The ACLU's Executive Director, Anthony Romero says:

" . . detainees should be prosecuted in our traditional courts, which are the best in the world . . "

Where did you get that from, Romero? Hollywood? Judge Sally sitcoms?

As long as stupid Americans keep thinking (like Roman emperors just before the fall) that all their self-made myths are true, the less likely you'll ever arrest your downward spiral.

I know this is a really big stretch, but Americans really need to try facing THE TRUTH rather than perpetuating THE MYTHS.

US courts are better than Guantanamo's kangaroo courts, Yes.

Does that necessarily make them the "best in the world"? No.

said the wretched flop haired Hugh Grant manque, "but the fucking link doesn't work. Suggest instead just going to the Guardian site, Gaza images."

Excellent post and excellent point.

Torture was prohibited by the French revolution.

Count Cesare Beccaria, an 18th century Italian legal philosopher

had already impassionedly argued that torture was not only immoral, but ineffective.

Now, the so-called post-modern principle of the reversibility of historical progress was applied assiduously and almost to the letter by gothic and grotesque administration reactionaries. And yet, if there was one hallmark of the Middle Ages that Enlightenment philosophers such as Voltaire unequivocally rejected, it was torture.

Why should we go back to medieval practice now?

Why should we follow base urges instead of refined and sophisticated intelligence developed through historical moral struggle?

This just to hand:

http://www.theonion.com/content/news/terror_experts_warn_next_9_11?utm_source=EMTF_Onion

"Terror Experts Warn That Next 9/11 Could Fall On Different Date"

my favourite bit was the last paragraph:

"At the conclusion of the press conference, Chertoff urged Americans not be alarmed by the recent news, and to continue living their lives as they have for the last seven years—with the crippling fear that at any moment they, or someone they love, could die in a fiery inferno."

But although The Onion were (perhaps) joking, this also answers Glenn's opening question.

You read it here first ...

the consensus of American intelligence agencies is that they are not doing so

No, the consensus is that they stopped for a while in 2003.

For Glenn to write what he did, based on nothing, is... just... Glenn.

They (the Iranians) keep bragging how they are progressing with their uranium refining, and how happy they'll be when Israel, the US, and the UK will be wiped out.

I just saw Jon Meacham on Scarborough saying that Newsweek's cover story that Glenn talked about the other day was a "reality check" for the country. Joe, Pat and Jon then proceeded to downplay the Bush crimes. Because these kind of voices control the media narrative it's very hard to see how we can fire up the public enough that they will pressure Obama and the media to hold these criminals accountable. Moyers, Olbermann and Maddow frequently present other voices on this issue but we need more. Does anyone know how we can get more people on these shows who can articulate why we must hold the Bush criminals accountable?

The lying and deceit didn't start today or yesterday. When a British cameraman, James Miller, was killed while making a documentary in Rafah in 2003, the Israeli army tried to blame the Palestinians. However, Miller's family forced the issue and had ballistic tests done on this man's body, a man who was part of a group filming in Rafah and which identified itself as such when danger became apparent, even attaching white fabric to their torches. The upshot to all of this? The incident wasn't investigated until 2005 although the ballistics tests provided irrefutable evidence that James Miller, cameraman, had been killed by Israeli gunfire. The commander of the unit faced disciplinary charges but, you'd find this hard to believe I'm sure, he was exonerated.

James Miller was a European, a British citizen and had a family and colleagues to demand that the trigger-happy Israelis answer to the charge of killing an innocent man while working on a documentary. The result is as I've written although I think the Israelis eventually offered £1,000,000 or so compensation for Miller's death. There will be no compensation for the hundreds of innocent civilians whose lives have been taken forever in the Gaza Ghetto. They don't have a State so are Stateless persons as large numbers of people were in post-1945 Europe, they're somewhat shabby in their way of dress and look so old-fashioned that they could benefit from the fashion advice on the New York Times. I suppose they haven't had pedicures or manicures for ages. They are a thankless lot too, not grateful enough to the children of the Europeans from Central and Eastern Europe for stealing their land. Oh yes, they also look suspiciously foreign without the gorgeous (!) blonde tresses of Tzipi Livni and Major Avital Liebovitz (such lovely Middle Eastern surnames). Their religion is the pits too, not loving and all-encompassing like that of "the chosen people".

The Israeli Army is going about its dirty work with less attention from the media - that tabloidised Sky News (part of Murdoch's empire) spent the whole weekend concentrating on Prince Harry's mindless insults which would have merited sacking or suspension at the very least if uttered by a policeman, teacher or anyone else of lowly rank. Sky has two dependable reporters, Tim Marshall and Adam Boulton, I haven't seen Marshall for a few days and he was reporting from Jerusalem; Boulton deals with domestic matters. The prattlers have been on-screen for the last day or so - Prince Harry, the resignation of Kevin Pietersen as captain of the English cricket team are the most riveting topics, it seems. Murdoch is Australian but I began to think "the fix is in". This time the free world needs to circumvent the Zionist/American propaganda which seems to echo the words of Mark Antony in "Julius Caesar": "Let loose the dogs of war" and in this case too they can create havoc as they're beyond control.

This is to help the "Blue Collar Readers"out there

They may be a lefty loon if;

They voted for Obama and assumed be was beholding to them more than the majority that voted for him in the middle.

They protest against the Israelli action in Gaza because needless loss of innocent lives but were quiet the many months the Hamas rockets rained down on Israel.

They condemm with outrage the Jack Baueresque torture methods used in Gitmo that may have saved american lives but have never condemmed a single beheading or the brutality of the Islamofacist.

They condemm the Bush administration and demand criminal investigation against him and mock him for not getting Bin Laden yet but they give Clinton a pass for letting him go when the Saudis offered him to us and excuse Sandy Bergers National Archive theft for just being "sloppy"because it may shed a bad light on the Clinton role if those documents weren't stolen and denied from the 9/11 commission.

They have thier children participate in a soccer league the doesn't keep score and wonder why it should be nessesary to keep score at the Superbowl

They blame NASCAR for global warming as they suck designer water from plastic containers.

They view Al Gore as God savior of the planet,inventor of the internet and cheated out of the presidency even as he criss crosses the globe in a prvate jet and would have won if his home state of Tennesee had voted for him.

They have never done any community service except what was ordered by court.

They agree with Glen Greenwald