To bolster his argument that the Guantánamo detainees should be denied the right to prove their innocence in federal courts, Justice Antonin Scalia wrote in his dissent in Boumediene v. Bush: "At least 30 of those prisoners hitherto released from Guantánamo have returned to the battlefield." It turns out that statement is false.
According to a new report by Seton Hall Law Center for Policy and Research, "The statistic was endorsed by a Senate Minority Report issued June 26, 2007, which cites a media outlet, CNN. CNN, in turn, named the DoD as its source. The '30' number, however, was corrected in a DoD press release issued in July 2007, and a DoD document submitted to the House Foreign Relations Committee on May 20, 2008 abandons the claim entirely."
The largest possible number of detainees who could have "returned to the fight" is 12; however, the Department of Defense has no system for tracking the whereabouts of released detainees. The only one who has undisputedly taken up arms against the United States or its allies, "ISN 220," was released by political officers of the DoD against the recommendations of military officers.
Scalia bolstered his hysterical claim that the Boumediene decision "will almost certainly cause more Americans to be killed" with stale information that was proven to be false one year ago. Professor Mark Denbeaux, director of the Seton Hall Center, said Scalia "was relying uncritically on information that originated with a party in the case before him."
The Supreme Court decided in a 5-4 decision that the Guantánamo detainees were entitled to file petitions for writ of habeas corpus to challenge their detention. More than 200 men who have been held for up to six years and have never been charged with a crime, will now have their day in court. Many were snatched from their homes, picked up off the street or in airports, or sold to the U.S. military by warlords for bounty.
Scalia, who sits on the highest court in the land, has acted as a loyal foot soldier for the executive branch of government.
http://www.marjoriecohn.com
Marjorie Cohn is a professor at Thomas Jefferson School of Law and president of the National Lawyers Guild. (organizations shown for identification purposes only; the views expressed in this article are solely those of the writer; she is not acting on behalf of these organizations). Cohn is the author of Cowboy Republic: Six Ways the Bush Gang Has Defied the Law. Her articles are archived at www.marjoriecohn.com.
Scalia is no less a criminal than those residing in any prison in the United States. His crimes, in most cases, are worse than most of those inhabitants as his crimes have affected millions.
Isn't it great knowing we have Supreme Court Justices who lie?
He also proved he does not stand for upholding the laws when he appointed Bush to the Presidency. I believe he even wrote in that decision that it cannot be used as a precedent event. That, my friend, is nothing more than an admission of wrong doing.
He is a good example of why the Supreme Court Justices should not be there for life. Another is Thomas who cannot think for himself, but follows Scalia...it is frightening.
by
Dennis Kaiser (14 articles, 0 quicklinks, 10 diaries, 226 comments)
on Wednesday, June 25, 2008 at 6:33:46 AM
for tracking the whereabouts of released detainees.
I beg to differ on this... It is very easy to ascertain the wearabouts of the detainees once they have been killed or RE-captured on the battle field...
Al-Ajmi is not the first former Guantanamo detainee to reportedly return to the battlefield after being released. Pentagon officials say there are more than 10 people once held by the U.S. at Guantanamo who have been killed or captured in fighting after being released from the detention facility.
So now it is 2008, and the people calling the 30 figure an urban myth are suggesting that no more than two have returned to the battle field since 2005, 3 years ago?
Commander Scott Rye, a spokesman for the U.S. military, identified one of the Mosul bombers on Wednesday as Abdullah Salim Ali al-Ajmi, a Kuwaiti man who was originally detained in Afghanistan and spent three years at Guantánamo
The data STRONGLY suggests that characterizing Justice Scalia's statement as "urban legend" is fallacious at best.
The authors, some being lawyers to detainees at Guantanamo have a vested interest in attempting to discount any negativitity directed against their clients. It is clear that their need for Scalia's statement to be false has motivated and inspired their article.
Ciao, CZ
by
steve scheetz (3 articles, 0 quicklinks, 1 diaries, 580 comments)
on Wednesday, June 25, 2008 at 8:17:46 AM
Steve, i always appreciate your counterpoint; so you're saying it's OK for Scalia to rely uncritically on a report that originated with the DOD, that the DOD now does not endorse???
The fact that you came up with two (2) examples that indicate "enemy combatants" may be returning to the "battlefield" (the nations the Republocrats have invaded militarily or with the CIA or the World Bank/IMF?) doesn't change the fact that Scalia's sits on the highest court in the land and doesn't know what he's talking about. And TWO examples? Well, I guess Bullshit's war of terror is working, you can only find 2 examples in the Operation Mockingbird press? OK, if you dug all week, maybe you could come up with 100- but don't rely on the DOD, they keep changing their figures- plus they have a rep for planting propaganda in the press, as you know. And even if you could come up with 1000, how does that change the fact that the fascist imperial policies of an financial elite minority are the cause of terror; the reason domestic and foreign "terrorists" hate the US? From at least the mid 80s to mid 90s the CIA and USAID were shipping terror training "textbooks" to Afghanistan to radicalize them to fight the Soviets- even the Taliban was using them in the Madrassas. And what about all the innocent people in Guantanamo fighting for their right just to have a day in a court that may be as corrupt as the Bush Administration- does the DOD track how many were turned over as falsely as an enemy combatant so a bounty could be collected? How kidnapping innocent people from their country that was invaded for lies not fomenting more terror? Of course, you can't go on imperial rampages around the world under the pretense of fighting a "war on terror" if ya don't got no terrorists attacking ya, right? And if they ain't, then ya just gotta inflame some, or, hell, just get some patsies and lead them around til you can arrest them and have a show trial- and if the public complains too much about lost liberties and human rights abuses, hell, maybe it's time for another attack, as Rumsfeld recently got exposed as advocating, and McCain's Black just did.
by
Better World Order (4 articles, 416 quicklinks, 27 diaries, 881 comments)
on Wednesday, June 25, 2008 at 11:35:43 AM
Judges to ever sit on the SCOTUS..(sharing that dubious honor with Rienqusit) I am hoping that with enough progressive Democratics and an Obama Presidency..they will either impeach Scalia (and a few others) or at least box them in so they can no longer harm our country's courts with their far right-wing ideaology
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Susan Nelsen (0 articles, 0 quicklinks, 0 diaries, 265 comments)
on Wednesday, June 25, 2008 at 12:37:22 PM
if they grabbed me for no reason other than someone turned me in for a reward, keep me in solitary, tortured me for 5 years and than let me lose.
All of Gitmo is illegal, every inch of it. The whole phony war on terror is a set-up for fascists like sheetz to ply their trade. Little does he know he's shoveling his own grave.
Scalia is nothing but a gangster in robs.
by
Mr M (4 articles, 0 quicklinks, 12 diaries, 1403 comments)
on Wednesday, June 25, 2008 at 12:41:43 PM
While I in no way defend the invasion of Iraq, nor Guantanamo, nor basically anything George Bush has done in the so-called "war on terror," I do recognize that the Saudi's have established madrassas all over the world which teach a radical form of Islam devoted to the violent pursuit of world Islamic rule. To deny this fact is to bury one's head in the sand in pursuit of some idyllic vision of the equality of all religious belief. Just as there are very dangerous Christian fundamentalists, there are very dangerous Islamic fundamentalists. The only difference is that the Islamic fundamentalists have a giant head start on their militarization of an underground and their infiltration of the Western world.
In short, there comes a clash of civilizations: one for which we did not ask, and one we do not want. But it comes, nevertheless. The question we must answer as progressives is if and how we can peacefully address the threat. The radical Muslims see our sexed up commercial society as decadence defined, and do not want Hyatts and Holiday Inns in their countries. Yet, market capitalism demands an ever-expanding market, and soldiers to protect that market, and with all of that comes the sexualized, commercialism that Islam so fears. Hence, daily the U.S. provides greater and greater reasons for the fundamentalists to attack. There is no reason to think the situation will change.
So, what is to be done?
by
W.M.L. (0 articles, 0 quicklinks, 0 diaries, 318 comments)
on Wednesday, June 25, 2008 at 4:57:34 PM
The Supreme Court (except for the Warren Court) has been a leading exponent of royalism. It has been made up of nothing but liars, bullies, and crooks like Scalia. It justifified the civil war and every other sort of abuse of power.
by
John Hanks (1 articles, 0 quicklinks, 0 diaries, 1186 comments)
on Wednesday, June 25, 2008 at 6:34:06 PM
Government 101: Whatever your hidden agenda, find an agency, official, newspaper, or, if need be, a hobo wandering the street that mildly alludes to an endorsement of your position and charge ahead full steam. By the time the pesky facts surface, the public's pretty much forgotten about the matter, and with the lackey press in tow, the deed is done - all blamed on a 'mistake' that few want to revisit.
Try getting away with that in a company, corporation, a non-profit or your own family.
And what mechanism is there to prevent this in the future? None.
by
Michael McCoy (4 articles, 1 quicklinks, 2 diaries, 261 comments)
on Friday, June 27, 2008 at 2:35:29 AM
Take from his home a decent person, hold and torture him without charges for several years, and it should be no surprise that he ends up fighting against us.
by
Lover of Truth (0 articles, 0 quicklinks, 0 diaries, 24 comments)
on Friday, June 27, 2008 at 1:22:24 PM
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