The U.S. released 20 detainees from Guantanamo today. And 20 more came in to take their place. Here is the Pentagon's statement on the transfer.

There are still 660 prisoners at Guantanamo. 88 have been released to date. 84 went back to their home countries. 4 went to Saudi Arabia prisons for continued incarceration. Ouch.

Five of the men released this weekend went back to Pakistan, where they will be freed. The U.S. says it is negotiating with other countries to have some prisoners sent back "for a lengthy process of investigation, detention and prosecution." Six are scheduled for military tribunals, which are on hold while conditions for the trials are negotiated between the U.S. and Great Britain.

Since the Guantanamo prison opened in January, 2002, prisoners from 42 countries have been taken there for interrogation and detention. U.S. officials said their priority was to get intelligence to help avoid future terrorist attacks and keep dangerous people out of circulation.

Jeffrey Leon Battle and Patrice Lumumba Ford, two of the seven defendants in the Portland, Oregon terror case, were sentenced today to 18 years in prison.

Ford denounced Bush and his Afghan policiy of "cruise missile diplomacy"at the hearing. Both men stated they intended to protect fellow Muslims. Battle sang a ten minute song he had written in prison, that ended with "Free, free, free, for all humanity, release me."

The Judge was not impressed. He told one of the defendants:

"You do not represent the Muslim faith. Muslims do not engage in the activities you engaged in. You are an insult to that faith."

This is one case we would have liked to have seen litigated. The ACLU and National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers (NACDL) teamed up to file an Amicus brief in the case challenging the Government's use of the secret FISA court to get wiretaps under the Patriot Act.

the ACLU, joined by the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers, says the Justice Department's use of a secret court to get authority for electronic eavesdropping violates constitutional protections of privacy and free speech and against unreasonable searches and seizures.

Defense lawyers in the Portland case have challenged the government's use of secret court-approved wiretaps, the collection of e-mail messages and the planting of microphones in the home of one of the suspects. They claim the covert surveillance approved by a special court under the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, or FISA, should not have been granted in the case because the defendants are not agents of foreign powers, spies or terrorists, as defined in the act.

We think the sentences are too harsh for these defendants, who tried, but failed, to make it to Afganistan. They were turned back from Pakistan and Afghanistan after reaching China. We also think the LA Times was on target when it reported, "... the group "is more suggestive of bumbling, would-be holy warriors than of soldiers training for deadly missions."

The guilty pleas for Ford and Battle avoided the possibility of life sentences, had they been convicted at trial.

A detailed Portland Oregonian article describing the case, legal challenges and positions of the defense is here. Our coverage of the case is available here.

Actor Richard Gere had some suprise questioning in store for Wesley Clark last week at a fundraiser. We're glad Gere raised the issue, and we agree with him. But, in fairness to Clark, we also point out that Dean, Kerry, Edwards and the rest of the gang, with the exception of Kucinich, Mosely Braun and Sharpton, feel the same way.

Richard Gere ambushed Wesley Clark Thursday night at a presidential campaign fund-raiser. The activist actor asked the retired Army general to state his stance on the death penalty during a Q&A at Diane von Furstenberg's West Village atelier.

"I don't believe in the death penalty, per se, but I do believe we should reserve the right to use it in extreme cases, like that of Osama Bin Laden," the Democratic hopeful responded.

Gere, a devout Tibetan Buddhist, countered, "How can you not believe in the death penalty, but reserve that right for certain cases?"

An uncomfortable silence settled on the big-ticket crowd, which included Alexander von Furstenberg, writer Brad Gooch, producer Sandy Gallin, Hamilton South and Anne Dexter Jones. But Clark soldiered on, again trying to explain his belief that the death penalty should be considered in the face of the most heinous crimes.

"I believe only God has the right to take life," declared the star of "An Officer and a Gentleman." "We as people don't have that right." Clark looked as if he was about to order the actor to drop and give him 20, and wrapped it up. "We could have a philosophical discussion about this for hours," he said, "but I don't think this is the right venue."

The crowd retreated in formation to the bar, where laughter and applause, particularly that of the hostess, dominated the rest of the event. "She finds Wesley Clark very capable," says Jennifer Talbott, Diane Von Furstenberg's rep. "[Von Furstenberg] just became a citizen about two years ago, so it means a lot to her to do what she can."

Update: Wesley Clark hired a new campaign manager today--Paul Johnson--whose last position was manager of Florida Senator Bob Graham's campaign. The position has been vacant since last month when Donnie Fowler left. An interesting aside, one of Graham's daughters works for Dean, another for Clark.

After five and one half hours of deliberation, the jury in the "sniper" trial of John Muhammad returned a death verdict today.

Juror Dennis Bowman said he voted for life imprisonment on Friday but changed his mind Sunday night. "The man to me doesn't care about anything but himself and his," Bowman said. "The total lack of remorse seemed to cap it all for us."

The jury's choices were life without parole or death. As aggravators, the jury found the crime was particularly heinous and Muhammad represents a future danger to the public.

Jurors had two choices after finding him guilty of Meyers’ murder: life in prison without parole, or death.

...In Virginia, defendants spend an average of five years on death row before they are executed. Virginia appeals courts rarely overturn convictions and death-penalty sentences.

Our thoughts are with defense counsel Jonathan Shapiro and Peter Greenspun, both of whom conducted an excellent defense despite overwhelming circumstantial evidence against their client, a presumption of guilt in the minds of the public and their client's non-cooperation prior to trial. While criminal defense has greatly rewarding moments, the toughest is standing next to a client whose life has been in your hands and hearing the jury pronounce a sentence to death.

As to grounds for reversal, Elaine Cassel lays them out well here. Our views are here.

Billing itself as the Question Dean Blog, a new weblog attacks Howard Dean. It's written by a Vermonter under a pseudonym. We will support Dean if he's the candidate, and don't want to engage in Dean-bashing. We may endorse him before then --we just haven't made up our minds, and we like Clark and Edwards too. But we have, from time to time, pointed out his weaknesses on criminal justice issues and civil liberties. This article, from Vermont's Rutland Herald a few days after the 9/11 attacks, does cause us concern. We think the solution is for the Dean team to address and explain such prior remarks. If he doesn't think now that which he did but shouldn't have thought then, let's hear about it.

Dean's comments on civil liberties cause alarm
September 14, 2001

Gov. Howard Dean's call for a “re-evaluation” of some of America's civil liberties following this week's terrorist attacks was criticised Thursday by a Vermont Law School professor. “Good God,” Vermont Law School Professor Michael Mello said when read the remarks Dean made at a Wednesday news conference. “It's terribly irresponsible for the leader of our state to be saying stuff like that right now.”

....Dean said Wednesday he believed that the attacks and their aftermath would “require a re-evaluation of the importance of some of our specific civil liberties. I think there are going to be debates about what can be said where, what can be printed where, what kind of freedom of movement people have and whether it's OK for a policeman to ask for your ID just because you're walking down the street.”

Now, had we stopped reading there, we would be left with the impression that Dean was calling for a reduction of our civil liberties. But, reading the whole article, he didn't say that--he said he hadn't made up his mind and he expected there would be a debate on these issues.

Dean said he had not taken a position on these questions. Asked whether he meant that specific rights described in the Bill of Rights — the first 10 amendments to the U.S. Constitution — would have to be trimmed, the governor said: “I haven't gotten that far yet. I think that's unlikely, but I frankly haven't gotten that far. Again, I think that's a debate that we will have.”

So, the Question Dean blog is valuable for pointing us to source articles, but not so valuable at telling us what they reflect about Dean. Again, we think it should be Dean's people that point this stuff out first and diffuse it.

On the other hand, we doubt Wesley Clark would have been indecisive on the issue--even right after 9/11.

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Fox News reports on Michael Jackson's defense plan--it's an attack on the 12 year old's mother. We don't know why most of the U.S. press is now shielding the name of the 12 year old (or his mother, Janet Ventura-Arvizo) when the names have been reported in over 75 newspaper articles since February, 2003 when the Martin Bashir documentary was aired on television, according to Lexis.com .

Anyway, new details on the mom:

...sources said there are written statements .... which were signed late February by the boy and his mother in front of Jackson's attorney Mark Geragos. Also, Fox News has learned the Jackson team has been flooded in recent days with calls from witnesses who were at Neverland Ranch when the boy was there. These witnesses say the boy always acted happy and did not seem troubled.

There are also some employees of Jackson who will say they saw the mother of the boy often arguing with him -- sometimes, they say, high on crack -- and that she made demands.

The New York Post has these details about the child's life of turmoil with his parents.

Why would the boy's mother be signing a statement in front of Jackson's lawyer? Maybe because Jackson and the boy's mother had filed official complaints with the Broadcasting Standards Commission in the U.K. in addition to Jackson's suit for an injunction to stop Granada, the UK company that made the documentary, from releasing any more tapes.

If there is one civil liberties expert you should be reading regularly, it's Georgetown Law Professor David Cole, who writes a column for the Nation.

In the Dec. 1 issue, check out Syria, U.S. Torture Center, where Cole examines the Maher Arar case.

In the Dec. 8 issue, read Korematsu II, in which Cole explains why the Supreme Court's decision to hear cases involving the Guantanamo detainees may not be the blessing we're expecting.

Then there's Cole's book, Enemy Aliens.

David Cole is the country's great voice for civil liberties today. In this important book he shows how 9/11 has been used to undermine the legal rights of immigrants—and that after them, it will be easy to target American citizens

Update: We didn't realize when we posted this that the Nation articles were by subscription. Here are some a small portion of the articles, we recommend you buy the magazine or pay $.75 a week for the full online version. We are only going to leave the quoted portion up for a day or two as we don't want the Nation to get mad at us. If they ask us to remove the content sooner, we will.

If you have to go to jail, and you're not severely overweight, stay away from Alabama. It feeds it prisoners on $1.08 a day--usually by providing dehydrated meals to which the prison justs adds water, then brings to a boil.

The multicolored dish is the centerpiece of Tuesday lunch at Kilby Prison, and one of the many mysterious items that Food Service Director M.A. Warren serves to cut costs.

$1.08 covers three meals a day with two on Sundays and holidays. If you have the stomach for it, read the whole article. [Thanks to Howard Bashman of How Appealing for sending us the link.]

Instapundit weighs in on the same- sex marriage issue and says he's for it. He's getting a bunch of hate mail for his position--envy,perhaps? It began with an op-ed written by David Brooks, in which Brooks says,

Anybody who has several sexual partners in a year is committing spiritual suicide. He or she is ripping the veil from all that is private and delicate in oneself, and pulverizing it in an assembly line of selfish sensations.

Glenn responded,

Actually, I had quite a few years like that before I was married, and I consider it a good thing, though I'm quite happy to be married now and wouldn't have wanted to live that way forever. (But I think that one reason that I'm happily married now is that I did live that way for quite a while first). But I agree with David Brooks that gay marriage is a good thing, and actually strengthens traditional values rather than harming them.

Go read the weird emails Glenn got in response. And then Glenn's final retort.

The small town of Gueda Springs, Kansas, has no local police force. For self protection, the city council has passed an ordinance that with few exceptions, requires homeowners to keep guns:

This ordinance fulfills the duty to protect by allowing each individual householder to provide for his or her protection," said Councilman John Brewer.

"This is simply using the U.S. Constitution - Second Amendment in particular - to the city of Geuda Springs' advantage."

The ordinance is not the first in the country. Kennesaw, Georgia passed a similar law 21 years ago--and it's still in force.

The town sounds a little defensive about the bill:

Many Geuda Springs residents refused to talk about it, and others were tightlipped, saying outsiders should stay out of it. "It's nobody's business but our own," said Phillip Russell, who owns a motorcycle shop in the town. "Everybody out of town is making this their business."

The town has 210 residents. Failure to comply results in a $10 fine.

Skippy reports on the latest war toll of U.S. soldiers in Iraq. These were particularly gruesome deaths, in that an Iraqi mob beat the soldiers' bloodied dead bodies. Skippy aptly asks, "so, how much safer is the world now that we've ousted saddam?

A total of three U.S. soldiers died today. Here's another gruesome article.

In Mosul, two shopkeepers in this main northern city said two soldiers had their throats slit after they were ambushed in traffic.

And another.

Update: In Afganistan today, five U.S. soldiers were killed and seven wounded in a helicopter crash.

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Our good pal, NY criminal defense lawyer Joe Tacopina, made Page Six of the Post today....

DASHING defense lawyer Joe Tacopina, who's made his name representing high-profile clients like publishing guru Judith Regan and Abner Louima cop Thomas Wiese, is copping an eyeful of himself on TV. Script writers for CBS's legal drama "The Guardian" confess they used Tacopina's courtroom charms as the model for their slick lawyer Clay Simms, played by Mark Kiely. "I looked Joe up on the Internet," Kiely tells PAGE SIX. "He's a classic alpha male - knows no fear." Tacopina is flattered by the attention but says, "When do I get my check?"

Update: Joe Tacopina will be guest hosting the Dan Abrams report Wednesday night on MSNBC.

Update: We'll be on with him.

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