by TChris

Update: The Washington Post writes about the four other U.S. citizens detained by the U.S. after being arrested in Iraq.

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Cyrus Kar was born in Iran, but he's lived in the United States since he was two years old. He's a naturalized citizen who played high school football in Utah and Washington before serving in the Navy. Kar's ambition was to make a documentary about "an ancient Persian king who championed tolerance and human rights." To that end, he traveled to Iraq to film archeological sites. But tolerance and human rights, increasingly scarce commodities in the U.S., are even less in fashion in Iraq. Kay was busted in Bhagdad, supposedly because "suspected bomb parts" were in the taxi in which he was riding.

Since then, Mr. Kar has been held in what his relatives and their lawyers describe as a frightening netherworld of American military detention in Iraq - charged with no crime but nonetheless unable to gain his freedom or even tell his family where he is being held.

Although an FBI search of Kar's LA apartment (and the contents of his computer) found no evidence that Kar supports terrorism, the Bush administration has been stonewalling the efforts Kar's relatives are making to find him.

Lawrence O'Donnell would like to ask Robert Luskin, Karl Rove's lawyer,

You told Newsweek that your client “never knowingly disclosed classified information.” Did Rove ever unknowingly disclose classified information?

Joseph Wilson, Valerie Plame's husband, says in his book, when discussing McClellan's defense of Rove at an October, 2003 press conference:

.... the administration's defense is extremely narrow: the leakers and pushers of the story did not know the undercover status of Valerie Plame, and therefore, though they may have disclosed her name, they did not commit a crime.

In May, 2004, Salon published an excerpt from Joe Wilson's book, in which he presents his thoughts about who leaked his wife's name.

In recent months I have tried to piece together the truth about the attacks on myself and the disclosure of Valerie's employment by carefully studying all the coverage and by speaking confidentially with members of the press who have been following the story.

by TChris

The Bush administration has been dismissive of "collateral damage"--the innocent lives taken when the bombs fall--but the government in Afghanistan wants the Bush administration to know that it takes those lives seriously.

In a rare rebuff, Afghanistan's government sharply criticized the U.S. military Tuesday for killing up to 17 civilians in an air strike and ordered an immediate inquiry. ... It marked unusual criticism from the government of President Hamid Karzai, often viewed by critics as an American puppet.

Killing innocent civilians is no way to win the hearts and minds of a population, but it's a great way--whether in Afghanistan or Iraq--to encourage anti-U.S. sentiment while providing a recruiting tool for terrorists.

DC Jail

As I wrote earlier today, Fitzgerald is playing hardball with Matthew Cooper and Judith Miller in terms opposing home detention. I have just finished reading Fitzgerald's 14 page motion (pdf), and see that he also opposes a federal prison camp for Miller. He either wants her to go to the D.C. jail or a federal detention facility.

That forms of confinement other than jail in the district where the grand jury sits may be possible does not mean that this is an exceptional case warranting a special form of confinement. Like any other contemnor, Miller should be confined in a federal detention facility so as to produce the coercive effect contemplated by 28 U.S.C. § 1826.

Federal detention centers are not much different than maximum security facilities. They house people who cannot make bond or who are denied bond - including those accused of violent persons.

Lawrence O'Donnell has three questions for Robert Luskin, Karl Rove's attorney. The first is whether Luskin was notified that Rove is a subject (as opposed to target) of the grand jury - Lawrence explains the difference. (So do I, here.)

On 10/16/04, (available on lexis.com)the New York Times reported:

"....Mr. Luskin said Mr. Rove was not discussing his testimony because prosecutors had asked him not to do so. In addition, Mr. Luskin said, Mr. Rove has been notified in writing that he is not a target of the inquiry."

"... In the inquiry into the unauthorized disclosure of Ms. Plame's name, the prosecutor, Patrick J. Fitzgerald, has told most of the people who have testified that they are subjects of the investigation."

''He has been cooperating fully from the beginning,'' Mr. Luskin said after the grand jury appearance. Mr. Rove has previously testified to the grand jury, although multiple appearances do not necessarily signify that a witness is suspected of wrongdoing. He was also interviewed at least once by F.B.I. investigators, who last fall conducted a preliminary inquiry in the case."

I'm getting quite a few e-mails letting me know that murder suspect Joseph Duncan, accused of kidnapping 8 year old Shasta Groene, and being investigated for the posible death of her brother Dylan and perhaps other family members, was a blogger, and that he blogged about TalkLeft. Here's his blog and here's his TalkLeft-related post:

I'm beginning to think there may be clues we've overlooked in the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals decision upholding the district court's denial of Cooper and Miller's motion to quash the subpoenas. Let's start with the subpoenas themselves:

The first subpoena to Cooper related to two specific Time articles dated July 17, 2003, and July 21, 2003, to which Cooper had contributed. After losing a motion to quash, Fitzgerald and Cooper made an agreement that Cooper would identify a specific person in whom the grand jury was interested. Cooper complied. (This was Libby who agreed to be identified.)

After Cooper complied, he got another subpoena dated September 13, 2004, seeking:

Special Prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald is wielding every ounce of power he has over Time Reporter Matthew Cooper and New York Times Reporter Judith Miller:

A federal prosecutor on Tuesday demanded that Time magazine reporter Matthew Cooper testify before a grand jury investigating the leak of a CIA officer's identity, even though Time Inc. has surrendered e-mails and other documents in the probe.

Special Counsel Patrick Fitzgerald also opposed the request of Cooper and New York Times reporter Judith Miller to be granted home detention -- instead of jail -- for refusing to reveal their sources.

What is Fitzgerald looking for with Cooper? Is it perjury or conspiracy to commit obstruction of justice or making a false statement to a federal official? I can think of a few questions Fitzgerald might want to ask Cooper to circumstantially establish Rove's possible criminal intent - but while they might amount to probable cause and be enough to indict, I'm not sure any of them would be enough for proof beyond a reasonable doubt.

Via Huffington Post, a man in Tampa who parked outside a house and mooched off the homeowner's wi-fi network has been arrested and charged.

Sounds, ridiculous, right? The police say no, and they have a point.

The technology has made life easier for high-tech criminals because it provides near anonymity. Each online connection generates an Internet Protocol Address, a unique set of numbers that can be traced back to a house or business. That's still the case with Wi-Fi but if a criminal taps into a network, his actions would lead to the owner of that network. By the time authorities show up to investigate, the hacker would be gone.

"Anything they do traces back to your house and chances are we're going to knock on your door," Breeden said.

So if the perp outside is logging on to child p0rn and downloading it, you'll be getting a visit from the feds. How will you convince them it wasn't you? Maybe by letting them search your hard drive to show no p0rn on it. Seems too steep a price, if you ask me.

Make sure your wi-fi is secure. It's more than your finances that need protecting. Your privacy and liberty rights may also be at stake.

What does it take for the Congress to investigate one of their own? Swing State Project has put together this handy chart of the players and properties involved so far in Congressman Randy Cunningham's embroglio. As Wapo reports,now there is a second developer who both bought Cunningham's yacht and helped with financing for a house.

DNC Chair Howard Dean is raising the issue:

Democratic National Committee Chairman Howard Dean is trying to get voters to hold the Republican Party responsible for the "culture of corruption" he sees in Washington, but Dean is getting virtually no help from fellow Democrats in the House of Representatives.

In the year since then-Rep. Chris Bell, D-Texas, filed the complaint that triggered the current ethics investigation of House Majority Leader Tom DeLay, R-Texas, not one Democrat has initiated another complaint despite the pleas of outside watchdog groups.

Dr. Steven Miles has published a comprehensive analysis of medical investigations of prisoner homicides in Iraq and Afghanistan in Medscape MedGenMed e-journal. The article is available here, free registration required.

This article reviews another human rights issue -- the medical evaluation of cases of which prisoners potentially died of because of mistreatment or under suspicious circumstances.

Sources for the article include:

... government documents, including reports of US Army and US Navy criminal investigations, death certificates, autopsy reports, sworn statements, official correspondence between military personnel, and US Department of Defense policies. To a lesser degree, it cites reports by human rights organizations and well-sourced media reports.

Some of Dr. Miles' findings: