Defense Intelligence Agency

[Wingmaster05 0]

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/17389175/site/newsweek/

The disclosure that the Pentagon had lost a potentially important piece of evidence in one of the U.S. government’s highest-profile terrorism cases was met with claims of incredulity by some defense lawyers and human-rights groups monitoring the case. “This is the kind of thing you hear when you’re litigating cases in Egypt or Morocco or Karachi,” said John Sifton, a lawyer with Human Rights Watch, one of a number of groups that has criticized the U.S. government’s treatment of Padilla. “It is simply not credible that they would have lost this tape. The administration has shown repeatedly they are more interested in covering up abuses than getting to the bottom of whether people were abused.”

LOL and to think any time this usually happens it is forgotten within the week...sigh.

But many of the more sensational claims made by Padilla—that he was, for example, injected with LSD or some other drug designed to be used as a “truth serum”—have also been vigorously denied by the government. Sandy Seymour, the brig technical director, testified that Padilla did receive an injection, but that it was a flu shot, not LSD. But the government’s overall conduct in the case has bolstered skepticism about its claims. Padilla has been treated differently from virtually every other domestic terror suspect. Arrested by the FBI at Chicago’s O’Hare airport in May 2002, Padilla—a U.S. citizen—was declared an “enemy combatant” under an order signed by President Bush the following month. He was then removed from the criminal-justice system and whisked off to the military brig without any criminal charges filed against him. He was not allowed to consult with a lawyer. At the time, Attorney General John Ashcroft said the president acted after receiving intelligence reports that Padilla had re-entered the United States on his way back from Pakistan in order to carry out an Al Qaeda plot to set off a radiological “dirty bomb” inside the country.As an enemy combatant, Padilla was a candidate for a number of aggressive interrogation techniques, including manipulation of temperatures and exploitation of phobias, that were for a time approved by Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld. But the handling of his case—particularly of the government’s refusal to allow him to have an attorney—provoked a fierce national debate over civil liberties, which eventually went to the Supreme Court in 2004.

That’s what makes the timing of the missing DVD noteworthy. In the spring of 2004, not long after the final interrogation session on March 2, and just before oral arguments before the Supreme Court, Padilla’s lawyers were notified they would be permitted to consult with him after all.And then on June 1, 2004, just weeks before the Supreme Court was expected to rule on the case, James Comey, deputy attorney general at the time, released a declassified Pentagon document that was said to be based on the secret interrogation sessions of Padilla in the military brig. The document said that Padilla had apparently confessed to having undergone weapons training at an Al Qaeda camp in Afghanistan and had met with Al Qaeda leaders Khalid Shaikh Mohammed and Abu Zubaydah. He allegedly discussed with them the idea of detonating a nuclear or radiological bomb in the United States. But Al Qaeda leaders were said to have concluded the plan was unworkable and instead dispatched him on a mission to blow up high-rise apartment buildings.Comey described the account as a “sobering story” that illustrated the continuing danger from Al Qaeda’s efforts to bring operatives into the country. But he and other government officials acknowledged the statements Padilla made in the course of the interrogation sessions could never be used as evidence in a regular courtroom, because they were made without him ever being advised of his legal rights. The government has also consistently refuses to discuss how Padilla was interrogated, saying such a disclosure would assist Al Qaeda to prepare countermeasures for other operatives who might be captured in the future.As it turned out, the Supreme Court did not rule on Padilla’s treatment in 2004 and instead sent the case back to the lower courts on technical grounds. But the expectation that it would return—and that the Supreme Court would ultimately rule that the president’s action was unconstitutional—prompted the government to transfer him back into Justice Department custody and indict Padilla on criminal charges in November 2005. The indictment accused Padilla of being part of a North American support cell that was committed to promoting violent jihad abroad. But it made no mention of the dirty-bomb plot—or even one against apartment buildings—the allegations that the administration originally used to justify his highly unusual treatment.

[speedz99 145]

Oh.

[SBriand 4]

My.

[SuitedAces21 2,722]

God.

[speedz99 145]

/scene

[NaugaHyde 0]

Land of the free

[ShakeZuma 585]

this thread needs some Jimmy BuffettTried to amend my carnivorous habits.Made it nearly seventy days,Losin' weight without speed, eatin' sunflower seeds,Drinkin' lots of carrot juice and soakin' up rays.But at night I'd have these wonderful dreamsSome kind of sensuous treat.Not zucchini, fettuccini, or bulgur wheat,But a big warm bun and a huge hunk of meat.Cheeseburger is paradise.Heaven on earth with an onion slice.Not too particular, not too precise.I'm just a cheeseburger in paradise.I like mine with lettuce and tomato,Heinz Fifty-seven and French fried potatoes.Big kosher pickle and a cold draft beer.Well, good God Almighty, which way do I steerFor my cheeseburger in paradise.Verse 2:Heard about the old time sailor men,They eat the same thing again and again;Warm beer and bread they say could raise the dead.Well, it reminds me of the menu at a Holiday Inn.But times have changed for sailors these days.When I'm in port I get what I need;Not just Havanas or banana or daiquiris,But that American creation on which I feed!Cheeseburger is paradise medium rare with mustard'd be niceNot too particular, not too preciseI'm just a cheeseburger in paradise.I like mine with lettuce and tomatoHeinz 57 and french fried potatoesBig kosher pickle and a cold draught beerWell, good god Almighty which way do I steerFor a cheeseburger in paradiseMakin' the best of every virtue and vice.Worth every damn bit of sacrificeTo get a cheeseburger in paradise;To be a cheeseburger in paradise.I'm just a cheeseburger in paradise.

[Jeepster80125 0]

Damn you guys are good.