A Look Back At Peculiar Capitol Hill Appearances
Friday, September 24, 2010 at 12:42PMWhile comedian Stephen Colbert’s appearance before a House Judiciary Subcommittee Friday has riled some feathers, it’s worth noting that he is not the first celebrity to raise eyebrows by coming to the Hill.
Dee Snider And Frank Zappa
Heavy metal singer Dee Snider and Mothers of Invention frontman Frank Zappa both appeared before the Senate Commerce, Science and Transportation committee in 1985 to discuss the influence of rock lyrics.
Zappa described efforts from the Tipper Gore founded Parental Music Resource Center to place labels on records as “an ill-conceived piece of nonsense” and Snider accused the future second lady of misinterpreting lyrics he wrote to contain sadomasochistic messages.
“The only sadomasochism, bondage, and rape in this song is in the mind of Ms. Gore,” Snider said.
Michael Jackson
Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee (D-Texas) invited Michael Jackson to Washington, D.C. in 2004 to discuss Africa’s AIDS crisis with members of Congress.
While a celebrity showing up on the Hill to bring awareness to a disease is nothing shocking, the timing of Jackson’s trip certainly was.
As Jackson stalked the halls of power, reportedly wearing a silver jacket and pink lipstick, the pop star was under scrutiny from a grand jury in California over charges of child molestation.
Chris Farley
Saturday Night Live Star Chris Farley was invited to a House Republican Conference meeting in 1995 and the rotund comedian arrived dressed as Newt Gingrich. Farley then delivered a monologue impersonating the then-Speaker of the House.
Running through a satirical legislative agenda, Farley asked members to approve measures to make Atlanta, Georgia the new U.S. capital and pass a resolution to keep reporters away from Gingrich’s mother.
The Salahis
Michaele and Tareq Salahi, the socialite couple who garnered notoriety after crashing a state dinner at the White House, faced the House Homeland Security Committee this January after receiving a subpoena.
Although their appearance set off a media blitz, the testimony from gatecrashers was less than substantive.
“On advice of counsel, I respectfully assert my right to remain silent and not answer,” was Tareq Salahi’s sole response to a myriad of questions from the committee.
Young Ronald Reagan
The 1950’s era wave to root out Communists from the U.S. government and entertainment industry involved a whole slate of celebrities.
One noticeable occurrence during the Red Scare was actor-turned-politician Ronald Reagan’s testimony before the House Committee on Un-American Activities.
Reagan, the President of the Screen Actors Guild at the time, was asked by the committee if he had any inner knowledge on socialism within the film industry.
“I do not believe the communists have ever at any time been able to use the motion picture screen as a sounding board for their philosophy or ideology,” Reagan said.
Other celebrities roped into HUAC’s investigation included Lucille Ball, Orson Welles and folk singer Pete Seeger.
Tortured On The Order Of U.S. Government
If you were being tortured, both physically and mentally to the point of near-death, if your wife had been threatened with rape and your family with abuse would you sign a statement admitting to criminal offenses that you did not commit?
This may be the situation with Naji Hamdan, 47, a U.S. citizen, who claims that he admitted to perpetrating terror related crimes whilst under torture.
“[Hamdan] was placed in a blindingly white room, where he was unable to differentiate the day from the night for three months. In the room the AC was constantly on full-blast and Naji was denied a blanket or even a jacket to keep warm. For the three months that Naji was in state security custody the U.A.E. interrogators would alternate between placing him in solitary confinement for weeks at a time and taking him out blind-folded and handcuffed and torturing him,” said Reem Salahi, Hamdan’s lawyer from ACLU (American Civil Liberties Union).
According to Salahi the only evidence against Hamdan that the U.A.E. will present are confessions to crimes signed under torture.
Hamdan who lived for 20-years in Southern California, moved to the United Arab Emirates to expand his business in 2008. Today he faces life imprisonment under U.A.E. law for terror related crimes.
The FBI first investigated Hamdan in 1999, when he was placed under surveillance and taken in for questioning. Hamdan was never charged for any crime, but his lawyers say he was unfairly questioned because he is a Muslim activist.
In August 2008, after visiting family in Lebanon, Hamdan was taken and detained by U.A.E. security forces for three months. Salahi said “During that time he was interrogated about the years he spent in the U.S. and about information only U.S. federal agents would have. He was tortured severely. At least one American official participated in his interrogation and witnessed his torture,” Salahi said.
Salahi accuses the American government of allowing the U.A.E. to detain and interrogate Hamdan “knowing he would be subject to torture.”
In November 2008, the ACLU filed a habeas petition in the D.C. District Court alleging that the U.S. government was responsible for his improper detention and subjection to torture. One week after filing the petition Hamdan was charged in the U.A.E with “terror related crimes, based on nothing more than his forced confessions,” Salahi said.
On November 26, 2008 Hamdan was transferred to the U.A.E. criminal custody, a normal prison, where he was able to speak to family and legal representatives for the first time in three months since being detained. Salahi said, “the timing of this transfer is most certainly not coincidence, but a clear attempt of the U.S. government to avoid the reach of our lawsuit.”
Salahi added, “Naji Hamdan is a victim of the U.S. government’s policy and practice under the Bush administration, of requesting a foreign government to arrest and detain terrorism suspects, who we cannot arrest and detain ourselves under our laws.”
Salahi accused the American government of “asking another government to do its dirty work.”
Hamdan’s case will be heard in the U.A.E Supreme Court and no appeal following the decision will be granted.
Salahi is currently in Washington D.C. talking to Member’s of Congress about Hamdan’s trial. The ACLU is asking Congress for “Mr. Hamdan’s release because he is a victim of torture and the evidence against him was obtained through torture....If prosecuted in the U.A.E., ensure that Mr. Hamdan receives a fair trial and that evidence obtained under torture is not used against him....Investigate the role of the United States in Mr. Hamdan’s detention and torture.”
Speaking in support of Hamdan’s case, Dbraham Romey from The Muslim American Society (MAS) said, “We are saying to the Congress of the United States, to the President of the United States, to the Attorney General, to the Secretary of State, to leaders of the U.S. military, that we will not be silent and complicit in the ongoing abomination that is torture.”
The ACLU has made contact with Congressman Howard Berman (D-Calif.) who, as Chair of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, has written to Attorney General Eric Holder and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton concerning this case. A response is still forthcoming from both Cabinet members.
Whilst in D.C. Salahi will contact other Members’ to ask for their support in releasing her client.
An U.A.E. Supreme Court trial date for Hamdan looks set to be given in the near future.