Kevin Zeese at Democracy Rising asks, Who to Believe? when it comes to the Iraq War and treatment of Guantanamo prisoners? His conclusion is one that most human rights groups and members of Congress have been advocating for some time. We need more people to listen.

The truth in this matter could be resolved merely by having a truly independent commission investigate the allegations. Or, even more appropriately having a special prosecutor investigate abuses as senior Republicans in the Senate promised -- John Warner, Lindsay Graham and John McCain stated that everyone culpable would be held accountable, no matter how senior when the torture photos were released but have taken no action to live up to their promise.

The state of Washington is proposing to change its ethical rules for lawyers to require defense lawyers to tell the court if they later learn their client told a lie.

Some lawyers say the proposed rule would not only crush the whole idea of attorney-client confidentiality, but it would force them to reveal things that could get the very people they're supposed to defend put in jail, convicted or charged with perjury.

"I think it's terrible," said lawyer David Trieweiler, co-chairman of Washington Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers' rules committee. "It profoundly alters the traditional role of defense attorneys by making us into tools of the prosecution, instead of defenders of our clients."

Several states already have enacted the rule, based on an ABA model rule. I think Washington's current rule is much better.

Update: Philly bloggers, including the Rittenhouse Review, are less than impressed.

My lineup would begin with: Springsteen, Dylan, Mellencamp, Green Day, Tom Petty, Bon Jovi, Don Henley, the Goo Goo Dolls and the Foo Fighters.

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The lineups and cities have been announced for the new Live Aid concerts, called Live 8, to take place July 2. London, Philadelphia, Berlin, Paris and Rome. The website is here.

LIVE 8 is part of a day of action across the world which kick-starts The Long Walk to Justice that calls on the leaders of the world’s richest countries to act when they meet in Gleneagles on 6th-9th July. On July 2nd in London, Edinburgh, Washington, Berlin, Paris and Rome millions will be coming together to call for complete debt cancellation, more and better aid and trade justice for the world’s poorest people. LIVE 8 is calling for people across the world to unite in one call – in 2005 it is your voice we are after, not your money.

The lineups so far (full list here):

The Associated Press reported Tuesday that among the documents it received from its Guantanamo FOIA request are transcripts of interviews with detainees in which they allege they were sold to the U.S. for a bounty. This is not new news. It's been reported before by several organizations, by TalkLeft in December, 2003 and May, 2004, and in Time Magazine.

According to Time, activities leading toward release of the 140 [Guantanamo] prisoners have accelerated since the Supreme Court agreed to hear the case. It said U.S. officials had concluded some detainees were kidnapped for reward money offered for al Qaeda and Taliban fighters. (our emphasis)

Nonetheless, Before Bush calls the latest AP claims "absurd," he needs to consider the statement of this former CIA officer, contained in Tuesday's AP article:

A former CIA intelligence officer who helped lead the search for Osama bin Laden told AP the accounts sounded legitimate because U.S. allies regularly got money to help catch Taliban and al-Qaida fighters. Gary Schroen said he took a suitcase of $3 million in cash into Afghanistan himself to help supply and win over warlords to fight for U.S. Special Forces.

by TChris

Are federal prosecutors worried that they can't convict Osama Awadallah if he has a fair trial? Awadallah is charged with committing perjury while testifying before a grand jury. The prosecutors want grand jurors to testify about their impressions of Awadallah's demeanor during his grand jury appearance. In other words, they want to call grand jurors to testify, "yep, he sure looked like he was lying, shifty eyes and all" -- or as close to that as they can come.

Awadallah was handcuffed to his chair when he appeared before the grand jury. Judge Shira Scheindlin had the good sense to protect Awadallah from prejudicially speculative interpretations of Amadallah's "demeanor" as he sat handcuffed before his inquisitor. The prosecution appealed that ruling, delaying the start of Awadallah's trial.

A small victory for Mr. Awadallah: Judge Scheindlin made the government pay for his return to California while he waits for his trial to resume.

by TChris

The crime lab in Harris County, Texas is so pathetic that Houston's Chief of Police called for a moratorium on Harris County executions if the convictions were based on the lab's analysis of forensic evidence. It has been clear for some time that the lab's scientists lacked adequate training and supervision. (More TalkLeft coverage here and here.)

An independent investigator revealed today that the problem extended beyond incompetence.

[I]nitial examination of data from the lab has uncovered a practice called "drylabbing," which is considered the most egregious form of misconduct in a forensic lab.

At least four times, lab analysts fabricated data from tests that were never conducted. The practice may have been widespread, as the lab analysts worked largely unsupervised for six years.

Not surprisingly, Tarik Shah, the martial arts expert/musician charged with the Florida doctor in New York's latest terror case is asserting an entrapment defense. His lawyer says he is the victim of an "orchestrated prosecution."

Asked if he felt his client had been entrapped, [attorney]Ricco said: "It's a sting operation and one thing our country is good at is we're really good when it comes to setting up people in these cases. When it comes to trying to do something other than that, we seem to be lousy at it. ... That's what happens when you chase people like Tarik Shah. How do you expect to catch Osama bin Laden?"

The doctor hasn't gotten a lawyer yet. The next hearing is set for June 28.

Background here.

Bump and Update: Woodward confirms.

Update: Cadillac Tight points to the 1981 statement of Ronald Regan who pardoned Mr. Felt. Slate reported in 1999 that Nixon suspected Mark Felt and has the tape transcripts between him and H.R. Haldeman. Today at Slate, Tim Noah says Told You So.

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Original Post

Raw Story reports on the new Vanity Fair article, available free here (pdf), in which former FBI agent W. Mark Felt, now 91, finally admits to being "Deep Throat," the confidential source used by Woodward and Bernstein to unravel Watergate.

Pakistan today agreed to hand over Abu Farraj al-Libbi, an alleged senior member of al-Qaeda, for prosecution in the U.S.

He said al-Libbi, believed to be a close confidant of terror mastermind Osama bin Laden, did not provide any leads during interrogation on bin Laden’s whereabouts.

“No, he did not provide useful information about Osama bin Laden,” Musharraf said, speaking from the Pakistani capital. “He says he is not in contact with Osama bin Laden.”

Reportedly, al-Libbi tried twice and failed to assassinate Pakistan President Gen. Pervez Musharraf. What crimes did he commit here? And is he really a senior member of al-Qaeda or is this another case of mistaken identity? Does anyone really believe that if this guy was a somebody, Pakistan would turn him over to the U.S.?

Check out Tom Tommorow's new This Modern World cartoon. It's about the Time Magazine cover featuring the she-pundit with long blond hair. [link via Altercation.]

That's our leader, in denial, as always. At a press conference today, George Bush called the Amnesty International report on Guantanamo abuse (pdf) "absurd."

David Corn responds.

If anything is absurd, it's that the Bush Administration has held 70,000 persons prisoner during its war on terror.

Here are Amnesty International's latest numbers.

That certainly seems to belie Bush's claim that "The United States is a country that promotes freedom around the world."

Update and Add bookmarks: Josh Marshall of Talking Points Memo has opened a new group blog called TPM Cafe. Josh will still be blogging at Talking Points Memo, they are separate sites. Matt Yglesias is writing at TPM Cafe and closed his old blog, so update his bookmark.

Former Senator and VP Candidate John Edwards is guest blogging there this week.

[Corrected to reflect that Josh is still blogging at tpm. Thanks to our commenter for pointing that out.]