by TChris

In time of war, the President should be expected to show support for the men and women serving in the military. Why, then, is the administration trying to block former POW's from using Iraqi assets to collect a judgment that compensates them for the treatment they endured under Saddam Hussein's regime during the 1991 Gulf War?

The seventeen POW's sued Iraq, arguing that they were entitled to compensation for being tortured, starved, and mistreated while being held prisoner. A federal judge agreed, awarding judgment to the POW's of $653 million in compensatory damages and $306 million in punitive damages. But as the POW's tried to collect that judgment from Iraqi assets, the Bush administration stepped in to object.

The Justice Department apparently fears that opening the door to compensation in this case would jeopardize Iraq's ability to rebuild. Stewart Baker, the POW's attorney, disagrees.

by TChris

Yesterday, TalkLeft reported that Melissa Rowland has entered into a plea agreement reducing a murder charge to two counts of child endangerment. Prosecutors based the initial charge on a stillbirth that followed Rowland's decision not to submit to the prompt C-section that her physician recommended.

Although the reduced charges are certainly better than a homicide prosecution, womens' rights advocates continue to call attention to the ramifications of the prosecution's decision to file any charges at all against Rowland. They joined together yesterday to call Rowland "a victim of an overzealous prosecutor, misguided medical personnel, a failed health care system and an abusive jail system."

The women say Rowland had the right to decide if and when she had a Caesarean section, despite the prosecution's contention that Rowland's delay cost the life of her unborn boy.

Activists point out that the decision to prosecute will have a chilling effect on other women who may avoid any prenatal care for fear that the failure to follow a doctor's advice will lead to a criminal charge. In addition,

Pam Udy, vice president of the International Caesarean Awareness Network, said the Rowland case will pressure other expectant mothers into getting C-sections unnecessarily.

Condoleeza Rice testifies before the 9/11 panel today. Here is the text of her opening remarks. If you're short on time, here are excerpts. The AP report is here. Neal Pollack is blogging it. We'll be in court today, so here's an open thread to discuss it.

If you're a blogger, you may want to consider adding blogads to your site. Business reporter David Ranii has this article in today's Charlotte Observer, which begins with a quote from us. And check out our new ad offering "George W. You're Fired" t-shirts.

If you're an advertiser, Right Wing News just compiled a list of the top 29 political blogs on the web, using a combination of Technorati, Truth Laid Bair, Blogstreet and Daypop. The top five, no surprises here, are Instapundit, Andrew Sullivan, Eschaton (Atrios), Talking Points and Daily Kos. TalkLeft is very proud to be number 15.

Arianna Huffington gushes about blogs today in Salon, and has started her own. Welcome, Arianna.

Simply put, blogs are the greatest breakthrough in popular journalism since Tom Paine broke onto the scene.

Money talks in death penalty defense. Check out the record of the well-funded Philadelphia defender's office: In eleven years, not one client has been sentenced to death.

Lawyers say the Defender Association of Philadelphia's track record — in a city that annually ranks near the top in use of the death penalty — is proof that when it comes to capital punishment, the difference between life and death for a convicted killer can be a matter of dollars and cents. With 215 attorneys on staff, the Defenders Association is equipped with resources usually available only to prosecutors. Every capital murder client gets two lawyers and a private investigator. A team of psychologists and ``mitigation experts'' hunt for evidence that might sway jurors against a death sentence.

Why all the criticism of the German court's decision to release Mounir el Motassadeq on bail? Many of the articles we've seen make it sound like he was convicted of participating in the 9/11 attacks, sentenced to 15 years and released after 2 1/2--when, if you read the small print, he was convicted of participating in the 9/11 attacks, sentenced to fifteen years, and then his conviction was overturned because the U.S. denied access to a potentially exculpatory witness. If his conviction was overturned, it's like it never happened. The 15 year sentence is void, as if it was never imposed. Now he stands charged with, but not convicted of accessory to commit murder,so the Court released him on bail pending trial, with orders to stay in Hamburg and report to the police department twice a week. That's appropriate.

An appeals court last month threw out el Motassadeq's conviction and ordered a retrial starting June 16, saying he was denied a fair trial because the U.S. government refused access to his friend Ramzi Binalshibh - a Yemeni captured in Pakistan on the first anniversary of the Sept. 11 attacks.

....El Motassadeq, 30, has acknowledged training at an al-Qaida camp in Afghanistan and being close friends with Hamburg-based suicide hijackers Mohamed Atta, Marwan al-Shehhi and Ziad Jarrah. But he has denied knowing of the plot to attack the United States....[Prosecutors] say the former electrical engineering student used his power of attorney over al-Shehhi's bank account to pay rent, tuition and utility bills, allowing the plotters to keep up the appearance of being normal students in Germany. He also signed Atta's will. El Motassadeq explained both as things he simply did for friends.

Sounds to us like a defensible case. We agree with his lawyer that the U.S. should open its files and allow the defense access to the witnesses and related reports.

New York is one of the places where a push is on to give legal immigrants who aren't citizens the right to vote.

Supporters say it is not an outlandish proposition. They point out that even without citizenship, legal immigrants pay taxes, send their children to public schools and serve in the military. Noncitizens in many states were allowed to vote in local, state and even Congressional elections as recently as the 1920's.

In the last decade, five towns in Maryland have allowed noncitizens, even illegal immigrants, to vote in local elections. Campaigns for immigrant voting rights are under way in several cities, including Hartford; Cambridge, Mass.; and Washington.

New York has one million legal immigrants who are not citizens. If they got to vote, they would make up one-fifth of New York's voting population.

by TChris

A report by the Congressional Research Service questions whether the FBI can "transform itself into an effective domestic intelligence agency geared to preventing terrorism." Its authors fear that the FBI will be slow to change from a reactive law enforcement agency to a proactive domestic intelligence service that can stop terrorists before they strike.

One of five suggested solutions (none of which are endorsed) by the report: the creation of "a new stand-alone domestic intelligence service." Sounds suspiciously like a new federal agency dedicated to spying on Americans. Let's hope that enough of our elected representatives remember the bad old days of J. Edgar Hoover to stop that idea before it gains any traction.

Paternity results are due out tomorrow in the civil lawsuit involving Neil Bush and ex-wife Sharon and his current wife's ex-husband. Background here, here and here.

Update: Neil Bush skates ....he's not the father of the child.

Sen. Robert Byrd delivered a speech today on the floor of the Senate calling for an exit door in Iraq:

It is staggeringly clear that the Administration did not understand the consequences of invading Iraq a year ago, and it is staggeringly clear that the Administration has no effective plan to cope with the aftermath of the war and the functional collapse of Iraq. It is time -- past time -- for the President to remedy that omission and to level with the American people about the magnitude of mistakes made and lessons learned. America needs a roadmap out of Iraq, one that is orderly and astute, else more of our men and women in uniform will follow the fate of Tennyson's doomed Light Brigade

Via Wonkette we learn that Fear and Loathing 2004 is coming....gonzo journalist Hunter Thompson will be joining the campaign trail to write a book about the 2004 elections.

Thompson voted for Ralph Nader in 2000. But he made it clear he favors Kerry this time, and plans to train his savagely satirical rhetoric on Bush, providing the Secret Service lets him anywhere near either candidate.

Hunter is recuperating from a broken leg and finishing an article on Lisl Auman, whose felony murder conviction appeal is under consideration by the Supreme Court. Hunter has been a steadfast supporter of Lisl, who was sentenced to life in prison without parole under the felony murder rule for the killing of a police officer even though she was sitting in the back of the patrol car when the shooting occurred. The shooter, after killing the officer, then killed himself. Hunter is responsible for getting NACDL, former Sen. Gary Hart and Minn. Gov. Jesse Ventura to support Lisl.

Press critic and writer Jay Rosen of Pressthink analyzes the relationship between bloggers, linkers and advertisers as a result of the Daily Kos dustup last week. One of his final points:

Finally, while there is much that is ignoble in the patterns I describe, there were moments of honor in Blogistan, too-- because of the incident. This defense of Kos by Jeralyn Merritt of TalkLeft is one. You can almost hear her rising on the floor of a new senate to speak in support, complete with links.

Thanks, Jay, for the compliment and your thoughtful, balanced analysis of the fury of the week that was... all about Kos.

[at the well-taken suggestion of a commenter below, comments now closed]