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Rights and Liberties

Obama's Legal Team Copies Bush's 'State Secrets' Trick to Cover Up Torture and Renditions

By Liliana Segura, AlterNet. Posted February 10, 2009.


Attorneys representing the Obama administration are defending one of the most controversial practices of the Bush administration.
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On Monday in San Francisco, attorneys representing the Obama administration did what many of the president's supporters would have considered unthinkable on election day: they arrived in a federal courtroom and defended one of the most controversial practices of the Bush administration.

"Eric Holder's Justice Department stood up in court today and said that it would continue the Bush policy of invoking state secrets to hide the reprehensible history of torture, rendition and the most grievous human rights violations committed by the American government," Anthony Romero, executive director of the American Civil Liberties Union said in an impassioned statement. "This is not change. This is definitely more of the same."

The case was Mohamed et al. v. Jeppesen Dataplan, a lawsuit originally brought in 2007 by the ACLU on behalf of five victims of extraordinary rendition, the notorious CIA program in which terror suspects are kidnapped, thrown on a plane and flown to another country to be tortured and interrogated.

Jeppesen Dataplan, a subsidiary of Boeing, is said to have provided the logistical support for the rendition of all five plaintiffs, among them, Binyam Mohamed, an Ethiopian national who, in July 2002, was taken from Pakistan to Morocco, where for 18 months he was imprisoned and brutally tortured, including being cut with razorblades on his testicles. Mohamed was later sent to Guantanamo Bay, where he supposedly awaits imminent plans for his release. He has never stood trial.

Under Bush, the ACLU's lawsuit was thrown out multiple times on "state secrets" grounds -- a bogus excuse according to human rights lawyers who have long argued that the real goal was to keep evidence of the sort of torture endured by Mohamed away from a courtroom.

"To date, not a single torture victim has had his day in court in the United States," ACLU attorney Ben Wizner told reporters last week. Thus, the objective of yesterday's hearing was simple: the ACLU was asking that the lawsuit move forward. But to the dismay of many who believed Obama would open the door to justice for torture victims in the so-called war on terror, it appears his administration is instead following in Bush's footsteps.

"This case cannot be litigated," Department of Justice lawyer Douglas Letter said on Monday. "The judges shouldn't play with fire in this national security situation."

For those who spent the past eight years fighting back against cynical claims of "national security" to justify illegal and inhumane practices, the words smack of the Bush era.

"If the Obama administration, so early on, is toeing the Bush line," Romero warns, "that speaks volumes for where we might end up years from now."

The Debate Over Rendition

The Jeppesen hearing came on the heels of a week that saw the topic of extraordinary rendition -- and Obama's approach to it -- under particular scrutiny. On Feb. 1, the Los Angeles Times ran a story that caused a stir around the issue in the media, the blogosphere and the human rights community.

"The CIA's secret prisons are being shuttered," the article began. "Harsh interrogation techniques are off-limits. And Guantanamo Bay will eventually go back to being a wind-swept naval base on the southeastern corner of Cuba.

"But even while dismantling these programs, President Obama left intact an equally controversial counterterrorism tool.

"Under executive orders issued by Obama recently, the CIA still has authority to carry out what are known as renditions, secret abductions and transfers of prisoners to countries that cooperate with the United States."

The article quoted an anonymous administration official, who said,

"Obviously you need to preserve some tools -- you still have to go after the bad guys.


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See more stories tagged with: extraordinary rendition, barack obama, aclu, department of justice, glenn greenwald, state secrets, jeppesen dataplan, binyam mohamed, eric holder

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Meet the new boss......
Posted by: DCostello2 on Feb 10, 2009 9:34 AM   
Current rating: 5    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
Same as the old boss.

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» Cure for a diseased State Posted by: citizenjoe
Don't expect the Obamabots to answer to this latest hypocrisy of their man.
Posted by: Jennifer Bedingfield on Feb 10, 2009 9:47 AM   
Current rating: 4    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
False hope and chump change indeed is all Barry is all about.

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Straws in the Wind...
Posted by: oregoncharles on Feb 10, 2009 10:04 AM   
Current rating: 5    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
and it's blowing from the manure pile.

I told you so, and I really hoped I was wrong.

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Notice how quickly this was pulled from the Alternet front page?
Posted by: DCostello2 on Feb 10, 2009 10:17 AM   
Current rating: 4    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
Originally, this article was on the Alternet front page - actually the title was there but for the longest time the link was dead. Once the link was fixed, the article stayed on the front page for maybe 30 minutes, maybe an hour at the most, and then poof! - to the back pages you go. I just find that rather interesting.

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» RE: It's back! Posted by: oregoncharles
All Politics is NOT Local
Posted by: Revolutionary (Direct) Democracy on Feb 11, 2009 2:19 AM   
Current rating: Not yet rated    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
All politics is INDIVIDUAL.


FREE AMERICA

REVOLUTIONARY (DIRECT) DEMOCRACY

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This stuff will never end as long as we believe the 9/11 Fraud
Posted by: pfgetty on Feb 11, 2009 3:47 AM   
Current rating: 4    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
As long as Americans are told that the official story of 9/11 is true, this stuff will never end, regardless of who is president. The same masters are pulling the strings, the same monsters that pulled off 9/11.

How long will Americans believe the ridiculous story we were told just days after 9/11? Well, given real informations about 9/11, the facts and evidence that we have, almost no Americans would believe the official story. They would then realize that 9/11 was an inside job, that our government was complicit in that day.

But Americans are NOT given the facts and evidence of that fateful day. Corporate media has censured any mention of the truth. But what is really a crime is that alternative media, the media so many Americans are turning to for the real story instead of the propaganda of mainstream media, is also conspiring to keep us from the truth about 9/11. After seven years Alternet has not had one article that exposed without confusion the facts of 9/11. We should have been shown not only the evidence, but the analysis by respected scientists about how the buildings came down by controlled demolition............how it is impossible for all planes to have flown without interception unless there was a standdown order..........how the flight in PA never could have hit the so called crash site.......the contradictions at the Pentagon...........and so, so much more.

This is the biggest story ever in history. Alternet isn't interested. There is something bad going on here, and I'd like to know what. If anybody has a good idea of why Alternet has decided to join the conspiracy against truth and exposure of facts, let me know at pfgetty@embarqmail.com

I feel it is treason for a media source to purposely withhold information that is vital to the American people and their future wellbeing. It is treason. Is Alternet treasonous, criminal? Seems it is. I'd like to hear differently, but Alternet won't tell us why it has continued its extremely bizarre behavior. Are they part of the complicity? Are they threatened? Are they pressured by financial supporters? What? We need to know. The whole world does. Because if Alternet went on a campaign to bring us the truth.............maybe hundreds of articles to bring us all of the information that patriots have put together in analyzing 9/11, we could stop the torture, rendition, wars and occupations, the Patriot Act, wiretapping, all the rest. Alternet seems not to like the results of 9/11, but refrains from mentioning that day and the contradictions and outright lies. We need to know why.

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» The good subject sleeps? Posted by: godsbreath64
» Citizen's Arrest Mother-Lottery Posted by: godsbreath64
» Great comment! Posted by: pfgetty
» The economic collapse . . . Posted by: dustdevil
» RE: The economic collapse . . . Posted by: willymack
» Obama is just following orders Posted by: edgeofnowhere
» Just like the Nazis Posted by: pfgetty
» watch Orwell Rolls in His Grave Posted by: realtruther
Damn them all
Posted by: we_need_Abe on Feb 11, 2009 7:33 AM   
Current rating: 5    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
Why can't all of these idiots recognize that the whole reason for CIA rendition-type activities is based on a lie. If we (meaning the US government and US multi-national corporations) were to operate under a rule of law and moral fairness virtually NO ONE would be trying to attack us. I don't have the time or space to reiterate why we have problems in the middle east but intelligent people know the answers. If we took care of our own, succeeded economically through exceptional educational systems, a committment to R&D, hard work, and a balancing of long-term sustainability with benefit-cost approach to our actions, people would be trying to emulate us, not attack us. Yes, there are and will be bad people out there and we need a military of some size but the whole rationale for a CIA and other covert groups is based on a flawed model of how to succeed in this world. Any thinking person knows that the better way to help a country like Afghanistan to drive out elements like the Taliban is to educate them, make their life better such that what the Taliban offers is so undesirable compared to what they have and where they can take themselves that the Afghan people themselves will drive out the Taliban. We choose the "war corps" path instead of the peace corps path because the military-industrial complex has too much say in how we operate. Goddamn the war machine and the people who profit from it! They are sucking away and ruining our life and our childrens future!

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» RE: Damn them all Posted by: willymack
» RE: Damn them all Posted by: tap17x
» RE: Damn them all Posted by: peacefullaim1
» RE: Damn them all Posted by: walldodger1969
And There Was Me Defending Obama on Alternet Last Week About How He Had Stopped US Torture
Posted by: tony_opmoc on Feb 11, 2009 8:16 AM   
Current rating: 5    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
And there was an American Girl - Bliss Doubt - I think was her name arguing with me.

I now feel a complete fool.

So Obama is what most people on here say about him.

I now feel like binning all my Beck songs

Well except Loser

Tony

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» I love you Tony Posted by: Bliss Doubt
Maybe This Will Catch On
Posted by: QQOblivion on Feb 11, 2009 8:35 AM   
Current rating: 5    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
Bush-arack Obama.

Or maybe "O-Bush-ama" is better.

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Secret Plane Rides on Boeing/Jeppesen Planes to Torture
Posted by: zepher on Feb 11, 2009 9:39 AM   
Current rating: 5    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
Wait a minute, there may be an explanation. If there is, we must read the secret language between the lines. If the outcry about this San Francisco Supreme Court/Eric Holders Justice Dept. ruling to continue Bush's plan for secret rendition is not responded to, we know there is some work to do. ACLU has been on this case for years, and now is the time for truth to come out about Obama's new worker, Eric Holder's plan for torture.

So, if Holder responds to outcry: begin the old practice of reading between the lines as we did in the 60's; no response: begin the grassroots movement in force; and, either way, grassroots outcry is a must.

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Thank you Liliana Segura
Posted by: Bliss Doubt on Feb 11, 2009 10:04 AM   
Current rating: 5    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
I was beginning to think that Alternet was just not going to cover this issue.

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The cat's out of the bag anyway
Posted by: CJC on Feb 11, 2009 10:49 AM   
Current rating: 5    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
I'm appalled by the Justice Dept's position. It sounds like the judge was too.

What could be going on? It's not like the basic outlines of Binyam Mohamed's story are secret.

"Torture Taxi" 2006, T. Paglen and AC Thompson, p 162.

"Ghost Plane," Stephen Grey, 2006, pp 45-61 and more.

"Eight O'Clock Ferry to the Windward Side," Clive Stafford Smith, 2007, pp 50-79, 88-127, and more.

Also in Jane Mayer's "Dark Side." etc etc etc.

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I knew B.O. would compromise.......
Posted by: tap17x on Feb 11, 2009 12:20 PM   
Current rating: 5    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
.......but doing this is way beyond anything I expected. Mr. O, please quit trying to please the fascists among us. What are you going to do next, hire John Yoo?

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» B.O. - I love it. Posted by: gar1948
Before You Freak Out...
Posted by: rgoalierob on Feb 11, 2009 1:07 PM   
Current rating: 2    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
I think rendition is different than extraordinary rendition. I think they're trying to figure alot of the damage of The Bush Admin. before they issue a blanket order on rendition.
Patience.
Things are getting better, maybe not at the rate we want, but check this subject in a year or so. It took 8 years to get that way.

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» Yeah, we know Posted by: QQOblivion
» RE: Yeah, we know Posted by: halg
Is Barack Obama truly committed to "the rule of law"?
Posted by: GuitarBill on Feb 11, 2009 1:42 PM   
Current rating: 5    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
"Eric Holder's Justice Department stood up in court today and said that it would continue the Bush policy of invoking state secrets to hide the reprehensible history of torture, rendition and the most grievous human rights violations committed by the American government." -- Anthony Romero, executive director of the American Civil Liberties Union.

Tell me, isn't Barack Obama a Constitutional Law Professor?

If that's true--and I believe it is true--is it safe to assume that Barack Obama supports the "rule of law", as defined by the United States Constitution and all subsequent legislation and adjudication?

Moreover, if Barack Obama knows that the Bush administration violated the law--and the Bush administration did violate the law--isn't Mr. Obama, as president, bound by Oath to uphold and enforce the laws of the United States?

"...I do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will faithfully execute the Office of President of the United States, and will to the best of my Ability, preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States." -- President-elect Barack Obama, 20 January 2009.

If that is so, why does Mr. Obama refuse to enforce the law, which is his Constitutionally sworn duty?

If Mr. Obama will not enforce the law is he not in violation of his Oath of Office?

That's five (5) questions. That said, I'd like some answers.

"A nation of Laws, not men." -- John Adams.

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ANYBODY else notice that the usual staunch obama supporters
Posted by: sirios on Feb 11, 2009 3:30 PM   
Current rating: 4    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
have not yet posted on this article?

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Hey!! I'm Stunned....
Posted by: madhypnotist on Feb 11, 2009 6:51 PM   
Current rating: 2    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
So the Dems all thought he was going to do something different because he said he would ???

HA! He said anything he could to get elected and the sheep followed with the mouths all agape sucking down hope and change like it was manna from heaven.Guess what ? He LIED! And he isnt done...Now he is going to try to save the US by stealing from the rich... Its odd... being a muslim I thought he hated pork...

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» The real irony Posted by: Bliss Doubt
Say It Aint So O
Posted by: Brb007 on Feb 11, 2009 7:46 PM   
Current rating: 5    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
I was hesitant about coming 'round to Obama prior to the election and then against my better judgment, people convinced me that he stood for change and wanted to right the wrongs of his predecessors. Having read this and seeing how he and his Administration has been handling the economic crises, I fear that my initial instincts were correct. I truly believe that politics are corrupt, our democracy beyond repair and the republic that we once were, never to emerge again.

Our Government, ALL parties and players, have permitted the systematic destruction of middle class, loss of economic independence and total removal of the power and will of the people of this country, calling the shots for how we are governed. Totalitarianism is indeed the dominating "structure" that we are now controlled by and I doubt we shall ever again know the blessings and freedoms we once enjoyed as Americans. Even a revolution at this point would be futile. They control the media so that others cannot see demonstrations and uprisings, have the military prepared to crush civil unrest at the drop of a hat and have assured that our resources are so low, massive organizing would be difficult at best. So long America! It was a pleasure being a citizen of a free country, for so long as it lasted. Too much silence and complacency, too much ignorance and brainwashing, too little activism and action and I fear it is too late now to rescue us from the inevitable.

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It's your Turn to CRY !!!
Posted by: greatdanes on Feb 11, 2009 8:12 PM   
Current rating: 5    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
Hey the Republicans just got over 8 years of being lied to by Bush and you all were so happy to have Obama. Then Holy Cow....you Won.

Take from one very loyal Republican (Now Independent ) If your Guy, Obama, doesn't KEEP his Promises don't follow him blindly like the Republicans did for all those Wasted Years.

Frankly, I think Bush put in the Patriot's Act for Obama to use against all of us. I don't think there's any difference in the Parties.....It's to DIVIDE the Population in 1/2 . They need to have one group believing in their guy and the other half they can deal with. THINK About IT !!!

If you find he's Same As Bush ...Lets All Get together and Fight to Get our Country back on the Right Path to LIBERTY .
Remember UNITED WE STAND.....DIVIDED WE FALL

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» If only 3rd parties would get a chance to govern Posted by: Jennifer Bedingfield
» RE: DEUTSCHE DOGGE [ Great Dane] Posted by: greatdanes
Believe this
Posted by: sicntired on Feb 12, 2009 3:05 AM   
Current rating: Not yet rated    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
Looks like talk is cheap but politicians all cover each others ass till it's way past too late.This makes me sick.

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Will Obama turn out to be a "Trojan Horse?"
Posted by: monkeywrench on Feb 12, 2009 8:03 PM   
Current rating: Not yet rated    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
A "kinder and gentler" version of "business as usual" tarted up with a few progressive frills and seasoned with a dash or two of rationality?

God, I hope not –– but some of his appointments, and moves such as this, are beginning to fade the optimistic glint in my eye and my ear-to-ear smile just a little ...

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OBAMA, WAKE UP
Posted by: shd1230 on Feb 13, 2009 2:48 PM   
Current rating: Not yet rated    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
STOP TRYING TO BE ALL THINGS TO ALL PEOPLE, STOP TRYING TO PACIFY THE REPULSIVE REPUBLICANS BECAUSE THEY WILL DOUBLE CROSS YOU EVERY WAY THEY CAN. KEEP YOUR PROMISES, RUN THIS GOVERNMENT AS A DECENT HUMAN BEING AND REPUDICATE TORTURE ANYWHERE, ANYTIME, FOR ANY REASON.

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