Associated Press Reporter David Ammons reports from Olympia, Washington that the FBI now concedes that its "voluntary" interviews of Iraqis and Iraqi-Americans in the U.S. are causing anxiety among the interviewees. (article available on fee-based Lexis.com.) The FBI wants us to think all is hunky-dory with the interviews. It's not. In Columbus, Ohio, there have been 16 harassment complaints filed. The Seattle- Post-Intelligencer reports ,

Some Iraqi immigrants in Washington, already anxious because of the war in their native land, say unannounced home visits by federal agents are further elevating stress levels and causing distrust of the government.

One Iraqi woman was home alone when agents came to interview her. She "thought they were going to arrest her husband," said Yahya Al-Garib, community advocate for the Iraqi Community Center in West Seattle. "They feel like they're in Iraq right now."

An immigration-rights group is working to provide legal assistance to the jittery immigrants, who are being interviewed this week in a nationwide effort to counter terrorism, curb hate crimes and track down illegal immigrants.

Annette Lamoreaux, East Texas regional director of the American Civil Liberties Union, sat in one of the interviews last week when an Iraqi woman was being questioned, and she saw it differently.

"With each question, I felt more and more embarrassed to be an American. I mean, this is not my America," says Ms. Lamoreaux, who advised the frightened woman being interviewed not to answer most of the questions. "These interviews may be legal, but I find them morally offensive."

What are the Iraqis being asked?

The questions go like this: Do you support Saddam Hussein? Do you know any Saddam sympathizers? What is your religious affiliation? What are the names and addresses of your Iraqi family members living in the United States?

Sounds to us just like the communist witch hunt in the 1950's, shades of Joe McCarthy. There are real concerns with the interviews.

"It's viewing the foreign born and newcomers with suspicion, a guilty-until-proven-innocent approach. We need to find that balance between being open to immigration and remaining safe." Contributing to the problem are contradictory signals from the government, says Doris Meissner, a senior fellow at the Migration Policy Institute and a former INS commissioner. For instance, having FBI agents simultaneously conducting interviews and enforcing immigration laws could exacerbate immigrants' fears.

As for the FBI's assertions that they are not seeking to arrest and deport Iraqis, but only to question them, consider this, from the Associated Press:

CBS News and the Associated Press reported today that lawyers carrying heavy law books are traveling with the American and British troops in Iraq in case the U.S. decides to impose martial law in Iraq.

Via Jurist's Paper Chase, you can find a detailed "explication" of rules and regulations to be applied in territories under the military jurisdiction of the US Army, in Chapter 6 of US Army Field Manual 27-10, The Law of Land Warfare, Occupation. We're going to study it for a while as we haven't read it before. As a sample, here's what it says about treatment of detainees (section 446.)

Protected persons accused of offences shall be detained in the occupied country, and if convicted they shall serve their sentences therein. They shall, if possible, be separated from other detainees and shall enjoy conditions of food and hygiene which will be sufficient to keep them in good health, and which will be at least equal to those obtaining in prisons in the occupied country.

They shall receive the medical attention required by their state of health.

They shall also have the right to receive any spiritual assistance which they may require.

Women shall be confined in separate quarters and shall be under the direct supervision of women.

Proper regard shall be paid to the special treatment due to minors.

Protected persons who are detained shall have the right to be visited by delegates of the Protecting Power and of the International Committee of the Red Cross, in accordance with the provisions of Article 143.

Such persons shall have the right to receive at least one relief parcel monthly. (GC, art. 76.)

Here is the American Bar Association's letter that was sent to Congress today protesting the planned subpoena of the sentencing records of Federal Judge James Rosenbaum. We wrote earlier today about the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers' (NACDL) Board Resolution opposing such a subpoena. Background on it is here.

March 24, 2003

The Honorable James Sensenbrenner
Chairman
U.S. House of Representatives
2332 Rayburn House Office Building
Washington, DC 20515

Dear Chairman Sensenbrenner:

On behalf of the 410,000 members of the American Bar Association, I write to express our grave concern about the pending proposal to subpoena Judge James Rosenbaum regarding his sentencing practices. Such a subpoena, to our knowledge unprecedented outside of impeachment proceedings, represents a significant threat to the independence of our judiciary and to the separation of powers doctrine.

If the purpose of this action is to obtain information in furtherance of the Committee's oversight responsibilities with respect to the sentencing guidelines, it would not focus on this one judge. There is a wealth of statistical material available on implementation nationally, most notably from the U.S. Sentencing Commission itself.

If there is a belief this judge has in some manner violated his obligations as a federal judge, a complaint may be filed under the procedures established by Congress when it enacted the Judicial Discipline and Disability Act of 1980.

If there is concern over the outcome in a particular case where a downward departure from the sentencing guideline was imposed, the Department of Justice has the authority to challenge such action in the Court of Appeals.

We are concerned that issuing a subpoena will suggest to all members of our federal judiciary that decisions they make which may be disagreeable to certain Members of Congress will result in their being compelled to appear before Congress to explain themselves. Such an action would be a serious threat to the independence of the Third Branch of our government as envisioned by the Founding Fathers.

We urge you and your colleagues not to issue a subpoena but rather pursue other means to obtain whatever information your Committee may require to carry out its duties.

Sincerely,

Alfred P. Carlton, Jr.

cc: Members of the Committee on the Judiciary
The Chief Justice of the United States
The Hon. James Rosenbaum

From Natasha Hunter at Tom Paine.Com

The charges laid out in William Safire's recent two part series -- "The French Connection" – have emboldened the anti-French chorus. But as former 60 Minutes producer Barry Lando writes, “Safire's double broadside is more Francophobia than fact. He is way off beam; the articles are filled with error and innuendo. What makes matters worse is that editors at both The New York Times and the International Herald Tribune knew there were serious questions about Safire's charges, yet the papers went ahead and published the second part of his series.”

Barry Lando's full article can be read here.

Gary Hart will be in New Hampshire on Thursday and Friday, March 27-28, and then Massachusetts and New Jersey on Saturday, March 29. Here are the details for the public events: (Updated 3/27/03)

Friday, March 28:

Dartmouth College, 4:30-6:30 PM
Panel Discussion (hosted by Rockefeller Center), "America At War"
Discussion centering on the perception of public opinion.
Dartmouth College, Dartmouth Hall 105
Hanover, NH

Saturday, March 29 (3 events):

Boston University, 12:00 PM
Audience discussion on the war with Iraq, moderated by Senator Hart
Boston University's Sargent College, Room 102
635 Commonwealth Ave.
Boston, MA

Amherst College, 4:00 PM
Public Forum to Discuss the War with Gary Hart
Sponsored by the Five College Program in Peace and World Security Studies
Cole Assembly Room, Converse Hall
Amherst College
Amherst, MA

Yale University, 7:30 - 8:45 PM
Audience discussion on the war with Iraq, moderated by Senator Hart
Yale Law School Room 127
127 Wall Street
New Haven, CT

Tuesday, April 1:

Milken Institute Global Conference (March 31-April 2), 7:00 - 9:30 PM
Panel discussion: "America''s Role in the World"
Beverly Hilton Hotel
Los Angeles, CA
More information

Thursday, April 3:

Gary Hart Meetup.com event - Los Angeles
Location: TBA, 7:30 PM - 9:00 PM
Please check the web site for event location and plan to arrive early!
More information

Please keep up with the web site for further schedule updates as Senator Hart is scheduling more events daily!

Don't forget to sign-up for your local Gary Hart Meetup event April 3 here

The House Judiciary Committee is considering voting on an unprecedented resolution that will allow it to subpoena a sitting federal judge and force him to locate and produce information regarding his sentencing decisions. In response to this crisis, Milton Hirsch, Chair of the Judicial Relations Committee of the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers (NACDL) prepared the following resolution, which has been adopted by the organization.

RESOLUTION OF THE BOARD OF DIRECTORS OPPOSING CONGRESSIONAL ATTACKS ON JUDICIAL INDEPENDENCE WHEREAS the Hon. James M. Rosenbaum is the chief judge of the United States District Court for the District of Minnesota; and

Human Rights Watch today called for the United Nations to appoint "a high-level expert to monitor the impact of counter-terrorist measures on human rights... Human rights abuses will fuel terrorism, not defeat it. Governments must be stopped from using counter-terrorism as a pretext for repression.” Yesterday, HRW released a report detailing abuses made in the name of fighting terrorism.

The report includes case studies from China, Egypt, Georgia, India, Indonesia, Russia, Spain, United Kingdom, United States and Uzbekistan.

...The Human Rights Watch report highlights systematic violation of due process rights, far-reaching restrictions on civil liberties, crackdowns against internal political movements, allegations of torture, tightening of controls on refugees and migrants and arbitrary detention of non-nationals. For instance:

The United States’ response to September 11 has seen the arbitrary and secret detention of non-citizens, secret deportation hearings and the military detention without charge or access to counsel of U.S. citizens designated as "enemy combatants;”

Two of the eighteen recently released detainees at Guantanamo Bay have cited rewards and beatings as part of the treatment.

At the US detention center in Guantanamo Bay, prisoners who argue with guards are persecuted and sometimes beaten, while those who obey are rewarded with good food, clothes, hygiene, and even video games, according to interviews with the largest group of detainees set free so far from the main facility for Taliban and Al Qaeda suspects.

The eighteen men were sent back to Kabul from Guantanamo and have since been allowed to return to their homes. They were innocent of any connection to terrorism or Al Qaeda. Some were low level employees of the old Afganistan regime, e.g., drivers to Taliban leaders. To be fair, the article cites most of the released men as praising their treatment at Guantanamo. The bad treatment is apparently saved for those perceived to be terrorists or those who don't go along with the U.S.'s game plan.

Murtaza, 28, of southern Helmand province, was one of two who said they had received bad treatment. A driver for the Taliban who also fought as a soldier, his problems at Guantanamo began, he said, when he protested the confiscation of his Koran. US guards piled everyone's copies on the floor and then sat on them, he said. Murtaza also said guards had whistled loudly during the five-times-daily Muslim prayer calls, and had dragged chains on the ground to annoy inmates while they were praying. ''I was gassed till I fainted and hosed with water cannon for complaining and resisting the indignitites against the holy Koran,'' Murtaza said, pulling up his pant leg to show scars he says he got from being kicked by heavy-booted US soldiers when he protested their actions.

A U.S. spokesman denied the charges, alleging the detainees have no reason to tell the truth. That rings false to us in light of Murtaza's scars. Some more allegations:

The men said they did not know of anyone having been beaten during interrogation. But Murtaza complained about being put in rooms with frigid air-conditioning and invasive strip searches. ''It was life in a cage,'' he concluded. He said he saw a prisoner beaten until his arm broke after protesting guards dragging chains during prayers. ''There are many human beings suffering there, and praying and reciting the Koran is not a crime, nor is it proof of affiliation with the Taliban or Al Qaeda,'' he said.

If these prisoners are to be believed, and we tend to believe them, the detainees at Guantanamo Bay are not being physically mistreated during interrogations, but when the authorities perceive them to be a discipline problem, the scenario changes substantially: rooms with freezing temperatures; kept naked for a week; strip searches; beatings; water torture and gassing; interruption of prayers and deprivation of prayer books.

Why did the U.S. hold these men in captivity for sixteen months before freeing them? Surely they knew fairly quicky the men were neither terrorists or criminals. How many more of the 660 men currently being warehoused at Guantanamo are being held, and perhaps mistreated, despite being innocent?

With all the war news this week, and the Texecutions last week, we overlooked this article appearing in the March 22 Washington Times:

President Bush yesterday announced his intention to nominate Karen P.Tandy, head of the Justice Department's Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Force, as the new chief of the Drug Enforcement Administration. If confirmed by the Senate, she would be the first woman ever to head the anti-drug agency.

A veteran prosecutor, she would replace acting administrator John B. Brown
III, a longtime drug agent who was named in January to succeed former Rep.
Asa Hutchinson. In his announcement, Mr. Bush noted that Mrs. Tandy, a deputy associate attorney general, had previously served as both chief of litigation in the Justice Department's asset-forfeiture office and as deputy chief for
narcotics and dangerous drugs.

The president said she also was an assistant U.S. attorney in Virginia and
Washington state, where she handled the prosecution of violent crime,
complex drug cases, money laundering and forfeiture cases.

Are there any Virginia or Washington defense lawyers out there who want to give us their take on Ms. Tandy? You can use the comments section and post anonymously if you want.

John Broder and Eric Schmitt on CNN tonight said that military officials confirmed to him that new intelligence suggests that some of mechanics who strayed off the main road over the weekend were executed by Iraqi captors. This is apparently based on an intercepted converstation. Even though as of yet there is only a single source for this information, it appears credible when considered with the pictures shown over weekend of some GI's who appeared to have been shot at close range.

There were witnesses, townspeople present, during the alleged executions and an investigation is ongoing in which the Government is seeking corroborating evidence.

More information is available in a Wednesday New York Times article by Eric Schmitt and David Sanger, here.

Some of the Army mechanics captured on Sunday after they took a wrong turn in the Iraqi town of Nasiriya were apparently executed by their captors, probably in front of townspeople, American officials charged tonight. The officials cautioned that the information was based on one source, apparently a communications intercept, and that they were seeking corroborating evidence. It is unclear how many of the seven soldiers were executed, rather than killed in fighting, as the Iraqis contend. Five other Americans were taken prisoner and at least three were still missing.

We received word of this article today from a very smart and good friend of our's in Miami --unfortunately, it didn't come with a source cite--but we like it enough to post anyway. Even if the last two paragraphs aren't entirely factual, they sound like they could be:

Mr. Bush says this invasion will be different. He has broadened his war aims in recent weeks from removing Mr. Hussein and any weapons of mass destruction to transforming Iraq into a beacon of freedom in the Middle East. In a news conference March 6, Mr. Bush said U.S. troops would remain to help run Iraq until a new, representative government could take control. With the passion of a convert to nation-building, he spoke movingly of confronting totalitarianism, of spreading "God's gift" of liberty "to each and every person," and of how "Iraqi lives and freedom matter greatly to us."

Napoleon proclaimed a similar new era of equality and respect for "true Muslims" as he marched into Cairo in 1798, killing a thousand members of Egypt's ruling caste. He was accompanied by 100 French scientists, researching an encyclopedia and spreading European "enlightenment" to bemused Egyptian intellectuals.

"Peoples of Egypt, you will be told that I have come to destroy your religion," said Napoleon as he entered Cairo. "Do not believe it! Reply that I have come to restore your rights!""

Bill Frist is up to his old tricks with the Eli Lilly vaccine legislation. Wampum Blog pleads for you to help.

Senator Bill Frist, with the help of Judd Gregg (R-NH), is resubmitting the Eli Lilly Thimerosal provison, with additional devastating changes to the Vaccine Injury Compensation Program and to the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee. Markup is scheduled for today. Frist thinks he may have the votes.

Call these committee members using toll-free Congressional switchboard at 1-800-839-5276:
Gregg, Judd (R - NH)
Frist, William (R - TN)
Enzi, Mike (R - WY)
Alexander, Lamar (R-TN)
Bond, Christopher (R - MO)
DeWine, Mike (R - OH)
Roberts, Pat (R - KS)
Sessions, Jeff (R - AL)
Ensign, John (R - NV)
Graham, Lindsey - (R - SC)
Warner, John (R - VA)

Ranking Members
Kennedy, Edward (D-MA)
Edwards, John (D - NC)
Dodd, Christopher (D - CT)
Harkin, Tom (D - IA)
Mikulski, Barbara (D - MD)
Jeffords, James (I - VT)
Bingaman, Jeff (D - NM)
Murray, Patty (D - WA)
Reed, Jack (D - RI)
Clinton, Hillary (D - NY)

Please, call and fax the following Senators and ask that they not agree to this horrible legislation which will essentially gut the National Vaccine Injury Compensation Program, not only for children with mercury-induced neurological disorders, but possibly for ANY vaccine-injured child (and there have in fact been thousands of claims previously settled.)

Wampum's got all the details over there, so go visit.