post by Last Night in Little Rock

Saudi Arabia's King Fahd died during the night, U.S. time.

CNN notes that his "close ties with the United States stirred the passions of Islamic militants"; like the 9/11 hijackers.

Did cuddling up to Crown Prince Abdullah, holding hands, no less, only inflame Islamic militants even more? What clearer message to the world that the U.S. depends on Saudi oil? As Ross Perot would say, "that sucking sound is your cash going overseas to pay for oil which effects the price of everything in the world."

From Monday's New York Times:

As the Pentagon was making its final preparations to begin war crimes trials against four detainees at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba, two senior prosecutors complained in confidential messages last year that the trial system had been secretly arranged to improve the chance of conviction and to deprive defendants of material that could prove their innocence.

Defense lawyers, both within the military and private counsel, have been complaining all along about the unfairness of the tribunals. Now that prosecutors have made the same claim, maybe someone will listen. But who, when Bush and the executive branch keep stealing more and more power from the Courts and Congress?

Update: Australian detainee David Hick's lawyer says he's not surprised.

Appearing on CNN today, Iraq's national security adviser said that Saddam Hussein's trial may begin before October 15 - which would coincide with the vote on Iraq's new Constitution.

The trial will be telecast in Arab countries.

In related news, one of Saddam's lawyers is asking that the trial be moved to Sweden for safety purposes. And Saddam has asked to be allowed to meet Ramsey Clark, another of his lawyers, but the request has not been acted upon.

This Reuters article in a South African newspaper calls Saddam's defense team "motley."

At least one sector of the economy is booming - the private prison industry:

Since 2000, the number of federal inmates in private facilities — prisons and halfway houses — has increased by two-thirds to more than 24,000. Thousands more detainees not convicted of crimes are confined in for-profit facilities, which now hold roughly 14 percent of all federal prisoners, compared to less than 6 percent of state inmates.

The war against drug offenders and immigrants has fueled the boom which is expected to continue to grow. Stories of abuses abound. Here's an excellent article by Alan Pendergast of Westword on how private prisons have turned out in Colorado. Another good read is this article by Christian Parenti.

Time Magazine has more support for the theory that Karl Rove learned about Valerie Plame's identity from White House officials rather than reporters.

The previously undisclosed fact gathering began in the first week of June 2003 at the CIA, when its public-affairs office received an inquiry about Wilson's trip to Africa from veteran Washington Post reporter Walter Pincus. That office then contacted Plame's unit, which had sent Wilson to Niger, but stopped short of drafting an internal report. The same week, Under Secretary of State Marc Grossman asked for and received a memo on the Wilson trip from Carl Ford, head of the State Department's Bureau of Intelligence and Research. Sources familiar with the memo, which disclosed Plame's relationship to Wilson, say Secretary of State Colin Powell read it in mid-June. Deputy Secretary Richard Armitage may have received a copy then too.

A supervisory FBI agent assigned to Guantanamo wrote a memo to his superiors warning of the illegality of its rendition plans, writes Michael Isikoff of Newsweek in an exclusive.

This memo appears to be the first that directly questions the legal premises of the Bush administration policy of "extraordinary rendition"—a secret program under which terror suspects are transferred to foreign countries that have been widely criticized for practicing torture.

Arianna has some more info on Judith Miller, accumulated through a variety of sources. Most interesting is the details of her accomodations while on assignment - as compared to those of her fellow journalists.

A recurring theme in many of the conversations and e-mails is how Judy, to the dismay of many of her colleagues, never played by the same rules and standards as other reporters. One source e-mailed to give me some examples of this pattern: "In Feb 2003, Judy was in Salahuddin covering the Iraqi opposition conclave. Iraqi National Congress spokesperson Zaab Sethna told a reporter who was also there that Judy was staying with Chalabi's group in Salahuddin (the rest of the reporters had to stay 30 minutes away in crappy hotels in Irbil), and that the I.N.C. had provided her with a car and a translator (Did the New York Times reimburse them?). The I.N.C. offered another reporter the same, but he turned it down. Judy had just arrived in a bus convoy from Turkey, big footing C.J. Chivers, who was also there covering the story for the Times. While everyone else on the buses had to scramble for accommodations, she was staying in a luxurious villa loaned to the I.N.C. by the Kurdish Democratic Party...

by TChris

Random searches of New York subway passengers have been unproductive, leading some to advocate for racial or ethnic profiling:

If "looks like a young Muslim" or "looks Middle Eastern" is an easily visible characteristic that terrorists are likely to have, it belongs in the profile.

Apart from the legal and ethical issues that surround profiling, its advocates build their case on a false premise: that terrorists are visually identifiable.

• Loretta Nall is all over the recent arrest of marijuana activist Marc Emery in Vancouver--and the U.S. attempt to make Canada the 51st state so that it can enforce its drug policy there. Here's the video of the DEA announcement of Emery's arrest.

• Flex Your Rights has the citizen's guide to refusing subway searches. (Also check out TalkLeft's new subway tote with the Fourth Amendment printed out on both sides to keep the searchers mindful of how they are violating the Constitution.)

• Grits for Breakfast on the increased use of pretext traffic stops to bring out the dogs and search for drugs

• Amnesty International now has a death penalty blog. One of the best death penalty blogs is Abolish the Death Penalty, written by David Elliot of NCADP.

USA Today reports that President Bush will be going to his Crawford, Texas ranch for "several weeks" when Congress recesses this week. It will be his 50th trip in 5 years to the ranch.

by TChris

U.S. District Judge Leonie Brinkema was able to reduce sentences she imposed on three Muslims, but mandatory minimum sentencing laws required her to impose sentences she still considers unjust. The men were guilty of playing paintball to train for a holy war.

As a result, Khan's sentence was reduced only to life plus 45 years. Chapman, 32, had his sentence reduced from 85 years to 65 years. There is no parole in the federal system, so both will have to serve the vast majority of their terms.

"I have a limited ability to impose what I consider to be an appropriate sentence," Brinkema said. "These statutes are really draconian. I've said it before and I'll say it again."

The sentence reductions could be useful to Khan and Chapman only if the firearms convictions are overturned on appeal. If that occurs, each would serve only a 10-year sentence, which Brinkema said she considered appropriate.

From a TalkLeft Reader this morning:

I watched a good part of Hardball last night. I saw [blog]coverage [of it]on Atrios and Crooks and Liars regarding the segment with Jean Schmidt, which I thought deserved their focus. They were right in praising David Gregory for going after her as hard as he did.

However, they ignored something even more important where he did not do as good a job. During his interview with Dan Bartlett, Bartlett asserted that the White House would not be releasing all of Robert's writing while in the Solicitor General's office as they were covered by attorney-client privilege and the president needed to be able to rely on that advice. I shouted at Gregory to follow up, but sadly, he did not challenge Bartlett.