2001, and June 27, 2002). [Wall Street Journal, 10/19/2006]
Entity Tags: Military Commissions Act, John C. Yoo
October 20, 2006: Bush Administration Uses Military Commissions Act to Remove Detainee Cases from US Court
Exercising its new authority under the just-signed Military Commissions Act (MCA—see October 17, 2006), the Bush administration notifies the US District Court in Washington that it no longer has jurisdiction to consider 196 habeas corpus petitions filed by Guantanamo detainees. Many of these petitions cover multiple detainees. According to the MCA, "no court, justice, or judge" can consider those petitions or other actions related to treatment or imprisonment filed by anyone designated as an enemy combatant, now or in the future. The MCA is already being challenged as unconstitutional by several lawyers representing Guantanamo detainees. The MCA goes directly against two recent Supreme Court cases, Rasul v. Bush (see June 28, 2004) and Hamdan v. Rumsfeld (see June 30, 2006), which provide detainees with habeas corpus and other fundamental legal rights. Many Congressional members and legal experts say that the anti-habeas provisions of the MCA are unconstitutional. For instance, Senator Arlen Specter (R-PA) notes that the Constitution says the right of any prisoner to challenge detention "shall not be suspended" except in cases of "rebellion or invasion." [Washington Post, 10/20/2006] Law professor Joseph Margulies, who is involved in the detainee cases, says the administration's persistence on the issue "demonstrates how difficult it is for the courts to enforce [the clause] in the face of a resolute executive branch that is bound and determined to resist it." Vincent Warren of the Center for Constitutional Rights, which represents many of the detainees, expects the legal challenges to the law will eventually wind up before the Supreme Court. [Washington Post, 10/20/2006]
Entity Tags: Center for Constitutional Rights, Arlen Specter, Bush administration (43), Vincent Warren, Military Commissions Act, Joseph Margulies
October 24-27, 2006: Cheney: 'No-Brainer' to Authorize Waterboarding
In an interview with WDAY's Scott Heinen, Vice President Dick Cheney says it was a "no-brainer for me" to authorize waterboarding of suspected terrorists (see April 2002 and After and Summer 2003). Cheney says that since waterboarding and other brutal methods are not torture, as he defines the term (see Mid-March 2002), the entire issue is not really an issue. "We don't torture," he says. "That's not what we're involved in. We live up to our obligations in international treaties that we're party to, and so forth. But the fact is, you can have a fairly robust interrogation program without torture, and we need to be able to do that." [Savage, 2007, pp. 154-155; Financial Times, 10/26/2008] After Cheney's statement causes a welter of criticism among lawmakers and media figures, the White House says Cheney was not talking about waterboarding, and insists that the US does not torture. Cheney calls reporters to bolster the denial. "I did not talk about specific techniques and won't," he says. "I didn't say anything about waterboarding.… He [Heinen] didn't even use that phrase." Human Rights Watch says Cheney's remarks are "the Bush administration's first clear endorsement" of waterboarding. [Associated Press, 10/28/2006]
Entity Tags: Richard ("Dick") Cheney, Bush administration (43), Scott Heinen, Human Rights Watch
October 25, 2006: Vice President Cheney Says Exploitation of Yemen Hub Information Could Have Prevented 9/11
Vice President Cheney linked the NSA's warrantless surveillance program to the case of 9/11 hijackers Khalid Almihdhar and Nawaf Alhazmi. [Source: White House]Vice President Dick Cheney justifies an NSA program for warrantless surveillance of conversations between the US and other countries by referring to communications between 9/11 hijackers Khalid Almihdhar and Nawaf Alhazmi in the US and an al-Qaeda communications hub in Yemen (see Early 2000-Summer 2001). The calls were intercepted by the NSA, but this did not help the US roll up the plot. Echoing remarks previously made by President Bush (see December 17, 2005), Cheney says: "If you'll recall, the 9/11 Commission focused criticism on the nation's inability to uncover links between terrorists at home and terrorists overseas [note: the 9/11 Commission's final report does not actually say this (see December 17, 2005)]. The term that was used is 'connecting the dots'—and the fact is that one small piece of data might very well make it possible to save thousands of lives. If this program had been in place before 9/11, we might have been able to prevent it because we had two terrorists living in San Diego, contacting terrorist-related numbers overseas." [Office of the Vice President, 8/25/2006] Before 9/11, the NSA was entitled to pass on information about the calls to the FBI, but did not do so, even though the FBI had specifically asked for information about calls between the communications hub in Yemen and the US (see Late 1998 and (Spring 2000)). Various explanations for this failure are offered after 9/11 (see Summer 2002-Summer 2004 and March 15, 2004 and After).
Entity Tags: National Security Agency, Richard ("Dick") Cheney
October 26, 2006: Alleged '20th Hijacker' Likely Will Never Be Put on Trial
MSNBC reports that Mohammed al-Khatani, the alleged would-be twentieth 9/11 hijacker, will likely never be put on trial. A US army investigation concluded that he "was forced to wear a bra. He had a thong placed on his head. He was massaged by a female interrogator who straddled him like a lap dancer. He was told that his mother and sisters were whores. He was told that other detainees knew he was gay. He was forced to dance with a male interrogator. He was strip-searched in front of women. He was led on a leash and forced to perform dog tricks. He was doused with water. He was prevented from praying. He was forced to watch as an interrogator squatted over his Koran." Mark Fallon, head of the Pentagon's Criminal Investigation Task Force, claims that he was told by other officials several times not to worry building a legal case against al-Khatani since there would never be a trial against him due to the interrogation techniques used on him. [MSNBC, 10/26/2006] According to al-Khatani's lawyer, al-Khatani appears to be a broken man, who "painfully described how he could not endure the months of isolation, torture and abuse, during which he was nearly killed, before making false statements to please his interrogators." [Time, 3/3/2006]
Entity Tags: Mohamed al-Khatani
October 30, 2006: Libby Asks for Sweeping Restrictions on Government's Evidence
Lewis Libby's defense team files three motions with the US District Court in Washington, asking Judge Reggie Walton to preclude evidence pertaining to the following:
that Libby improperly disclosed classified materials from the 2002 National Intelligence Estimate (NIE—see October 1, 2002) to reporters (see June 23, 2003, 8:30 a.m. July 8, 2003, and Late Afternoon, July 12, 2003);
reporters' opposition to testifying on First Amendment grounds, and reporter Judith Miller's incarceration (see September 30, 2005 and October 12, 2005); and
outed CIA agent Valerie Plame Wilson's employment status with the agency, and any actual or potential damage her exposure as a covert agent might have caused (see Before September 16, 2003, October 3, 2003, October 11, 2003, October 22-24, 2003, October 23-24, 2003, October 29, 2005, and February 13, 2006). [US District Court for the District of Columbia, 10/30/2006 ; US District Court for the District of Columbia, 10/30/2006 ; US District Court for the District of Columbia, 10/30/2006 ]
Special counsel Patrick Fitzgerald files his own motion to preclude the defense from making much of the fact that other Bush administration officials also accused of leaking Plame Wilson's identity to the press were not charged with crimes (see June 13, 2003, July 7, 2003, July 8, 2003, July 8, 2003, July 8 or 9, 2003, 11:00 a.m. July 11, 2003,8:00 a.m. July 11, 2003, 1:26 p.m. July 12, 2003, and July 15, 2005). "The fact that no other person was charged with a crime relating to the disclosure of classified information says absolutely nothing about whether defendant Libby is guilty of the charged crimes," Fitzgerald writes. "It is improper for the jury to consider, or for counsel to suggest, that the decisions by the government not to charge additional crimes or defendants are grounds that could support an acquittal on the crimes charged in the indictment." [US District Court for the District of Columbia, 10/30/2006 ] Fitzgerald is referring to, among others, former Deputy Secretary of State Richard Armitage, who was recently identified as the first administration official to leak Plame Wilson's identity to a reporter (see September 7, 2006). [MSNBC, 10/30/2006] Author and blogger Marcy Wheeler observes that, in her opinion, Libby is trying to keep the trial jury from deliberating on the administration's "partial declassification" of the 2002 NIE, does not want jurors to know that reporter Judith Miller felt Libby did not want her to testify against him (see September 15, 2005 and August 2005), and wants to keep the jury unaware that Plame Wilson was a covert CIA agent. [Marcy Wheeler, 10/31/2006]
Entity Tags: Bush administration (43), Judith Miller, Lewis ("Scooter") Libby, Marcy Wheeler, Richard Armitage, Reggie B. Walton, Patrick J. Fitzgerald, Valerie Plame Wilson
Early November 2006: Saeed Sheikh's Attorney Plans to Use Musharraf Book in Appeal
After learning that a new book published by Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf (see September 25, 2006) says that alleged 9/11 mastermind Khalid Shaikh Mohammed (KSM) either killed American reporter Daniel Pearl or played a leading role in the murder (see January 31, 2002), the lawyer for Saeed Sheikh, one of the kidnappers, says he plans to use the book in an appeal. Sheikh was found guilty of the kidnapping (see April 5, 2002), but the lawyer, Rai Bashir, says, "I'm going to submit an application that [Musharraf's] book be used as a piece of evidence. The head of state has exonerated [Sheikh and his accomplices]." [Christian Science Monitor, 11/8/2006] Bashir will also make similar comments after KSM says that he carried out the murder in early 2007 (see March 10, 2007): "In the next court hearing, I am going to submit the recent statement by Khalid Shaikh Mohammed in which he said he himself beheaded the US journalist… From day one, my contention was that the evidence presented in court was not strong enough to lead to the conviction of my client." [Guardian, 3/19/2007] Sheikh was convicted in July 2002 (see July 15, 2002). As of late July 2005, the appeal proceedings had been adjourned thirty-two times. [International Herald Tribune, 7/29/2005] As of 2007, his appeal process is still in limbo.
Entity Tags: Pervez Musharraf, Rai Bashir, Saeed Sheikh
November 6, 2006: Army Times Calls on Rumsfeld to 'Go'
Army Times logo. [Source: Army Times / Grantham University]An Army Times editorial says that to tell the "hard bruising truth" of the war in Iraq is to conclude that Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld must resign. The editorial observes, "One rosy reassurance after another has been handed down by President Bush, Vice President Cheney and… Rumsfeld: 'mission accomplished' (see May 1, 2003 and April 30, 2008), the insurgency is 'in its last throes" (see Summer 2005), and 'back off,' we know what we're doing (see May 2004), are a few choice examples." Some retired and active generals and military leaders are now beginning to speak out (see April 13-14, 2006, April 14-16, 2006, April 16, 2006, and October 5, 2006). In August, US CENTCOM commander General John Abizaid predicted the possibility of all-out civil war in Iraq (see August 3, 2006). And in mid-October, the New York Times reported on a confidential CENTCOM briefing that called the situation in Iraq "critical," and sliding towards "chaos" (see October 18, 2006). The Army Times editorial observes that "despite the best [US] efforts… the problem of molding a viciously sectarian population into anything resembling a force for national unity has become a losing proposition." Bush has vowed to stick by Rumsfeld for the remainder of his second term. The Army Times calls that decision "a mistake." It explains: "It is one thing for the majority of Americans to think Rumsfeld has failed. But when the nation's current military leaders start to break publicly with their defense secretary, then it is clear that he is losing control of the institution he ostensibly leads.… Rumsfeld has lost credibility with the uniformed leadership, with the troops, with Congress and with the public at large. His strategy has failed, and his ability to lead is compromised. And although the blame for our failures in Iraq rests with the secretary, it will be the troops who bear its brunt.… Donald Rumsfeld must go." [Army Times, 11/6/2006] The Department of Defense responds to an advance copy of the Army Times editorial a day before its official publication. The editorial is "inaccurate and misleading," and took Abizaid's words "out of context." The Pentagon claims that Rumsfeld has always presented what it calls a "balanced" picture of Iraq, and has never engaged in "rosy scenarios" to mislead the public (see April 11, 2003, April 12, 2003, Summer 2005, June 25, 2005, November 1, 2005, February 17, 2006, and April 18, 2006). It goes on to call the editorial little more than a rehash of old criticisms, and chides the writer(s) for "insulting military commanders" and "attack[ing]" Rumsfeld. [US Department of Defense, 11/5/2006] Rumsfeld resigns on the same day as the editorial appears (see November 6-December 18, 2006).
Entity Tags: New York Times, US Department of Defense, Richard ("Dick") Cheney, US Central Command, Donald Rumsfeld, Army Times, John P. Abizaid, George W. Bush
November 13, 2006: Justice Department Argues Military Commissions Act Gives Government Right to Detain Enemy Combatants Indefinitely
The Justice Department argues in federal court that immigrants arrested in the US and labeled as "enemy combatants" under the Military Commissions Act (MCA) (see October 17, 2006) can be indefinitely detained without access to the US justice system. The argument comes as part of the Justice Department's attempt to dismiss a habeas corpus suit challenging the detention of Ali Saleh Kahlah al-Marri, a Qatari citizen accused by the government of being an al-Qaeda agent (see December 12, 2001 and February 1, 2007). The government argues that the MCA "removes federal court jurisdiction over pending and future habeas corpus actions and any other actions filed by or on behalf of detained aliens determined by the United States to be enemy combatants, such as petitioner-appellant al-Marri.… In plain terms, the MCA removes this Court's jurisdiction (as well as the district court's) over al-Marri's habeas action. Accordingly, the Court should dismiss this appeal for lack of jurisdiction and remand the case to the district court with instructions to dismiss the petition for lack of jurisdiction." This is the first time the Bush administration has argued in court that the MCA strips a detainee held within the US of habeas rights.
Defense Counterargument - Al-Marri's lawyers say that because he is being held in a South Carolina detention facility, he has the right to challenge his detention in a civilian court like any other non-citizen held on criminal charges. The Justice Department says that enemy combatants have no such rights regardless of where they are being held. Jonathan Hafetz, one of al-Marri's lawyers, says: "[T]he president has announced that he can sweep any of the millions of non-citizens off the streets of America and imprison them for life in a military jail without charge, court review, or due process. It is unprecedented, unlawful, and un-American." [Jurist, 11/14/2006] The government has "never admitted that he has any rights, including the right not to be tortured," Hafetz adds. "They've created a black hole where he has no rights." [Progressive, 3/2007] The Bush administration is also challenging lawsuits filed by detainees at the Guantanamo Bay detention facility on similar grounds. [Jurist, 11/14/2006]
Entity Tags: Military Commissions Act, Bush administration (43), Ali Saleh Kahlah al-Marri, Jonathan Hafetz, US Department of Justice
November 14, 2006: Libby Lawyers: No White House Plot to Expose Plame Wilson
The Lewis Libby defense team argues in a court filing that there was no such thing as an orchestrated plot to expose Valerie Plame Wilson as a CIA official, and writes that Libby, a former White House official who told at least two reporters that Plame Wilson was a CIA official (see June 23, 2003, 8:30 a.m. July 8, 2003, 2:24 p.m. July 12, 2003, and Late Afternoon, July 12, 2003), had no reason to lie during the investigation of the leak (see October 14, 2003, November 26, 2003, March 5, 2004, and March 24, 2004). Libby's lawyers want to present a wide-ranging defense concerning Libby's duties and actions at the White House, while special counsel Patrick Fitzgerald, the US Attorney prosecuting the case, wants to stay narrowly focused on evidence that Libby lied under oath to the FBI and to a grand jury. "It is doubtful that anyone committed an 'underlying crime' here," Libby's lawyers write. "The government's investigation began as an effort to discover which government officials had 'leaked' Ms. Wilson's affiliation with the CIA to Mr. Novak" (see July 14, 2003). The Libby lawyers base their argument on the fact that former State Department official Richard Armitage leaked Plame Wilson's identity to a reporter before Libby did (see June 13, 2003). "Members of the jury will have heard for years that Mr. Libby leaked classified information about Valerie Wilson's affiliation with the CIA, due to inaccurate reports in the press," the defense attorneys write. "Indeed, the government has contributed to the likely misimpressions that potential jurors will have about this case." In previous filings, Fitzgerald has argued that the upcoming trial should not be a forum to debate the leak itself or question why Libby was charged and others were not. [Associated Press, 11/14/2006]
Entity Tags: Lewis ("Scooter") Libby, Bush administration (43), Patrick J. Fitzgerald, Richard Armitage, Valerie Plame Wilson
November 17, 2006: Fitzgerald: Libby May Have Disclosed Classified Information to Reporters
Prosecutors tell a federal court that former White House official Lewis Libby may have disclosed information from a highly classified government report, the 2002 National Intelligence Estimate on Iraq (see October 1, 2002), to reporters (see June 19 or 20, 2003, June 27, 2003, July 2, 2003, 7:35 a.m. July 8, 2003, July 12, 2003, July 12, 2003, July 14 or 15, 2003) before the report was declassified by President Bush (see July 18, 2003). Libby's lawyers have asked that the federal prosecutors, led by special counsel Patrick Fitzgerald, be barred from arguing at trial that Libby acted improperly or illegally by disclosing such information. Libby has claimed that he disclosed the information at the direction of his then-supervisor, Vice President Dick Cheney. According to Libby, Cheney told him that he had received permission to disclose the information from Bush (see March 24, 2004). Fitzgerald wishes to have the ability to question Libby's assertions that all of his disclosures were authorized. [New York Sun, 11/17/2006]
Entity Tags: Patrick J. Fitzgerald, Lewis ("Scooter") Libby
Late 2006-July 2007: Bush Administration Tries to Block Lawsuit against NSA
The Director of National Intelligence, John Negroponte, and NSA Director Keith Alexander try to get a lawsuit dismissed that alleges the NSA illegally wiretapped a Saudi charitable organization (see February 28, 2006). The organization, the Al Haramain Islamic Foundation, is presenting a classified US document as proof of the illegal wiretapping.
Invoking 'State Secrets' Privilege - In late 2006, Negroponte and Alexander tell the presiding judge, US District Judge Garr King, that in order to defend itself, the government would have to disclose "state secrets" (see March 9, 1953) that would expose US anti-terrorism efforts. This same argument will be reiterated in July 2007, when government lawyers say, "Whether plaintiffs were subjected to surveillance is a state secret, and information tending to confirm or deny that fact is privileged." The judge will hear arguments for and against dismissing the case on August 15, 2007. [Associated Press, 8/5/2007]
Judicial Examination - King, in Portland, Oregon, examined the document for himself, and read classified briefs supplied by the Justice Department. Upon reading the briefs, King met with government lawyers to discuss turning over yet more documents in discovery—a decision unlikely to have been taken had King not believed the evidence did not show that the Al Haramain plaintiffs were, in fact, monitored. And, under FISA, had the surveillance been lawful and court-ordered, King would have been legally constrained to dismiss the lawsuit, since according to that law, plaintiffs can only sue if no warrant was ever issued for the alleged surveillance. "If there was a FISA warrant, the whole case would have crumbled on the first day," says plaintiff attorney Thomas Nelson, "It's pretty obvious from the government's conduct in the case, there was no warrant."
'Inherent Authority' of President - Justice Department lawyers rely on the argument that the president has the inherent authority to order surveillance of suspected terrorists with or without warrants, and that to judge the president's decision would reveal national secrets that would alert terrorists to government anti-terrorist actions, thereby mandating that this and other lawsuits be dismissed.
Consolidation of Lawsuits - An August 2006 court ruling ordering that the Al Haramain case be consolidated with 54 other NSA-related lawsuits, under US District Court Judge Vaughn Walker, damaged the government's argument that it cannot be sued in court. Walker has presided over the year-old class-action lawsuit brought before his court by the Electronic Frontier Foundation against AT&T for the telecom firm's cooperation with the NSA program (see January 31, 2006); Walker ruled in July 2006 that the case would proceed, against government requests that it be thrown out because of national security requirements. Walker ruled that because the government had already admitted to the existence of the program, the state secrets privilege does not apply. (The Justice Department is appealing Walker's decision.) As for Al Haramain, its lawyers want that case to be adjudicated separately, because the court has sufficient evidence to decide on the case without waiting for the appellate court decision. Another lawyer for the plaintiffs, Jon Eisenberg, tells Walker in February 2007, "You need only read the statutes to decide, 'Does the president have the right to do this without a warrant?'" Walker has yet to rule on that request. [Wired News, 3/5/2007]
Entity Tags: Thomas Nelson, Vaughn Walker, National Security Agency, US Department of Justice, Jon Eisenberg, John Negroponte, AT&T, Al Haramain Islamic Foundation (Oregon branch), Garr King, Keith Alexander, Electronic Frontier Foundation
December 2, 2006: Reyes Named House Intelligence Committee Chair
Silvestre Reyes. [Source: Foreign Policy (.com)]Representative Nancy Pelosi (D-CA), slated to become the new speaker of the House when the Democrats take over leadership of the House in January 2007, names Silvestre Reyes (D-TX) as the chairman of the House Intelligence Committee. Reyes, a former soldier and Border Patrol chief before being elected to Congress, is named to the chairmanship over two other Intelligence Committee Democrats, Jane Harman (D-CA) and Alcee Hastings (D-FL), both of whom outrank him on the committee. Generally an advocate for the military, Reyes supports withdrawing from Iraq, and voted against the original war resolution. He has accused the Bush administration of using "cherry-picked" and "manipulated" intelligence to justify invading Iraq. He is also a strong critic of the Bush administration's warrantless wiretapping program (see December 15, 2005). [Washington Post, 12/2/2006] Evidence will later show that Harman may have improperly accepted assistance from an Israeli agent, who promised to lobby Pelosi on Harman's behalf for the chairmanship (see October 2005 and April 19, 2009).
Entity Tags: House Intelligence Committee, Bush administration (43), Jane Harman, Nancy Pelosi, Alcee Hastings, Silvestre Reyes
December 11, 2006: Judge Limits Libby's Introduction of Classified Material into Evidence
Judge Reggie Walton rules that former White House aide Lewis Libby's lawyers will be restricted in how they present classified information during Libby's perjury and obstruction trial. Prosecutors, led by special counsel Patrick Fitzgerald, have complained that Libby's lawyers have made unreasonable demands for huge amounts of classified White House and other government documents, many of which are irrelevant, and have attempted to "graymail" the prosecution into dropping the charges against Libby for fear that the trial will reveal national security secrets (see After October 28, 2005, January 31, 2006, February 6, 2006, (February 16, 2006), and September 27, 2006). Libby says that his work with security issues such as terrorist threats and foreign nuclear programs caused him to inadvertently lie to the FBI (see October 14, 2003 and November 26, 2003) and to Fitzgerald's grand jury (see March 5, 2004 and March 24, 2004), and he wants to present classified information during his trial to prove the extent of his workload. Walton rules that the substitutions and summaries Fitzgerald has provided to the Libby lawyers will allow Libby "substantially the same ability to make his defense as would disclosure of the specific classified information." NBC News producer Joel Seidman, writing for MSNBC, reports that Walton's ruling may spell the end of Libby's attempts to derail the trial by the use of "graymail" (see After October 28, 2005, January 31, 2006, February 6, 2006, (February 16, 2006), and September 27, 2006). [Associated Press, 12/11/2006; MSNBC, 12/11/2006]
Entity Tags: Patrick J. Fitzgerald, Joel Seidman, Lewis ("Scooter") Libby, Reggie B. Walton
December 13, 2006: Conservatives, Liberals Join in Legal Brief Supporting Enemy Combatant's Right to Trial
Civil libertarians, both conservative and liberal, join in filing a legal brief on behalf of suspected al-Qaeda sleeper agent Ali Saleh Kahlah al-Marri (see December 12, 2001), whose lawyers are preparing to file a suit challenging his detention as an "enemy combatant" (see February 1, 2007). Liberal and progressive law school deans Harold Koh of Yale and Laurence Tribe of Harvard are joined by conservatives such as Steven Calabresi, a former Reagan White House lawyer and co-founder of the staunchly conservative Federalist Society, in a brief that argues an immigrant or a legal resident of the US has the right to seek his freedom in the US court system. Al-Marri is a Qatari citizen who attended Bradley University in Illinois. The brief argues that the Military Commissions Act (MCA) (see October 17, 2006) is unconstitutional. The brief "shows the phrases 'conservative' and 'libertarian' have less overlap than ever before," says law professor Richard Epstein, a Federalist Society member who signed it, adding, "This administration has lost all libertarians on all counts." Koh says: "This involves the executive branch changing the rules to avoid challenges to its own authority. Serious legal scholars, regardless of political bent, find what the government did inconsistent with any reasonable visions of the rule of law." Epstein, who says Koh is "mad on many issues," agrees, calling the al-Marri case "beyond the pale." He says, "They figured out every constitutional protection you'd want and they removed them." Lawyer Jonathan Hafetz, representing al-Marri, says the case brings up issues about what the framers of the Constitution intended—something libertarians and judicial conservatives often look to. [Associated Press, 12/13/2006]
Entity Tags: Richard Epstein, Ali Saleh Kahlah al-Marri, Federalist Society, Harold Koh, Steven Calabresi, Jonathan Hafetz, Laurence Tribe
December 14, 2006: Neoconservative Study Provides Counter-Proposal to Iraq Study Group Effort
After the Iraq Study Group (ISG) report is tossed aside by President Bush (see December 2006), his neoconservative advisers quickly locate a study more to their liking. Not surprisingly, it is from the neoconservative American Enterprise Institute. The study, written by Frederick Kagan (the brother of Robert Kagan, a signatory of the 1998 PNAC letter urging then-President Clinton to overthrow Saddam Hussein—see January 26, 1998), was commissioned in late September or early October by Kagan's AEI boss, Danielle Pletka, the vice president of foreign and defense studies at the institute. Kagan later says that Plekta thought "it would be helpful to do a realistic evaluation of what would be required to secure Baghdad." The study is released during a four-day planning exercise that coincides with the release of the ISG report, but Kagan says neither the timing nor the report itself has anything to do with the ISG. "This is not designed to be an anti-ISG report," Kagan insists. "Any conspiracy theories beyond that are nonsense. There was no contact with the Bush administration. We put this together on our own. I did not have any contact with the vice president's office prior to… well, I don't want to say that. I have had periodic contact with the vice president's office, but I can't tell you the dates." Kagan's study, with the appealing title "Choosing Victory: A Plan for Success in Iraq," says that 20,000 more US troops deployed throughout Baghdad will turn the tide and ensure success. The study becomes the centerpiece of Bush's "surge" strategy (see January 2007). [Unger, 2007, pp. 342-343]
Entity Tags: Bush administration (43), American Enterprise Institute, Iraq Study Group, George W. Bush, Frederick Kagan, Danielle Pletka
December 19, 2006: Libby Defense Team Informs Court that Cheney Will Testify
Lewis Libby's defense lawyers inform the court that they intend to call Vice President Dick Cheney as a witness in Libby's trial. "We're calling the vice president," says lead defense lawyer Theodore Wells. For his part, Cheney says he is willing to testify on behalf of his former chief of staff. "We don't expect him to resist," says another of Libby's lawyers, William Jeffress. Apparently, the defense intends to have Cheney establish its contention that Libby was overworked and under strain dealing with critical national security issues, a condition it says led to Libby's "inadvertent" lies and misstatements to the FBI (see October 14, 2003 and November 26, 2003) and the grand jury investigating the Plame Wilson identity leak (see March 5, 2004 and March 24, 2004). Law professor Peter Shane says Cheney's willingness to testify is unuusal because of his aggressive efforts to keep the executive branch from being forced to disclose information about its workings. Cheney's spokeswoman Lea Anne McBride says that "historians are entitled to their opinions, but the vice president has said from the very beginning that we're cooperating in this matter and we will continue to do so." [Associated Press, 12/19/2006; New York Times, 12/19/2006; Washington Post, 12/20/2006] Cheney told reporters in June that he "may be called as a witness" in Libby's trial (see June 22, 2006). However, he will not testify in the trial.
Entity Tags: Richard ("Dick") Cheney, Lea Anne McBride, Lewis ("Scooter") Libby, Peter Shane, Theodore Wells, William Jeffress, Patrick J. Fitzgerald
December 20, 2006: Wilson Challenges Libby Subpoena
Former ambassador Joseph Wilson asks Judge Reggie Walton not to compel his testimony in the Lewis Libby perjury and obstruction trial. Libby's lawyers have subpoenaed Wilson, whose wife, Valerie Plame Wilson, was exposed as a CIA official by White House officials, including Libby (see June 23, 2003, 8:30 a.m. July 8, 2003, 2:24 p.m. July 12, 2003, and Late Afternoon, July 12, 2003). Libby's lawyer, William Jeffress, has told the court that he has no intention of putting Wilson on the stand, and that the subpoena is merely a "precautionary" move. For his part, Wilson accuses Libby of trying to harass him from the courtroom. "Mr. Libby should not be permitted to compel Mr. Wilson's testimony at trial either for the purpose of harassing Mr. Wilson or to gain an advantage in the civil case," Wilson's attorneys tell the court. [Associated Press, 12/20/2006] Wilson is referring to the lawsuit he and his wife have filed against Libby and other Bush administration officials (see July 13, 2006). He will not testify in the trial.
Entity Tags: Valerie Plame Wilson, Joseph C. Wilson, Reggie B. Walton, William Jeffress, Lewis ("Scooter") Libby
December 24, 2006-January 2007: Ethiopia Invades Somalia; US Assists with Attacks in Somalia against Islamist Militants and Kills One Al-Qaeda Leader
On December 24, 2006, Ethiopia invades Somalia with US encouragement, attacking the Islamic Courts Union (ICU), an Islamist militant group that rules much of the country. The invasion is triggered because the ICU had encircled the Somali town of Baidoa, the last hold out of the Transitional Federal Government (TFG), the internationally recognized government of Somalia that actually controls very little of the country. Within days, the Ethiopians conquer the capital of Mogadishu and replace the ICU with the TFG. But Ethiopian troops remain in Somalia, occupying much of the country, and the ICU and other Islamist militant groups are not completely defeated. On January 5, 2007, al-Qaeda second-in-command Ayman al-Zawahiri issues a message urging Somalis to "consume" the "crusader" Ethiopians "as the lions eat their prey." [Time, 11/29/2007] The US had been quietly improving ties with Ethiopia, and had been secretly training Ethiopian forces in counterterrorism techniques for years. The US covertly assists Ethiopia's invasion with spy satellite data and other intelligence. A secret US special forces unit, Task Force 88, launches operations into Somalia from Kenya and Ethiopia. On January 6, two US Air Force AC-130 gunships secretly arrive at a small airport in eastern Ethiopia. The next day, they carry out a strike near a small village close to the Kenyan border, attempting to kill al-Qaeda-linked militants fleeing the country. Eight people are killed, but apparently no important al-Qaeda leaders. [New York Times, 2/23/2007] A second AC-130 strike on January 23 also misses its target. It is unknown how many are killed, but the wreckage of six large trucks is later seen at the spot of the attack. But while the US strikes are unsuccessful, al-Qaeda leader Abu Talha al-Sudani is apparently killed at some point during the fighting between Ethiopian forces and Somali militants. The US will not officially say he is dead, but US officials will unofficially say he is to Time magazine later in the year. Al-Sudani is said to have been living in Somalia since 1993 and involved in al-Qaeda attacks in Kenya in 1998 and 2002. [Washington Post, 1/8/2007; Time, 11/29/2007] By summer 2007, US and Ethiopian officials will claim that the war in Somalia is over. However, the fighting, the occasional US strikes, and the Ethiopian occupation, continue. [Time, 11/29/2007]
Entity Tags: Abu Talha al-Sudani, Ayman al-Zawahiri, Transitional Federal Government (Somalia), US Military, Islamic Courts Union
Late December, 2006: Rumsfeld Derides Iraqi Prime Minister and US Ambassador; Misrepresents His Resistance to Sending More Troops
Outgoing Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld (see November 6-December 18, 2006) holds one of his final meetings with a group of retired military officers who serve as "independent analysts" for various television news broadcasts. The analysts are integral parts of a widespread Pentagon propaganda operation designed to promote the Iraq war (see April 20, 2008 and Early 2002 and Beyond).
Vitriolic Comments - Rumsfeld, who is accompanied by the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, General Peter Pace, is unrestrained in his contempt for a number of Iraqis and Americans involved in the occupation. According to Rumsfeld, Iraq's interim Prime Minister, Ibrahim al-Jaafari, is an ineffectual "windsock." Anti-American Shi'ite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr is "a 30-year-old thug" who wants "to create a Hezbollah" in Iraq; al-Sadr, in Rumsfeld's estimation, is "not a real cleric and not well respected. [Grand Ayatollah] Sistani has, of course, all the respect… and he doesn't like him.… He opposes what he does, but he at the present time has (a) survived (b) does not have perfect control over the Sadr elements." He lauds former US ambassador to Afghanistan Zalmay Khalilzad, a fellow neoconservative who now serves as the US ambassador to Iraq, but in the next breath lambasts Khalilzad's successor in Afghanistan, Ronald Neuman. "The guy who replaced him is just terrible—Neuman," Rumsfeld says. "I mean he's a career foreign service officer. He ought to be running a museum somewhere. That's also off the record. No, he ought to be assistant to the guy… I wouldn't hire the guy to push a wheelbarrow."
Rewriting History - When Rumsfeld is asked about former Army Chief of Staff General Eric Shinseki's statement that he believed it would take several hundred thousand US troops to keep the peace in post-invasion Iraq (see February 25, 2003), Rumsfeld attempts to rewrite history, suggesting that he was ready to send more troops, but the commanders on the ground did not want them. He is asked: "What's become conventional wisdom, simply Shinseki was right. If we simply had 400,000 troops or 200 or 300? What's your thought as you looked at it?" Rumsfeld replies: "First of all, I don't think Shinseki ever said that. I think he was pressed in a congressional hearing hard and hard and hard and over again, well, how many? And his answer was roughly the same as it would take to do the job—to defeat the regime. It would be about the right amount for post-major combat operation stabilization. And they said, 'Well, how much is that?' And I think he may have said then, 'Well maybe 200,000 or 300,000.'" Both Pace and an analyst tell Rumsfeld that Shinseki's words were "several hundred thousand," and Rumsfeld continues, "Now it turned out he was right. The commanders—you guys ended up wanting roughly the same as you had for the major combat operation, and that's what we have. There is no damned guidebook that says what the number ought to be. We were queued up to go up to what, 400-plus thousand.… They were in the queue. We would have gone right on if they'd wanted them, but they didn't, so life goes on." [Chicago Tribune, 5/7/2008] In reality, Rumsfeld and his deputy Paul Wolfowitz publicly derided Shinseki's estimation, and hounded him into early retirement for his remarks (see February 27, 2003). And one of the commanders in the field that Rumsfeld cites, General James "Spider" Marks, has already noted that Rumsfeld personally denied multiple requests from the field for more troops (see April 16, 2006).
Entity Tags: Sayyid Ali Husaini al-Sistani, Ibrahim al-Jaafari, Hezbollah, Eric Shinseki, Donald Rumsfeld, James Marks, Ronald Neuman, Moqtada al-Sadr, Zalmay M. Khalilzad, Peter Pace, Paul Wolfowitz
January-February 2007: Former CIA Bin Laden Unit Chief Considered for Baghdad Station, but Is Rejected
CIA officer Richard Blee, who headed Alec Station, the CIA's bin Laden unit, at the time of the 9/11 attacks (see August 22-September 10, 2001), is considered for the position of chief of station in Baghdad, one of the CIA's largest stations. [Harper's, 1/28/2007] However, he does not get the position. [Harper's, 2/9/2007] The reasons for him not getting the job are apparently that he is seen as a "bad fit," and is closely associated with detainee abuse and renditions, in particular that of Ibn al-Shaykh al-Libi (see Shortly After December 19, 2001). In addition, he is said to have a poor relationship with the military, in particular the Special Operations community. An unnamed former official calls Blee a "smart guy," but says, "He's the last guy you want running a tense place like the station in Baghdad, because he creates a lot of tension himself." [Harper's, 1/28/2007] Shortly before mid-May 2003, Blee had been loaned to the FBI, where he had a senior position, but his career history after that is unknown. [New York Times, 5/15/2003]
Entity Tags: Central Intelligence Agency, Federal Bureau of Investigation, Richard Blee
January 2, 2007: Up to 10 Journalists to Testify in Libby Trial
As many as 10 journalists are expected to testify during the Lewis Libby perjury and obstruction trial. Lucy Dalglish, executive director of the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press, calls the prospect "unprecedented and, as far as I'm concerned, horrifying." Libby's lawyers may subpoena as many as seven journalists, whom they have not yet identified, to testify, in order to bolster their contention that Libby's poor memory caused him to inadvertently lie to the FBI (see October 14, 2003 and November 26, 2003) and to a grand jury (see March 5, 2004 and March 24, 2004) about his involvement in exposing the CIA identity of Valerie Plame Wilson (see January 31, 2006). Roy Peter Clark, a scholar at the Poynter Institute, says he worries about the fallout from the trial, particularly in the future ability of journalists to protect their sources. Deputy Attorney General Paul McNulty recently told Congress that the Justice Department routinely observes restraint in issuing subpoenas to reporters, and has only issued 13 media subpoenas involving confidential sources in the last 15 years. "This record reflects restraint," McNulty told Congress. "We have recognized the media's right and obligation to report broadly on issues of public controversy and, absent extraordinary circumstances, have committed to shielding the media from all forms of compulsory process." [Associated Press, 1/2/2007]
Entity Tags: Lewis ("Scooter") Libby, Paul J. McNulty, Roy Peter Clark, Lucy Dalglish
January 10, 2007: Bush Reveals 'Surge' Plan for 21,500 More US Troops in Iraq
Details of 'surge' troop deployments . [Source: Jordan Times] (click image to enlarge)In a major policy speech regarding Iraq, President Bush announces that he will order 21,500 more US combat troops to Iraq, in a troop escalation he calls a "surge." The bulk of the troops will be deployed in and around Baghdad. In addition, 4,000 Marines will go to the violent al-Anbar province. In announcing the escalation, he concedes a point he has resisted for over three years, that there have not been enough US troops in Iraq to adequately provide security and create conditions favorable for an Iraqi democracy to take hold. He admits that his previous strategy was based on flawed assumptions about the unstable Iraqi government. "Where mistakes have been made, the responsibility lies with me," he says. Bush says that to consider any withdrawals of American troops would be a grave mistake, and that by increasing the number of troops in Iraq now, conditions will improve to a point at which troops can be withdrawn. "To step back now would force a collapse of the Iraqi government," he says. "Such a scenario would result in our troops being forced to stay in Iraq even longer, and confront an enemy that is even more lethal. If we increase our support at this crucial moment, and help the Iraqis break the current cycle of violence, we can hasten the day our troops begin coming home." Bush also commits the Iraqi government to meeting a series of "benchmarks," tangible indicators of progress being made, that include adding a further 8,000 Iraqi troops and police officers in Baghdad, passage of long-delayed legislation to share oil revenues among Iraq's ethnic groups, and a $10 billion jobs and reconstruction program, to be financed by the Iraqis. Bush aides insist that the new strategy is largely the conception of the Iraqi government, with only limited input from US planners. If successful, he says, the results will be a "functioning democracy" that "fights terrorists instead of harboring them." [New York Times, 1/10/2007; ABC News, 1/10/2007; White House, 1/10/2007] While no one is sure how much the new policies will cost, Bush is expected to demand "billions" from Congress to fund his new escalation in the weeks ahead. [Marketwatch, 1/5/2005]
'New Way Forward' - The surge has a new marketing moniker, the "New Way Forward." Some believe that the surge is more for political and public relations purposes than any real military effectiveness. "Clearly the deteriorating situation in Iraq is the overall background," says political scientist Ole Holsti. The changes may indicate "they are looking for new bodies bringing fresh thinking…or you may have a kind of public-relations aspect," to show Bush's change in course is "more than just words." [CBS News, 1/5/2007; USA Today, 1/5/2007]
Surge Already Underway - Interestingly, while Bush announces the "new" strategy of escalating the US presence in Iraq tonight, the escalation is already well underway. 90 advance troops from the Army's 82nd Airborne are already in Baghdad, and another 800 from the same division are en route. The escalation will necessitate additional call-ups from the National Guard as well as additional reactivation of troops who have already toured Iraq and Afghanistan. Additionally, the naval group spearheaded by the aircraft carrier USS Stennis will shortly be en route to the Persian Gulf. Whether the new plan will work is anyone's guess, say military commanders in Iraq. The escalation will take several months to implement and longer to see tangible results. One military official says, "We don't know if this will work, but we do know the old way was failing."
Contradicting Previous Assertions - In announcing the surge, Bush contradicts the position he has asserted since the March 2003 invasion—that military commanders were determining the direction of the war effort. Bush has repeatedly spoken of his disdain for micromanaging the war effort, and has said that he won't second-guess his commanders. "It's important to trust the judgment of the military when they're making military plans," he said in December 2006. "I'm a strict adherer to the command structure." However, Bush balked at following the advice of many top military officials and generals, who have recommended a gradual drawdown in troop strengths, and in recent weeks replaced several top military officials who expressed doubts about the need or efficacy of new troop deployments in Iraq (see January 5, 2007). Instead, Bush believes the escalation will alleviate the drastically deteriorating security situation in Iraq. According to Pentagon officials, the Joint Chiefs of Staff, who oppose the surge, have agreed to support it only grudgingly, and only because Bush officials have promised a renewed diplomatic and political effort to go along with the escalation. Outgoing Central Command chief General John Abizaid said in November that further troop increases were not a viable answer to the Iraq situation, and in their November 30 meeting, Iraqi prime minister Nouri al-Maliki did not ask Bush for more troops, instead indicating that he wanted Iraqi troops to take a higher profile. Viewpoints differ on Bush's interaction with his commanders up to this point—some have seen him as too passive with the generals and military advisers, allowing them almost free rein in Iraq, while others see him as asserting himself by forcing the retirements or reassignments of generals who disagree with his policies.
Rebuffing the ISG - Many observers believe the surge is a backhanded rebuff to the Iraq Study Group (see January 10, 2007).
Surge Plan Concocted at Right-Wing Think Tank - Interestingly, the surge plan itself comes largely from neoconservative planners at the American Enterprise Institute (see January 2007).
Long-Term Ramifications - The Joint Chiefs worry that a troop escalation will set up the US military for an even larger failure, without having any backup options. The Iraqis will not deliver the troops necessary for their own security efforts, they believe, and worry that US troops will end up fighting in what amounts to a political vacuum unless Bush comes up with a plan for dramatic political and economic changes to go along with the military effort. A surge could lead to increased attacks by Iraqi al-Qaeda fighters, open the troops up to more attacks by Sunni insurgents, and fuel the jihadist appeal for more foreign fighters to battle US forces in Iraq. And the escalation's short-term conception—to last no more than six to eight months—might well play into the plans of Iraq's armed factions by allowing them to "game out" the new strategy. The JCS also wonder just where Bush will find the troops for the surge. Frederick Kagan, one of the architects of the surge plan, and Republican presidential candidate John McCain want far more than 20,000 troops, but the Joint Chiefs say that they can muster 20,000 at best, and not all at once. Rumsfeld's replacement, Robert Gates, played a key role in convincing the Joint Chiefs to support the escalation. The biggest selling point of the escalation is the White House's belief that it will portray the administration as visibly and dramatically taking action in Iraq, and will help create conditions that will eventually allow for a gradual withdrawal of US troops: Bush says, "[W]e have to go up before we go down." [Washington Post, 1/10/2007]
Entity Tags: Al-Qaeda, Edward M. ("Ted") Kennedy, George W. Bush, American Enterprise Institute, Carl Levin, Frederick Kagan, Harry Reid, Iraq Study Group, Al-Qaeda in Iraq, Peter Pace, Robert M. Gates, John P. Abizaid, John McCain, Joint Chiefs of Staff, Donald Rumsfeld, Nouri al-Maliki, Nancy Pelosi, Ole Holsti
January 16, 2007: Law Professor: Libby Trial Participants Exemplify the Seven Deadly Sins
Constitutional law professor Jonathan Turley writes a sardonic take on the just-starting Lewis Libby trial (see January 16-23, 2007), and notes that the trial has no heroes, only villains and victims. Indeed, he writes, the trial can best be summed up in terms of the classical Seven Deadly Sins. There is, Turley writes, no "person of unalloyed virtue to serve as a standard for judging the rest. In fact, the case now reads like a political parable of the seven deadly sins, with each of the main characters being undone by a fundamental personality flaw." Pride, he writes, is summed up in the person of President Bush, whose pride, or hubris, led him to use falsified intelligence to order the invasion of Iraq. Sloth is summed up in Congress's failure to adequately investigate the hollow claims advanced by the administration in support of the war. Turley accuses the victims, Joseph Wilson and Valerie Plame Wilson, of a certain level of gluttony, writing that they "seemed to succumb to the allure of their newfound celebrity" after the long-running story turned them into media stars. Wrath, he writes, is framed in the person of Vice President Dick Cheney: angry at Wilson for revealing the falsehoods behind the Iraq war claims (see July 6, 2003), Cheney ordered him besmirched and discredited, an order that resulted in the outing of Wilson's wife as a CIA official. Envy, Turley says, is personified by former New York Times reporter Judith Miller, whom he claims used her rising celebrity status to inject herself into the administration's case for war with Iraq. He pins the sin of lust on prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald, accusing the government attorney of being far too eager to bring journalists in front of his grand jury and, presumably, into the Libby courtroom. And while many in the scenario can be justifiably accused of displaying the sin of greed, Turley writes, he saves this last deadly sin for Washington Post reporter Bob Woodward, whom he writes was "blinded by self-advancement," failing to acknowledge his own involvement in outing Plame Wilson even as he mocked and derided the investigation into her exposure. Turley calls the trial "the perfect Washington morality play." [Salon, 1/16/2007]
Entity Tags: Lewis ("Scooter") Libby, Bob Woodward, George W. Bush, Jonathan Turley, Patrick J. Fitzgerald, Richard ("Dick") Cheney, Valerie Plame Wilson, Judith Miller, Joseph C. Wilson
January 17, 2007: Gonzales Says Right of Habeas Corpus not Protected by Constitution
Attorney General Alberto Gonzales stuns Senate Judiciary Committee questioners when he says that the fundamental right of habeas corpus, the right for an accused person to go to court and challenge his or her imprisonment, is not protected by the Constitution. Gonzales, in response to questions by Arlen Specter (R-PA), says: "The Constitution doesn't say every individual in the United States or every citizen is hereby granted or assured the right of habeas.… There is no express grant of habeas in the Constitution. There's a prohibition against taking it away." Specter is incredulous, asking how the Constitution could bar the suspension of a right that didn't exist—a right, he notes, that was first recognized in medieval England as protection against the king's power to send subjects to royal dungeons. Gonzales does say that habeas corpus is "one of our most cherished rights," and admits that Congress has protected that right. But Gonzales refuses to acknowledge that the Constitution itself protects the right. If the Constitution does not, then Congress would be able to limit or nullify habeas corpus rights if it so chooses. Congress has not passed such an all-encompassing law yet, but it has passed a law, the Military Commissions Act, that strips the courts of any authority to hear habeas corpus suits filed by "enemy combatants."
Experts Fear Government Encroachment on Civil Liberties - But constitutional experts on both the left and the right say that Gonzales's position implies a far broader power. Erwin Chemerinsky, a law professor who has frequently criticized the Bush administration, says: "This is the key protection that people have if they're held in violation of the law. If there's no habeas corpus, and if the government wants to pick you or me off the street and hold us indefinitely, how do we get our release?" Former Reagan Justice Department official Douglas Kmiec agrees. If Gonzales's view prevails, Kmiec says, "one of the basic protections of human liberty against the powers of the state would be embarrassingly absent from our constitutional system." A Justice Department spokesman says that Gonzales is only noting the absence of a specific constitutional guarantee for habeas corpus, and acknowledges that the Supreme Court has declared "the Constitution protects [habeas corpus] as it existed at common law" in England. These rights, the spokesman says, do not apply to foreigners held as enemy combatants. [San Francisco Chronicle, 1/24/2007]
Habeas Protected in Constitution - The right of habeas corpus is clear in Article I, Section 9, Clause 2 of the Constitution: "The Privilege of the Writ of Habeas Corpus shall not be suspended, unless when in Cases of Rebellion or Invasion the public Safety may require it." [Think Progress, 1/19/2007]
Expansion of Presidential Powers - Former Reagan Justice Department attorney Bruce Fein says that Gonzales's stance on habeas corpus is an underpinning of the Bush administration's attempt to advocate the "unitary executive" theory of presidential power. Gonzales's statements contain a message: "Congress doesn't have to let [judges] decide national security matters. It's part of an attempt to create the idea that during conflicts, the three branches of government collapse into one, and it is the president." [San Francisco Chronicle, 1/24/2007]
Entity Tags: Senate Judiciary Committee, Military Commissions Act, George W. Bush, Patrick J. Leahy, Erwin Chemerinsky, Central Intelligence Agency, Alberto R. Gonzales, Arlen Specter, Douglas Kmiec, Bush administration (43), Bruce Fein
January 18, 2007: Gonzales Says President Has Power to Ignore Law in Interest of National Security
In a second day of testimony (see January 17, 2007), Attorney General Alberto Gonzales tells the Senate Judiciary Committee that the president has always had the inherent authority to bypass or ignore statutory law if he is acting in the interest of national security. Gonzales is referring to a recent Bush administration decision to use a sympathetic FISC judge to sign off on the warrantless wiretapping program (see January 17, 2007). "We commenced down this road five years ago because of a belief that we could not do what we felt was necessary to protect this country under FISA [the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act]," Gonzales testifies. "That is why the president relied upon his inherent authority under the Constitution. My own judgment is, the president has shown maturity and wisdom here in this particular decision. He recognizes that there is an inherent reservoir of inherent power that belongs to every president. You use it only when you have to. In this case, we don't have to [anymore]." Yale law professor Jack Balkin strenuously disagrees. He points to a "remarkable similarity between the administration's behavior in the Padilla case (see October 9, 2005 and December 21, 2005) and its behavior here.… Once again, the goal is to prevent a court from stating clearly that the president acted illegally and that his theories of executive power are self-serving hokum." Instead of going to Congress for the authority to conduct a warrantless wiretapping program, Balkin writes that the administration used FISA's supposed deficiencies "as an excuse to disregard the law, so that it could make claims of unbridled presidential authority to ignore FISA." [Savage, 2007, pp. 207-208; Jack Balkin, 1/18/2007]
Entity Tags: Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, Alberto R. Gonzales, Bush administration (43), Senate Judiciary Committee, Jack Balkin, George W. Bush, Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court
January 19, 2007 and After: Limbaugh: NFL Games Look Like Games 'between the Bloods and the Crips'
Conservative radio host Rush Limbaugh tells his listeners that professional football games often look like fights between two African-American street gangs. Discussing a recent National Football League (NFL) game which featured some apparently objectionable celebrating by players after scoring a touchdown, Limbaugh says that such "over the top" celebrations are sparked by "cultural" differences between black and white players. "There's something culturally wrong that is leading to all this… classless" behavior, he says, and continues: "Look, let me put it to you this way: the NFL all too often looks like a game between the Bloods and the Crips without any weapons. There, I said it." [Media Matters, 10/12/2009] Two years later, Limbaugh will address his comment on his broadcast. He will fail to apologize for the remark, and will say instead: "It was not racial. Bloods and Crips makes it look racial. But the way I chose to describe it. I could have perhaps chosen a different term." Limbaugh claims that his remark was taken "out of context" by the news media, and cites the "hypocrisy" of the media in reporting his comments as possibly racially offensive. [Media Matters, 10/14/2009] Limbaugh will be thwarted in his 2009 attempt to buy the St. Louis Rams NFL franchise (see October 15, 2009) because of his racially inflammatory remarks against black football players, including this one and a 2003 slur involving African-American quarterback Donovan McNabb (see September 28 - October 2, 2003). Indianapolis Colts owner Jim Irsay will tell other owners, "When there are comments that have been made that are inappropriate, incendiary, and insensitive… our words do damage, and it's something that we don't need." NFL commissioner Roger Goodell will call Limbaugh's comments "divisive" and something that cannot be tolerated from an NFL owner. [New York Post, 10/13/2009]
Entity Tags: Rush Limbaugh, Jim Irsay, Roger Goodell
Timeline Tags: Domestic Propaganda

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl