No Makeover for Gitmo | Obama Should Go After Bush's Torture Team | The White House's Last Secrets

Rights & Liberties Newsletter December 3rd, 2008 More from Rights & Liberties »

Why Won't the Bush Administration Release the Uighur Prisoners at Gitmo? By Daphne Eviatar, Washington Independent As the Bush term ends, his administration is using every possible excuse to keep its captives from the "war on terror" imprisoned. Read more »   A short article in Newsweek recently discussed the possibility that President-elect Barack Obama will seek criminal investigations against members of the Bush administration responsible for torture in the so-called "war on terror." Despite the hopes of many human rights advocates, the new Obama Justice Department is not likely to launch major new criminal probes of harsh interrogations and other alleged abuses by the Bush administration. But one idea that has currency among some top Obama advisers is setting up a 9/11-style commission that would investigate counterterrorism policies and make public as many details as possible. "At a minimum, the American people have to be able to see and judge what happened," said one senior adviser, who asked not to be identified." I recently spoke to Michael Ratner of the Center for Constitutional Rights about this proposal, as well as the fact that Obama advisors seem set against prosecuting Bush-era officials for torture. In his view, this is a grave error. "If laws can be broken with impunity today, they can and will be broken with impunity tomorrow," he says. "Not just laws against torture and war crimes, but any and all laws; any and all limits on government." Tomorrow in New York, Ratner will join legal scholar and Harpers contributor Scott Horton, who has written at length on the subject, as well as Elizabeth Holtzman, author of The Impeachment of George W. Bush (Nation Books), Antonio Taguba, Major General (U.S. Army Ret.), and others for a discussion titled "After Torture: A Harper's Magazine Forum on justice in the post-Bush era." The event is free and open to the public. For more information, go here. Thanks for reading, Liliana Segura Editor, Rights & Liberties Special Coverage     If Obama Doesn't Prosecute Bush's Torture Team, We'll Pay a Big Price Down the Road By Liliana Segura, AlterNet Obama isn't likely to pursue torture atrocities during the Bush era, but this is one problem you simply can't wish away. Read more »   Uncovering the Final Secrets of the Bush Administration By Charles Homans, Washington Monthly Treat Cheney's offices like a crime scene, create a 9/12 Commission, and declassify the Bush papers -- the public deserves to know. Read more »   Obama: Close, Don't Repackage, Guantanamo By Michael Ratner, Jules Lobel, The Nation If Congress chooses to rebrand Guantanamo with a legal gloss, it will legitimize the indefinite imprisonment of people without charge. Read more »   After Seven Years, Guantánamo Prisoners Need to be Tried or Released By Marjorie Cohn, Jurist Legal News and Research Judge: "Seven years of waiting for a legal system to give them an answer ... is more than enough." Read more »   The End of Guantánamo By Andy Worthington, AlterNet The repatriation of Salim Hamdan to Yemen should hasten the demise of the U.S. prison camp. Read more »   Mormon Homophobia: Up Close and Personal By Sheldon Rampton, Center for Media and Democracy An ex-Mormon explains how a church with mostly good values can promote hatred and intolerance. Read more »   PEEK and Video: The hottest buzz and videos on the web     'The End of America,' Liberty: Use It or Lose It By Staff, AlterNet A look at the compelling new documentary based on Naomi Wolf's book of the same name. Read more »   O'Reilly Whitewashes Torture at Gitmo: 'There's Certainly No Proof That Ever Happened' By Ryan Powers, Think Progress Is Bill O'Reilly really this naive? Read more »   Mormons Losing Members Over Anti-Gay Campaigns By Lisa Derrick, Firedoglake "I think the church has no right to assume the inner thinkings of its members and take such an open stand of any political issue." Read more »   The Election of Obama and the White Supremacist Threat By Davin Hutchins, American News Project It's the taboo subject you're not supposed to talk about -- Barack Obama's safety in light of the rise of white supremacists in America. Read more »

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