Blue Spot

Democracy Now! | Ex-CIA Officials Tied to Rendition Program and Faulty Iraq Intel Tapped to Head Obama's Intelligence Transition Team

...questions are already being raised about the people heading Obama’s transition efforts on intelligence policy. John Brennan and Jami Miscik, both former intelligence officials under George Tenet, are leading the review of intelligence agencies and helping make recommendations to the new administration. Brennan has supported warrantless wiretapping and extraordinary rendition, and Miscik was involved with the politicized intelligence alleging weapons of mass destruction in the lead-up to the war on Iraq.

MELVIN GOODMAN: OK. John Brennan was deputy executive secretary to George Tenet during the worst violations during the CIA period in the run-up to the Iraq war, so he sat there at Tenet’s knee when they passed judgment on torture and abuse, on extraordinary renditions, on black sites, on secret prisons. He was part of all of that decision making.

Jami Miscik was the Deputy Director for Intelligence during the run-up to the Iraq war. So she went along with the phony intelligence estimate of October 2002, the phony white paper that was prepared by Paul Pillar in October 2002. She helped with the drafting of the speech that Colin Powell gave to the United Nations—[inaudible] 2003, which made the phony case for war to the international community.

So, when George Tenet said, "slam dunk, we can provide all the intelligence you need,” [inaudible] to the President in December of 2002, it was people like Jami Miscik and John Brennan who were part of the team who provided that phony intelligence. So what I think people at the CIA are worried about—and I’ve talked to many of them over the weekend—is that there will never be any accountability for these violations and some of the unconscionable acts committed at the CIA, which essentially amount to war crimes, when you’re talking about torture and abuse and secret prisons. So, where are we, in terms of change? This sounds like more continuity.

The left-wing is starting to show concern over Obama's recent choices for his transition team, his cabinet and what seems to many in the anti-war movement as an embrace of the militaristic policies of the 90's. Obama's foreign policy critics may soon come from many on the left-wing who may have supported Obama's campaign but now want to make sure he lives up to the promises he made for true change.

Labels: Afghanistan, anti-war movement, Congress, FISA, Foreign Policy, Gitmo, Impeachment, Intelligence, Iran, Iraq War, Liberals, Obama administration, Obama critics, Pakistan, Rahm Emanuel, WMD

After Gitmo Ruling, What Next for Detainees? | Newsweek National News | Newsweek.com

The Supreme Court delivered a blow to the Bush administration's polarizing Guantánamo Bay policies Thursday, giving the roughly 300 foreign terror suspects being held there the right to challenge their detention through the U.S. civilian court system. In a 5-4 ruling on the jointly decided cases Boumediene v. Bush and Al-Odah v. The United States, the nation's highest court determined that the detainees have a constitutional right to habeas corpus despite their detention outside the borders of the United States. Further, the justices rejected the administration's argument that the reviews provided through the Military Commissions Act of 2006 and the Detainee Treatment Act of 2005 were adequate substitutes for that right.

Also announced was the court's decision on the cases of Shawqui Omar and Mohammad Munaf, Americans detained on terrorism-related charges in Iraq who similarly argued for habeas corpus and challenged their pending transfer to Iraqi authorities. While the justices likewise upheld their habeas rights, they unanimously ruled that Iraq has jurisdiction over those within their borders.

Jonathan Hafetz: It's a vindication of the basic principle that government cannot deprive individuals of habeas corpus when it detains them merely by holding them outside the United States. It's a real vindication for the Guantánamo detainees to finally have their day in court and for the rule of law. It also has implications for the military commissions, because if the Constitution applies, then all the people who have been charged before the commissions are going to be able to contend that the commissions have to satisfy the Constitution, which they haven't been able to do so far.

Labels: Constitutional attacks, Gitmo, Supreme Court, Terrorism, Torture