indefinite detention
GRITtv: Vince Warren: What Happened to Rights?
President Obama was elected with fanfare and promises to restore the rule of law and accountability to the justice system, specifically around indefinite detentions at Guantanamo. But the upcoming trial of Omar Khadr, a Canadian citizen taken into custody when he was just 15, seems to belie those promises. Vince Warren, executive director of The Center for Constitutional Rights, joins us in studio to discuss the Khadr case, which he notes will make Obama the first to try a child soldier in a tribunal he calls "rigged from the start." He also discusses the story of Anwar Aulaqi, an American citizen hiding in Yemen who is on the U.S.'s targeted assassination list--hundreds of miles from any battlefield, making it conceivable that they could kill U.S. citizens anywhere in the world.
Email this pageGRITtv: Aug. 10 2010
President Obama was elected with fanfare and promises to restore the rule of law and accountability to the justice system, specifically around indefinite detentions at Guantanamo. But the upcoming trial of Omar Khadr, a Canadian citizen taken into custody when he was just 15, seems to belie those promises. Vince Warren, executive director of The Center for Constitutional Rights, joins us in studio to discuss the Khadr case, which he notes will make Obama the first to try a child soldier in a tribunal he calls "rigged from the start." He also discusses the story of Anwar Aulaqi, an American citizen hiding in Yemen who is on the U.S.'s targeted assassination list--hundreds of miles from any battlefield, making it conceivable that they could kill U.S. citizens anywhere in the world."It Ain't My Fault" is an old New Orleans tune, a familiar one to anyone who's been around the city. The chorus has taken on new resonance in recent years, and especially in the wake of BP's oil flooding the Gulf of Mexico. At a recent benefit for Gulf Aid, hip-hop artist Mos Def put some new lyrics to the song that personalize the newest tragedy to hit the city of New Orleans.U.S. militarism isn't limited to one president. "It is a pattern, it follows a trajectory, it derives from a set of habits and we need to understand them," Andrew Bacevich reminds us. This pattern has led us on a dramatically different course from the countries that experienced firsthand the wars of the 20th century--Bacevich notes that the U.S. and Israel seem to be convinced of the rightness of using force to accomplish goals.In part two of our interview with Bacevich, he discusses U.S. interventions around the world, our lack of learning from history, and why the WikiLeaks information is different from the Pentagon Papers. Finally, Laura weighs in on the decision by 40 billionaires to donate half their wealth to charity.
GRITtv: Guantanamo at Home: The Case of Fahad Hashmi
Fahad Hashmi is an American citizen being held in solitary confinement in Lower Manhattan, facing several years in prison for the crime of providing and conspiring to provide material support and making and conspiring to make a contribution of goods or services to Al Qaeda. The conditions under which he has been held, for two and a half years, are frightening: he is allowed only one visit every other week from one of his parents, and has been punished for shadowboxing alone in his cell. Jeanne Theoharis, associate professor of political science at Brooklyn College, CUNY and Fahad's former professor, wrote of the expansion of Guantanamo-like conditions in The Nation: "Guant?namo is a particular way of seeing the Constitution, of constructing the landscape as a murky terrain of lurking enemies where the courts become part of the bulwark against such dangers, where rights have limits and where international standards must be weighed against national security. It is an outgrowth of a "war on terror" with historical precedents that took root under Clinton (in legislation like the 1996 Antiterrorism and Effective Death Penalty Act), spread like kudzu under Bush and infiltrated the fabric of the justice system. It is a pre-emptive strategy where stopping terrorism has come to mean detaining and prosecuting people who may not have committed any actual act of terrorism but whose religious beliefs and political associations ostensibly reveal an intention to do so." Theoharis, along with actor Kathleen Chalfant and actor, playwright and author Wallace Shawn of Theaters Against War, joins us to talk about Fahad's case, free speech and why we need to speak up for people like Fahad.
GRITtv: Nov. 2, 2009
Clay Shirky, professor in New York University's Interactive Telecommunications Program, talked with GRITtv about the way everyday citizens can use the same technology that brings us videos of a kitten on a treadmill to achieve results that strengthen and spread democracy and engagement around the world. Fahad Hashmi is an American citizen being held in solitary confinement in Lower Manhattan, facing several years in prison for the crime of providing and conspiring to provide material support and making and conspiring to make a contribution of goods or services to Al Qaeda. Jeanne Theoharis, associate professor of political science at Brooklyn College, CUNY and Fahad's former professor, Kathleen Chalfant and Wallace Shawn of Theaters Against War joins us to talk about Fahad's case, free speech and why we need to speak up for people like Fahad. Greenpeace brings us the latest from the global battle against climate change, and The Real News supplies an analysis of the ongoing conflict in Honduras: Will Zelaya return, and what will it change?
