The Saudis have released the names of two of the Guantanamo detainees who committed suicide yesterday. They are Manie bin Shaman bin Turki Al-Habardi Al-Otaibi and Yasser Talal Abdullah Yahya Al-Zahrani.

Al-Zahrani was seized and detained when he was 17 years old.

Today, a lawyer for the Saudi nationals imprisoned at Guantánamo Bay said he held United States authorities responsible for the deaths of the two Saudi prisoners. "The detainees' death reveals the mistreatment at Guantánamo and the extent human rights are breached," the lawyer, Katib al-Shimary, said in an interview with the satellite television network Al Arabiya, and monitored by Reuters.

Markos of Daily Kos was on Meet the Press today (transcript here) discussingYearly Kos which took place this weekend in Las Vegas. Crooks and Liars has the video.

Among other topics, Markos discusses why we are opposed to Joe Lieberman. It's not just because he supports the war. It's because he undermines the Democratic party. Even Hillary Clinton, who as of now clearly is not our favorite, doesn't do that. He also said that if Lieberman wins the primary, the net rooters will support him.

Markos agreed with Russert that "the blogosphere has become to liberal activists what talk radio is to conservative activists."

by TChris

The first entry in a two part series takes a look at the controversial convictions of Rubin "Hurricane" Carter. This month marks the 40th anniversary of the killings that spawned Carter's convictions, as well as a Dylan song and a movie.

In his decision, [federal District Judge H. Lee] Sarokin uses a phrase that still rankles those on the law enforcement side of the case: "...the petitioners' convictions were predicated upon an appeal to racism rather than reason, and concealment rather than disclosure...."

The three Guantanamo detainees who committed suicide did so by hanging themselves with bedsheets in their cells. The AP reports:

Three Guantanamo Bay detainees hanged themselves with nooses made of sheets and clothes, the commander of the detention center said yesterday. ....Two men from Saudi Arabia and one from Yemen were found dead shortly after midnight yesterday in separate cells, said the Miami-based U.S. Southern Command, which has jurisdiction over the prison. Attempts were made to revive them, but they failed.

"They hung themselves with fabricated nooses made out of clothes and bed sheets," Navy Rear Adm. Harry Harris told reporters from the U.S. base in southeastern Cuba.

All three left suicide notes. From now on, detainees will have sheets issued to them when they go to bed at night, and they will be removed in the morning. How does this prevent them from hanging themselves after lights-out? This is a band-aid, like putting a piece of tape over a hole in a flat tire, not a solution.

The New York Times tracks the ever-changing details of al-Zarqawi's assassination.

Zarqawi, two men, two women and a young female child were killed.

At a briefing in Baghdad on Saturday, the American command's chief spokesman, Maj. Gen. William B. Caldwell, reversed an earlier announcement he had made and confirmed that one of the dead was a small girl, age 5 or 6.

The general said three of the victims were men, including Mr. Zarqawi, and two were women. The general said he had no information to confirm or deny Iraqi news reports that had suggested that one of the women was Mr. Zarqawi's wife, and the girl his child. Hints of their presence, or perhaps of the presence of former tenants, were also scattered through the ruins: a rose-patterned dress, a pair of women's underwear, a leopard-print night gown, a child's shoe.

If Bush and Rumsfeld were hoping for a bump from al-Zarqawi's assassination, I hope this gives people a reality check. Three detainees at Guantanamo have committed suicide.

Two men from Saudi Arabia and one from Yemen were found "unresponsive and not breathing in their cells" early Saturday, according to a statement from the Miami-based U.S. Southern Command, which has jurisdiction over the prison. Attempts were made to revive the prisoners, but failed.

There will be a Pentagon briefing later this afternoon. The Navy confirms the death were suicides but says an investigation has been launched.

Why am I not surprised?

An Iraqi man raised fresh questions about the events surrounding the end of
Iraq's most-wanted militant. The man, who lived near the scene of the bombing, told AP Television News on Friday that he saw U.S. soldiers beating an injured man resembling al-Zarqawi until blood flowed from the victim's nose.

Does an anonymous report mean a beating happened? No, but the AP is not the National Enquirer and it doens't print bald accusations. Think about it. Pumped up soldiers on a fresh bombing scene realize they've captured the bronze alive (Osama being the gold and Saddam the silver) -- what do you think they did, read him his Miranda rights or give him a few little jubilant stomps?

TalkLeft was down for several hours, it's back up now. Here's an open thread to tell us what we've missed.

The dukesters need a new thread. What's in the news? The Washington Post explores how the players' families are coping.

Feeling abandoned, angry and distraught over their sons' futures, the parents bonded most through the shared conviction that everyone on the team is innocent....Over the months, tensions erupted over legal strategies and fears of which son might be handcuffed next. The less-affluent parents have worried about how to pay legal bills. The wealthy ones swore they would spend every last penny clearing the names of the indicted.

There are also interviews with parents of four of the uncharged players. The article is detailed and I'm so glad to see their side of the story told for once instead of all the attention being focused on the accuser, the inconsistent versions of Dancer #2 and the partying.

1,000 bloggers, assorted Democratic party leaders and candidates and the national press, including Maureen Dowd, Adam Nagourney and Dan Froomkin, are all in Las Vegas for Yearly Kos.

By all accounts I've read, the Plame panel was outstanding (great job, Jane and Christy, Murray Waas, Joe Wilson, Larry Johnson and Empty Wheel.)

Markos is totally the rock star of the blogosphere, and it couldn't happen to a more deserving guy. Even Elisa and Ari are there (old picture.)

Mission Accomplished Man, aka actor Will Keenan, is making them all laugh.

And who's live blogging? Skippy!

As if we needed another wasteful Congressional investigation. California Republican Rep. Dana Rohrabacher, Chair of the Oversight and Investigations Subcommittee of the International Relations Committee, announced yesterday a House panel will investigate whether there was a foreign connection to the Oklahoma City Bombing.

Can we move on, please? This has been investigated to death, by the prosecution and two separate defense teams. If the House wants to search for foreign terrorists, why not concentrate on Osama?

The U.S. does not approve of torture, claims President Bush. Does anyone have any doubt that Ziad Khalaf Raja al-Karbouly, the Iraqi customs inspector who turned on Zaqarwi after being arrested and held for months by the Jordanian police, talked as a result of being subjected to torture? Connect the dots. More here.

An Iraqi customs agent secretly working with Abu Musab al-Zarqawi's terror cell spilled the beans on the group after he was arrested, Jordanian officials tell ABC News. Ziad Khalaf Raja al-Karbouly was arrested by Jordanian intelligence forces last spring.

Officials say Karbouly confessed to his role in the terror cell and provided crucial information on the names of Zarqawi commanders and locations of their safe houses. Karbouly also admitted to his role in the kidnappings of two Moroccan embassy employees, four Iraqi National Guards and an Iraqi finance ministry official.

In a videotaped confession, Karbouly said he acted on direct orders from Zarqawi.

So now we use information gained from torture to murder our target. What makes us different from them?