How Appealing



Monday, February 16, 2009

“Despite Obama pledge, Justice defends Bush secrets”: The Associated Press has a report that begins, “Despite President Obama’s vow to open government more than ever, the Justice Department is defending Bush administration decisions to keep secret many documents about domestic wiretapping, data collection on travelers and U.S. citizens, and interrogation of suspected terrorists.”

Posted at 1:44 PM by Howard Bashman



“The Hard Cases: Will Obama institute a new kind of preventive detention for terrorist suspects?” Jane Mayer has this article in the February 23, 2009 issue of The New Yorker.

The article begins, “The last ‘enemy combatant’ being detained in America is incarcerated at the U.S. Naval Consolidated Brig in Charleston, South Carolina–a tan, low-slung building situated amid acres of grassy swampland. The prisoner, known internally as EC#2, is an alleged Al Qaeda sleeper agent named Ali Saleh Kahlah al-Marri. He has been held in isolation in the brig for more than five years, although he has never stood trial or been convicted of any crime. Under rules established by the Bush Administration, suspected terrorists such as Marri were denied the legal protections traditionally afforded by the Constitution. Unless the Obama Administration overhauls the nation’s terrorism policies, Marri–who claims that he is innocent–will likely spend the rest of his life in prison.”

Posted at 10:00 AM by Howard Bashman