JAG CENTRALThe world's first weblog devoted to military justice and military law issues.
Friday, June 18, 2004
FRIDAY'S NATIONAL NEWSPAPERS
HUGE day for military law related stories. A lot to digest.
The New York Times: Contractor Indicted in Afghan Detainee's Beating ("A federal grand jury in North Carolina on Thursday indicted a contractor employed by the Central Intelligence Agency who is accused of kicking and beating a detainee over two days at a military base in Afghanistan last June. The detainee died the next day. Prosecutors said the Afghan detainee had voluntarily surrendered at the front gate of the Asadabad base in Afghanistan and was suspected of involvement in rocket attacks on the base. The indictment is the first against any civilian as part of the prisoner abuse scandal that now involves six investigations of military and civilian personnel in Afghanistan and Iraq. At a news conference in Washington, Attorney General John Ashcroft announced that David A. Passaro, 38, a resident of Lillington, N.C., had been indicted in Raleigh on two counts of assault with a dangerous weapon and two counts of assault resulting in serious bodily injury. If convicted, Mr. Passaro faces up to 40 years in prison."), Rumsfeld Admits He Told Jailers to Keep Detainees in Iraq Out of Red Cross View (Senior Pentagon officials acknowledged Thursday that a suspected Iraqi terrorist who was held in a military jail - but kept off prison rosters - should have been registered more quickly with the International Committee of the Red Cross. But the officials said the fact that the secret detention of the captive, who was jailed near the Baghdad airport without records, stretched for seven months was probably attributable to a bureaucratic breakdown. Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld said Thursday at a Pentagon news briefing that he ordered the detainee held without a registration number at the written request of George J. Tenet, the director of central intelligence."), Annan Rebukes U.S. for Move to Give Its Troops Immunity ("Secretary General Kofi Annan harshly criticized the United States on Thursday for seeking immunity for its peacekeeping troops from the International Criminal Court. He said the Security Council should resist the American move, which he said was "of dubious judicial value" and particularly deplorable this year "given the prisoner abuse in Iraq."), Milosevic Requests Subpoena of Western Leaders in Criminal Trial ("Slobodan Milosevic, the former Yugoslav president, requested Thursday that former President Bill Clinton, Chancellor Gerhard Schröder of Germany and Prime Minister Tony Blair of Britain testify at his war crimes trial."), and Senate Votes to Add 20,000 Soldiers to Army.
USA Today: Dismissal Denied In Espionage Case: Air Force Judge Finds "Mistakes" But Not Malice (an update to the "bungling" of the case I told you about here), and CIA Contractor Charged In Prisoner's Death.
The Washington Post: Civilian Charged In Beating of Afghan Detainee, Rumsfeld Authorized Secret Detention of Prisoner, Annan Opposes Exempting U.S. From [International Criminal] Court, and U.N. Rwanda Tribunal Conviction ("A U.N. tribunal trying the alleged leaders of Rwanda's 1994 genocide convicted a former Rwandan mayor for his role in the slaughter, sentencing him to 30 years in prison. Sylvestre Gacumbitsi, 57, was convicted by the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda of genocide, extermination and rape for ordering the killings of minority Tutsis in the southeastern commune of Rusumo, where he was mayor. 'Under Gacumbitsi's instructions the killings took place. . . . He also facilitated the transport of attackers and weapons,' presiding Judge Andresia Vaz said as the verdict was delivered.").
The New York Times: Contractor Indicted in Afghan Detainee's Beating ("A federal grand jury in North Carolina on Thursday indicted a contractor employed by the Central Intelligence Agency who is accused of kicking and beating a detainee over two days at a military base in Afghanistan last June. The detainee died the next day. Prosecutors said the Afghan detainee had voluntarily surrendered at the front gate of the Asadabad base in Afghanistan and was suspected of involvement in rocket attacks on the base. The indictment is the first against any civilian as part of the prisoner abuse scandal that now involves six investigations of military and civilian personnel in Afghanistan and Iraq. At a news conference in Washington, Attorney General John Ashcroft announced that David A. Passaro, 38, a resident of Lillington, N.C., had been indicted in Raleigh on two counts of assault with a dangerous weapon and two counts of assault resulting in serious bodily injury. If convicted, Mr. Passaro faces up to 40 years in prison."), Rumsfeld Admits He Told Jailers to Keep Detainees in Iraq Out of Red Cross View (Senior Pentagon officials acknowledged Thursday that a suspected Iraqi terrorist who was held in a military jail - but kept off prison rosters - should have been registered more quickly with the International Committee of the Red Cross. But the officials said the fact that the secret detention of the captive, who was jailed near the Baghdad airport without records, stretched for seven months was probably attributable to a bureaucratic breakdown. Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld said Thursday at a Pentagon news briefing that he ordered the detainee held without a registration number at the written request of George J. Tenet, the director of central intelligence."), Annan Rebukes U.S. for Move to Give Its Troops Immunity ("Secretary General Kofi Annan harshly criticized the United States on Thursday for seeking immunity for its peacekeeping troops from the International Criminal Court. He said the Security Council should resist the American move, which he said was "of dubious judicial value" and particularly deplorable this year "given the prisoner abuse in Iraq."), Milosevic Requests Subpoena of Western Leaders in Criminal Trial ("Slobodan Milosevic, the former Yugoslav president, requested Thursday that former President Bill Clinton, Chancellor Gerhard Schröder of Germany and Prime Minister Tony Blair of Britain testify at his war crimes trial."), and Senate Votes to Add 20,000 Soldiers to Army.
USA Today: Dismissal Denied In Espionage Case: Air Force Judge Finds "Mistakes" But Not Malice (an update to the "bungling" of the case I told you about here), and CIA Contractor Charged In Prisoner's Death.
The Washington Post: Civilian Charged In Beating of Afghan Detainee, Rumsfeld Authorized Secret Detention of Prisoner, Annan Opposes Exempting U.S. From [International Criminal] Court, and U.N. Rwanda Tribunal Conviction ("A U.N. tribunal trying the alleged leaders of Rwanda's 1994 genocide convicted a former Rwandan mayor for his role in the slaughter, sentencing him to 30 years in prison. Sylvestre Gacumbitsi, 57, was convicted by the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda of genocide, extermination and rape for ordering the killings of minority Tutsis in the southeastern commune of Rusumo, where he was mayor. 'Under Gacumbitsi's instructions the killings took place. . . . He also facilitated the transport of attackers and weapons,' presiding Judge Andresia Vaz said as the verdict was delivered.").
