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Lies and videotape?

08 Mar 2009 - Preaching the News for Sunday

After witnessing the Transfiguration, the disciples are instructed to keep what they have seen to themselves for the time being. The Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) apparently also has been keeping information to itself. The agency admitted Monday it had destroyed 92 videotapes of harsh interrogations of Al Qaeda suspects, a much greater number than it had previously acknowledged. The interrogations were a highly divisive issue during the Bush administration, with many Democrats and other critics saying that some methods used amounted to torture--a contention Bush and other officials rejected. A criminal prosecutor is wrapping up his investigation in the matter. Monday's acknowledgment involved a civil lawsuit filed in New York by the American Civil Liberties Union seeking more details of the interrogation programs following the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks. "The CIA can now identify the number of videotapes that were destroyed," said a letter submitted in that case by Acting U.S. Attorney Lev Dassin. "Ninety-two videotapes were destroyed." At the White House, press secretary Robert Gibbs told reporters Monday he hadn't spoken to the president about the report, but called the news about the videotapes "sad" and said Obama was committed to ending torture while also protecting American values. Source: An article by Devlin Barrett for the Associated Press

robert gibbs central intelligence agency cia videotapes al qaeda american civil liberties union lev dassin torture

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Guantanamo detention no day at the beach

09 Aug 2009 - Preaching the News for Sunday

Elijah despairs and is ready to die in the reading from 1 Kings this Sunday. Some of the detainees held indefinitely without trial at the military prison at Guantanamo Bay have felt the same way. The Obama administration has pledged to close the facility by year's end and move some detainees to U.S. prisons. New information suggests where they might be housed. The administration is considering a facility in the United States that would contain courtrooms to hold federal criminal trials and military commissions to prosecute terrorism suspects. Planners have focused on the military prison at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas and a state maximum-security prison in Standish, Michigan that is scheduled to be closed, sources said. An administration official stressed that the idea has not moved beyond the discussion stage. "This is one of the ideas that's been floated and come under discussion," the official said. The administration has signaled that some Guantanamo Bay detainees will be tried in federal court and some by military commissions. It also said there may be a third category of prisoners who are deemed too dangerous to release but who cannot be tried because of a lack of evidence or the need to protect intelligence material. Officials said any system of indefinite detention will include legal safeguards such as periodic reviews by judges and congressional oversight. But human rights and civil liberties groups like Human Rights Watch and the American Civil Liberties Union oppose detention without trial. Source: An article by Peter Finn and Scott Wilson for the Washington Post

american civil liberties union obama administration human rights watch guantanamo bay prison detainees fort leavenworth standish michigan detention

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Justice Department to question the questioners

30 Aug 2009 - Preaching the News for Sunday

In this Sunday's first reading Moses admonishes the people of Israel to observe carefully the statutes and decrees he was setting forth so that other nations could say of them, "This great nation is truly a wise and intelligent people." Critics say the U.S. government's apparent flouting of internationally accepted interrogation policies in secret detention centers in Iraq and Afghanistan hurt U.S. standing around the world. Amid revelations that Central Intelligence Agency interrogators threatened terror suspects with handguns and an electric drill, U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder Monday appointed a prosecutor to conduct a preliminary review to determine whether criminal prosecutions are warranted in some detainee abuse cases. The threats against the detainees, who were hooded, shackled, and in some cases naked, were among new details in volumes of documents released Monday by the Justice Department. The records included a 2004 report by the CIA's Office of Inspector General, which noted that some of the interrogation tactics used by the agency were "inconsistent with the public policy positions that the United States has taken regarding human rights." Holder's decision to investigate further, coupled with the release of the graphic details about interrogation practices that President Barack Obama ordered halted when he took office in January, ignited a political storm at a delicate time in Washington. Leading Republicans denounced Holder's appointment of John H. Durham, a career prosecutor, saying it will hinder intelligence-gathering in the fight against terrorists, while some Democrats criticized the investigation as too limited. They renewed calls for an independent review of most of the controversial anti-terrorism policies adopted by George W. Bush's administration. "The documents underscore how closely supervised the program was by officials in Washington," said Jameel Jaffer of the American Civil Liberties Union, whose Freedom of Information Act lawsuit forced disclosure of the records. "Any investigation that began and ended with the so-called rogue interrogators would be completely inadequate." Tom Parker, policy director for counterterrorism and human rights at Amnesty International, USA said the documents were "chilling." "They show how deeply rooted this new culture of mistreatment became," he said. But defenders of the program say the tight rules demonstrate the government's attempt to keep the program within the law. "Elaborate care went into figuring out the precise gradations of coercion," said David B. Rivkin, Jr., a lawyer who served in the administrations of Ronald Reagan and George H. W. Bush. "Yes, it's jarring. But it shows how both the lawyers and the nonlawyers tried to do the right thing." Source: Articles by James Vicini and Jeremy Pelofsky for Reuters, Paul Kain and Carrie Johnson for the Washington Post, Peter Eisler for USA TODAY, and David Johnston, Scott Shane, and Mark Mazzetti for the New York Times

iraq tom parker jameel jaffer john h durham detainees amnesty international interrogation justice department eric h holder jr american civil liberties union central intelligence agency afghanistan george bush barack obama david b rivkin jr

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Honduran powers loosen the reins on rights

11 Oct 2009 - Preaching the News for Sunday

"We have given up everything and followed you," Saint Peter tells Jesus in this Sunday's gospel. The citizens of Honduras, forced to give up nearly everything having to do with their civil rights by the interim coup government, will see some of their civil liberties restored now that a decree that empowered police and soldiers to break up public meetings, arrest people without warrants, and restrict the news media was to be lifted. Honduras' interim leaders issued the decree September 27 in response to "calls for insurrection" by ousted President Manuel Zelaya as he sought refuge in the Brazilian embassy after sneaking back into the country. He remains holed up in the embassy with dozens of supporters amid international diplomatic efforts to end the crisis. The emergency measures, which resulted in dozens of arrests and the closing of two pro-Zelaya media outlets, are no longer necessary because "we have peace in the country," interim President Roberto Micheletti told the privately owned Channel 5 television network. Zelaya was forced from office with the backing of the Honduran congress and supreme court for trying to hold a referendum on rewriting the constitution. His opponents charged he wanted to lift the charter's provision limiting presidents to a single term, an accusation he denied. With the backing of much of the international community, including the U.S. government, Zelaya is seeking to be reinstated to serve out his term, which ends in January. The U.S. has suspended millions of dollars in aid to Honduras, and its ambassador has refused to meet with Micheletti in hopes of pressuring the current government to relinquish power. The Organization of American States, local representatives of the Catholic Church, and others have been conferring with the competing factions, seeking to negotiate an end to the standoff. But the two sides remain divided over key issues, including whether Zelaya can reassume the presidency before scheduled November 29 elections. Zelaya was to meet foreign diplomats and envoys on Wednesday. Source: An article by Ben Fox for the Associated Press

Civil rights honduras manuel zelaya roberto micheletti civil liberties

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Sentences in need of rediagramming

17 Nov 2013 - Preaching the News for Sunday

A life-sentence for stealing a $159 jacket? It sounds like something out of Les Miserables but in fact it is one of the 3,281 cases of U.S. prisoners given life-terms for nonviolent crimes, according to a recently released report. Jesus warned that “you will even be handed over by parents, brothers, relatives, and friends, and they will put some of you to death.” But still injustice always comes as a shock.In the report “A Living Death” issued recently by the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), investigators chronicled the lives of thousands of families ruined by sentencing people to die behind bars for nonviolent offences with no chance of parole. Some, like the jacket thief, said an article in the Guardian, were given the most extreme punishment short of execution for shoplifting; one was condemned to die in prison for siphoning gasoline from a truck; another for stealing tools from a tool shed; yet another for trying to cash a stolen check.The ACLU report stated that today the United States is virtually alone in its willingness to sentence nonviolent offenders to die behind bars. Life without parole for nonviolent sentences has been ruled a violation of human rights by the European Court of Human Rights. The U.S. has the highest incarceration rate in the world with 2.3 million people now in custody, with the war on drugs acting as the overriding push-factor. Of the prisoners serving life without parole for nonviolent offences nationwide, the ACLU estimates that almost 80 percent were for drug-related crimes.Homily hint: Justice and perseverance, the main themes of today’s gospel, have also been the topics of recent statements by Pope Francis, who said the reform of the world’s justice systems “is no utopia. It can happen." It is up to us to see that justice is done here and now. That is the day-to-day work of Christians. Source: An article by Ed Pilkington for The Guardian

Justice american civil liberties union sentencing life sentences a living death aclu perseverence social justice prison reform

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