Just another entry in today's series:
"Detainee brought from Afghanistan to US for trial" by Larry O’Dell | Associated Press November 05, 2014
RICHMOND — A Russian member of the Taliban made his first appearance in a federal court in Virginia on Tuesday, marking the first time a military detainee from Afghanistan has been brought to the United States for trial.
Irek Hamidullin’s appearance before US Magistrate Judge David Novak represents the Obama administration’s latest attempt to show that it can use the criminal court system to deal with terror suspects. His arraignment on 12 terrorism charges has been set for Friday morning before US District Judge Henry Hudson, a former federal prosecutor.
US officials say Hamidullin is a Russian veteran of the Soviet war in Afghanistan who stayed in the country and joined the Taliban. He was captured in 2009 after an attack on Afghan border police and US soldiers in Khost province. He had been held at the US Parwan detention facility at Bagram airfield.
Meaning he has most likely been tortured, but...
Among the charges Hamidullin faces in an indictment unsealed Tuesday are providing material support to terrorists, conspiracy and attempt to destroy an aircraft of the US Armed Forces, and conspiracy to use a weapon of mass destruction. The ‘‘mass destruction’’ charge carries a possible death sentence, but Assistant US Attorney James Gillis said the attorney general is not seeking death because of insufficient aggravating factors. Several of the counts are punishable by up to life in prison.
Hamidullin, shackled and heavily guarded by federal agents, said little during his initial appearance, where Novak advised him of his rights and asked if the defendant understood the charges. Federal public defender Robert Wagner and attorney Claire Cardwell were appointed to represent him.
According to the 19-page indictment, Hamidullin was an officer and tank commander in the Russian military during the 1980s and was trained in the use of such weapons as antiaircraft machine guns and portable rockets. He became affiliated with the Taliban in 2001.
The indictment says Hamidullin commanded three groups of insurgents that attacked Afghan border police at Camp Leyza, one of six locations the Taliban had identified as possible targets. He directed insurgents armed with antiaircraft machine guns to fire at US military helicopters responding to the attack, the indictment says, and later used a machine gun to shoot at US troops and Afghan police assessing damage at the battle site.
Joshua Stueve, spokesman for the US attorney’s office in the Eastern District of Virginia, said Hamidullin ‘‘was treated humanely and had access to medical care, cultural considerations, and a personal representative’’ while detained in Afghanistan.
National Security Council spokeswoman Bernadette Meehan has said the decision to transfer the detainee was made in light of the agreement by the United States that it will turn over all prisons in Afghanistan to the Afghan government by 2015. As of last month there were 13 non-Afghan detainees at Parwan. The Obama administration is facing pressure to transfer those detainees before December, when the US-led NATO combat mission ends.
Officials would not say why Richmond was chosen for the trial. However, prosecutors in the Eastern District of Virginia have experience with high-profile terrorism cases, including that of Sept. 11, 2001, conspirator Zacarias Moussaoui, who is serving life without parole after being convicted in Alexandria. Many Republican lawmakers believe military detainees should only be tried in military courts and that trying them in civilian courts undermines the notion the United States is at war with Al Qaeda and other extremists. But the Obama administration has sought to try terror suspects in federal court wherever possible. Attorney General Eric Holder has said they are likely to receive swifter justice there.
I've had enough of kangaroo courts and show trill verdicts, thanks.
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"Detainee from Afghanistan pleads not guilty in Va.
RICHMOND, Va. (AP) — A Russian man charged with leading a Taliban attack against U.S. forces in Afghanistan pleaded not guilty to terrorism charges Friday and was ordered held until his April 13 trial.
Irek Hamidullin was arraigned on 12 counts, including providing material support to terrorists, trying to destroy U.S. military aircraft and conspiring to use a weapon of mass destruction. Half of the charges are punishable by up to life in prison. Attorney General Eric Holder chose not to seek the death penalty for the weapon of mass destruction charge, Assistant U.S. Attorney James Gillis said at the 15-minute hearing.
Hamidullin is the first military detainee from Afghanistan to be brought to the U.S. for trial. His transfer represents the latest attempt by the Obama administration to show that it can use the criminal court system to deal with terror suspects — a move criticized by some Republican lawmakers who believe such cases should be handled by military tribunals.
U.S. officials say Hamidullin is a Russian veteran of the Soviet war in Afghanistan who stayed in the country and joined the Taliban. He was captured in 2009 after an attack on Afghan border police and U.S. soldiers in Khowst province. He had been held at the U.S. Parwan detention facility at Bagram airfield before being brought to the U.S.
"I am not guilty," Hamidullin said when U.S. District Judge Henry Hudson asked for his plea. Hamidullin asked for a jury trial, which Gillis estimated would last about five days.
Without hearing any evidence beyond what is in court papers, Hudson ordered Hamidullin to remain in the custody of U.S. marshals. He said detention is warranted because of the nature of the charges, Hamidullin's lack of connections to the U.S., and his alleged affiliation with a foreign terrorist organization.
Hamidullin appeared in shackles amid heavy security. He speaks English but was assisted by an Arabic translator.
Federal public defender Robert Wagner asked that his client's be removed at future court appearances. Hudson said he would consult with marshals.
Wagner also said Hamidullin wanted officials to change the spelling of his last name to "Khamidullah." Hudson said he would order that spelling added as an alias and would call the defendant by that name at future proceedings.
According to the 19-page indictment, Hamidullin was an officer and tank commander in the Russian military during the 1980s and was trained in the use of such weapons as anti-aircraft machine guns and portable rockets. He became affiliated with the Taliban in 2001.
The indictment says Hamidullin commanded three groups of insurgents that attacked Afghan border police at Camp Leyza, one of six locations the Taliban had identified as possible targets. He directed insurgents armed with anti-aircraft machine guns to fire at U.S. military helicopters responding to the attack, the indictment says, and later used a machine gun to shoot at U.S. troops and Afghan border police assessing damage at the battle site.
National Security Council spokeswoman Bernadette Meehan has said the decision to transfer Hamidullin was made in light of the agreement by the U.S. that it will turn over all prisons in Afghanistan to the Afghan government by 2015. As of last month there were 13 non-Afghan detainees at Parwan. The Obama administration is facing pressure to transfer those detainees before December, when the U.S.-led NATO combat mission ends.
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Related:
"The U.S. government was well aware of the Taliban's reactionary program, yet it chose to back their rise to power in the mid-1990s. The creation of the Taliban was "actively encouraged by the ISI and the CIA,"
according to Selig Harrison, an expert on U.S. relations with Asia.
"The United States encouraged Saudi Arabia and Pakistan to support the
Taliban, certainly right up to their advance on Kabul," adds respected
journalist Ahmed Rashid. When the Taliban took power, State
Department spokesperson Glyn Davies said that he saw "nothing
objectionable" in the Taliban's plans to impose strict Islamic law,
and Senator Hank Brown, chair of the Senate Foreign Relations
Subcommittee on the Near East and South Asia, welcomed the new regime:
"The good part of what has happened is that one of the factions at last
seems capable of developing a new government in Afghanistan." "The
Taliban will probably develop like the Saudis. There will be Aramco [the consortium of oil companies that controlled Saudi oil], pipelines, an emir, no parliament and lots of Sharia law. We can live with that," said another U.S. diplomat in 1997."
Another Islamic emirate that has received U.S. backing (turns out they all do):
"Guantanamo detainee is released after 13 years" by Charlie Savage | New York Times November 06, 2014
WASHINGTON — A Kuwaiti man held by the United States without trial for nearly 13 years in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, was released early Wednesday, the military said. His repatriation is the first transfer to result from a new system of parole-board-like hearings to periodically review whether it is still necessary to keep holding prisoners.
The Kuwaiti, Fawzi al Odah, is also only the second low-level prisoner to be released from Guantanamo this year. Last year, President Obama had pledged to revive his efforts to close the prison. Administration officials said an end-of-year flurry might be coming: The Pentagon has notified Congress that nine other detainees, including six bound for Uruguay, may soon be transferred.
Still, there are signs that disagreements remain within the administration over how much risk to accept as it tries to winnow down the population of low-level inmates and close the prison.
The administration had been poised to repatriate four Afghans who have long been approved for transfer, but Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel recently pulled back from that plan, according to officials.
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A spokesman for Hagel, Rear Admiral John Kirby, declined to specifically comment about the Afghans. But he described the department’s deliberations about whether security risk has been mitigated as including “inputs from commanders in the field, whose perspectives are not only greatly valued by the secretary but heavily relied upon.”
It is unusual for a Cabinet secretary to independently reconsider a decision reached at a principals’ committee meeting. But Guantanamo transfers are an unusual type of policy decision because Congress has vested that authority in the secretary of defense. A statute says that at least 30 days before any transfer, he must notify lawmakers that he has determined that it would be in the national interest.
In an agreement with the Kuwaiti government, Odah, whose name is sometimes spelled Fouzi al Awda, will now live in custody there as part of a yearlong rehabilitation program, officials said.
He is the first detainee to be transferred since May, when the Obama administration sent five high-level Taliban prisoners — who were not recommended for release — to Qatar in a prisoner swap for Sergeant Bowe Bergdahl, the only US prisoner of war from the Afghan war. Angering lawmakers, Hagel did not provide 30 days’ advance notice to Congress for that swap; the administration said any delay could have endangered Bergdahl’s life.
Notice how the Bergdahl story has faded into oblivion?
Since 2009, the executive branch has used a more stringent process of individualized review before releasing detainees. About 19 percent of former detainees released during the Bush administration have been deemed confirmed recidivists, compared with 6.8 percent of those released under the Obama administration.
Odah, the Kuwaiti released Wednesday, was a plaintiff in a case that helped establish that courts have jurisdiction to hear habeas corpus lawsuits filed by Guantanamo detainees. But in 2009, a judge upheld Odah’s wartime detention.
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