Posted on 11/23/2009 6:49:43 PM PST by markomalley
From Bloomberg:
Ahmed Khalfan Ghailani, a Tanzanian who faces terrorism charges for his role in the 1998 bombings of two U.S. embassies, asked a judge to order U.S. prosecutors to surrender information about “black sites” where he was held.
Ghailani faces federal charges over the bombings of U.S. embassies in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, and Nairobi, Kenya, that killed 224 people, including 12 Americans. Ghailani had been held at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, since 2006, before being transferred to the U.S. in June. He is the first detainee from Guantanamo Bay to be tried in a U.S. civilian court.
In a legal request filed today, lawyers for Ghailani asked a U.S. judge to compel prosecutors to disclose “material related the government’s decision to detain and interrogate” Ghailani “in CIA ‘Black Sites’ and Guantanamo Bay.” Defense lawyers also want information about his treatment there.
The request indicates that lawyers for Ghailani will highlight his treatment after his capture as part of his defense. A legal brief and supporting affidavit by his defense lawyers is redacted.
The trial of the Bush administration’s detention and interrogation policies has begun. For years, leftist human rights groups and criminal defense attorneys have fought for the day when they could make the Bush administration the center of a federal trial. You can bet that the same types of motions as those filed on Ghailani’s behalf will also be filed during the trial of the September 11 conspirators.
Defense attorneys will say, of course, that information about Ghailani’s treatment while in U.S. custody is crucial to their client’s defense. But that is only true as far as they can show that Ghailani’s interrogators “tainted” his admissions through abuse or “torture.” (Ghailani was subjected to some of the CIA’s so-called “enhanced interrogation techniques,” but not waterboarding.) To the extent that the case against Ghailani is based on other evidence, that which was not extracted during his interrogations, it is doubtful that the details of Ghailani’s interrogations have any relevance in determining his guilt or innocence.
In fact, we know that substantial evidence against Ghailani was accumulated outside of his interrogations. Ghailani was indicted years ago for his role in the 1998 embassy bombings. Federal prosecutors had begun to build a case against him then--that is, long before he was captured or interrogated.
During his combatant status review tribunal (CSRT) at Gitmo, Ghailani also made a number of admissions in the context of flimsy denials. For example, Ghailani admitted that he purchased TNT that was used in the bombings, but claimed that he thought it was “soap for washing horses.” In addition, Ghailani’s own testimony at Gitmo directly connected him to the truck, fertilizer, detonators, gas cylinders, and cell phone used in the attack.
So, there is really no doubt about Ghailani’s guilt and prosecutors will hopefully be able to convince the court that the details of Ghailani’s interrogations are not necessary--for either the prosecution or defense.
Meanwhile, we should not forget that while Ghailani was held by the CIA he gave up important intelligence on al Qaeda’s operations. According to declassified excerpts of a CIA analysis titled “Detainee Reporting Pivotal for the War Against Al Qaeda,” and dated June 3, 2005 (emphasis added):
“Ahmed Khalfam Ghailani (a.k.a. Haytham al-Kini, a.k.a. Fupi) a Tanzanian al Qaeda member who was indicted for his role in 1998 East Africa US Embassy bombings, has provided new insights into al Qaeda’s skills and networks. As a facilitator and one of al Qaeda’s top document forgers since the 11 September attacks, with access to individuals across the organizations (sic) until his arrest in July 2004, he has reported on how he forged passports and to whom he supplied them.”
The CIA’s files undoubtedly contain more information about the al Qaeda agents Ghailani identified. If Ghailani’s attorneys are successful in getting the courts to demand that documents pertaining to Ghailani’s interrogations are introduced into the record, then the court should also see the intelligence (or summaries of the intelligence) that came out of those interrogations. The CIA and America’s national security establishment will likely object by claiming that this intelligence should not be exposed because it is vital to our counterterrorism efforts. There is certainly some truth in that argument.
But nothing will compromise U.S. counterterrorism efforts more than having al Qaeda’s defense attorneys put on a show trial in which America’s counterterrorism officials are portrayed as the bad guys and terrorists such as Ahmed Ghailani are made out to be innocent victims. And if we are going to hear about how Ghailani was interrogated and debriefed, then we should also be able to weigh the intelligence he gave up in the process.
You know I’m getting a liyyle tired of this Bush on Trial thing.
Bush is NOT on trial. The TERRORIST are on trial.
Americans should never forget that.
And any judge that allows this bs in a court should be sanctioned.
They PLANNED and carried out the attack. This took years of planning. When people find out they were planning this during Clinton admin, then what will the Zero administration Do.
I am really tired of this, too, and I just wonder if zero knows how angry fully half the country is about this ... stuff.
well this should please pro terroist democrats
“You know I’m getting a liyyle tired of this Bush on Trial thing.”
Well you better get used to it. That is the purpose behind Holders decision. Just an extension of his time for the ACLU.
A prediction: The harsher these terrorists get against the USA and the the Bush administration the more 0bama's numbers will tank.
Just curious, what is the left trying to do? Do they really love the terrorists that much? What is the final goal? So they accomplish all their goals, then what?
Does anyone else think the reason the Cole bomber gets a military tribunal is because there are not enough salacious facts (renditions, waterboardings, etc.) to embarrass Bush?
THE WHOLE WAR IN IRAQ AND IN AFGHANISTAN WAS WRONG!
WE APLOGIZE!
WE WILL NOT SEND MORE TROOPS INTO A WRONG WAR!
( sarc. off.)
The left is absolutely ,abnoxiously insane. The leftists redefinition of history and secret agenda have arrived.
9/11 never happened. It was caused by BUSH ( sarc.)
Just curious, what is the left trying to do? Do they really love the terrorists that much?
++++++++++++
imho, they detest Bush, Cheney and Haliburton, as proxies for hating and detesting American hegemony and Pax Americana (which is clearly waning in fact).
These socialists certainly hate Bush more than they love America - which they don’t really do, but which they pretend to do in their anti-war rhetoric. In that rhetoric they have simply found a vehicle to try to tear down American capitalism and further their socialist utopian pipedreams.
Holder assured us that the judge will know how to keep KSM’s preachments under control.
But I’m just wondering how this is going to work.
When KSM starts grandstanding, the judge will need to interrupt him. But KSM will be calling the judge “a stinking rotten filthy butt-biting son-of-a-camel-whore with horse snot dripping out of your brainless skull” in Arabic, and presumably an Arabic-speaking judge will not be available. Will the judge yell at the translator to shut up when the judge finally hears, at some length, in English, what KSM already finished saying before the world?
Hey there....Now, I like your phraseology on that....you sure said a mouthful, but REALLY right on!!!
Obozo and Holder would like nothing more than to allow those heathen terrorist to proclaim on US soil, what Obozo has gone all over the world apologizing for....and doing everything they can do to make Bush look bad and embarrass the US! Obozo is so paranoid he has tried to undo everything good that Bush has established....wouldn’t even allow sabers to be worn for Annapolis Graduation, among a myriad of other things. Demwits are All alike, it’s always blame the other guys!! Now, “tell me that ain’t so...Joe”!
But IMHO someone bigger and badder than Obozo and Holder is calling the shots and pulling their strings, ‘cause Holder was totally dumb founded when Graham launched his questioning on him....Holder hem-hawed around and couldn’t find an answer for him and Graham had to tell him that he’d answer the question for him! “There is none!”
Now, how dumb is that for Holder not to know the answer to a question that most of the FReepers would know, including myself? It was like, he totally was caught off guard and needed his advisor there to tell him how to answer the question....kinda like BO, lost without his tele-prompter!
“But IMHO someone bigger and badder than Obozo and Holder is calling the shots and pulling their strings”
Soros. I have never doubted that since Day One.
The file release on GW Frud this past week gave me a knew understanding of the Dum mindset.
They just IGNORE their critics.
We in the U.S. are learning that this is not just the enviro wackos.
But this doctrine is fully entrenched in the Congress and WH.
They are just ignoring the American People.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.