Some Guy TT posted:

https://twitter.com/AIIAmericanGirI/status/1438644904129875970

extremely funny how life news appears to be the only publication willing to make a big thing out of this given that the supreme court going nah why bother preventing people from trying to enforce this ridiculous law until it gets to trial was the start of all this brouhaha wanna guess why that was a crime against the republic but this isnt

because the judge in question robert pitman is an obama appointee lol

Some Guy TT posted:

https://twitter.com/srl/status/1438919241542086656

Some Guy TT posted:

https://twitter.com/ScottGreenfield/status/1439940899681751044

Some Guy TT posted:

https://twitter.com/CNNPolitics/status/1439988361557651460

itshappening.gif

Jose posted:

https://twitter.com/equalityAlec/status/1439972181237186562?s=20

Jose posted:

https://twitter.com/equalityAlec/status/1439972181237186562?s=20

Jose posted:

this is hosed

https://twitter.com/WalkerBragman/status/1443977644605939720?s=20

Some Guy TT posted:

https://twitter.com/joshchafetz/status/1442842002790367245

Some Guy TT posted:

https://twitter.com/cnnbrk/status/1445914525715374085

The Senate posted:

President George W. Bush posted:

_{[Concerning Zubaydah’s unresponsiveness to questioning, before his painkillers were withheld]}
Who authorized putting him on pain medication?
———

_{[After publicly describing Zubaydah as one of Al Qaeda’s top operatives, when advised that CIA experts held a contrary opinion]}
I said he was important. You're not going to let me lose face on this, are you?

The New Yorker posted:

Abu Zubaydah was the first person officially subjected to the torture approved by President Bush.

Abu Zubaydah, an alleged Al Qaeda operative captured in Pakistan in 2002, was suspected of being a senior member of the group and a plotter in the 9/11 attacks. In 2000, Zubaydah was convicted in absentia for plotting attacks in Jordan and sentenced to death.

Abu Zubaydah surrendered plenty of useful information to the FBI without coercion, and even though it wasn’t clear how much more he knew — it turns out that he wasn’t a member of Al Qaeda — the CIA, convinced that he was harboring knowledge of future attacks, subjected him to torture. The FBI refused to take part; “I swear to God, I’m going to arrest these guys,” one FBI interrogator reported to headquarters.

As the Senate report stated, the CIA interrogators knew that what they were doing was possibly illegal. Dozens of videotapes of the interrogation were destroyed despite judicial and congressional requests. In fact, they were so worried about being found out that they told their superiors that if Abu Zubaydah were to die during his interrogation, he would have to be cremated. In the event that he lived, they asked, in a cable, for “reasonable assurances that [Abu Zubaydah] will remain in isolation and incommunicado for the remainder of his life.” They did, indeed, receive such assurance.

Abu Zubaydah’s medical condition took a backseat to his interrogation; the doctors were evidently willing to watch Abu Zubaydah’s deterioration even as his torture carried on. According to a CIA spokesman: “Although it was possible to treat an infection in Abu Zubaydah’s eye, the more serious underlying pre-existing condition meant that the eye was not salvageable. The eye continued to disintegrate on its own and was eventually lost.”

The Senate report makes clear that the “deterioration” of Abu Zubaydah’s eye began after he was captured in Pakistan, and during the time that he was being tortured.

Omar Deghayes, a Libyan citizen who was captured in Pakistan and taken to Guantánamo in 2002, was released five years later without being charged. Deghayes has said that during his captivity, guards gouged both his eyes; he permanently lost the vision in his right eye.

In 2003, John Yoo, then a senior lawyer at the Justice Department, justified that “to put out or destroy an eye” could be legal as long as no specific intent to cause the prisoner severe pain could be proved. The infamous torture memo was written by Yoo specifically to legitimize Abu Zubaydah’s torture.

Abu Zubaydah’s lawyers are prohibited from revealing any contents of any conversations they have had with their client, on the grounds that any disclosures could threaten national security.

“There is absolutely no question that on the night he was captured he had two completely functional eyes,” Brent Mickum, one of Abu Zubaydah’s attorneys, said. “And at some point thereafter, we don’t know exactly when — he has some idea when, but I can’t say, because nothing that he tells me I can reveal to you, which is ridiculous. This is the game I have to play.”

After all that, Abu Zubaydah’s torture provided no useful intelligence on future plots.

The Supreme Court posted:

Justice Breyer: Why doesn’t he testify? Why doesn’t he say this is what happened?

Mr. Klein, representing Zubaydah: Abu Zubaydah cannot testify.

Justice Breyer: Why not?

Mr. Klein: Because he is being held in Guantanamo incommunicado.

Justice Breyer: Why? In Hamdi, we said you could hold people in Guantanamo. The words were: Active combat operations against Taliban fighters apparently are going on in Afghanistan. Well, they’re not anymore. So, why is he there?

Chief Justice Roberts: Have you filed a habeas or something to get him out?

Mr. Klein: There has been a habeas proceeding pending in D.C. for the last 14 years. We've done everything we could to move it forward, but it simply has not moved forward.

Justice Sotomayor: Mr. Klein, I think I understand, because you're held in Guantanamo, you're not permitted to sign affidavits or give any testimony, correct?

Mr. Klein: That is correct.
———

Justice Gorsuch: Why not make the witness available? What is the government’s objection to the witness testifying to his own treatment?

Mr. Fletcher, in rebuttal: By “the witness” you mean Abu Zubaydah? He is not being held incommunicado. He is subject to the same restrictions that apply to other similar detainees at Guantanamo. His communications are subject to security screening for classified information and other security risks.

Justice Gorsuch: Thats not really answering my question, because I understand there are all sorts of protocols that may or may not, in the government’s view, prohibit him from testifying. But I’m asking much more directly, will the government make the Petitioner available to testify on this subject?

Mr. Fletcher: We would allow him to communicate about this subject under the same terms as on anything else.

Justice Breyer: The same terms? Look, I don’t understand why he’s still there after 14 years. Why not just do as Justice Gorsuch says? Just say, hey, ask him what happened?

Mr. Fletcher: So, because the detainees at Guantanamo are all subject to a regime, a protective order in their habeas litigation— … Our position as to all communications by Abu Zubaydah is that he can communicate subject to security screening, which would include eliminating classified information.

Justice Kavanaugh: Mr. Fletcher, following up on Justice Breyer's question, is the United States still engaged in hostilities for purposes of the AUMF against Al Qaeda and related terrorist organizations?

Mr. Fletcher: That is the government's position, that notwithstanding the withdrawal of troops from Afghanistan, we continue to be engaged in hostilities with Al Qaeda and, therefore, the detention under law of war remains proper.

Justice Kavanaugh: Thank you.

Some Guy TT posted:

https://twitter.com/CNNPolitics/status/1443345630651428866

[Judiciary] there is going to be a lot of disappointment in the law, a huge amount

atriptothebeach posted:

https://twitter.com/fordm/status/1445809125007503365

The Supreme Court really needs to be willing to take up Zubaydah’s habeas petition. Just leaving as unaddressed his torture, his continued imprisonment without a charge, and the misuse of classification to prevent prisoners’ testimony from courts’ oversight, represents an abhorrent breach of national integrity and a crime against the goodness of the Lord, imo

pospysyl posted:

Your quote cuts out a pretty lol exchange with Breyer:

https://twitter.com/Ugarles/status/1445811498211631112

Did, uh, Klein ever try writing a letter? Getting someone on the phone?

Some Guy TT posted:

https://twitter.com/cnnbrk/status/1445914525715374085