Farhad Manjoo, writing for Salon (free day pass available) theorizes why Nick Berg did not become a media story until his horrible decapitation was played on an Arab website:

Before Tuesday, none of us knew about the missing American in Iraq named Nick Berg. His family had been agonizing over his fate for weeks and had been hounding the U.S. government for any information it had about the 26-year-old freelance contractor who'd gone to Iraq just to do his patriotic duty, but Berg's story failed to captivate us the way other disappearances in Iraq have pulled us in. In retrospect it's obvious why we didn't pay attention: There were no pictures of Nick Berg's capture, as there were of the former hostage Thomas Hamill or the Japanese civilians caught by militants. Nick Berg disappeared without any of us noticing, and he remained anonymous until Tuesday morning, when, on a Web site affiliated with al-Qaida, the unspeakably gruesome video of his decapitation became available to us all.....

A few people have asked us what it means that Spc. Jeremy Sivits' court martial proceeding set for May 19 in Baghdad is being referred to as a "special court martial" and why it only carries a maximum penalty of a year in jail.

The answer: A "Special Court Martial" is the equivalent of a trial on a misdemeanor in civilian court.

Sivits will be tried before what the Army calls a special court-martial, a proceeding without direct parallel in the civilian world but similar in some ways to a misdemeanor trial. Conviction before a special court-martial carries a maximum of one year in prison. Sivits' punishment also could include reduction in rank to private, forfeiture of two-thirds of his pay for a year, a fine and a bad conduct discharge.

Why is Sivits, who was with the 372nd Military Police Company getting such a break? Probably because he's cooperating with authorities and promising to name others:

Neal Sonnett, a Miami defense lawyer who has represented civilian and military defendants, said the speed with which the trial was scheduled and the decision to try a relatively low-level defendant first suggest a plea bargain is in the works. Military prosecutors might be eager for that outcome, Sonnett said....

Others charged in the Abu Ghraib affair probably will face general courts-martial, which can yield more severe punishments. Seven soldiers currently face charges. Sivits is charged with conspiracy to mistreat detainees, dereliction of duty for failing to protect prisoners and maltreatment of detainees.

Here's more on the "special court martial" rules:

Bush has nominated the Pentagon's top lawyer, William Haynes, to a seat on the ultra-conservative 4th Circuit Court of Appeals. Haynes' nomination is now in jeopardy, due to the Iraqi prisoner abuse scandal:

Sen. Richard J. Durbin, D-Ill., said yesterday that senators want to determine what role, if any, the Pentagon general counsel, William J. Haynes II, had in establishing "interrogation tactics and techniques which have now been dramatized so negatively to the world." Durbin contended that Haynes had been evasive in response to key, earlier questions.

He also quoted Haynes as having told the Federalist Society, a conservative legal group, "'Congress specifically authorized the president not only to use deadly force, but also any lesser force needed, to capture and detain enemy combatants to prevent them from engaging in continued hostilities against the United States.'"

Durbin is calling for a new confirmation hearing for Haynes. Sen. Edward Kennedy (D-MA) is calling for further investigation into Haynes:

Sen. Edward M. Kennedy, D-Mass., called yesterday for the Senate Judiciary Committee to summon Haynes and other responsible legal officials at the Department of Defense to testify about legal issues raised by the prisoner-abuse scandal at Abu Ghraib prison in Baghdad. Until a hearing is held, further action on Haynes' nomination would be inappropriate, Kennedy wrote to Sen. Orrin G. Hatch, R-Utah, the Judiciary Committee chairman. And after a hearing the panel should talk about its favorable report on Haynes' nomination, Kennedy added.

Kennedy submitted another five pages of questions he wants put to Haynes, "related to the prisoner-abuse scandal, linked investigations and related issues." A Republican on the Committee acknowledged the scandal has hurt Haynes' chances for confirmation:

Thanks to Patriot Watch for this lesson today--secrecy sucks:

"To announce that there must be no criticism of the president, or that we
are to stand by the president right or wrong, is not only unpatriotic and
servile, but is morally treasonable to the American public." - Theodore
Roosevelt (1918)

Remember -- "Democracies die behind closed doors." That's a quote from 6th Circuit Judge Damon Keith in Detroit Free Press v. John Ashcroft--you can read the full opinion here. Two more quotes from the opinion:

Hawaii's sole African-American Judge, Sandra Simms, has been told by the Judicial Selection Commission that she will not be retained as a Judge. The Commission did not give a reason, but there is speculation as to the unstated reason: She's too soft on criminals.

Defense attorneys who have appeared before Simms praised her judicial demeanor and said her rulings are based on the facts of the case and the law, regardless of how it might affect her position on the court. "She gives everyone who came before her a level playing field," said attorney William Harrison. "She made decisions on what she thought was right and showed a lot of integrity."

An African-American community leader said the decision not to reappoint Simms "sends a terrible message. "I think it is shameful when you have a person who is a double minority and is not reappointed," said Faye Kennedy, first vice president of the NAACP. "There are so few African-American jurists, and very few women," said Kennedy. "It is a sad commentary on the state of a diverse and fair court."

Both the NAACP and the Hawaii Women's Political Caucus had sent supportive letters to the Commission on Sims' behalf. The process is done in secret, so no one really can say why Sims wasn't retained. One defense attorney said:

....the perception by many of Simms as being soft on defendants "is totally incorrect, and that's based on people disagreeing with a handful of cases -- and that's not indicative of how she handles her calendar," he said.

But no one's come up with another explanation for her ouster. And in other Hawaii developments, the State Attorney General has called for four constitutional amendments that will benefit prosecutors.

by TChris

The Bush administration is guilty of mind-boggling incompetence says David Corn, manifested most recently in Abu Ghraib. But that's only the latest example.

The Bush gang has bungled so many aspects of the Iraq occupation that its actions border on criminal recklessness. The most stunning revelation of Bob Woodward’s Plan of Attack is not that Bush ordered the Pentagon to begin planning an invasion of Iraq in November 2001; it is what is absent from the book: any indication that Bush and his lieutenants engaged in high-level planning concerning what to do after the invasion. ... If anyone else began such a complex and unprecedented project without mulling over the obvious pitfalls and complications, he or she would be out of work.

With Cheney and Rumsfeld, arrogance replaced deliberation. With Bush, incompetence replaced management. The result has been a disaster. Indeed, they should all lose their jobs.

Fire them in November. Vote Kerry.

"60 Minutes II" will air new abuse material in the form of a soldier's videotaped diary Wednesday night:

The CBS newsmagazine (8 p.m. EDT Wednesday) obtained the video diary of a soldier, whose name was withheld, talking about conditions at Camp Bucca and Abu Ghraib in Iraq where Iraqi prisoners were held. "We've already had two prisoners die ... but who cares?" the soldier says on the tape. "That's two less for me to worry about."

The tape reflects the soldier's dislike for the prison camp and the prisoners, according to CBS. "I hate it here," she says. "I want to come home. I want to be a civilian again. We actually shot two prisoners today. One got shot in the chest for swinging a pole against our people on the feed team. One got shot in the arm. We don't know if the one we shot in the chest is dead yet."

From the '60 Minutes' show site:

Throughout the tape, the soldier records her anger at the thousands of Iraqi prisoners under U.S. control at Camp Bucca. "They usually have three a week that break out and, of course, every time that I'm working they never do it," she says. "It's 'cause they are scared of me. I actually got in trouble the other day because I was throwing rocks at them."

...[Guards] Lisa Girman's and Canjar's families tried to bring attention to the problems at Camp Bucca last year. They called Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld's office repeatedly and talked to his staff, but got no response. Their letters to the White House and two senators were also unanswered.

The AP reports that Lisa Girman's commander said she engaged in vigilante just to revenge the rape of Pvt. Jessica Lynch:

A female Army soldier in the notorious 320th Military Police Battalion meted out "vigilante justice" on Iraqi prisoners she believed had raped former POW Jessica Lynch, according to a letter from her battalion commander obtained by The Associated Press. Lt. Col. Jerry L. Phillabaum, the troubled battalion's commander, leveled the allegation in a rebuttal to charges against his leadership of the 320th, some of whose soldiers were charged with abusing prisoners last fall at the Abu Ghraib prison west of Baghdad.

The soldier Phillabaum named, then-Master Sgt. Lisa Girman, 35, called her former commander's description of the incident "completely false" and said Phillabaum was an "incompetent" leader trying to cover up his shortcomings by blaming others.

The guards and commanders can fingerpoint all they want. We think the fault lies with Bush and Rumsfeld. The buck stops there. Boot Bush.

by TChris

While ruling that suspects in criminal cases don't have a constitional right to have the police record their statements, the New Jersey Supreme Court created a committee to consider whether the court should require judges to exclude statements from evidence that were produced by unrecorded interrogations.

"The proverbial time has arrived for this court to evaluate fully the protections that electronic (recording) affords to both the state and to criminal defendants," the court said in a 5-1 decision written by Justice Jaynee LaVecchia. It stressed the judiciary bears the responsibility to guarantee "the proper administration of ... criminal justice."

Recording interrogations -- a practice required in only three states -- has obvious benefits for both prosecutors and defendants. Recordings make it difficult for a defendant to claim "I never said that" or to argue that a confession was coerced. By the same token, they prevent the police from placing their own spin on the defendant's statement, and they discourage police from using coercive interrogation tactics.

New Jersey's Attorney General believes that "New Jersey will develop policies and procedures that will stand as a model for the nation." If so, it can't happen quickly enough.

by TChris

Some people never learn.

David Duke, a former leader of the Ku Klux Klan who was released to a halfway house in Baton Rouge, La., a month ago after serving a year in federal prison for fraud, has been meeting his work release obligations by performing duties for the "white civil rights" group where he is president, he said yesterday.

His job duties are unclear. Washing sheets and hoods, perhaps?

by TChris

A new report (pdf) by the Sentencing Project (summarized here) reveals a shocking rise in the number of inmates serving life sentences -- an increase that wasn't justified by rising crime rates, or by any other justification beyond the "get tough on crime" mindset that has gripped politicians for more than two decades.

The number of convicted felons serving some kind of life sentence has rocketed to 127,000 nationwide -- an 83 percent jump since 1992. More than a quarter of them are ineligible for parole.

The explosion in life sentences stems in part from three-strikes laws and their variants.

In California, almost 60 percent of the lifers in a three-strikes conviction are serving the time for a nonviolent offense.

Imposing life sentences on nonviolent offenders is a waste of society's resources, including the inmate's life.

by TChris

It had to happen. Say a critical word about the Bush administration or any of its activities, and the right-wing will launch an attack. It happened to Paul O'Neill. It happened to Richard Clarke. It happened to Gen. Shinseki. Now it's happening to Maj. Gen. Taguba.

The buzz in the right wing is that Taguba is "embittered" and has "a grudge against the Army." Right. That's why he's chosen to devote his life to serving his country in the military. At least they can't claim he's only trying to sell a book.

The assertion is that Taguba is bitter because his father, one of 10,000 Filipinos drafted to fight in World War II, wasn't properly recognized after 20 years of military service. So ... Taguba is getting even with the military by ... telling the truth? Or ... he's jeopardizing his career by fabricating a report because he has a grudge about the military's failure to honor his father? The logic in this attack is non-existent, but that's the way right-wing attacks work. Sadly, this one isn't likely to be the last.

by TChris

Law Professor Sanford Levinson asks a timely question: What is torture?

For over a decade, the United States has lived with a loose definition of "torture" that is significantly out of line with that of most of the rest of the world and invites the kind of manufactured distinctions that give lawyering a bad name. Moreover, officials in both Congress and the executive branch have winked and nodded at practices such as sending prisoners to countries that will do our dirty work for us.

Levenson explores the ambiguities that inhere in the United Nations Convention Against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman, or Degrading Treatment or Punishment, as well as the U.S. Senate's rather more limited understanding of torture, tacked on to the Convention as a condition of consenting to U.S. ratification.

It is easy to understand but difficult to accept one of Levenson's conclusions:

Why, then, should we feign shock that inexperienced, frightened, and foolish—it is almost pointless to view them as "evil"—young soldiers would have had little or no understanding of what the limits were on what they could do? They have received not the slightest trace of genuine leadership on this issue.

True, a failure of leadership is largely responsible for the abuses inflicted in Iraq. The soldiers who abused prisoners should not shoulder the blame alone, but neither should they be excused because appropriate limits had not been set. A soldier shouldn't need a JAG lawyer to explain that it's wrong to attack a prisoner with a dog or to engage in the humiliating acts revealed in the Abu Ghraib photographs.

Still, there's no doubt -- as Major General Antonio Taguba said today -- that a failure of leadership, going at least as high as Brigadier General Janis Karpinski, is to blame. In fact, the entire fiasco in Iraq stems from a failure of leadership: by Rumsfeld, Cheney and Bush.