Gates blocks release of detainee abuse photos

By Stephen Ohlemacher - The Associated Press
Posted : Sunday Nov 15, 2009 12:01:47 EST
WASHINGTON — Defense Secretary Robert Gates has blocked the public release of any more pictures of foreign detainees abused by their U.S. captors, saying their release would endanger American soldiers.

The Obama administration filed a brief with the Supreme Court late Friday saying that Gates has invoked new powers blocking the release of the photos.

The American Civil Liberties Union had sued for the release of 21 color photographs showing prisoners in Afghanistan and Iraq being abused by Americans. Federal courts had rejected the government’s arguments to block their release, so Congress gave Gates new powers to keep them private under a law signed by President Barack Obama last month.

Gates’ order specifically cites the 21 pictures sought by the ACLU, plus 23 additional ones cited in a ruling by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 2nd Circuit. However, Pentagon spokesman Bryan Whitman said the order covers all photographs from investigations related to the treatment of individuals captured or detained in military operations outside the United States between Sept. 11, 2001, and Jan. 22, 2009.

Gates’ new powers were included in a budget bill for the Homeland Security Department.

“Public disclosure of these photographs would endanger citizens of the United States, members of the United States armed forces, or employees of the United States government deployed outside the United States,” Gates said in his order blocking release of the photos.

The release of photos showing prisoners being abused by U.S. soldiers at the Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq sparked international outrage.

Jameel Jaffer, director of the ACLU National Security Project, said the group will continue to fight for the release of the photographs, arguing that Gates’ order was overly broad.

“We think the photos are an important part of the historical record. They are critical to the ongoing national conversation about accountability for torture,” Jaffer said. “It sets a bad precedent for the government to be suppressing information that relates to government misconduct.”

Obama initially indicated he would not fight the release of the photographs, but he reversed course in May. The president said he was persuaded that disclosure could further incite violence in Afghanistan and Iraq, and endanger U.S. troops there.

The photographs at issue were taken by service members in Iraq and Afghanistan and were part of criminal investigations of alleged abuse. Some pictures show “soldiers pointing pistols or rifles at the heads of hooded and handcuffed detainees,” Solicitor General Elena Kagan said in an appeal to the high court.

Rep.: Pakistan wire transfers traced to Hasan

Rep.: Pakistan wire transfers traced to Hasan: "FORT HOOD, Texas — The Army psychiatrist charged with killing 13 people in a shooting spree at Fort Hood made or accepted wire transfers with Pakistan, a country wracked by Muslim extremist violence, a Republican congressman said Friday.Texas Rep. Michael McCaul, the ranking GOP member of the House Homeland Security Intelligence Subcommittee, said people outside the intelligence community with direct knowledge of the transfers also told him

Maj. Nidal Malik Hasan also had communications with Pakistan.‘He may have friends or relatives or whatever and this could be totally [innocent],’ McCaul said in a telephone interview. ‘But if he is wiring money to Pakistan, that could be terrorist financing. If he was receiving money from Pakistan, that is more significant.’McCaul said he does not know the direction of the transfers and communications, only that they passed between Hasan and Pakistan. He said the lack of additional information is why Congress should launch an investigation.Hasan, 39, was charged Thursday with 13 counts of premeditated murder in a military court, and Army investigators have said he is the only suspect in the case and could face additional charges. His attorney, John Galligan, has said prosecutors have not yet told him whether they plan to seek the death penalty.A pair of civilian police officers responding to last week’s attack, in which 43 people were also injured, including 34 with gunshot wounds, shot Hasan four times. Recovering in the intensive care unit at San Antonio’s Brooke Army Medical Center, Hasan has told his attorney he has no feeling in his legs and extreme pain in his hands.Galligan said doctors have told Hasan he may be permanently paralyzed from the waist down.

He called his client’s medical condition ‘extremely serious’ and said Hasan didn’t flinch when Galligan touched his leg during a meeting Thursday, when one of Hasan’s relatives was able to see him for the first time since he was hospitalized.Hospital spokesman Dewey Mitchell said he could not confirm whether Hasan was paralyzed, since Hasan has directed hospital officials not to release any information about his condition or injuries.The question of how Hasan spent his Army salary stems from the apparently frugal lifestyle he lived both in the small city of Killeen, Texas, outside of Fort Hood, and in the Washington, D.C., suburbs when stationed at Walter Reed Army Medical Center. In Texas, he lived in a rundown apartment that cost $350 a month and drove a 2006 Honda.As an Army major with more than 12 years of service, Hasan earns just over $92,000 a year in basic pay and housing and food allowances, according to pay tables from the Defense Finance and Accounting Service. Hasan’s gross monthly salary is $6,325.50 a month, or $75,906 annually.

He also gets $1,128 a month for a housing allowance and $223 a month for meals, which adds up to another $16,212 a year.Military psychiatrists may also receive as much as $20,000 a year in incentive pay, according to the tables. But to get the bonus, they must meet certain requirements, such as agreeing to remain on active duty for at least one year after accepting the award. Hasan’s Army records are sealed due to the ongoing investigation, and it isn’t clear if he was eligible for the bonus or agreed to the conditions.President Barack Obama has ordered a review of all intelligence related to Hasan and whether the information was properly shared and acted upon within government agencies. Several members of Congress, particularly Michigan Rep. Peter Hoekstra, the top Republican on the House Intelligence Committee, have also called for a full examination of what agencies knew about Hasan’s contacts with a radical Muslim cleric in Yemen and others of concern to the U.S.Hoekstra confirmed this week that government officials knew about 10 to 20 e-mails between Hasan and the radical imam, beginning in December.

A joint terrorism task force overseen by the FBI learned late last year of Hasan’s repeated contact with the cleric, who encouraged Muslims to kill U.S. troops in Iraq. The FBI said the task force did not refer early information about Hasan to superiors because it concluded he wasn’t linked to terrorism.—————Gamboa reportered from Washington. Associated Press writer Richard Lardner in Washington contributed to this report."

(Via Air Force Times - News.)

Record-setting C-5 flight now official

Record-setting C-5 flight now official: "The U.S. National Aeronautic Association has given its approval to 41 world records set by a C-5M Super Galaxy cargo plane in a Sept. 13 flight from Dover Air Force Base, Del.The roughly 400,000-pound aircraft hauled a 178,000-pound payload and another 75,000 pounds of fuel to an altitude of nearly 40,000 feet in less than 28 minutes.The flight broke eight ‘time to climb’ records at each of four altitudes — 3,000, 6,000, 9,000, and 12,000 meters — achieved payload records for seven altitudes, broke a record for horizontal flight at the highest altitude, and another for heaviest payload at an altitude of 2,000 meters.The aeronautic association certified all 41 of the records Oct. 30. The data have now been submitted to the Fédération Aéronautique Internationale for consideration for approval as world records."

(Via Air Force Times - News.)

Accused 9/11 plotter Khalid Sheikh Mohammed faces New York trial

Washington (CNN) -- Five Guantanamo Bay detainees with alleged ties to the 9/11 conspiracy, including accused mastermind Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, will be transferred to New York to go on trial in civilian court, Attorney General Eric Holder announced Friday.

Mohammed, Ramzi Bin al-Shibh, Walid bin Attash, Ali Abdul Aziz Ali and Mustafa Ahmed al-Hawsawi will all be transferred to the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York -- a short distance from the World Trade Center towers that were destroyed in the September 11 attacks.

"After eight years of delay, those allegedly responsible for the attacks of September 11th will finally face justice," Holder said.
He said he expected all five to be tried together and for prosecutors to seek the death penalty. The trial would be open to the public, although some portions that deal with classified information may be closed, Holder said.
"Based on all of my experience and based on all of the recommendations and the great work and the research that has been done, I am quite confident that the outcomes in these cases will be successful," he said.

He also expressed confidence that an impartial jury would be found "to ensure a fair trial in New York."
Of the 2,752 people killed in the 9/11 attacks, 2,606 died when terrorists crashed two hijacked airliners into the World Trade Center towers.

Holder also announced that five other detainees held at the U.S. military detention facility at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, will be sent to military commissions for trial. They were identified as Omar Khadr, Mohammed Kamin, Ibrahim al Qosi, Noor Uthman Muhammed and Abd al-Rahim al-Nashiri.

Al-Nashiri is an accused mastermind of the deadly 2000 bombing of the USS Cole; Khadr is a Canadian charged with the 2002 murder of a U.S. military officer in Afghanistan. Khadr was 15 years old when he was captured in July 2002.
Holder said a venue for the military commissions has not been set.
Mohammed "will be subject to the most exacting demands of justice," President Obama said Friday in Japan.
Video: 9/11 suspect on trial Video: 9/11 plotters to face justice

"The American people insist on it, and my administration will insist on it," Obama told reporters at a joint news conference with Japanese Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama.
Mohammed is the confessed organizer of the September 11, 2001, attacks on New York and the Pentagon. But his confession could be called into question during trial. A 2005 Justice Department memo -- released by the Obama administration -- revealed he had been waterboarded 183 times in March 2003.

The CIA has also admitted using waterboarding on al-Nashiri, the first person charged in the United States for the 2000 attack on the USS Cole in Yemen that killed 17 U.S. sailors.
Obama has called the technique, which simulates drowning, torture.
The alleged 9/11 conspirators are among 215 men held by the U.S. military at the Guantanamo prison camp. The Obama administration has vowed to close the detention facility but acknowledges it is unlikely to happen by its self-imposed January 22, 2010, deadline.

Bringing some of the world's top terror suspects to be tried in New York has already sparked outrage, as well as security concerns.

"Khalid Sheikh Mohammed is the most wanted terrorist in the world. Everyone in the world is going to know precisely where he is at precisely one time," CNN senior legal analyst Jeffrey Toobin said. "The Foley courthouse could become the focus of a great deal of interest from terrorists. That's going to take a tremendous security effort."

‘Shut up,’ Gates tells DoD leakers

‘Shut up,’ Gates tells DoD leakers: "ABOARD THE DEFENSE SECRETARY’S PLANE — In very blunt language, a visibly irritated Defense Secretary Robert Gates said Thursday that he is ‘appalled by the amount of’ information government officials have leaked to the press during the president’s Afghanistan strategy review.

Talking with reporters aboard his jet en route to a military vehicle factory in Wisconsin, the secretary said such disclosures of sensitive information on any ‘options under consideration’ does not serve the nation well. Nor are they in the military’s strategic interests, he added.If Gates learns of any Defense Department employees who have leaked information about the war strategy review, he warned, ‘That would probably be a career ender.’He showed the same irritation over leaks about the Fort Hood, Texas, shootings.

All individuals involved in or privy to the ongoing investigation into the killing spree ‘should just shut up,’ Gates told reporters.Leakers need to realize they only have ‘one piece’ of the picture about why 13 soldiers were killed and dozens more were wounded last week.He said it is best to let investigators handling the mass murder probe and collect all possible data before reaching conclusions about the alleged shooter’s intentions, motivations or associations."

(Via Air Force Times - News.)