U.S. soldiers have been accused of abusing an elderly Iraqi woman:

U.S. soldiers who detained an elderly Iraqi woman last year placed a harness on her, made her crawl on all fours and rode her like a donkey, Prime Minister Tony Blair 's personal human rights envoy to Iraq said Wednesday.

Drudge says he is developing another story alleging that the CIA is being probed in the suspicious deaths of three detainees.

Via Drudge--the Washington Post is about to release some new photos of U.S. soldiers abusing Iraqi prisoners of war. Drudge says:

The pictures obtained by The Post include shots of soldiers simulating sexually explicit acts with one another and shots of a cow being skinned and gutted and soldiers posing with its severed head. There are also dozens of pictures of a cat's severed head....Other photographs show wounded men and dead bodies. In one, a dead man is lying in the back of a truck, his shirt, face and left arm covered in blood. His right arm is missing. Another photograph shows a dead body, gray and decomposing. A young soldier is leaning over the corpse, smiling broadly and giving the "thumbs-up" sign.

And in another picture a young woman lifts her shirt, exposing her breasts. She is wearing a white band with numbers on her wrist, but it is unclear if she is a prisoner. Another photograph of a naked man with a dark hood over his head, handcuffed to a cell door. And another of a naked man handcuffed to a bunk bed, his arms splayed so wide that his back is arched... A picture shows a soldier holding a leash tied around a naked man's neck in an Iraqi prison....

That's SPC Lynndie England in the photo with the soldier on the leash. And in other photos with naked Iraqi prisoners. Her family's reaction: She's being picked on. She was just in the wrong place at the wrong time. The family is even attacking President Bush:

Goin and Klinestiver said the family is furious with the comments of President Bush, who said he was "disgusted" by the photographs. "He doesn't know what these guys are going through," Klinestiver said. Referring to Bush's limited National Guard service during the Vietnam War, he added, "How can you make decisions for our military unless you've served yourself?"

Come on, you don't have to go to war to know what human decency means.

Update: You can view the new Washington Post photos here. [link now fixed]

The Judge in the Martha Stewart case has denied her motion for new trial based upon a juror's false answers to questions during the jury selection process. We think that juror had it out for Martha from the get-go.

Update: 2/20/05: Hunter Thompson died tonight. Our tribute to him is here.

**************
Original Post

We've been writing about Hunter Thompson covering Lisl Auman's unjust felony murder conviction for a few years--as well as covering Lisl's case on our own. Lisl was in police custody at the time of the crime, yet under the felony-murder rule she was sentenced to life in prison without parole. As Hunter wrote:

It is no small trick to get a "Convicted cop-killer" out of prison -- but it will be a little easier in this case, because Lisl no more killed a cop than I did. She was handcuffed in the backseat of a Denver Police car when the cop was murdered in cold blood by a vicious skinhead who then shot himself in the head & left the D.A. with nobody to punish for the murder -- except Lisl.

Go out and get the June issue of Vanity Fair. Our's came today. Hunter has written a huge article on Lisl in which he demonizes the Denver Police Department for their conduct in the case. He spares no one. Unfortunately, Vanity Fair articles are not on line.

Meanwhile, Lisl's case will be decided this summer by the Colorado Supreme Court which will decide whether Lisl's arrest by police precluded her liability for felony murder. For more information, and ways to help, go to her website, Lisl.com.

by TChris

Since his nomination, TalkLeft has cautioned that Brent Kavanaugh, a former aide to Ken Starr, should not be appointed to a judgeship on the influential D.C. Circuit. (TalkLeft background here here here.)

Clay Risen argues that Kavanaugh is driven by political ambition, not by ideology. According to Risen, "Kavanaugh's only consistent guiding principle seems to be an abiding dedication to the Republican Party--and to his own career." Whether a judge advances a right wing ideology or a right wing political agenda might be academically interesting, but the viewpoints will intersect in most cases. Whether driven by ideology or politics, we don't need more judges who will further the more extreme interests of the right wing. Kavanaugh will be one of those judges, and for that reason, his nomination must be blocked.

by TChris

David Nevin, the attorney for Sami Al-Hussayen, wonders why the government is using an expert witness who did the same thing his client is accused of doing. Hussayen, who was a month away from earning his doctorate in computer science before being arrested for providing expert assistance to terrorist organizations, is accused of maintaining a website that promoted terrorism.

Al-Hussayen's attorneys argued that government witness Mohammed Aleem, of Tjara Networks Co., maintains an Internet site [www.Islamicity.com] carrying the same kind of material Al-Hussayen is accused of promoting.

Nevin argued that the information on the Tjara Networks site is indistinguishable from the material prosecutors claim Al-Hussayen has made sure was posted on the assembly's and associated sites — yet no attempt has been made to prosecute Tjara operators. Aleem's "organization has done essentially the same thing that Mr. Al-Hussayen has been accused of doing," Nevin said, and yet "he's here as a government witness, sponsored by the government."

Nevin wasn't allowed to cross-examine Aleem about the website because his questioning would have gone beyond the scope of the government's direct examination, but Nevin intends to call Aleem as a defense witness.

Recent TalkLeft coverage of the trial is here.

by TChris

A broadcast on Voice of America scheduled for tomorrow, part of a series on American history, quotes Andrew Jackson. He was speaking in 1832, but his words ring true today.

"It is to be regretted," he said, "that the rich and powerful bend the acts of the government to their own purposes. Differences among men will always exist under every just government. Equality of ability, or education, or of wealth cannot be produced by human institutions. Every man has the equal right of protection under the laws. But when these laws are used to make the rich richer, and the powerful more powerful, then the more humble members of our society have a right to complain of injustice."

Hmm. The rich and powerful bending the acts of government to make the rich richer and the powerful more powerful. Sound familiar?

We didn't see President Bush's appearance on Arab tv today, but Skippy gives it a good dissing.

Your thoughts?

by TChris

Some of the President's friends in the media world are doing their best to suppress information that might cause voters to wonder whether Bush deserves to be reelected. First Sinclair decided not to carry a Nightline episode that honored American soldiers who lost their lives in Iraq. Now Walt Disney Co. has directed its Miramax film studio not to distribute Michael Moore's new documentary, "Fahrenheit 9/11," that is critical of the Bush administation's response to 9/11 and of "ties between the Bush family and prominent Saudis, including the family of Osama bin Laden."

Miramax doesn't seem pleased.

Miramax spokesman Matthew Hiltzik declined to comment on Disney's actions. But he said, "We're discussing the issue with Disney. We're looking at all of our options and look forward to resolving this amicably."

Disney's beleaguered CEO, Michael Eisner, is reportedly "concerned the film would endanger tax breaks that Disney receives for its theme parks and other properties in Florida, where President Bush's brother Jeb is governor."

by TChris

Those who attend the Tribeca film festival in New York City will have a chance to see "Every Mother's Son" this afternoon at 4:30 p.m. or Saturday at 6:00 p.m. The film focuses on the mothers of three men who were killed by police officers.

For this task the film makers chose Kadiatou Diallo [mother of Amadou Diallo, an unarmed man who was gunned down by the police in 1999 in the Bronx], Iris Baez (her son, Anthony, was killed when a cop applied an illegal chokehold), and Doris Busch Boskey. Her son, Gideon Busch, a Hasidic Jew, was shot outside his home in Brooklyn.

Director Tami Gold wanted her film to address a large problem through the lens of three very personal experiences.

"It’s not about dealing with a few bad cops," Gold said. "The problem of police brutality is a systemic one...we both felt that it was not enough to make a documentary about police brutality alone. We wanted it to deal with the critical issues surrounding policing, but also to have a human component and an aspect of hope."

Those who can't catch the film this week will be able watch it on PBS’s P.O.V. series. The documentary is scheduled to air on August 17.

by TChris

In the Bush administration, image is everything. The administration always hopes that voters won't notice the disconnect between image and reality, so it shouldn't be surprising that the President is rarely on the bus as he makes his celebrated bus tour of Ohio.

The dirty little secret of President Bush's bus tour is that he didn't spend much time on the bus. An hour or so on Tuesday was all he logged, though that seemed plenty for the startled residents of some small towns in rural parts of Ohio, who had never seen a motorcade quite like this one. After all, it is not every day you see three buses moving along on back roads, preceded and followed by Chevy Suburbans carrying men with large guns, and helicopters overhead. One woman who was mowing her lawn ran indoors, leaving the lawn mower idling in her yard.

Since the President's reelection efforts are impeding traffic and scaring the locals, it's probably a good thing that he isn't on the bus all that often. The best take comes from Craig Kilborn:

"President Bush has traded in Air Force One for this customized bus to campaign in the swing states of Ohio and Michigan. Nothing convinces people that the economy's good like a President riding the bus."

by TChris

The ugly practice of racial profiling in traffic stops continues.

A study has found that nearly three out of four Massachusetts police departments engaged in racial profiling of minority drivers, prompting the state to launch a probe.

Police in Boston, Springfield, and Worcester were the worst offenders.

So far, there is no plan to end the practice. Instead, some police departments will be required to collect more data about the reasons for their traffic stops, a rather insignificant burden that the police chiefs' association predictably labels a "witch hunt." The data will be analyzed again after another year.