Bush officials authorized torture of US citizen, lawyers say John Byrne Published: Friday January 30, 2009 source
Attorneys for US citizen Jose Padilla -- who was convicted of material support for terrorist activities in 2007 -- say that high-level Bush Administration officials knew their client was being tortured during the time he was held an enemy combatant in a South Carolina brig, because of the command structure and that then-Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld employed in approving harsh interrogation tactics.
Rumsfeld approved the harsh interrogation techniques early in Bush's presidency. In Iraq, a cheat sheet titled "Interrogation Rules of Engagement," revealed that some of them required the Iraq commanding general's approval.
Among those requiring approval are tactics Padilla's mother and lawyer say he was the victim of: "Sleep adjustment," "Sleep management, "Sensory deprivation," "isolation lasting longer than thirty days" and "stress" positions." It wouldn't be a shock if military guards went beyond the traditional treatment of a US prisoner, given Rumsfeld's approved techniques and that Padilla was is legal limbo as an enemy combatant and eligible to be held for years without charge.
Padilla and his mother filed suit against the US government last year alleging a litany of harsh interrogation practices they said were tantamount to torture. His lawyer also says he was held in isolation for years while held at the South Carolina brig.
"They knew what was going on at the brig and they permitted it to continue," Tahlia Townsend, an attorney representing Padilla, told the Associated Press Thursday. "Defendants Rumsfeld and [Deputy Paul] Wolfowitz were routinely consulted on these kinds of questions."
The Justice Department is attempting to get the case dismissed. Padilla's suit alleges mistreatment and that Padilla's being held as an enemy combat was unconstitutional.
Dismissal might quietly shut the door on a troubled case that drew broad attention because the Bush Administration had deemed a US citizen an enemy combatant, the quasi-legal terminology used to hold suspected terrorists at Guantanamo Bay.
Padilla, a US citizen, was arrested in 2002 and accused of plotting with al-Qaida to detonate a radioactive "dirty bomb" in a major U.S. city, but those charges were dropped. He was declared an enemy combatant after his arrest, and held at the brig from June 2002 until January 2006, again without charge.
In 2008, Padilla and his mother, Estela Lebron, filed a lawsuit accusing the government of mistreating and illegally detaining Padilla while he was held near Charleston, South Carolina. Padilla suffered "extreme isolation, sensory deprivation, severe physical pain, sleep deprivation, and profound disruption of his sense and personality, all well beyond the physical and mental discomfort that normally accompanies incarceration," according to the lawyers' claim. Such treatment bears the hallmarks of harsh interrogation techniques approved by then-Defense Secretary Rumsfeld and used by interrogators of other enemy combatants held at the US' Guantanamo Bay and Iraqi prisons.
In particular, they singled out then-Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld and then Undersecretary of Defense Paul Wolfowitz.
Padilla has alleged he was shackled in painful "stress positions," a technique used at Guantanamo Bay that a bipartisan U.S. Senate panel ruled last year was the direct result of Bush administration detention policies, not individual guards or interrogators.
The original charge leveled at Padilla when he was arrested in 2002 was that he was part of a "dirty bomb" al Qaeda plot. By the time he was charged five years later, government lawyers had dropped the charge.
The following are excerpts from Padilla's 2006 motion (PDF link) which describe the claims of torture in more detail:
####
A substantial quantum of torture endured by Mr. Padilla came at the hands of his interrogators. In an effort to disorient Mr. Padilla, his captors would deceive him about his location and who his interrogators actually were. Mr. Padilla was threatened with being forcibly removed from the United States to another country, including U.S. Naval Base at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, where he was threatened his fate would be even worse than in the Naval Brig. He was threatened with being cut with a knife and having alcohol poured on the wounds. He was also threatened with imminent execution. He was hooded and forced to stand in stress positions for long durations of time. He was forced to endure exceedingly long interrogation sessions, without adequate sleep, wherein he would be confronted with false information, scenarios, and documents to further disorient him. Often he had to endure multiple interrogators who would scream, shake, and otherwise assault Mr. Padilla. Additionally, Mr. Padilla was given drugs against his will, believed to be some form of lysergic acid diethylamide (LSD) or phencyclidine (PCP), to act as a sort of truth serum during his interrogations.
....
It is worth noting that throughout his captivity, none of the restrictive and inhumane conditions visited upon Mr. Padilla were brought on by his behavior or by any actions on his part. There were no incidents of Mr. Padilla violating any regulation of the Naval Brig or taking any aggressive action towards any of his captors. Mr. Padilla has always been peaceful and compliant with his captors. He was, and remains to the time of this filing, docile and resigned B a model detainee.
....
In sum, many of the conditions Mr. Padilla experienced were inhumane and caused him great physical and psychological pain and anguish. Other deprivations experienced by Mr. Padilla, taken in isolation, are merely cruel and some, merely petty. However, it is important to recognize that all of the deprivations and assaults recounted above were employed in concert in a calculated manner to cause him maximum anguish. It is also extremely important to note that the torturous acts visited upon Mr. Padilla were done over the course almost the entire three years and seven months of his captivity in the Naval Brig. For most of one thousand three hundred and seven days, Mr. Padilla was tortured by the United States government without cause or justification. Mr. Padilla's treatment at the hands of the United States government is shocking to even the most hardened conscience, and such outrageous conduct on the part of the government divests it of jurisdiction, under the Due Process clause of the Fifth Amendment, to prosecute Mr. Padilla in the instant matter.
--- end ---
UN official: Enough evidence to prosecute Rumsfeld for war crimes David Edwards and Stephen C. Webster
Monday, the United Nations Special Rapporteur on Torture Manfred Nowak told CNN's Rick Sanchez that the US has an "obligation" to investigate whether Bush administration officials ordered torture, adding that he believes that there is already enough evidence to prosecute former Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld."
We have clear evidence," he said. "In our report that we sent to the United Nations, we made it clear that former Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld clearly authorized torture methods and he was told at that time by Alberto Mora, the legal council of the Navy, 'Mr. Secretary, what you are actual ordering here amounts to torture.' So, there we have the clear evidence that Mr. Rumsfeld knew what he was doing but, nevertheless, he ordered torture."
At issue, however, is whether "American law will recognize these forms of torture."
A bipartisan Senate report released last month found Rumsfeld and other top administration officials responsible for abuse of Guantanamo detainees in US custody.
It said Rumsfeld authorized harsh interrogation techniques on December 2, 2002 at the Guantanamo prison, although he ruled them out a month later.
The coercive measures were based on a document signed by Bush in February, 2002.
This video is from CNN's Newsroom, broadcast Jan. 26, 2009.
Today while taking a walk, I snapped a couple of phtos of this plane that flew overhead near the airport and wondered what the Navy was doing in Sonoma!
Thu 1/29 7 PM
Vintage warplane soars One of only 25 still flying source By David Bolling INDEX-TRIBUNE EDITOR
Eight years and 10,000 hours after Chris Prevost took possession of some of the pieces that made up part, but by no means all, of a Curtiss P-40, one of the legendary fighter planes of World War II, he gave it a public unveiling at his Schellville Airport in front of a small crowd of airplane aficionados, including some World War II vets.
A THRONG OF AIRPLANE BUFFS, including several World War II vets, await the P-40's take off. Among them was Sonoma's Doc Ross, wearing a genuine flight jacket worn by a member of the legendary Flying Tigers who flew P-40s in China against the Japanese invasion. For more photos, see CLICK HERE David Bolling/Index-Tribune
It was the plane's second flight, the inaugural launch taking place Jan. 22, for 22 minutes of airtime. On Wednesday Prevost stayed aloft almost twice as long. When Prevost's P-40, meticulously restored and mechanically perfect, roared into the late-morning air, it was a moving reminder to several assembled veterans of the role the U.S. Army Air Corps played in defeating the Japanese and German armies. While the enthralled throng watched with craned necks, Prevost brought the plane roaring across the airfield on several passes, one of which looked to be about 100 feet above the ground. It flew flawlessly.
The P-40, was slower and less maneuverable than the Japanese Zeroes and Oscars, or the German Messerschmidts it fought during aerial combat, but it was more durable, well-armored and by war's end it had a highly favorable kill-to-loss record. The plane was flown by some 28 nations and Prevost's came to California in pieces via New Zealand and Australia. With an original blueprint for the plane, he rebuilt it in a cold hanger during eight winters, fabricating numerous parts himself in his own machine shop. Prevost, who has flown 50 or 60 different kinds of airplanes, called his newly restored P-40, "Very relaxing, not a high strung airplane, it's an absolute pleasure to fly."
The General Motors-built, Allison V-12 engine generated 1,150 horsepower and could push the plane to a claimed top speed of 360 mph, but Prevost said normal cruising speed for his plane is something over 200.
The plane saw combat in the Pacific Theater and is credited with shooting down three Japanese planes. By extraordinary chance, Prevost has been put in touch with the American pilot who originally flew it during the war. His name is Ray Melikan, he lives in the Central Valley and Prevost has promised to reunite him with his plane in the weeks ahead.
Nearly 14,000 P-40s were built during the war, and Prevost said only 25 are still flying.
What's he going to do with it?
"I'm going to wear it out," he said, "and hopefully share it with pilots who want the experience."
There were numerous iterations of the P-40, and Prevost's is one of a handful converted into a two-seater with dual controls.
That means pilots with Walter Mitty fantasies and some money to burn may have the opportunity to go aloft with Prevost and take the stick themselves.
Prevost said the value of the plane is "about $2.5 million. Somebody would probably pay that for it, but I wouldn't sell it."
What is this in the sky?? Looks like smoke or something more sinister. We know it's not a real cloud but is the result of jet airplanes spraying into the air we breathe.
Took this photo yesterday, January 15, 2009, around 4:30pm here in Sonoma.
What is it/what's in it and why does it linger overhead?
ORGINIAL POST Ex-Transit Cop Johannes Mehserle Arrested in Oakland Shooting
Former Officer Involved in Fatal Shooting Arrested on Suspicion of Murder By SCOTT MICHELS Jan. 14, 2009 source
A former transit police officer accused of shooting an unarmed passenger in the back on an Oakland, Calif., train platform on New Years Day has been arrested on homicide charges, police said. Twenty two year-old Oscar Grant III, right, was fatally shot in the back by a Bay Area Rapid Transit (B.A.R.T.) police officer Johannes Mehserle early on New Year's morning after police responded to reports of fighting on a train. Mehserle has been arrested in Nevada on a warrant charging homicide, 12 days after the shooting that sparked violent street protests. (Douglas County Sheriff/AP Photo)
Johannes Mehserle, 27, was being held without bail in Douglas County, Nev., pending his extradition on a California fugitive warrant, according to the Douglas County Sheriff's Department.
Mehserle was arrested Tuesday night near Lake Tahoe. He waived his right to contest extradition and will be transported to California today, the sheriff's department said.
Mehserle, who is white, has been accused of shooting 22-year-old Oscar Grant, who is black, in the back while Grant was lying face down on a train platform. Grant's family has claimed that some officers used racial slurs during the arrest and the shooting has angered many in Oakland's African-American community, sparking a series of protests last week.
California taxpayers may get IOU instead of tax refund
By JUDY LIN ASSOCIATED PRESS source Published: Wednesday, January 14, 2009 at 5:41 p.m. Last Modified: Wednesday, January 14, 2009 at 5:41 p.m.
SACRAMENTO — In just a few weeks, California is expected to begin issuing state refunds to more than 10 million taxpayers — a welcome injection of cash into the ailing economy.
There's just one catch: The state may delay the checks or issue IOUs instead.
California, the most populous state in the nation, is running out of cash with a $41.6 billion deficit that Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and lawmakers have thus far been unable to resolve despite more than two months of negotiations.
The situation is so dire that the state controller has warned he will have to delay payments to taxpayers, businesses, social service programs and student aid to conserve money in the state's checking account. Finance officials project the state will run out of cash in late February, but the state controller will have to make a decision by Feb. 1.
It would be the second time the state has issued IOUs on tax refunds since the Great Depression but the first time it would be felt widely because the delay comes in the middle of tax season.
For residents such as Cheryl Hubbard, 62, a home care worker from Pasadena, a missing tax refund would throw another wrench in her already tight budget. She said her schedule at her $8-an-hour job already has been slashed by half due to the budget crisis.
"I feel bad because we always end up using it to pay bills," said the grandmother, who is planning to use her refund this year to fix her car. "At one time, people looked forward to their taxes for things they wanted. Now they use it for things they need. If we can't get our tax refunds, we can't pay our bills."
According to the Franchise Tax Board, the state returned $10.7 billion to individuals and businesses last year. The average state refund was $853 for individuals and $13,284 for businesses.
The state normally borrows cash to cover operating expenses until tax revenues come in at the second half of the fiscal year. But this year, the state is collecting billions less in sales, income and business taxes while it has struggled to obtain loans in a tight credit market.
To slow the bleeding, the state last month froze financing on thousands of infrastructure projects in California, halting nearly $4 billion in loans for everything from freeway interchanges and carpool lanes to classrooms. A state panel is scheduled to decide Friday which critical projects to save.
Mac Taylor, the Legislature's nonpartisan analyst, released a report Wednesday ahead of the governor's annual State of the State address. It signaled California would fall into a cash abyss unless elected leaders act quickly.
"If the massive budget gap is not addressed promptly, the state's insolvency may significantly erode for years to come the confidence of the public — as well as investors — in state government itself," Taylor wrote.
State Controller John Chiang has not said whether he will delay or issue IOUs on tax refunds. But Taylor noted that IOUs could bear up to 5 percent in interest costs to the state.
Beth Mills, a spokeswoman for the California Bankers Association, said banks have not made a decision on whether they would accept IOUs. Mills said the organization has asked the controller's office to clarify a number of questions, including what the IOUs would look like, when banks could cash them and how much interest the state would pay.
"Right now, there's really a lot of unanswered questions," Mills said.
The last time the state issued IOUs was for two months in the summer of 1992, when many banks cashed the registered warrants for a short time to cover state tax refunds, vendor payments and other expenses, according to the legislative analyst.
State employees who received IOUs sued and won on the argument that it violated the federal Fair Labor Standards Act. However, few taxpayers felt the pinch of that because it happened in July, months after the majority of residents file their income taxes.
This time, though, the state must continue to make payments to schools, debt, state employees' wages, Medi-Cal claims and court-ordered obligations.
John Eastman, dean of the law school at Chapman University and an attorney who has represented anti-tax groups, said issuing IOUs also could invite lawsuits from individual taxpayers.
Lon Sobel, a professor at Southwestern Law School, said it's best for people expecting refunds to file early, but a recent federal extension on Form 1099 income statements from Jan. 31 to Feb. 15 could hamper their ability to do so.
"When taxpayers are late paying their taxes, the state of California charges and collects interest," Sobel said. "I don't know whether the interest goes in the other direction."
No amount of money will remove the sting of the loss of a son.
Sonoma Co. Settles Suit In Teen's Shooting Death CBS 5 CrimeWatchSEBASTOPOL (BCN) Jan 13, 2009 9:08 pm US/Pacific source
Sonoma County has settled a wrongful death civil lawsuit in connection with the fatal shooting of 16-year old Jeremiah Chass by two sheriff's deputies in the driveway of his family's Sebastopol area home in 2007.
The Sonoma County Board of Supervisors approved the $1.75 million settlement Tuesday afternoon.
"We think the payment of this sum is significant acknowledgement that errors were made that led to his unnecessary death," said Patrick Emery, one of the Chass family's attorneys.
"It's very important that families in Sonoma County feel safe when calling for assistance from the sheriff's department and not be fearful of their response," Emery said. "The settlement is an important acknowledgement of that fact."
Sonoma County Sheriff Bill Cogbill said in a prepared statement, "The death of Jeremiah Chass was a true tragedy for the family, the deputies involved and the community. While I as everyone involved wish the outcome could have been different, the actions by the deputies were justified under the circumstances. This has been verified by a review by the District Attorney's Office as well as a review by the Sonoma County Grand Jury."
Sonoma County District Attorney Stephan Passalacqua concluded the officers acted lawfully and no criminal charges against them are warranted.
"A settlement with the family in this case is not an admission of any wrongdoing by the County," Cogbill said. "We believe the facts of the case show that our deputies' actions were legal and responsible.
"However, because of the naturally sympathetic nature of this case, and the unpredictability of the civil legal process, our best judgment was not to risk additional taxpayer dollars during these difficult fiscal times. On the positive side, this settlement allows the Chass family, the deputies involved, the community, and the Department to move forward from this tragic incident," Cogbill said.
Cogbill also said the training, practices, policies and procedures of the sheriff's department are up to date and relevant and meet or exceed the standards of other law enforcement agencies and those required by the California Peace Officers Standards and Training.
Chass was shot seven times in the back of his family's van by deputies John Misita and Jim Ryan at his family's residence off High School Road in Sebastopol on March 12, 2007.
His parents initially called the Sebastopol Fire Department that morning for medical help to take Chass to a hospital because Chass was experiencing what later was described as a psychotic breakdown.
The fire department notified Sebastopol police who then put the family in touch with the sheriff's department.
The sheriff's department said Chass threatened his younger brother Isaiah with a Leatherman-style tool in the back of the van and fought violently against the deputies who struggled with him. The sheriff's department said the deputies believed Isaiah's and their lives were in danger.
Chass kicked Ryan several times in the face during the struggle in the van and thought he was going to become unconscious, according to the sheriff's department's account of the incident. He saw Misita fighting for his life and Chass still flailing the knife in his hand and realized his only option to save Misita was to shoot Chass, the sheriff's department said.
Ryan shot Chass several times but he kept fighting and Misita shot Chass once, the sheriff's department said.
The shooting caused an uproar about the deadly use of force by law enforcement against mentally ill people and the lack of adequate facilities to house them when they suffer psychotic breakdowns.
The sheriff's department also was criticized because according to a timeline by Santa Rosa police, which investigated the fatal shooting, and the sheriff's department, Chass was fatally shot six minutes after Misita arrived at the scene at 8:44 a.m. and two minutes after Ryan arrived at 8:48 a.m. Chass was pronounced dead at 9 a.m. An autopsy showed there were no prescription or illegal drugs or alcohol in his body.
Emery said part of the settlement stipulates 8-year-old Isaiah Chass will receive $275,000 for his college education.
The complaint was filed in the U.S. District Court, Northern District, in San Francisco.
And about the Sonoma Plaza/Square from wikipedia: El Pueblo de Sonoma was laid out in the standard form of a Mexican town, centered around the largest plaza in California, 8 acres in size. This plaza is surrounded by many historical buildings, including the Mission San Francisco Solano, Captain Salvador Vallejo's Casa Grande, the Presidio of Sonoma, the Blue Wing Inn, the Sebastiani Theatre, and the Toscano Hotel. In the middle of the plaza, Sonoma's early 20th-century city hall, at the plaza's center and still in use, was designed and built with four identical sides in order not to offend the merchants on any one side of the plaza. The plaza is a National Historic Landmark and still serves as the town's focal point, hosting many community festivals and drawing tourists all year round. There are approximately thirty restaurants in the plaza area, including Italian, Irish, Mexican, Portuguese, Mediterranean, and French. It provides a central tourist attraction. It is also the location of the Farmer's Market, held every Tuesday evening in the summer.
Oscar Grant III, fatally shot by an unidentified BART(Oakland,CA) officer early New Year's Day. Oscar Grant was unarmed, laying face down and shot in the back.
OAKLAND, Calif. - Law enforcement officials urged patience while they investigated details surrounding the fatal New Year's Day shooting of a 22-year-old man by a transit agency police officer.
Bay Area Rapid Transit Police Chief Gary Gee said on Sunday that the agency is "committed to completing an unbiased, thorough and detailed investigation" of the shooting death of Oscar Grant.
"This case is not even four days cold. We're in the early stages of the investigation and we will do a very thorough job," he said.
Several unanswered questions remained after BART officers went to Oakland's Fruitvale station to investigate reports of a supposed brawl on a train on which Grant was riding around 2 a.m. Thursday.
A friend of Grant's who was with him on the crowded Oakland train station platform at the time of the shooting said Grant pleaded with officers not to harm him.
"Oscar yelled, 'You shot me! I got a four-year-old daughter,'" said Fernando Anicete. "Oscar was telling us to calm down and we did. We weren't looking for any trouble."
Anicete was among more than 50 people attending a tearful news conference in Oakland on Sunday where Grant's family announced they planned to file a $25 million claim against the Bay Area Rapid Transit agency this week. A claim is the first step in the process of suing the agency.
The family's attorney John Burris said the shooting was intentional, and that he planned to ask Alameda County prosecutors to seek criminal charges against the officer. Burris said Grant, of Hayward, Calif., posed no threat to officers when a bullet entered his back and ricocheted to his lung area, killing him almost instantly.
"The officer leaned (in), was straddling over him and pointed his gun directly into the backside and shot (Grant)," said Burris, adding that Grant was handcuffed - after he was shot. "This was not a deadly force situation."
Gee said BART police are fully cooperating with the district attorney's investigation.
Grant's mother, Wanda Johnson, and Sophina Mesa, his daughter's mother, wept uncontrollably as Burris spoke about Grant. They did not speak, but several said Grant, a butcher at a supermarket near the train station where he was killed, was a loving father showing signs of maturation.
Cephus "Bobby" Johnson, Grant's uncle, said he text messaged his nephew just after midnight Thursday saying, "Happy New Year ... I love you."
Johnson never got a reply.
"I wondered why he didn't text me back," a teary-eyed Johnson said. "And then I found out why."
BART spokesman Jim Allison has said the officer's gun went off while police were trying to restrain Grant and that Grant was not cuffed. The unidentified officer is on paid leave as BART investigates the shooting.
Mario Pangelina, Mesa's brother who was riding on the same train, two cars behind Grant on Thursday morning, said Sunday he saw Grant beg police not to Taser him because of his child.
"He kept saying, 'Please, please don't Tase me,'" Pangelina said. "He was not acting hostile."
Other witnesses said Grant was lying on his stomach on the station's platform when he was shot.
Recordings of the shooting by witnesses have surfaced and Burris said BART had confiscated numerous cell phone images from others he believes contain additional footage.
Services for Grant will be held Wednesday.
--- end ---
May the Lord Jesus Christ bring comfort and mercy to the loved ones of Oscar Grant.
This tells of a secret Pentagon psychotronics technology known as Silent Sound Spread Spectrum (SSSS) that has been fully operational since the early 1990s and was used against battle-hardened Iraqi troops fortified in deep underground bunkers in Kuwait and Iraq in the first Gulf War in January of 1991. Please read.
Over the years my opinions have changed but this will never change: Jesus Christ, Lord, God and Savior, died on the cross and rose from the dead to pay for my sin.
