Calls Mount for Prisoner Abuse Commission

New allegations of prisoner torture in Iraq are likely to add urgency to pending legislation that would create a 9/11-type commission to investigate detainee treatment and ensure that the U.S. operates within the law on interrogations. The charges are the subject of a...

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Hunger Strike Spreads at Guantanamo Camp

A hunger strike started in June by terror suspects imprisoned by the U.S. military at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba (Gitmo) – and reportedly settled – has been restarted and is growing, with 15 detainees hospitalized and 13 being fed through tubes. The number of...

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Gitmo Cases May Go to Civilian Courts

Media coverage of Hurricane Katrina has all but drowned out what may well be two of the most consequential human rights court decisions in recent U.S. history. Last week, a three-judge federal appeals court panel ruled unanimously that President George W. Bush has the...

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Govt Secrecy Carries a Hefty Price

During 2004, the George W. Bush administration issued more secret court orders, spent 148 dollars creating new classified documents for every dollar spent releasing old ones, invoked the "state secrets" privilege in court cases more frequently than ever...

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Secrecy Shrouds PATRIOT Act Powers

As the U.S. Congress prepares to vote on the final version of a reauthorized USA PATRIOT Act, a major civil rights group claims to have proof that the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) has used the law to snoop into people's library records – a charge the FBI...

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‘State Secrets Privilege’ Not So Rare

As whistleblower Sibel Edmonds asks the U.S. Supreme Court to review her dismissed case against the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), the mainstream media continues to refer to the government's defense – the so-called state secrets privilege – as...

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