City looks like a “funnel of death” reports indicate
TAL AFAR, September 10 – This morning a combination of U.S. and Iraqi military forces started an offensive to clean out the insurgent-controlled town of Tal Afar. The small town of Tal Afar is located about 260 miles northwest of Baghdad. The entire morning was filled with the sound of gunfire as several hundred light-armed insurgents fought the U.S. and Iraqi troops invading the town.
Reports indicate hundreds of insurgents have been killed in the process, the troops invaded the small town battering down walls with armored vehicles and conducting thorough house-to-house searches. Meanwhile about 30 miles south of Baghdad police found the bodies of 18 men, handcuffed and shot to death in Iskandariya. This town is widely known for it’s violence and cold-blooded killings as Shiites and Sunnis patrol the town with so-called “death squads”.
In other news the British security company providing services to the Baghdad airport have resumed work and re-opened the airport after blocking all activity for the past 24 hours. The Iraqi government has agreed to fulfill 50% of the outstanding payments immediately to come to an agreement on the dispute.
What about civil rights?
WASHINGTON, September 9 – Today a federal court in Richmond, Va, upheld the authority of the President to detain any suspected terrorist indefinitely without a trial or any other form of hearing. This authorization, formally known as the Authorization for Use of Military Force Joint Resolution was invoked after 9/11 to reduce terrorist threat and give the federal government more tools to work with after the disaster that shook the nation.
Reason for this case was an appeal by Jose Padilla, arrested as an alleged “dirty-bomber” and held in detention since then. Besides lengthy sessions to acquire intelligence from this man he has had no chance to defend himself at a trial. Many believe this intrudes the most basic civil rights of freedom and innocence. Bush however managed to get a win at the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals which backs him in his efforts to secretly capture Taliban and Al-Qaeda members and interrogating them for intelligence.
Juicy detail in this case is that the judge who wrote the ruling after unanimously being reached was Michael Luttig, by many tipped as one of the main judges to fill the vacancy for associate judge in the Supreme Court.
He’s a regular trickster isn’t he
WASHINGTON, September 8 – Analysts believe Bush has played his cards tremendously smart by moving up Roberts from an associate judge nominee to Chief Justice nominee in the wind of the Katrina disaster. All the media attention is headed to anything with the words New Orleans and Biloxi in it so Roberts’ shooting fame goes almost undetected and his hearings will start soon.
Bush has probably put his money on the fact that the citizens of this country do not want any difficult questions at the confirmation hearings because they are all focused on the tragedy that occurred last week. After Roberts was heading for the associate judge confirmation hearing almost untouched he thought moving him up for the Chief Justice position wouldn’t attract any attention, partially he’s right. Replacing an extreme conservative with another one is no problem, actually more or less expected. I can’t fail to point out that Roberts has been called a moderate conservative by his supporters, trying to sway the Democrats to go along for the dance but why would the Republicans put up a moderate conservative to replace an extreme conservative? That would be like shooting your own foot! The obvious explanation is simple, they have been trying to play him off as a moderate just to get him in and shift one more notch to the right. That leaves a new problem, Bush has a second vacancy on the court which he is free to fill, putting up a conservative of any kind will be hard to pull off now that he has redirected Roberts to the Chief Justice position.
Many think he will nominate long-time friend and loyal supporter Alberto Gonzalez, Bush has never tried to hide his love for this man and naming a Hispanic male would be a first for the Supreme Court. However he will play it out, it just might be that he overplayed his cards and the second nomination might not be such a breeze, after all is Bush willing to pick a fight over this after the Iraq mess, the Katrina-disaster and the sloppy follow-up, will his supporters stand by him just to ensure a conservative court for years to come?
We can’t wait for the trial
BAGHDAD, September 7 – Yesterday four American security guards were killed while traveling in a convoy through Basra. The convoy was disturbed by a roadside bomb, launching the car with the four Americans into a nearby ravine. Roadside bombs have become more and more popular among Iraqi insurgents and they seem to get more and more advanced too, the military has no solution for it yet.
Meanwhile the Iraqi President Jalal Talabani has announced that Saddam Hussein has confessed to ordering killings and other terrible crimes during his regime. Whether this is true can be doubted because an official within the Iraqi Special Tribunal has acknowledged that Saddam confessed to ordering deadly reprimands to the Kurds in northern Iraq but also added he only did what he believed was possible within legal means. This would denounce the President’s message that Saddam had confessed to committing crimes.
The trial for Saddam Hussein will start on October 19 and so far the prosecutors have only prepared around 14 points to try him on. The prosecutors added that they are only aiming at the cases that can be proven more easily because this would already seal his faith.
This job carries a lot of influence!
WASHINGTON, September 6 – Many think that the Chief Justice on the Supreme Court is just that, one of nine votes in the end but the leader of the bunch. The job carries a lot more influence though. The Chief Justice has his/her hands in many important things, just to sum up a few of the most important we’ll take former Chief Justice Rehnquist’s career:
Rehnquist appointed the secret court that approves national security taps and searches, he formed the committees responsible for the rules in federal court procedures. He was also the one who named the Special Prosecutor in the impeachment procedure of Bill Clinton and he presided over the actual trial in the Senate. He has lobbied in Congress for more federal judgeships and of course higher pay for all the court positions. He’s the one who kept Congress from putting a leash on the judicial authority. In the end he’s the chief executive of an institution with over 350 employees and a whopping $70 million budget.
Another important point is the authority to name the justice who will write the majority opinion after a case has been argued and voted. Rehnquist made sure he was the one writing these opinions in most cases and there have been reports that his predecessors even switched sides just to be able to write the majority opinion. If Roberts becomes the new Chief Justice he must be able to face Tom Delay, the Republican House majority leader and most prominent member of the proposition to denounce the power of judges.
In less that 36 hours!
WASHINGTON, September 5 – In a swift move not more than 36 hours after the announcement that Rehnquist had passed away Bush moved Roberts forward to be the next Chief Justice of the Supreme Court. Many believe he’s trying to get a decade long grip in the Supreme Court by nominating this relatively young judge, Roberts is only 50-years old.
Roberts hit the news in July after his nomination for a “simpler” associate judge position in the Supreme Court. Many battled over his beliefs immediately but no “organized” opposition has occurred yet. His confirmation hearings were going to be tough, but now being nominated to lead the Supreme Court these confirmation hearings will be even more important. It is believed Roberts is a strong opposite of the legendary Roe vs. Wade ruling and it is expected that he will overthrow it as soon as he takes office.
Bush now has another spot to fill, that of the associate judge position Roberts was originally nominated for, left by retiring judge Sandra Day O’Connor. Bush said he will come up with another nominee in “a timely manner”. His lightning fast decision on Rehnquist’s replacement has been dubbed as a way to shed his “indecisive” image after the catastrophe in New Orleans.
