Open Thread

18 Comments

1. 

   Oui on March 14, 2006 at 3:41 pm

   .

   Tribunal Had Warnings on Milosevic Drugs

   THE HAGUE (AP) 10 minutes ago — In February 2004, Milosevic moved into a small office separate from his standard cell equipped with phones, computers and filing cabinets. It was there that he interviewed witnesses, consulted legal aides and prepared his defense. His main advisers were three Belgrade associates whom he met regularly. He also could interview witnesses at a second office at the U.N. court.

   Milosevic held confidential meetings with most of the 50 witnesses he called in his defense, as well as his wife and grandson, and former U.S. Attorney General Ramsey Clark.

     «« click on pic to enlarge
   The car carrying the body of former Yugoslav president Slobodan Milosevic leaves the Dutch Forensic Institue in Rijswijk, near The Hague, Netherlands, for the morgue at Schiphol Airport. Milosevic's son arrived in the Netherlands to take possession of the ex-Yugoslav leader's remains. It was still not clear whether Milosevic's remains would be flown to Belgrade, where the family has requested to bury him or to Russia, where his wife, Mirjana Markovic, and son, Marko, live. AP Photo/Bas Czerwinski

   The U.N. detention unit was a wing of a Dutch prison complex in the seaside resort of Scheveningen, a few miles from where the trial was held.

   From the facility, Milosevic was able to review 1.3 million pages of testimony and documentation and more than 1,000 videos and DVDs that had been gathered for the prosecution case.

   In an order, the trial judges insisted the office remain in “a privileged setting.” The room required two keys to gain access, one held by Milosevic and the other by prison officials.

   ≈ Cross-posted from earlier diary — Traces of Benzodiazepines Found In 2004 ≈

   “But I will not let myself be reduced to silence.”

   ▼ ▼ ▼ MY DIARY

   • 

     BrendaStewart on March 14, 2006 at 3:49 pm

     Hey, Oui, good to see  you out and about today.  Been missing your great diaries/posts.  Worry is my favorite thing to do, ya know…:o)

     • 

       Oui on March 14, 2006 at 6:15 pm

       .

       News keeps repeating itself in the senseless killing of Iraqis, with Bush wagging his tail in defeat and Israel’s defiance of international treaties on a daily basis. Blair and Straw keep spinning the old 33⅓ LP records about Iran and IED development.

       
       An Iraqi woman walks past the bodies of Iraqis killed during sectarian violence, at a hospital in Baghdad, Iraq. At least 87 men killed by gunshots, most bound hand and foot, over the past 24 hours. AP Photo/Samir Mizban

       
       JERICHO -- Three Palestinians were reportedly killed in exchanges of fire with IDF soldiers. GOC Central Command Yair Naveh expressed regret at their deaths, noting the operation was not aimed at the PA security forces, but rather at arresting the six wanted inmates.

       
       The poll found that by a 47-36 margin, people favor Democrats over Republicans when they are asked who should control Congress.

       “But I will not let myself be reduced to silence.”

       ▼ ▼ ▼ MY DIARY

2. 

   rba on March 14, 2006 at 3:52 pm

   Central Valley CA:  funnel clouds, thunderstorms w/hail, rain, high winds, interspersed with periods of sunshine.  Weather equivalent of a political blog.

   Democrat world?  Oh, you know, everything’s just fine, doncha know.

3. 

   rumi on March 14, 2006 at 4:08 pm

     A look at the lack of integrity in our federal prosecuters’ conduct, our court system and general disrespect of the law.

   Among the new problems revealed
   —-more
   Among the new problems revealed as the upcoming witnesses were questioned at the hearing:

   _Government lawyers sent a letter Feb. 14 saying that at least three federal aviation officials sought as defense witnesses refused to talk to defense lawyers. But those three witnesses said they had never seen the letter and one of them said he would have been willing to talk to the defense.

   _The offending federal attorney told one official, sought as a defense witness, that he was not to have contact with defense attorneys;

   _Two of the witnesses read and watched news coverage of the week-old trial despite the judge’s order they not follow the case;

   _The government admitted it did not advise witnesses of the judge’s order governing their conduct;

   _A prosecutor conducted a joint telephone conversation with two witnesses at once, contrary to standard operating procedure;

   _The offending federal attorney not only e-mailed seven witnesses about trial events but also told one person that the defense was trying to portray Moussaoui as “cuckoo.”

   As Robert White, a Transportation Security Administration intelligence liaison officer, was testifying that he had not seen the letter saying he was unwilling to talk to talk defense lawyers, Judge Brinkema interrupted the questioning.

   “Did you see the subpoena issued for you?” she asked.

   “No,” White replied.

   TSA intelligence analyst John Hawley and Matthew Kormann, an officer in the TSA intelligence service, also said they were unaware that a letter had been sent saying they refused to talk to the defense.
   —–more

   Hey, but thank goodness the judge allowed the death penalty option to stay. The FBI can’t even connect ZM to 9/11 directly, but they want to kill him for not saying what he knew-same as everyone else in the govt did.

   • 

     Arcturus on March 14, 2006 at 7:28 pm

     It’s funny: if she granted the defense request for a mistrial, the gov’t could bring this before a new jury, possibly with the very witnesses who are now tainted. By allowing the penalty trial to go, the gov’t will probably appeal — bad news here is that the 4th Circuit is one of the most conservative districts in the country & will hear the appeal.

     I wonder if though, if Brinkema wants this to go on as is (i.e. without the tainted witnesses, deemed by the prosecution to be 1/2 their case) on the theory that the gov’t has fucked it up so badly they deserve to be allowed to lose on its ‘merits.’

     Of course, an emotional jury can do anything . . .

     Jeralynn, btw, has an interesting theory as to why this happened — has less to do in her view with prosecutorial misconduct than the TSA lawyer wanting to protect the TSA & teh airlines in the 9/11 civil suits againt them — her theory makes a lot of sense

     What Was Carla Martin’s Agenda in Moussaoui?

   • 

     Arcturus on March 14, 2006 at 7:58 pm

     hey rumi,

     Get a load of this

     The local tv newstories last night were terrible: live interviews of omigawd reactions

     • 

       rumi on March 14, 2006 at 8:13 pm

         It’s trapped! The article is being held against it’s will behind a registration firewall.

         If that’s what I think it is, the jurors aren’t impressed with the govt case. I’ve seen reports that say Martin is a senior lawyer and was present in the classified meetings when the judge reinforced the normal procedures. TSA has a pattern of blocking access to incriminating(govt) evidence. The trial didn’t start well for a few of the FBI agents testimony. They were showing signs of being severely uninformed in areas of presumed expertise. They were also digging into evidence that higher-ups were obstructing the investigation being pushed by field agents in Aug, 2001.

         This ‘goof’, egregious as it is, might have been genius disguised as incompetence. It sure protects a lot of evidence.

       • 

         Arcturus on March 15, 2006 at 2:36 pm

         Sorry ’bout that.

         Here, have at it from the Mercury instead. It’s not abut ZM, but the Lodi case I’ve written about before. I thought you’d at least get a laugh out of it.

         ZM trial isn’t going very well for the gov’t, eh? Ms. Martin has retained counsel, & when questioned, is invoking the 5th  🙂

         It’s unclear now if the gov’t can even appeal the decision to exclude all airline security info since the trial has begun. Prosecutors were quoted today saying that it  wasn’t worth going on with the trial if they are exlcuded . . .   awwww

         • 

           rumi on March 15, 2006 at 7:29 pm

           Thanks.

             Hey, are you familiar with the FAA/DoT role in holding evidence in the Lockerbie investigations or trials?

             There are too many odd occurrences of the past reaching up to appear again now. How about the bizarre life of Stefan Eriksson and his California adventures?

         • 

           Arcturus on March 15, 2006 at 8:34 pm

           Not in any detail offhand — certainly wouldn’t be surprised. I recall reading about some funny stuff with the black box, & that some law enforcement type (Scottish? FBI?) came forward alledging planted evidence to falsely implicate Libya. I perked up too when I saw Martin was involved in Lockerbie lawsuits . . .

           One will never prove it, but it wouldn’t be shocking if she (Martin) did what she did knowing very well it would be exposed & cause the trial to implode. Poor baby’s lawyered up now. It’s almost amusing when the need for a showtrial conflicts with the needs of coverup.

           Dare I ask who Stefan Eriksson is?

4. 

   Ed J on March 14, 2006 at 4:32 pm

   March 14, 2003:

   From David Ensor
   CNN Washington Bureau
   Friday, March 14, 2003
   WASHINGTON (CNN) — Intelligence documents that U.S. and British governments said were strong evidence that Iraq was developing nuclear weapons have been dismissed as forgeries by U.N. weapons inspectors.

   And later, regarding Colin Powell’s role:

   “It was the information that we had. We provided it. If that information is inaccurate, fine,” Powell said on NBC’s “Meet the Press” last Sunday.

   “We don’t believe that all the issues surrounding nuclear weapons have been resolved [in Iraq],” he said.

   Emphasis mine.

   Fucking “fine”? What is that, like “oops”?

5. 

   Nanette on March 14, 2006 at 6:00 pm

   Or even Ides Eve, apparently.

   <nods wisely>

   

   I’m just sayin’…

6. 

   idredit on March 14, 2006 at 6:49 pm

   Arab central banks move assets out of dollar, switching to euros.

   Meanwhile John Snow is biting his nails….running out of money-he need debt limit ceiling increase.

   Is this after raiding the Social Security Trust fund, the fed employees pension fund. And of course, the Democratsic members are to blame.

7. 

   Ed J on March 14, 2006 at 6:49 pm

   they were gloating about how all the frightened little Democrats are running away from Feingold’s resolution just as fast as their feet can carry them. They played clips of Schumer and Reid and Stabenow gutlessly dodging the issue.

   I hate having the FOX birdbrains call Democrats cowards. I hate it even more that they’re right.

8. 

   idredit on March 14, 2006 at 8:13 pm

   No way. A Reuters story carried by Israeli Daily Ha’aretz:

   “U.S. general says no proof Iran behind Iraq arms”

   “The top U.S. military officer said on Tuesday the United States does not have proof that Iran’s government is responsible for Iranians smuggling
   weapons and military personnel into Iraq.

   President George W. Bush said on Monday components from Iran were being used in powerful roadside bombs used in Iraq, and Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld said last week that Iranian Revolutionary Guard personnel had been inside Iraq.

   Oh my. Caught with a short tongue. Again

   Yoohoooo Scottie, any clarifications here? Will the General be …what is the military term?…ah cashiered.  Scottie any…you’ll get back to us on that?

9. 

   Cali Scribe on March 14, 2006 at 8:22 pm

   should’ve been “Shock and ‘aw, crap'”, according to report on “Countdown” — new book details how administration was warned about possibility of insurgency. Will try to diary it tomorrow after transcript is up so I can get some details and do research…

   • 

     Nanette on March 14, 2006 at 10:09 pm

     There was a not very well publicized report somewhere soon after the invasion that Saddam (and company) had plans in place to begin the resistance/insurgency sometime in June or July of 2003.

     I don’t remember everything about it, but the date it was allegedly to begin holds some significance in Iraqi history (either pre-Saddam or from his reign).

     Sorry I don’t have the full details, but it might be something to look into when doing your diary. I had a feeling that something like that was in the offing anyway, when there were all those news reports of the Iraqi army just “melting away” when the US advanced. They, more than anyone, also had the knowledge of where all those unguarded munitions places were, too.

     Anyway, this just made me think of all that again.