"Bush tried to put gays in the closet"

During 2008 ACLU membership conference, executive director Anthony Romero criticized President Bush and said that his administration was focused on keeping gays in the closet and abortions in the back alleys. He said that since 9/11 America has been opposed by the White House and abandoned by a feeble congress. This is the time, he said, to lead America back to the core principles it was founded on.

Romero said that the ACLU is the worlds largest organized law firm, and since 2001 membership has nearly doubled growing from 300,000 to 550,000 members. He also said that the ACLU’s docket has grown to 2,000 cases and that they have doubled their sponsors since 2000. He spoke on recent ACLU victories, most notably gay marriage.

He also said that he expected Guantanamo Bay to be closed and evacuated the day the new president is sworn into office. He said that along with Guantanamo Bay, the most important issues of this point in history are gay marriage, separation of church and state, and immigration. He said that the ACLU has a long history of standing on principles and they believe that the Bill of Rights applies to every person in every circumstance. He also said that the protection of religious liberty was on the forefront of the group’s agenda.

Fraternity pranks at Guantanamo Bay

The Federal Bureau of Investigation’s (FBI) involvement and observations of detainee interrogations in Guantanamo Bay was discussed by Mr. Glenn A. Fine, Inspector General of the US Department of Justice spoke before the House Committee on Foreign Affairs Subcommittee on International Organizations, Human Rights and Oversight where the Chairman William D. Delahunt (D-Mass.) and Ranking Member Dana Rohrabacher (R-Calif.) presided.

Shortly before the beginning of the proceedings, the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) sent a memo to Chairman Delahunt urging him to question the roles of Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and her Legal Adviser John Bellinger on the issue of torture. Chairman Delahunt discussed that it was important to find out if unfair treatment was sanctioned at the highest levels of accountability by U.S. troops.

Inspector General Fine testified that FBI agents in Guantanamo did not participate in joint interrogations of detainees in the way that other governmental agencies have been accused of doing. These accusations have included tying a dog leash to the detainee, stress positions and placing women’s underwear on his head. Rohrabacher defended Guantanamo troops, describing such actions as ‘hazing pranks from a fraternity’ which were merely humiliating and different from torture. Chairman Delahunt said that during interrogations, using a professional approach to question detainees was more successful than the “cowboy approach” troops have been alleged of practicing.

Guantanamo Bay: Two hours of sunlight

Sabin Willett, a lawyer at Bingham McCutchen LLP in Boston described the life of his client Huzaifa Parhat and other Uighurs that are currently detained at Guantanamo Bay during the House Committee on Foreign Affairs Subcommittee on International Organizations, Human Rights, and Oversight. According to Willett, Huzaifa and other Uighurs are kept in solitary confinement; their only access to daylight is through a four meters square chimney during a two hour period of the day, and only if these two hours occur during sunlight. This detention remains despite the fact that Huzaifa and other Uighurs have been cleared of all original charges. Willett said that psychologists recommend that a person not be totally isolated for more than a day and reminded the committee that Uighurs have been confined in isolation for years.

The testimony of Murat Kurnaz, a Turkish citizen raised in Germany, is the first former Guantanamo Bay prisoner to testify before the United States Congress. Met with surprise and shock by members of the committee, Kurnaz recalled his story of being arrested in Pakistan while on a trip with a friend to learn Arabic with a British based Islamic foundation. Kurnaz was placed in military prisons in Afghanistan and Guantanamo Bay. While detained, Kurnaz stated that he was punched in the stomach while his head was submerged in a bucket of water, forcing him to inhale water. He also said that he was hung repeatedly from the ceiling by his hands. Kurnaz said military interrogators told him he was being detained due to his involvement in his friend’s suicide bombing. Kurnaz reiterated that he had never been involved with radical Islam. In addition, his friend did not die in a suicide bombing and currently lives in Germany. According to Kurnaz’s lawyers, this man has never been charged with a crime. Kurnaz said he was only released upon signing a document stating that he had been involved with radical Islamists.

Representative Sheila Jackson Lee (D-Texas) stated that the Bush administration was able to avoid due process by labeling individuals as enemy combatants and suggested an critical review of the term. Chairman William Delahunt (D-Mass.) reminded the committee that the White House has yet to acknowledge mistakes made at Guantanamo Bay. Representative Jerrold Nadler (D-N.Y.) offered an apology to Kurnaz on behalf of the United States government while Dana Rohrabacher (R-Calif.) stressed the need to correctly identify human rights violations and emphasized the need to combat radical Islam.

Gates explains Iran and Guatanamo policies to the Senate

Secretary of Defense Robert Gates and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Adm. Mike Mullen testified before the Senate Appropriations Committee about the FY09 Budget request for the Department of Defense. The total budget is $515.4 billion or 3.4 percent of U.S. GDP. $35 Billion more than last budget period. The budget includes $183.8 billion for modernization. Included in legislation is a request is for $70 billion in bridge funding which goes to funding the war. Gates made the complaint that the Congress still has not authorized the war supplemental request from $108 billion. Gates repeated a point made by his press secretary that Army payroll accounts could be dry by June if the Congress does not pass both the DoD budget and the war supplemental funding measures.


One of the most interesting exchanges occurred between Sen. Arlen Specter (R-PA) and Sec. Gates. Specter asked repeated question about the U.S. diplomatic relationship with Iran. Specter made reference to statements made by Gates last week, when he said that the U.S. should seek out more leverage to negotiate with Iran. Specter argued that the United States had more leverage in 2003 at the beginning of the war, when government of Iran seemed open to some kind of talks. Specter also said that it ridiculous to use our ultimate goal--the cessation of Iran's nuclear activities-- as a precondition to talks. "We sit across from them and speculate," said Specter saying that only more direct talks will lead to figuring out more leverage.


Also interesting was Sen. Diane Feinstein's (D-Calif) questions on the progress of a DoD investigation into the possibility of closing Guantanamo Bay prison. "Frankly, we're stuck," responded Gates. He outlined the roadblocks. Gates said that the Defense Department is struggling to get foreign countries to accept their detainees back, to ensure that accepted detainees are further detained and not let go, and to place detainees that will not be accepted back, will not be tried, but can not be released because of the risk that they will again engage in terrorism against the United States. Feinstein was critical saying that the investigation has done nothing so far to "absolve the massive loss of credibility" the U.S. has suffered over Guantanamo.

Report sheds light on the “most serious issues of our time.”

Members of the American Civil Liberties Union as well as Representatives Robert Wexler (D-Fla.) and Jerrold Nadler (D-N.Y.), chairman of the Judiciary Subcommittee on the Constitution, Civil Rights and Civil Liberties, met today to discuss the Department of Justice Inspector General’s report on the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s role in harsh interrogations conducted on detainees abroad. The report is expected to be released sometime today or tomorrow, according to the ACLU.

The DOJ Inspector General’s report has been in the works for about four years and its release has been long anticipated. The ACLU hopes the report will disclose the nature of the FBI’s involvement in the interrogations and what steps FBI officials took to try and stop the torture and abuse, and any new informations regarding the approval of torture for use during investigations. Congress requested the report after documents were released during litigation to enforce and Oct. 2003 ACLU Freedom of Information Act request for records concerning the treatment of prisoners in U.S. custody abroad.

Nadler hopes the report will investigate the administrations harsh use of interrogation like torture. “We now know that the instigation of torture were made at the highest level of government” and those who made the decision need to be held accountable. Nalder also offered criticism towards the FBI for the slow manner in which they acted on the complaints.

Rep. Wexler spoke about the lack of an open dialogue in Congress on the torture policy and believes that the report will “shed light on one of the most serious issues of our time.” Wexler believes that there needs to be a thorough investigation into the actions of the Bush Administration and the abuse of power and their lack of intention to engage in a meaningful dialogue with Congress about torture or any other substantive issue.