2006.07.14 - PEGC Update ========================== 1) CONGRESSIONAL HEARINGS ON THE EFFECTS OF HAMDAN Senate Judiciary Committee -- July 11, 2006 HAMDAN V. RUMSFELD: ESTABLISHING A CONSTITUTIONAL PROCESS * C-SPAN video of hearing (real 3:53): rtsp://video.c-span.org/project/ter/ter071106_judiciary.rm * Witness list and prepared statemsnts http://judiciary.senate.gov/hearing.cfm?id=1986 * Written statement of Steve Bradbury, Acting Asst Atty General, OLC: http://judiciary.senate.gov/testimony.cfm?id=1986&wit_id=5505 * Written statement of Daniel J. Dell’Orto, Principal Dep. Gen'l Counsel, DoD: http://judiciary.senate.gov/testimony.cfm?id=1986&wit_id=5506 House Armed Services Committee -- July 12, 2006 STANDARDS OF MILITARY COMMISSIONS AND TRIBUNALS rtsp://video.c-span.org/project/ter/ter071206_commissions.rm * Witness statements (scroll to entry for July 12): http://armedservices.house.gov/schedules/ Senate Armed Services Committee -- July 13, 2006 MILITARY COMMISSIONS IN LIGHT OF HAMDAN V. RUMSFELD (real 3:53) rtsp://video.c-span.org/project/ter/ter071306_hamdan.rm * Witness list: http://armed-services.senate.gov/e_witnesslist.cfm?id=2000 Balkinization -- July 11, 2006 AIRTIGHT LOGIC By Marty Lederman http://balkin.blogspot.com/2006/07/airtight-logic.html 2) FISA & NSA ISSUES Balkinization -- July 14, 2006 * REPRESENTATIVE HARMAN ON THE SPECTER BILL By Congresswoman Jane Harman http://balkin.blogspot.com/2006/07/representative-harman-on-specter-bill.html * THE NSA, FISA AND HAMDAN: RESPONSE TO DOJ FROM SCHOLARS AND FORMER OFFICIALS By Marty Lederman http://balkin.blogspot.com/2006/07/nsa-fisa-and-hamdan-response-to-doj.html Balkinization -- June 30, 2006 HAMDAN AND THE NSA DISPUTE By Jack Balkin http://balkin.blogspot.com/2006/06/hamdan-and-nsa-dispute.html July 7, 2006 HAMDAN AND THE NSA DOMESTIC SURVEILLANCE PROGRAM: WHAT NEXT? By Marty Lederman http://balkin.blogspot.com/2006/07/hamdan-and-nsa-domestic-surveillance.html July 8, 2006 THE NSA AND HAMDAN By Cass Sunstein http://balkin.blogspot.com/2006/07/nsa-and-hamdan.html July 9, 2006 OPEN LETTER IN RESPONSE TO CASS SUNSTEIN ON THE NSA AND FISA By Marty Lederman http://balkin.blogspot.com/2006/07/open-letter-in-response-to-cass.html SCOTUSblog -- July 14, 2006 * BLOG ROUND-UP by Jason Harrow http://www.scotusblog.com/movabletype/archives/2006/07/blog_roundup_9.html * ANALYSIS: THE NEW ROLES FOR COURTS ON NSA SPYING by Lyle Denniston http://www.scotusblog.com/movabletype/archives/2006/07/analysis_the_ne.html 3) GUANTANAMO BAY Newsweek -- July 17, 2006 issue THE GITMO FALLOUT The fight over the Hamdan ruling heats up - as fears about its reach escalate. By Michael Isikoff and Stuart Taylor Jr. http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/13773997/site/newsweek/ Spiegel Online -- July 14, 2006 ESCAPE TO HELL: FLEEING CHINA, LANDING IN GUANTANAMO By Hauke Goos http://service.spiegel.de/cache/international/spiegel/0,1518,426704,00.html Financial Times -- July 11, 2006 US TO APPLY GENEVA CONVENTIONS TO ALL MILITARY DETAINEES By Demetri Sevastopulo http://www.ft.com/cms/s/e1de1572-1089-11db-8eec-0000779e2340.html CCR -- July 10, 2006 REPORT ON TORTURE AND CRUEL, INHUMAN, AND DEGRADING TREATMENT OF PRISONERS AT GUANTANAMO BAY, CUBA http://www.ccr-ny.org/torturereport * press release: http://www.ccr-ny.org/v2/reports/report.asp?ObjID=p3CXx0ajAy&Content=791 4) DAVID HICKS Fair Go For David -- July 10, 2006 DAVID DESCRIBES CRUEL, BRUTAL REGIME Media Release David Hicks, imprisoned in Guantanamo Bay for four and a half years, had his first contact with family for seven months. In a phone call to his father, Terry and other family members last Friday he detailed some of his harsh prison conditions. He is kept in a "concrete cell lying on the floor with no mattress, partially clothed and with the air conditioning and lights on full, twenty four hours a day, seven days a week" he said. Imagine "Mr Bean" huddled in ball like at the start of the program, "that’s what it’s like." He has just been given a mattress after three months and it’s only "half a centimetre thick." There have been times when he has "not been given toilet paper" and is expected to use his "hands" to wipe himself. There are no washing facilities in his cell. He must request toilet paper daily and is only given "thirty sheets" a day. "It has been much worse since the suicides," he said. "They keep pushing, pushing and pushing us. I didn’t eat for twenty eight days," he said, "and lost twenty five pounds." David has been told that if he pleaded "guilty" to crimes he would be moved out of solitary confinement and given "privileges." He reiterated to family that he was not guilty of any crimes. "I asked for a cat," he said, and was told a cat couldn’t be kept in those "conditions." It would be too cruel. He said he could not "last much longer" in these conditions. 5) MILITARY LAW DOCUMENTS Secrecy News -- July 5, 2006 LAW AND THE MILITARY by Steven Aftergood http://www.fas.org/blog/secrecy/2006/07/law_and_the_military.html * OPERATIONAL LAW HANDBOOK (2006), Judge Advocate General's Legal Center and School (3.7 MB PDF): http://www.fas.org/irp/doddir/army/law2006.pdf * LEGAL LESSONS LEARNED FROM AFGHANISTAN AND IRAQ: VOLUME 1, MAJOR COMBAT OPERATIONS (2004.08.01), Center for Law and Military Operations (7.1 MB PDF): http://www.fas.org/irp/doddir/army/clamo-v1.pdf * LEGAL LESSONS LEARNED FROM AFGHANISTAN AND IRAQ: VOLUME 2, FULL SPECTRUM OPERATIONS (2005.09), Center for Law and Military Operations (3.3 MB PDF): http://www.fas.org/irp/doddir/army/clamo-v2.pdf [ NOTE: Adobe Reader 6.0 is required to view this last file ] 6) OP-ED Slate -- July 11, 2006 INVENT THIS WHEEL!!! Now can we try using courts-martial for enemy detainees? By Neal Katyal http://www.slate.com/id/2145512/ JURIST -- July 12, 2006 HAMDAN AND THE GUANTANAMO DETAINEES By Jonathan Hafetz http://jurist.law.pitt.edu/forumy/2006/07/hamdan-and-guantanamo-detainees.php JURIST -- July 3, 2006 HAMDAN, COMMON ARTICLE 3 AND THE TRUE SPIRIT OF THE LAW OF WAR By Geoffrey S. Corn http://jurist.law.pitt.edu/forumy/2006/07/hamdan-common-article-3-and-true.php TomPaine.com -- July 7, 2006 WHAT GENEVA MEANS TO HAMDAN By Aziz Huq http://www.tompaine.com/articles/2006/07/07/what_geneva_means_to_hamdan.php Salt Lake Tribune -- July 8, 2006 US REAPS WHAT THE ARMY SOWS By David R. Irvine, BG USAR (Ret.) http://www.sltrib.com/opinion/ci_4028285 St. Petersburg Times -- July 9, 2006 THE PLOT TO DEFEAT OUR LIBERTY By Robyn E. Blumner http://www.sptimes.com/2006/07/09/Columns/The_plot_to_defeat_ou.shtml * * * PROJECT TO ENFORCE THE GENEVA CONVENTIONS (PEGC) http://www.justicescholars.org/pegc/ Charles B. Gittings Jr. Fort Bragg, California cbgittingsyahoo.com +1-707-964-2151