Guantanamo at Brave New Films

Congressman Hunter Defends Torture

2008-09-06T12:50:54Z

Watch more convention coverage at www.theyoungturks.com.

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Love to Hero

2008-09-06T12:32:45Z

Memorial Grove part one or two

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MItt Romney: Town Hall 12/15/07

2008-08-28T16:47:09Z

Mitt Romney
Town Hall
Humboldt, IA 12/14/07

TRANSCRIPT:
MITT ROMNEY: It's been interesting over these past several months to watch the Democrats increasingly ratchet up their rhetoric attacking the President. And uhh, of course, as I've pointed out, the war in Iraq has not been perfectly managed. We did a great job knocking down Saddam Hussein and his military. But then after that we were under-prepared and under-planned, under-staffed; The President has pointed out those weaknesses. Tony Blair has.
There is no question we were not perfectly managed. Although today we are making great progress with the surge, and its working. And we're helping the Sunnis reject Al Qaeda amongst them. And that being said, by the way, I must admit I was shocked to pick up the paper and read . . . actually I didn't pick up the paper, I got on the internet. Sorry guys in the newspaper business, I don't get the paper like I used to, I got on the computer and I'm reading the news on the internet. But one of my fellow Republicans said that this administration, he accused this administration of an 'arrogant Bunker mentality.' And I had to look again, did this come from Barack Obama? Or from Hillary Clinton? Did it come from John Edwards? No, it was one of our own, it was Governor Huckabee. He said [the]'Bush administration is guilty of an arrogant bunker mentality that's been counterproductive here and abroad. I simply can't believe that. I can't believe he'd say that. I'm afraid he's running for the wrong party.
The truth of the matter is, this president has kept us safe these last six years. And that has not been easy to do. He went to Afghanistan and knocked down the Taliban there, and took out Al Qaeda's safe haven from which they could launch attacks against us. Instead of just listening to what happened around the world, in places like Iraq and taking one shot after another. You know, we got hit at the USS Cole, Cobar Towers was hit, our embassies in Africa were hit. One time after another we were hit with no response, other than negotiating. This president finally said we are doing something about it. And responded aggressively, as he should have.
And here at home he made sure we passed the PATRIOT Act, so we could find out what the bad guys were planning on doing to us. And he also made sure that when Al Qaeda was calling, someone was listening. And when we captured a terrorist, we interrogated them. And you know the story about Kahild Shiek Mohammed, he's the so-called mastermind of the 9/11 tragedy. When he was captured, he said 'I'll see you in New York with my lawyer.' Can you imagine? I'm sure he was thinking an ACLU lawyer would be provided at government expense. That's not what happened. Instead, he saw GIs and CIA interrogators in Guantanamo, just like it ought to be.
And so, I'm, yeah go ahead, that's fine [applause] thank you. And so I'm of the view to say thank you to the president for keeping us safe these last six years. And I'm the last person to say that this administration is subject to an 'arrogant bunker mentality' counterproductive here and abroad.' [applause]

LABEL: MR IA 12-15 (GR#17) ASE - Clip A

To download a high res version of this clip, VISIT: issuealliance.box.net

To download the full campaign event, VISIT: issuealliance.box.net

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Living in the Trees

2008-09-06T12:32:45Z

Memorial Grove
Berkeley, California
Evening
August 24, 2008

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MIR: So They Nabbed The Driver, But Where is OBL?

2008-09-06T14:21:38Z

Osama Bin Laden's former driver was sentenced to five and a half years in prison for supporting terrorism. Why are the prosecutors angry? And is anyone looking for Osama Bin Laden?

Answers to these questions and more on Link TV's Mosaic Intelligence Report presented by Jamal Dajani.

For more info, visit at www.linktv.org

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Afshin Rattansi interviews Guantanamo Lawyer, Gareth Peirce August 2008

2008-09-06T05:19:43Z

After the "verdict" in Occupied Cuba of Osama bin Laden's driver.
Gareth Peirce is the attorney for Moazzam Begg as well as Richard Belmar. Peirce is one of the leading human rights lawyers in Britian. She represented the Birmingham Six and Guilford Four as well as the three other British citizens released from Guantanamo last year known as the "Tipton Three". Actress Emma Thompson played her character in the movie "In the Name of the Father."

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Mixed verdict on Hamdan

2008-09-06T12:45:00Z

Aug 6 - Salim Hamdan was convicted on charges of providing material support for terrorism, but acquitted on support for al Qaeda.The trial of Osama bin Laden's former driver is the first full test of the controversial Guantanamo tribunal authorized by the Bush administration to try non-U.S. captives on terrorism charges outside the regular civilian and military courts.

Deborah Lutterbeck reports.

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Bin Laden's Driver Acquitted for Conspiracy at Guantanamo

2008-09-06T05:19:43Z

Afshin Rattansi talks to Andy Worthington, spokesman for Reprieve about the impending life imprisonment of Samir Hamdan after years of torture at U.S. prison camp Guantanamo Bay in Occupied Cuba.

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CHENEY Considered Killing Americans In Pretext 2 Attack IRAN

2008-09-02T16:58:55Z

The Pulitzer-Prize winning journalist Seymour Hersh reveals how the neocons convened around Dick Cheney and brainstormed ways to kick off World War IV, as they fondly call their pet project to take out the Muslims and foment a contrived "clash of civilizations."
According to Hersh, this meeting occurred after the neocons failed miserably to stage a rehashed version of the Gulf of Tonkin incident in the Strait of Hormuz, mostly because it is no longer 1964 and such Big Lies — thanks to the internet and bloggers — are far more difficult to float. "For all I know, our Navy was shooting at whales out there," quipped LBJ about the imaginary act of North Vietnamese boats supposedly attacking U.S. ships, leading to the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution and undeclared war in Southeast Asia, ultimately resulting in the death of nearly 60,000 Americans and around 3 million Southeast Asians.
In an exclusive Think Progress story, we learn the meeting took place in Cheney's office and the subject on the table was "how to create a casus belli between Tehran and Washington," part of an ongoing effort to provide an excuse to attack Iran. "There was a dozen ideas proffered about how to trigger a war," Hersh explains. "The one that interested me the most was why don't we build — we in our shipyard — build four or five boats that look like Iranian PT boats. Put Navy seals on them with a lot of arms. And next time one of our boats goes to the Straits of Hormuz, start a shoot-up."
Hersh would have us believe this scenario did not play out because "you can't have Americans killing Americans," an absurd explanation considering the fact the attacks of September 11 were just that — "Americans killing Americans," a calculated and cold-blooded act of mass murder carried out by elements in the U.S. government as a "new Pearl Harbor," a cynical pretext to launch the "war on terror," now grinding into its seventh year.
Ominously, these "ideas" hark back to Operation Northwoods, the JSC plan to stage a false flag terror event — or a number of events — designed to provide a pretext to invade Cuba and take out Fidel Castro. Such "ideas" included "friendly Cubans" attacking the U.S. base at Guantanamo, shooting down a drone disguised as a chartered civil airliner and blaming it on Cuba, inciting riots and staging terror attacks in Miami, and other terrorist acts. Fortunately, then Secretary of Defense, Robert McNamara, put a kibosh to this insane plan.More recently, in January, 2003, in the lead-up to the Iraq invasion George Bush and Tony Blair discussed painting planes in United Nations colors "in order to provoke an attack which could then be used to justify material breach" and thus set in motion an invasion, according to Philippe Sands, a leading British human rights lawyer (see Revealed: Bush and Blair discussed using American Spyplane in UN colors to lure Saddam into war, Channel Four News).
In fact, the neocons have not rested in their effort to foment war and force the support of the American people by way of deception. On May 16, 2008, Paul Joseph Watson, writing for Prison Planet, noted confidential recordings released under the Freedom of Information Act revealing the efforts of former Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld and top military analysts to cook up another terrorist attack on America in order to gain support for their ambitious plans to decimate Muslim culture. "The most extraordinary exchange takes place when Lt. Gen. Michael DeLong bemoans shrinking political support for Neo-Con war plans on Capitol Hill and suggests that sympathy for the Bush administration's agenda will only be achieved after a new terror attack," writes Watson. "Rumsfeld agrees that the psychological impact of 9/11 is wearing off and the 'behavior pattern' of citizens in both the U.S. and Europe suggests that they are unconcerned about the threat of terror." Rumsfeld characterizes Bush as "a victim of success" because America has not suffered "an attack in five years" and for Rumsfeld and the neocons this state of affairs is indeed lamentable.
Obviously, the neocons will stop at nothing — including the murder of more Americans in a false flag terror attack — to realize their agenda.
Finally, Sy Hersh casts suspicion on himself during the interview when he admits he did not bother to write an article on the neocon casus belli brainstorming session because it did not go forward. "So I can understand the argument for not writing something that was rejected — uh maybe. My attitude always towards editors is they're mice training to be rats.... But the point is jejune, if you know what that means." It was "jejune" because Hersh believes the "American public, if you get the right incident, the American public will support bang-bang-kiss-kiss. You know, we're into it."

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PROFILE: Guantanamo Lawyer Speaks Out

2008-09-06T12:49:11Z

http://newsproject.org

Despite its recent 5-4 rejection of the legal basis for the Guantanamo Bay detention camp, the Supreme Court may flip back to support the Bush administration's views on executive power. Steven Wax, a Federal Public Defender who represents seven Gitmo prisoners, is in the middle of this Constitutional maelstrom.

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D.C. SNAPSHOT: Bush Lawyers on Child Torture and Burial ...

2008-09-06T12:49:10Z

http://newsproject.org

On June 26, 2008, John Yoo and David Addington, two leading architects of the Bush administration's policies on torture, testified before the House Judiciary Committee. Even seemingly simple questions yielded evasive answers.

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D.C. SNAPSHOT: Feith on Torture

2008-09-06T12:49:06Z

http://newsproject.org

Does a 20-hour interrogation involving "hooding" and "removal of clothing" constitute inhumane treatment? Rep. Jerrold Nadler sought answers from Douglas Feith, an architect of the Bush administration's interrogation policies.

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Mosaic News - 7/25/08: World News from the Middle East

2008-09-04T20:24:20Z

For more: www.linktv.org
"Truce Breaks Down in Tripoli, Lebanon," Al Jazeera TV, Qatar
"Italy to Compensate Libya for Colonial Era," Dubai TV, UAE
"Did Washington Shun Syrian Delegates?" Al Arabiya TV, UAE
"Libya Threatens Switzerland," New TV, Lebanon
"Karzai Protects Drug Lords," Al Jazeera English, Qatar
"Discovering Rabat," Al-Alam TV, Iran
"Obama And The Wall," Link TV USA
Produced for Link TV by Jamal Dajani.

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American Torture

2008-08-28T20:48:38Z

Afshin Rattansi on assignment in Tehran asks Executive Intelligence Review in Washington DC whether we should thank Bush and Cheney for codifying American torture.

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U.S. Presidential Candidate Backs Torture in Gitmo

2008-07-25T19:04:51Z

Independent presidential candidate, Daniel Imperato, tells Afshin Rattansi why an "eye for an eye" policy is right when it comes to defeating terrorism.

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Live from Guantanamo Bay

2008-07-25T19:04:48Z

Criticism rages with accused 9/11 conspirators in court
2 hours ago

GUANTANAMO BAY, Cuba (AFP) — The appearance before a military judge of accused 9/11 conspirators has done little to quiet critics of the tribunal system conceived by the US government to try suspected terrorists.

This is the first major test for the extraordinary military tribunals set up after the worst terror strike on US soil. The tribunals were called off in 2006 by the Supreme Court but then were set back up by the then Republican-led Congress.

Since then the tribunals have faced a firestorm of international criticism, some US opposition and reverses that have delayed the opening of the first genuine trial.

"It was not justice, it was ridiculous," the military attorney for Mustafa al-Hawsawi, Major Jon Jackson, said Thursday after a hearing in the ultramodern new court building set up at the US naval base on Cuba's southeastern tip.

Appearances were kept up. The five accused appeared fit, each accompanied by a team of attorneys. And even if their exchanges with military judge Ralph Kohlmann at times veered toward the surreal, the tone remained polite.

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UK MP Slams Government over Guantanamo Ahead of Trial

2008-08-27T11:45:38Z

Afshin Rattansi in Tehran interviews Peter Kilfoyle in Liverpool.
Judge Refuses to Postpone Trial of Bin Laden's Driver
Published: July 17, 2008
A federal judge on Thursday refused to postpone the first military trial set for next week at the Guantánamo Bay detention center, rebuffing a last-minute plea from lawyers for Salim Hamdan, an accused member of Al Qaeda and Osama bin Laden's former driver.
Judge James Robertson, of the district court in Washington, ruled that Mr. Hamdan's claims that the military commission he faces is unconstitutional can be appealed to a civilian court only after his military trial is completed.
The ruling clears the way for the start of the first trial of a detainee at the prison complex in Cuba, opened in 2002 to hold prisoners captured in the campaign against terrorism. The trials have been delayed for years, in part by courts that found legal fault with the commissions created to try people designated by the government as "unlawful enemy combatants."

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Moazzam Begg : Against Islamophobia : June 2008

2008-09-06T12:40:39Z

Manchester, England. 5th June 2008. A rally takes pace against Islamophobia in the run up to the vote in Parliament to extend detention without charge (internment) from 28 days to 42 days.

This clips shows former Guantanamo detainee, Moazzam Begg, speaking at the rally. He was detained for 3 years and released without apology or explanation.

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How to Close Guantanamo - ASK THE EXPERT - CAP's Gude

2008-09-06T12:44:16Z

http://www.americanprogress.org/issues/2008/06/guantanamo.html

President George W. Bush is fond of saying that his administration tackles challenges head-on and refuses to leave tough decisions to his successors. No description could be further from the truth when applied to his policy at Guantánamo.

Regardless of what happens over these last months of the Bush administration, the next president will inherit a detainee policy in total disarray. Transfers out of Guantánamo have stalled; the easier cases have already been shipped out, leaving a population stabilizing at around 270 detainees. Trials of Guantánamo detainees in Military Commissions are sputtering as the unproven system struggles to get through simple procedural hearings. Future prosecutions have been thrown into doubt as charges were dropped against a detainee once thought to be the “20th hijacker” on 9/11 because too much of the evidence against him was obtained through torture.

In its third successive decision rebuking the Bush administration’s detention policies, the Supreme Court recently ruled that the Guantánamo detainees have a constitutional right to habeas corpus. This decision will finally allow the detainees to contest the lawfulness of their confinement in a truly impartial hearing before a federal judge, rejecting the Bush administration’s contention that Guantánamo existed outside the law. And beyond the prison’s walls on the eastern tip of Cuba, serious problems have arisen in Afghanistan as both U.S.- and Afghan-run detention camps are replicating the worst excesses of Guantánamo.

One critical conceptual error of the architects of Guantánamo within the Bush administration—an exclusive focus on the threat posed by the detainees themselves—has frustrated the efforts of senior officials like Secretary of Defense Robert Gates to overcome the prison’s deficiencies. This myopic vision has completely discounted the strategic impact Guantánamo has had on the global security environment. In the Bush ...

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Court voids Gitmo ruling

2008-07-21T12:40:59Z

More at therealnews.com
Michael Ratner: This decision is the death knell for Guantanamo

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Wake Up World - 6/16/08 - Newsbreak 1

2008-06-26T14:36:30Z

Emily Rackcheck brings us a check of the morning's news, including a historic supreme court ruling, and the latest from the campaign trail.

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Gen. John Abizaid on America, Terrorism, and Global Opinion

2008-07-16T16:42:12Z

Complete video at: fora.tv

Former CENTCOM Commander General John Abazaid discusses how prosecution of international terrorism has affected global perceptions of the United States.

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In the wake of the abrupt departure of his successor, Adm. William J. Fallon, who served just over a year, and the high profile of the issue of the U.S. presence in Iraq in the presidential campaign, General Abizaid offers a timely examination of U.S. presence in the Middle East: past, present, and future - Grace Cathedral

John P. Abizaid retired from the United States Army after 34 years, during which he rose from an infantry platoon leader to become the youngest four-star general in the Army and the longest-serving commander of United States Central Command.

General Abizaid is a highly decorated officer who has been awarded numerous service medals and holds military honors from Germany, France, Poland, Bulgaria, Romania, Australia, Afghanistan and Egypt. In June 2007, he returned to the Hoover Institution as the Annenberg Distinguished Visiting Fellow.

Alan Jones, Ph.D., has been dean of Grace Cathedral in San Francisco since 1985. Jones was formerly the director of the Center for Christian Spirituality and Stephen F. Bayne Professor of Ascetical Theology at General Theological Seminary in New York City. Born and educated in England, Jones was also on the staff of Trinity Institute of Wall Street's Trinity Church. He became a citizen of the United States in 1975.

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Global Pulse - 06/19/08: Gitmo - The Constitution Asserted

2008-08-12T18:19:54Z

(June 19, 2008) America's war on terror encountered a new challenge. In a stunning decision, the Supreme Court said even suspected foreign terrorists are protected by the U.S. Constitution.
Can the landmark ruling and the lesson of one man's ordeal end the legal
limbo of detainees at Guantanamo Bay?

SOURCES: NBC, U.S.; Al Jazeera, Qatar; ABC, U.S.; Press TV, Iran; Fox, U.S.;
BBC, U.K.; Herald Sun, Australia; Metro News, U.K.; Intl. Herald Tribune, U.S.

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Wake Up World - 6/16/08 - Newsbreak 1

2008-06-24T10:36:31Z

Emily Rackcheck brings us a check of the morning's news, including a historic supreme court ruling, and the latest from the campaign trail.

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Riz Khan - Guantanamo: the detainees - 17 June 08 - Part 1

2008-06-23T16:42:45Z

Who are the detainees of Guantanamo Bay and why were they held for so long if they had no real information?

Riz Khan talks to Roy Gutman and Matt Schofield of McClatchy News Service about the lives of those captured, held and released from Guantanamo.

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