On May 16th, a New York state federal judge granted a preliminary injunction to block provisions of the NDAA that allow indefinite detention, claiming they are unconstitutional. The decision is part of growing bipartisan opposition to the NDAA that includes prominent members of the US military.
U.S. District Judge Katherine Forrest, originally appointed by Obama, clashed with the current administration by censuring the NDAA, saying that the act has a “chilling impact on First Amendment rights” to free speech, and infringes on the Fifth Amendment’s right to due process.
The suit for the injuction was brought by the Stop the NDAA! group, pictured below left to right: Pulitzer Prize winner Chris Hedges: US military analyst Daniel Ellsberg (who released the Pentagon Papers); famed linguist and philosopher Noam Chomsky; Icelandic parliamentarian Birgitta Jónsdóttir; executive director of RevolutionTruth Jennifer Bolen; activist Kai Wargalla; and activist, founder of US Day of Rage, and WL Central reporter Alexa O’Brien.
On 16 May 2012 The Times published a piece claiming that information found in an embassy cable released by WikiLeaks directly led to the execution of Majid Jamli Fashi, an Iranian kickboxer. Within hours, media outlets around the world picked up the article and the story went viral.
Nothing could have been further from the truth.
Once the Times published, the Daily Mail picked it up, Rupert’s The Australian syndicated it, and then the Drudge got it, skyrocketing comments on Twitter.
The WikiLeaks twitter feed reacted swiftly and mercilessly. Spread over a succession of tweets:
Murdoch’s Times tries to smear WikiLeaks for Iranian hanging. Media morons run with it without fact checking. The absolute contempt for the readers and the truth shows why there must be urgent reform. Let us consider the Iranian smear. We have: Wrong guy. This isn’t the guy in the cable. Wrong publication. Spiegel, not WL, selected the cable, but anyway, it was redacted. Wrong country. Israel isn’t even mentioned in the cable. In fact there’s no connection whatsoever with the story other than it mentions martial arts. And yet dozens of ‘press’ outlets are running with it. Idiots! Wrong timeline. The guy (that the cable, as far as can be determined, has nothing to do with) was sentenced last August.
This is Part Three in WL Central’s continued coverage of the arrest of Bahraini human rights activist Nabeel Rajab. He was arrested on May 5 at the Bahraini International Airport, following the announcement of his appearance on Julian Assange’s talk show “The World Tomorrow.” A representative of the public prosecution ordered that Rajab be detained for one week for “insulting a statutory body” via Twitter. Rajab denies the charges, saying they are aimed at hindering his human rights work and his right of expression. He was also charged unrelated to his current detention for “participating in illegal assembly.”
Rajab’s interview on “The World Tomorrow,” alongside Egyptian activist Alaa Abd El-Fattah, aired May 8. The episode is available online in English, Spanish, Russian, Arabic, and Italian. Extended transcript of the entire 3 hour interview is also available.
Many organizations have been calling for Rajab’s release as well as the release of other political prisoners in Bahrain. Major protests have broken out in Bahrain. Meanwhile, the U.S. has resumed some arms transfers to the Bahraini Government amid calls for harsher crackdowns on the uprising. See Part One and Part Two of our previous coverage for more information.
The Polish Secret Service briefed both president Aleksander Kwaśniewski and PM Leszek Miller about the existence of a CIA black site on the grounds of a Secret Service training camp, Gazeta Wyborcza reports. The agents kept notes on these meetings, and eventually handed them over to the prosecutor late last year.
According to these notes, the agents reported that there were prisoners held in the CIA prison. It is not clear whether they also spoke about torture. Kwaśniewski recently admitted that he knew about the existence of such a prison, and that he was aware of the risk that the US might deploy inadmissible methods.
The creation of an extraterritorial area without international agreements and false imprisonment already constitute a breach of the Polish constitution.
A source within the prosecution told Gazeta Wyborcza that the Polish agents realized that the matter “stank”, and that it could come out, and that they wanted to have proof of being backed by the highest levels in the government to protect themselves.
Cablegate evidence recently unearthed by WLC confirms a collaboration between the Polish and US intelligence agencies.
For our previous extensive coverage please see this link.
The United States Army and Marine Corps call their enlisted job specialties, “MOS’s,” or Military Occupation Specialties.
Bradley Manning was a 35F or 35 Fox, Military Intelligence Analyst, assigned to Company B, 2nd Brigade Special Troops Battalion, 2nd Brigade, 10th Mountain Division Light Infantry (LI), when, the US Government says, he disclosed the largest leak of classified information in US History.
According to the US Army, the mission of the 35F Military Occupational Specialty [MOS] is to “gather, analyze, and report intelligence information that reveals the intended secrets of hostile forces,” and 35F “must qualify for a top secret clearance with special access eligibility.”
Although, it should be noted, the alleged leak only concerned information marked at the lowest level of classification, “SECRET”, or was not classified. For example, on testimony by Army CID Agent, Toni Graham, at Bradley Manning’s Article 32 Pretrial Hearing and similarly at the March 16, 2011 Motion Hearing for US v PFC Bradley Manning, there is still uncertainty as to whether or not the July 12, 2007 Baghdad air strike video, commonly known as “Collateral Murder” was classified or not.
35Fs analyze data including weather, terrain, and the position of opposing forces. They are trained to read and interpret maps, electronically plot symbols, and consolidate intelligence data onto a situation map.
WikiLeaks Press is currently looking for reporters to help us cover the news. For more information see: http://wlcentral.org/reporters.