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Patrick Leahy slams Gonzales over rendition, torture [VIDEO]

Posted by Joshua Holland at 12:12 PM on January 26, 2007.


Joshua Holland: There's a new sheriff in town; watch the Attorney General dodge and weave ...

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This is what oversight looks like, courtesy of Senate Judiciary chair Patrick Leahy.

The clip begins with some background so if you're familiar with the case of Maher Arar -- the Canadian citizen who was stopped at JFK airport, sent to Syria to be tortured and later found to be completely innocent -- skip the first 2:40 in the video, to 4:27 (counting down) ...



Today, Arar got a formal apology from the Canadian government, along with $10.5 million in damages.

Digg!

Joshua Holland is a staff writer at Alternet and a regular contributor to The Gadflyer.


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Impeach Gonzalez.
Posted by: brunowe on Jan 26, 2007 1:33 PM   
Current rating: Not yet rated    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
If the impeachment of Bush/Cheney is considered to difficult to do politically, Gonzalez is surely a lower-hanging fruit.

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» RE: Impeach Gonzalez. Posted by: willymack
I Hope Leahy Cooks Gonzales...
Posted by: bob t on Jan 26, 2007 1:38 PM   
Current rating: Not yet rated    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
...because that little toad from Texass is really shredding our democracy, but then what does he care the oil companies and all of Big Business, Big Neocons and Big Religion will take very good care of him after Bush pardons him in December 2008 along with Libby and Cheney, Addington, Hadley, Rice, Colin Powell, Michael Powell and the Pope for his complicity in all this as well as Tim Russert, Robert Novak and Rupert Murdoch etc.etc.etc, ad infinitum and ad nauseam. All birds of a feather who are dancing with the devil while America, our troops and the middle east burns. Dance with the devil and he will own their souls.

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I'm in love
Posted by: HeroesAll on Jan 26, 2007 2:22 PM   
Current rating: Not yet rated    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
Wow. Just wow. Leahy is superb. I mean, I thought he was good to begin with, but when he let loose he was magnificent. Not just articulate, not just forceful, not just impassioned, but all three together, and particularly when he refused to take that weasel's excuses. The sight of that slimy AG squirming was so satisfying.

I mean, what could possibly have been in the 'secret briefing' that could answer all those questions? And very nicely pointed questions they were too. I particularly liked the "We didn't send him to Canada, 100 miles away" routine. And I was glad that he managed to get in something about why send him to Syria, that country that's part of the Axis Of Almost As Evil?

I also get the feeling that Leahy's not going to be content to wait for a 'briefing' that never happens, or be satisfied with a cobbled-together pile of nothing. Which is good, because I really want to see the return bout. This is more fun than sex. Okay, I lied, but it's certainly more fun than any political event since our ex-ex-leader of the Opposition called the government a 'conga line of suckholes'.

Leahy for President, goddammit!

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» RE: I'm in love Posted by: willymack
» Irish hellraisers Posted by: HeroesAll
» RE: I'm in love Posted by: amycrawford
Don't You Feel Better
Posted by: NoPCZone on Jan 26, 2007 3:21 PM   
Current rating: Not yet rated    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
Knowing that such a champion of your rights is your Attorney General?

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Can't wait until next week
Posted by: mark on Jan 26, 2007 4:13 PM   
Current rating: Not yet rated    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
But in the mean time it will be interesting to see if any Canadian officials go to bat for Maher. The apology from Harper is big news here in Canada and the government has definitely lived up to it's expectations with the compensation it is giving to Arar's family, but it would be bigger news if Harper or Mackay publicly vouches for him and asks the U.S. to take him off the terror lists.

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Yes!
Posted by: kclaf on Jan 26, 2007 9:08 PM   
Current rating: Not yet rated    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
Thank you Senator Leahy for saying what has needed to be said for so damn long, finally some backbone is being shone in the people's government...........it is refreshing to say the least! Keep it going and going and going.

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smirk
Posted by: bannelee on Jan 27, 2007 9:00 AM   
Current rating: Not yet rated    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
I noticed the smirk the monster makes when Leahy is saying he'll look forward to seeing him next week.I think toady is thinky "don't hold your breath old man -i'm friends with the decider".

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» RE: smirk Posted by: off-the-radar 2
The Privilege of the Writ of Habeas Corpus, by Dubya's TexMex AG Alberto Gonzales....
Posted by: scott.gregory on Jan 27, 2007 5:29 PM   
Current rating: Not yet rated    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
Here is the exact quote..
“The Privilege of the Writ of Habeas Corpus shall not be suspended, unless when in Cases of Rebellion or Invasion the public Safety may require it. “ Art. 1, sect. 9, clause 2, Const. of the U.S.

Notice that a permitted condition for the suspension of habeas corpus is NOT WAR !! War is not an exclusively constitutionally permitted reason for suspending habeas corpus...only rebellion OR invasion, and then only when "public safety" MAY require it.....
****************************
What Gonzales, Specter said
Excerpts from the exchange between Attorney General Alberto Gonzales and Sen. Arlen Specter, R-Pa., at a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing Jan. 17:
Gonzales: There is no express grant of habeas in the Constitution. There's a prohibition against taking it away. ...
Specter: Wait a minute. Wait a minute. The Constitution says you can't take it away except in cases of rebellion or invasion. Doesn't that mean you have the right of habeas corpus unless there's an invasion or rebellion?
Gonzales: I meant by that comment, the Constitution doesn't say every individual in the United States or every citizen is hereby granted or assured the right to habeas. Doesn't say that. It simply says the right of habeas corpus shall not be suspended except...
Specter: You may be treading on your interdiction and violating common sense, Mr. Attorney General.

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Good for you!
Posted by: andrushka on Jan 29, 2007 12:37 PM   
Current rating: Not yet rated    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
Wow, finally Congress and the Senate are coming alive. Look at the slimy AG. I can't wait till next week to see him being fried over by Senator Leahy.

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Fire him ASAP then put him in jail!!
Posted by: ccluelessfl60 on Jan 29, 2007 12:51 PM   
Current rating: Not yet rated    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
This whole administration thinks the Constitution and the Bill of Right are just paper jokes.They all took an oath to protect, preserve, and defend the tenants set forth in these documents. The oath of office means nothing to them, so why should we pay them for jobs they have no intention of doing. We will need a special prosecutor as it seems the Attorney General has no respect for the law. To sit and smirk at a congressional investigation tells me he thinks he is above all the laws. He is in contempt of Congress. Normally the AG office would handle the matter, but the rooster is in charge of the hen house. I think they hope that Congress will get so bogged down in issues they will have no time to undo all the crimes going on now. Gonzales really believes nothing will be done to him or if it is a presidential pardon will follow. He is laughing at us all. Remove him from office ASAP.

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I Can't Believe Gonzales' lack of Decency!
Posted by: felixcommi on Jan 29, 2007 1:25 PM   
Current rating: Not yet rated    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
Maher Arar, a Canadian citizen, engineer, husband, and father of two gets tortured and detained for two years and the Attorney General has the gall to sit their with a smirk on his face while being chatised, as if this matter of still considering him a terrorist suspect is not a f*cking sick testmanent to Bush and Co's immorality....

Canada had a major inquiry into the matter, consistently making front page headlines for months...this was not a quiet matter, this was huge up here in Canada, and his innocence is irrefutable, our federal police commissioner resigned over this....

the AG is despicable, absolutely despicable...that made me cringe...

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