The ACLU has just issued a press release on the one year anniversary of the release of the Abu Ghraib prisoner abuse photos. Here's a large portion of it (received by e-mail, will update with link when available):

While many Americans would like to believe that the abuse of Iraqi prisoners at Abu Ghraib involved only the horrific acts of a few poorly trained soldiers, the fact is that the torture and abuse in Iraq, Afghanistan and Guantánamo was widespread and systematic. The roots of the conduct can clearly be traced to a series of administration policies designed to insulate the treatment of military detainees from public scrutiny, judicial review and ultimately from the rule of law.

Yet a year after the release of the photos, top officials have not been held accountable, while low-level members of the military have been prosecuted and an unwarranted cloak of secrecy continues to shroud the treatment of prisoners.

Human Rights First has issued a report on the aftermath of Abu Ghraib. As we noted here, it is the one year anniversary of the disclosure of the prisoner abuse photos that shocked the world. The report concludes:

• Torture and abuse of prisoners in U.S. custody extend far beyond the walls of Abu Ghraib;
• The civilian and military leaders in charge of detention and interrogation operations a year ago have been promoted rather than punished;
• The key policies that led to such widespread illegality are still in place.

In addition:

Noah at Defense Tech reports on a new energy-saving program in use at Guantanamo Bay:

Happy belated Earth Day, enemy combatants! You may be staying here at Guantanamo Bay indefinitely. And lawyers might be a bit tricky to come by. But at least we won't be burning up a whole lot of oil to keep the lights on when we force you to stay awake! Nope, now we've got four brand-spanking-new, 275-foot tall wind turbines supplying the power around here, Defense Industry Daily says.

Sen. Bill Frist has rejected the Democrat's offer to pass a few of Bush's judicial picks in exchange for not forcing a vote on the nuclear option which would ban filibustering of judicial, cabinet and other nominees.

Daily Kos says it's a huge tactical blunder by Frist that played right into the hand of Democratic Minority Leader Sen. Harry Reid.

Reid got the Democrats to look conciliatory, forcing Frist and his Republicans to look even more inflexible than before. Damn the guy is good. I'm glad he's on our side.

Agreed. I could have lived with the confirmation of the two Michigan judges to the 6th Circuit as outlined in the compromise offer, but not Priscilla Owen, Janice Rogers Brown, William Pryor or William Myers. Sen. Reid said he would not compromise on these most extremist nominations, and he didn't.

The House and Senate Conferees will determine the fate of the Real I.D. bill, which has been tacked on to the military operations funding bill. The ACLU is making a final push to defeat this ill-advised bill, on which it says, neither the House nor Senate has held hearings. Joining the ACLU in opposition are:

The National Association of Evangelicals, the Ancient Order of Hibernians, the National Council of State Legislatures, the National Governors Association and the American Association of Motor Vehicle Administrators.

The ACLU is asking that certain provisions be deleted from the bill.

The American Civil Liberties Union today urged Congressional conferees to strip the anti-privacy, anti-asylum, anti-property rights bill from an appropriations measure to fund the war in Iraq and tsunami relief.

Microsoft's Bill Gates says he is reconsideringthe company's decision last week not to support a Washington state bill that would protect gays from housing, employment and other discrimination - for next year. We wrote about the furor the decision caused here.

Unfortunately, the bill has already been voted down in Washington this year. It lost by one vote.

Abdullah at the Ranch. First, check out OHarmony. Then the thinking person's version. [hat tip Atrios.]

President Bush today gave new support to embattled Texas Congressman Tom DeLay. They appeared together at a social security event in Texas. And then the President gave DeLay a ride back to D.C. on Air Force One.

White House aides underscored Bush's backing for DeLay -- who has denied wrongdoing -- as he joined the president at a Social Security event in their home state of Texas. Bush and DeLay flew back to Washington together aboard Air Force One.

Bush made no mention of the ethics controversy but he praised DeLay's efforts on important legislation. "I appreciate the leadership of Congressman Tom DeLay in working on important issues that matter to the country," he said. White House spokesman Scott McClellan told reporters Bush supports DeLay "as strongly as he ever has, which is strongly."

Meanwhile, back at the capitol, Republicans are giving serious consideration to repealing the ethics law changes it recently enacted that required at least one Republican to vote to investigate a Congressman.

The U.S. says it is close to capturing alleged al Qaeda leader al Zarqawi.

He is believed to have been in a car that was stopped in February. His laptop was seized but he got away.

A February raid by a covert US military unit came so close to Zarqawi that he fled from the vehicle in which he was traveling on foot, leaving his computer behind, say government sources.

How did he run away with only one leg?

Al-Zarqawi is then believed to have fled to Iraq in 2001 after losing a leg in a US missile strike on his Afghan base.

Some other times Zarqawi has been close to capture:

• March 28, 2005
• June, 2004

Update : The sentencing of Ahmed Rassam has been postponed for three months to give him a chance to resume cooperating with authorities. More here. There appears to be confusion over whether Rassam agreed not to ask for less than a 27 year sentence. Yesterday's AP article quoted in the original post, reported:

Ressam, an Algerian convicted of plotting a millennium-eve bombing at the Los Angeles airport, stopped cooperating with prosecutors in 2003 when he realized the Justice Department would not recommend a sentence shorter than 27 years, they say.

Today's media reports (link above) say Ahmed Rassam agreed when he began cooperating not to seek a sentence of less than 27 years.

He agreed to debrief investigators on Muslim extremism and to testify against his former comrades, both here and abroad. As his debriefings began, both sides agreed to ask for a sentence of not less than 27 years.

The answer appears to be more complicated. He did not agree to a minimum 27 year sentence when he began cooperating - but he did later, although the agreement contained a provision that both sides acknowledged the Court was not bound by it. The defense says (pdf) that when Rassam began cooperating, no agreement had been reached as to the sentence the Government would recommend and that discussions were ongoing with Seattle proscutors. The defense was asking for a sentence between 10 and 15 years. Seattle prosecutors were closer to 20. Rassam began cooperating without a firm offer.

Today is the one year anniversary of the Abu Ghraib prison scandal. Senator Edward Kennedy has released this statement, saying it's time to "reflect on how well we've responded as a nation." Here are his main points, in direct quotes:

• First, we must acknowledge that the rule of law is not a luxury to be abandoned in time of war, or bent or circumvented at the whim and convenience of the White House. It is a fundamental safeguard in our democracy and a continuing source of our country's strength throughout the world.

• Second, we must acknowledge and apply the broad consensus that exists against torture and inhumane treatment.

It is clear beyond a doubt that we cannot trust this Republican Congress or this Republican Administration to conduct the full investigation that should have been conducted long before now. We've had enough whitewashes by the Administration and Congressional Committees.

People For the American Way has developed a chart compiled from Congressional Research Service data that lists the judicial and executive branch nominees filibustered prior to the Bush administration. Twenty-six of the filibusters – more than three-quarters of the total – were initiated by Senate Republicans.

You can view the chart here (pdf).