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Today's
Stories
April 3, 2008
Peter Morici
The Deepening Recession
April 2, 2008
Diane Farsetta
Indian
Point on the Potomac
Harry Browne
Bertie
Ahern Laid Low by Secretary
Wajahat Ali
The Folly of Attacking Iran: a Conversation with Steven Kinzer
George Wuerthner
Open Season on Wolves
Col. Dan Smith
The
Militarization of America
Philippe Marlière
The Politics of Bling-Bling in France: Sarkozy's Cultivated Anti-Intellectualism
Steve Early
A Purple Uprising in Oakland
Bernard Chazelle
Saving the American Left
Reza Fiyouzat
Bowling in Hell
April 1, 2008
Jeff Leys
Fracturing
the Peace to End the War
Thomas P. Healy
Restoring the Constitution: a Conversation with Daniel Ellsberg
Winslow T. Wheeler
When Pigs Sprout Wings: Mangled Rationales for a Fatter Defense
Budget
Roxanne Dunbar-Ortiz
New Deal Nostalgia
Patrick Irelan
Cocaine, Colombia and the Cartels
Andy Worthington
The Case of Ahmed Khalfan Ghailani
John V. Walsh
The Shunning of Ralph Nader
Michael J.
Smith
Woolly Mamet
Robert Weissman
The New Philip Morris--Even Worse Than the Old?
Dave Lindorff
Bush's Defining Moments
Martha Rosenberg
Brain Mist Disease: Boss Hog's Gift to Humanity
Website of
the Day
Support Briana!
March 31, 2008
Mike Whitney
Dead
on Arrival: Paulson's Fixit Plan for Wall Street
Mats Svensson
Walls,
Tunnels and Daily Humiliations
Paul Rockwell
Hillary's
Lies About Outsourcing
Paul Craig Roberts
A Third American War in the Making?
Patrick Cockburn
Sadr
Calls for Ceasefire
Peter Dale Scott
The Showdown
Alfredo Molano
Cultura Mafiosa in Colombia
Peter Morici
Why Paulson's Reform Plan Falls Short
Uri Avnery
Day of the Land, 32 Years Later
Michael Simmons
The American Bard in New Orleans
Betsy Roberts
/ Karen Orr
The Clorox Coup
Phyllis Pollack
First the Sun and Then the Moon: Scorsese Does the Stones
Website of
the Day
Five Years Too Many
March 29 / 30, 2008
Alexander Cockburn
When
They Pick Up the Phone at 3 AM, What Will They Say?
Patrick Cockburn
Iraqi
Police Refuse to Back Maliki's Attacks on Medhi Army
Mike Whitney
Bernanke's Next Big Bail Out Plan
Christopher Brauchli
The Pastor of Armageddon and the Slave Sale: McCain, Lieberman
and Rev. Hagee
William Blum
China, Tibet and the Propaganda Olympics
Robert Fantina
Iraq
Troika: McCain, Obama and Clinton
John Ross
AMLO, the Comeback Kid? Fighting the Privatization of Mexico's
Oil
Allison Kilkenny
Shady Lending Hits Home
Nelson P. Valdés
Cuba, the Beatles and Historical Context
Suzanne Baroud
The Great Lake of Gaza: a New Crisis in the Making
Richard Rhames
Social Security: Throwing Granny from the Gravy Train
Christopher Fons
Transcending the 60s? Obama and the Baby Boomers
Carl Finamore
Misery at 35,000 Feet: Mergers Stall, Fares Soar, Services Slump
and Consumers Sour
Eamonn McCann
Hillary Misremembers Again!
Missy Beattie
Justice and the Monsters of War
Fred Gardner
Jim Thorpe, All-American
Kim Nicolini
Cock Chuggers and Cheese Curls: Richard Kelly's "Southland
Tales"
David Yearsley
"All the World's a Hospital"
Jeffrey St.
Clair
Booked Up
Poets' Basement
Valentine and Ko Un
Website of
the Weekend
Hidden Iraq
March 28, 2008
Saul Landau
Growing
Dread About Iraq
Alan Farago
Other People's Money: the Chop Shop Economy
Peter Morici
Knocking Down False Economic Gods
Andy Worthington
Plight of the Uyghus: a Chinese Muslim's Desperate Plea from
Guantánamo
Felice Pace
Ashes of Lies: Why No One Trusts the US Forest Service
Peter Montague
Sierra Club Cleans House -- With Clorox!
Dave Lindorff
The Mumia Exception
March 27, 2008
Patrick Cockburn
Basra
Erupts
Binoy Kampmark
Free Market Apostates
Joanne Mariner
"Was George Washington a Terrorist?"
Norman Solomon
NPR News: National Pentagon Radio?
William S. Lind
Mars Only Knocks Once: a Prognosis for Iraq
John V. Walsh
Obama's Speech: a Touch of Bigotry?
Robert Weissman
How Things Work
Ron Jacobs
Meeting Charlie Ehlen
Ralph Nader
Put Impeachment Back on the Table
David Macaray
Court Rules Against Grocery Workers
John Borowski
Clearcutting the History of Forest Destruction
Website of
the Day
Going Out for an English
March 26, 2008
Stan Cox
The
Germs Next Door
Sharon Smith
Greed
Pays: Welfare on Wall Street
Anita Sinha / Jill Tauber
Dreams Turned into Rubble in New Orleans
Matt Vidal
So Much for the Self-Regulating Market
William S. Lind
Operation Cassandra
Joe Mowrey
The Audacity of Hypocrisy: Obama's Pandering to Israel
Dave Lindorff
Duck and Cover (Up): Hillary Under Fire
Ray McGovern
Frontline's War: Too Timid, Too Little, Too Late
Justin Smith
Why Race and Gender are Separate Issues
Sam Husseini
The Winter Soldier Hearings and Indy Media
Martha Rosenberg
Blood on Ice: Gentlemen, Pick Up Your Clubs
Michael Dickinson
Politicians as Dogs
Website of the Day
The Wal-Mart Virus: How the Infection Spread
March 25, 2008
Ishmael Reed
The
Crazy Rev. Wright
Corey D. B.
Walker
The Politics of Jeremiah Wright
Linn Washington Jr.
Racism in America and Other Uncomfortable Facts
Alan Farago
The Money Launderers: a Picnic for Wall St. Insiders
Vijay Prashad
A Glimmer of Hope From the Gulf Coast
Joshua Frank
A Silver Lining to the Bush Years?
Ralph Nader
How Public Servants Can Help End This War
David Rovics
If I Can't Dance: Why is the Left So Boring?
Peter Morici
America's Banks are Broken
Dave Zirin
Olympic Flames: China's Crackdown in Tibet
David Krieger
The Crisis in Tibet
Website of
the Day
Memorializing Iraq
March 24, 2008
Jeffrey St.
Clair
Blonde
Ambition: Hillary's Berserker Campaign for 2012
Peter Morici
Digging Out of the Recession
Uri Avnery
Two Americas
Wajahat Ali
First of the Mohicans: an Interview with Rep. Keith Ellison
Paul Craig Roberts
Inside the Shell Game
George Ciccariello-Maher
The Coming War on Venezuela
Stephen Lendman
Sami Al-Arian's Long Ordeal
Christopher
Brauchli
Possessing Someone Else's Country
Cat Woods
A Letter to Mom on Obama
Stacey Warde
Tax Burden
Dave Lindorff
The American Dead Hits 4,000, But Who's Counting?
Website of
the Day
Live from the Longest Walk
March 22 /
23, 2008
Ralph Nader
Bush
Blisters the Truth on Iraq
Nicole Colson
Can You Afford to Feed Your Family?
James Petras
The Cost of Unilateral Humanitarian Initiatives
Laura Carlsen
From Bombs to Markets: The Andean Crisis and the Geopolitics
of Trade
Greg Moses
Tolerance and the American Pulpit
Andy Worthington
Torture Stories Dog Guantánamo Trials
Michael Dickinson
Art on Trial
John Ross
Bush's Surge Hits Mosul
Missy Comley Beattie
Killer Economics
David Michael
Green
Happy Anniversary, America!
Ramzy Baroud
The Coming Uncertain War on Iran
Martha Rosenberg
Easter Egg Shells from Hell
Paul Watson
Evolution is Going to the Dogs in the Galapagos
Isabella Kenfield
Monsanto's
Raid on Brazil
James Murren
Logging v. Water in Honduras
Jacob Hornberger
Sex and the Immigration Officer
Kathlyn Stone
Ben Heine, Master of the Art of Resistance
Seth Sandronsky
Rethinking New Mexico's History
Kim Nicolini
Class, Gender and Abortion in Communist Romania
Jeffrey St.
Clair
Booked Up: What I'm Reading This Week
Poets' Basement
Wilson, Woods, Gibbons and Orloski
Website of
the Weekend
Merci, McCain!
March 21, 2008
Marleen Martin
Land
Behind Bars: the Hidden Casualties of America's "War on
Crime"
Peter Montague
Run
Your Car on Coal? Maybe Not
Saul Landau
Monroe's
Deadly Doctrine
Anis Hamadeh
Merkel in the Knesset
Jacob Hornberger
McCain's Al Qaeda Scare: Slip or Tactic?
Khalil Nakhleh
Al Nakba of 1948: How Long Will It Persist?
Adam Isacson
Colombia, Paramilitary Threats and Assassinations
Kenneth Couesbouc
Money for Nothing
Madis Senner
Will the Feds Underwrite the Stock Market?
Monica Benderman
The Costs of Freedom: What Are You Willing to Pay?
Website of the Day
Stop Foreclosures and Evictions
March 20, 2008
Damien Millet
/
Eric Toussaint
The
Triple Failing of the Big Private Banks
Mike Whitney
Winding
Up Bear
John Ross
What Do We Owe Iraq?
Dave Lindorff
Paying the Piper: the Bodies and Bills are Piling Up
Wajahat Ali
Pakistan on Fire
Jill Nagle
Memo to Sex Workers: Stop Financing Shock Journalism
Manuel Garcia, Jr.
Obama and the Psychic Auto-Shrink-Wrapping Called Race in America
Dan La Botz
Obama's Race Speech
Robert Weissman
Alternative Power: Shutting Down the API
Stella Dallas
/
Jennifer Matsui
Apostasy Now! Mamet, Enter Stage Right
Website of the Day
The Angry Monk
March 19, 2008
Patrick Cockburn
A
War of Lies
Robert Fisk
The Little Men and the Inferno
Jeff Taylor
Five Years of War in Iraq
Ed Ruggero
From Pinkville to Iraq: the Dark Anniversary of My Lai
Ron Jacobs
Who'll Stop the Rain?
Christopher
Fons
Obama Takes the Race Bait
Sherwood Ross
In Defense of Rev. Wright
Cynthia McKinney
An Urgent Crisis: Confronting America's Racial Disparities
Joshua Frank
The Kool-Aid That Kills
Robert Weissman
Monsanto's Genetic Food Gamble
Walter Brasch
It's a Welfare State--If You're Rich
Yifat Susskind
Iraqi Women Resist the Occupation
Andrew Wimmer
War Demands Its Due
Website of
the Day
Glimpses of Nature
March 18, 2008
David Price
The
Military "Leveraging" of Cultural Knowledge
Paul Craig
Roberts
The
Collapse of American Power
Tim Wise
Of National Lies and Racial America: Jeremiah Wright, Barack
Obama and the Unacceptability of Truth
Patrick Cockburn
One of the Most Disastrous Wars Ever Fought
Conn Hallinan
Afghanistan, a River Running Backward
James T. Phillips
Monsters: Past, Present and Wannabe
Uri Avnery
The Killing in Bethlehem
David Macaray
Could Wal-Mart Revive the Labor Movement?
Marjorie Cohn
Beware an Attack on Iran
Peter Zinn
Obama in New Orleans
Dan La Botz
The Economic Crisis, Labor and the Left
Monica Benderman
Where are We Going?
March 17, 2008
Pam Martens
The
Fed's Wall Street Dilemma
Sasan Fayazmanesh
The US, Iran and the Policy of Dual Containment
Nelson P. Valdés
The Imperial Branding of Simon Bolivar and the Cuban Revolution
Peter Morici
The Corrosive Consequences of the Trade Deficit
Wajahat Ali
Disrobing the Nine: a Conversation with Jeffrey Toobin on the
Supreme Court Since 9/11
Ronnie Cummins
Beyond Progressive Malpractice: Taking Down Big Pharma
Shaun Harkin
Saint Patrick's Day in Fortress America
Ali Khan
No Pardon for Musharraf
Robert Jensen
Beyond Peace
P. Sainath
Oh, What a Lovely Waiver!
Greg Moses
Jeremiah was a Bullhorn
Dr. Susan Block
Advice for Eliot Spitzer
Website of the Day
No Cowboys
March 15 /
16, 2008
Patrick Cockburn
How
to Destroy a Country in Five Years
Mike Whitney
Bearly
Alive: Investment Giant Rushed to ICU by Panicky Fed Chief
Ralph Nader
Of
Laws and Men
Robert Pollin
It's Still the Economy, Stupid
Diane Christian
The Poetics of Perversity: From Boccaccio to Spitzer
Wajahat Ali
Faking the Hood: a Conversation with Ishmael Reed
Tom Wright
/
Therese Saliba
Rachel Corrie's Case for Justice
Alan Farago
Back to Florida: Where Bushtime Began
Greg Moses
Raiding the Family Room in Texas
Michael Hudson
A Grand Global Bargain?
Martha Rosenberg
Why Hillary's Favorite Chicken Company is Eying China
John Goekler
Fourth Generation Warfare in a Fifth Generation Conflict
Uzma Aslam
Khan
A Letter to Barack Obama: Where's the Change, Barack?
Oren Ben-Dor
The Silencing of Gilad Atzmon
David Underhill
Mammon, Morals and the Mobile Tanker Deal
Fred Gardner
The Education of Eliot Spitzer
David Michael
Green
Why Spitzer Should Have Resigned (and Why He Shouldn't Have)
Rev. William E. Alberts
Jesus, Entombed in Heaven
Gail Dines
It's All About the John: Prostitution and Male Power
David Yearsley
Conducting, Anarchy and the Problem of When to Begin
Chris Clarke
Walking with Zeke: the Luckiest of Dogs
Poets' Basement
Anderson, Lodge & Subiet
Website of
the Day
Deviant Art
March 14, 2008
Paul Craig
Roberts
Watching
the Dollar Die
Don Santina
Vichy
Democrats: Pelosi and the Politics of Collaboration
Patrick Cockburn
Iraqi
Mother Vows Revenge on US: How She Lost Her Husband and Her Sons
Tim Rinne
StratCom
Rules! The Next War Will Start in Nebraska
Robert Fantina
In
Torture We Trust
Saul Landau
Letter
to the Presidents-in-Waitings
David Macaray
Common
Myths About Labor Unions
Franklin Lamb
Is
the Bush Administration Switching Horses in Lebanon
Michael Neumann
The
One State Illusion: Reply to My Critics
March 13, 2008
Paul Craig
Roberts
Republicans
and "Free Market" Zealots Bring Disaster to America
Mike Whitney
Meltdown
Looms Larger As Credit Markets Freeze
Assaf Kfoury
"One-State
or Two State?"- Sterile Debate on False Alternatives
Andy Worthington
Afghan
Hero Who Died in Guantánamo: The Background to the Story
Adam Federman
From
Autopia to Autogeddon: Cars Reach the End of the Road
March 12, 2008
Dave Lindorff
Bringing
Down Spitzer: It's the Big Brother Who Should Bother US
R.F. Blader
The
Spitzer Backlash
Yonatan Mendel
How
to be an Israeli Journalist. Never Write "Murder" or
"Palestine"
Jonathan Cook
One
State or Two? Neither. The Issue is Zionism
Bill and Kathy
Christison
Fallon
and Gates -- At Least One Cheer
James J. Brittain
Was
the U.S. Involved in Killing the FARC-EP Leaders
Ron Jacobs
"All
the Money You Make Will Never Buy Back Your Soul"
March 11, 2008
Paul Craig
Roberts
How
to End the Subprime Crisis
Ed O'Loughlin
How
Israeli Troops Invade Homes in Gaza, Brutalize, Smash and Steal
Ramzy Baroud
'Unwavering
Commitment' to Inequality
Kathy Christison
One
State or Two? The Debate Over Israel and Palestine
China Hand
PRC
Plays it Cool, as U.S. Tries to Amp Up Pressure on Iran
John Joslin
Thank
You, Nafta! Welcome to Weirton, Home of the Discount Cigarette
Mike Averko
Serb
Politics, Kosovo and the Moscow-Washington Divide
Ben Rosenfeld
Gavin
Newsom's Kneejerk Plan
Thierry Paquot
High
Rise, Low Spirits:The Curse of the Tower Block
March 10, 2008
Uri Avnery
"Kill
A Hundred Turks and Rest": The Five-Day War in Gaza
Col. Dan Smith
Scoring
the "Surge" and What Lies Beyond
R.F. Blader
Why
"Lock Them Up and Throw Away the Key" is Losing its
Sheen
Michael Neumann
The
One-State Illusion: More is Less
Bob Fitrakis
and Harvey Wasserman
Did
the Republicans Give Hillary Her Victory in Ohio?
James J. Brittain
Anti-Uribe
Protests in Colombia and the World
Missy Comley
Beattie
The
Passion of John McCain
March 8-9,
2008 Weekend Edition
JoAnn Wypijewski
The
Only Way to Fight the Clintons
Mike Whitney
Sorting
Through the Rubble in Post Bubble America
Peter Morici
Fed
and Treasury Fiddle as Economy Plummets
Ralph Nader
The
Silent Violence of Gaza's Suffering that Candidates Ignore
Jonathan Cook
The
Meaning of Gaza's Shoah
Steve Niva
Behind
the Israeli Escalation in Gaza
Bill and Kathy
Christison
Crisis
over Teheran's Alleged Nuclear Plans Nearing Climax
Hervé
Do Alto and Franck Poupeau
Bolivia:
Morales is Checked
Eric Walberg
To
Leave and Stay at the Same Time: Putin to Medvedev to…?
Scott Johnson
City
of A Thousand Foreclosures
Mark Scaramella
James
Brown's Gate
Bill Clinton
President
Clinton's Remarks on Naming William M. Daley as NAFTA Task Force
Chairman
Poet's Basement
St.
Thomasino, Engel, Davies and Willson
Website of
the Weekend
Hillary
Blackens Barack
March 7, 2008
Patrick Cockburn
Why
Iraq Could Blow-Up in John McCain's Face
Robin Blackburn
Question
for Barrack Obama: Why Afghanistan is the'Right War'?
Saul Landau
The
Stupid Economy
Binoy Kampmark
When
Competition is Good: McCain and the Muddled Democrats
Chris Floyd
Crushing
the Ants: Admiral Fallon and His Empire
Andy Worthington
Spanish
Drop "Inhuman" Extradition Request for Guantánamo
Britons
Will Potter
Before
the Smoke Even Clears in Seattle: Bringing Out the T Word
March 6, 2008
March 6, 2008
Vincent Navarro
The
Next Failure of Health Reform
Forrest Hylton
High Stakes in the Andes: Colombia's Cornered President
Peter Morici
Why the Dollar is So Cheap
George Ciccariello-Maher
Counter-Attack of the Bureaucrats
John Ross
Taxi! Taxi! The Dark Side of the Oscars
Jacob Hornberger
No Standing to Lecture on Justice
Paul Watson
Illegal Japanese Whaling by the Numbers
Dan Bacher
Off the Deep End
Website of the Day
A Katrina Reader Online
March 5, 2008
Cockburn /
St. Clair
A
Great Day for John McCain (and Maybe Nader)
Joanne Mariner
After Guantanamo
Fidel Castro
The Raid on Ecuador: Underestimating Rafael Correa
Christopher
Brauchli
The Turkish Invasions
Steven Sherman
Obama and the Prospects for a Renewal of the Left
Dave Lindorff
Busting Bush & Co. in New England
James Murren
Bombing Somalia
Adam Engel
Necropolis Now
Website of Day
Remember Song
March 4, 2008
Wajahat Ali
Mumbo
Jumbo: Naming Names with Ishmael Reed
William Blum
How Could Hillary Have Known?
Bill Quigley
The Cleansing of New Orleans
Ralph Nader
The Prince Harry Solution
Patrick Irelan
Oil and Health in Venezuela
James J. Brittain
/
R. James Sacouman
Uribe's Colombia is Destabilizing a New Latin America
Norman Solomon
The War Election
Jacob Hornberger
Hillary in Waco: the Missing Apology
Andy Worthington
Guantánamo and the European Parliament
Mike Averko
Kosovo and the Press
Website of the Day
Tex-Mex Primary
March 3, 2008
Jennifer Loewenstein
Gazan Holocaust
Alan Farago
American Politics and the Faltering Economy
Richard Gott
Colombian Deaths in Ecuador
Wajahat Ali
Who Speaks for a Billion Muslims? Analyzing the World Gallup
Poll with John Esposito
Paul Craig Roberts
The Mukasey Conspiracy: a Bi-Partisan Attack on the Constitution
Robert Weissman
When Multinationals Say Adieu
Uri Avnery
Good Morning, Hamas
Martha Rosenberg
When Your Meat is a Downer
Eva Liddell
Leave the Next Dance for Bill
Michael Donnelly
Will Ferrell Does Flint
Website of the Day
Muddy Waters: Train Fare Home Blues
|
Apri1
3, 2008
Targeting Defense
Lawyers
Lynne
Stewart's Long Struggle for Justice
By STEPHEN LENDMAN
On April 9, 2002, Attorney General John
Ashcroft made a symbolic visit to "Ground Zero." While
in New York, he held a well-publicized press conference at the
US Attorney's Office and used the occasion for an indictment.
Four individuals were named on charges of conspiracy and materially
aiding a terrorist organization. One of them was long-time civil
rights lawyer Lynne Stewart. On the same day, FBI agents arrested
her at her home and illegally seized documents there and from
her office that are protected by attorney-client privilege.
In July 2003, Federal District
Court Judge John Koeltl (a 1994 Clinton appointee) dismissed
the original charges for being "unconstitutionally void
for vagueness" and because they "revealed a lack of
prosecutorial standards." Nonetheless, Stewart was symbolically
reindicted on November 22, 2003 (the 40th year anniversary of
John F. Kennedy's assassination) on five counts of aiding and
abetting a terrorist organization under the 1996 Antiterrorism
Act. Specific charges included:
* "conspiring to defraud
the United States;
* conspiring to provide and
conceal material support to terrorist activity;
* providing and concealing
material support to terrorist activity; and
* two counts of making false
statements."
Stewart was also accused of
violating US Bureau of Prisons-imposed Special Administrative
Measures (SAMS) that included a gag order on her client, Sheik
Abdel Rahman. These measures are imposed on some prisoners to
forbid discussion (even with an attorney) of topics DOJ claims
are outside the scope of their "legal representation."
It's all very vague, does more to harass and obstruct justice
than protect state secrets, yet Stewart was forced to accept
them to gain access to her client.
In her case, police state-type
attorney-client monitored conversations provided the basis for
her indictment. However, engaging in this practice stretches
the limit of the law, gives DOJ sole authority to decide how
far and for what purpose, and in this instance egregiously overstepped
it by charging defense counsel with aiding and abetting terrorism
for representing her client as required.
At former US Attorney General
Ramsey Clark's request, Stewart agreed to join him as a member
of Rahman's court-appointed defense team. He was convicted in
his 1995 show trial and is now serving a life sentence for "seditious
conspiracy" in connection with the 1993 World Trade Center
Center bombing despite evidence proving his innocence.
However, in what's now common
practice, the government's case related more to his affiliations
and anti-western views than specific evidence presented. Rahman
was connected to the Egyptian-based Al-Gamaa al-Islamiyya (Islamic
Group) - a 1997 State Department-designated "Foreign Terrorist
Organization (FTO). Ironically in the 1980s, he was handled much
differently as a "valuable (CIA) asset" for his influential
role in recruiting Mujahadeen fighters against the Soviets in
Afghanistan. It was no accident that he got a US visa, green
card and State Department-CIA protection for as long as he was
valued. When he wasn't, he became a target along with Lynne Stewart
who represented him at trial.
Stewart's charges were trumped
up, outrageous, and likely first time ever instance of a defense
attorney in a terrorism case facing terrorism-related counts
- for doing her job as the law requires and that renders attorney-client
confidentiality sacrosanct under our criminal justice system.
No matter, if convicted, she faced a possible 30 year sentence.
In America's "war on terrorism,"
her precedent-setting case is chilling, and president of the
Center for Constitutional Rights, Michael Ratner, explained it:
Its "purpose....was to send a message to lawyers who represent
alleged terrorists that it's dangerous to do so." It's also
an effort to exploit the current atmosphere, incite fear and
suspicions, stifle dissent, and make it just as risky for anyone
with openly critical views of government policies. In Police
State America, we're all Lynne Stewarts.
At the time of her indictment,
her attorney, Michael Tigar, explained what was at stake:
"This case (still ongoing)
is an attack on a gallant, charismatic and effective fighter
for justice (and has) at least three fundamental faults: (it)
attack(s) the First Amendment right of free speech, free press
and petition; (it) attack(s)....the right to effective assistance
of counsel ....chills the defense....(and) the 'evidence' in
this case was gathered by wholesale invasion of private conversations,
private attorney-client meetings, faxes, letters and e-mails.
I have never seen such an abuse of government power." In
America's "war on terrorism," many other defense attorneys
can cite similar instances of lawlessness and injustice today.
However, in targeting Stewart,
DOJ may have gotten more than it bargained for. Whatever the
outcome, her case shamed the government, gave her worldwide recognition,
made her a powerful symbolic figure, and elevated her to iconic
stature. For her honor, devotion to principles, and lifetime
of service to society's most abused, she deserves it and more.
Throughout her 30 year career,
she never shunned controversy or her choice of or duty to clients.
She represented the poor, the underprivileged and society's underdogs
and unwanted who never get due process unless they're lucky enough
to have an advocate like her. She knew the risks and understood
the state uses every underhanded trick possible to convict these
type defendants and overwhelm, outspend and/or discredit their
counsel doing it.
Nonetheless, she did what the
American Bar Association's Model Rules state all lawyers are
obligated to do: "devote professional time and resources
and use civic influence to ensure equal access to our system
of justice for all those who because of economic or social barriers
cannot afford or secure adequate legal counsel."
Defending Sheik Rahman was
especially risky, and Stewart knew it. His case was so high-profile,
it made her a target, and she remains one today. It was the beginning
of her long struggle (six years and running) that included a
battle against breast cancer that's now in remission.
Her trial played out in the
same Foley Square courtroom where Julius and Ethel Rosenberg
were unjustly framed, convicted and sentenced to death in April
1951 on charges of conspiracy to violate the Espionage Act. It
was an earlier time of hysteria when "communism" was
the "threat," national security again the issue, and,
in Stewart's case, she's the victim.
Her trial was a travesty and
gross miscarriage of justice with echoes of the worst type McCarthyist
tactics. Inflammatory terrorist images were displayed in court
to prejudice the jurors, and prosecutors vilified Stewart as
a traitor with "radical" political views. In fact,
she always embraced the rule of law with equity and justice for
everyone under it. Nonetheless, prosecutors falsely accused her
of saying violence may be justified to overthrow oppressive governments
and claimed she advocated regime change in Egypt under its president,
ruling despot, and close US ally Hosni Mubarak.
In addition, just days before
the verdict, the extremist pro-Israel Jewish Defense Organization
put up flyers near the courthouse displaying Stewart's home address,
threatened to "drive her out of her home and out of the
state," and said she "needs to be put out of business
legally and effectively." Prosecutors ignored it. It was
all part of a government-orchestrated scheme inside and outside
the courtroom to heighten fear, convict Stewart, and tell other
defense attorneys to expect the same treatment if they represent
"unpopular" clients.
It worked on the jury, and
on February 10, 2005 (after a seven month trial and 13 days of
deliberation) Stewart was convicted on all five counts. Key now
would be sentencing for a decisive DOJ victory. If gotten it
would seriously weaken First Amendment free expression rights
and Fourth Amendment protections against unreasonable searches
and seizures. It would also destroy fundamental ones under Section
1 of the Fourteenth Amendment that guarantees all US citizens
won't be deprived of their right of "life, liberty, or property,
without due process of law; nor deny to any person within its
jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws."
In addition, it would challenge
the landmark 1963 Supreme Court Gideon v. Wainwright decision
that affirmed defendants' Sixth Amendment rights "in all
criminal prosecutions (to) the right to a speedy and public trial,
by an impartial jury....to have compulsory process for obtaining
witnesses in his favor, and to have the Assistance of Counsel
for his defense."
October 17, 2006 was Stewart's
sentencing date. Prosecutors asked for 30 years and hoped getting
it would set a precedent. Instead, the same Judge Koeltl, who
dismissed Stewart's first indictment, again defied DOJ. He sentenced
Stewart to 28 months, let her remain free on bail pending appeal,
implied it might be overturned as a gross miscarriage of justice,
effectively rebuked the government, and handed them a major defeat.
The trial ended with Stewart
proud and vindicated. Next came her chance for a full exoneration
before the US Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit three judge
panel. Defense attorney Joshua Dratel represented her on January
29, 2008 in a packed courtroom of mostly Stewart supporters with
many others denied admittance for lack of space.
Dratel's job was to convince
the court that Stewart had First Amendment protected speech rights
to release her client's statement to his followers and other
interested parties. He also cited Judge Koeltl's unconstitutional
use of US Code Title 18, Part I, Chapter 113B, 2339 (a) relating
to "harboring or concealing terrorists" because he
"failed to abide by his promise to impose a specific intent
requirement" when he charged the jury.
In addition, Dratel argued
that evidence against Stewart amounted to no more than three
meetings with her client over a two year period. He further said
that she was charged for "isolated and sporadic conduct"
in an alleged plot where no "violent acts were planned or
occurred," and, in fact, there was no plot.
In response to one judge's
question about her allegedly saying Rahman withdrew his support
for a cease fire, Dratel stated the "cease fire was not
abrogated. It remained in effect." He insisted that Rahman
merely said it was time to "reevaluate" the cease fire
because of the Egyptian government's oppression and recalcitrance.
Dratel stressed that with no intent to "incite imminent
unlawful conduct or violence," the First Amendment protected
Stewart's statements.
So does the Supreme Court's
unanimous 1969 Brandenburg v. Ohio decision that overturned Ohio's
Criminal Syndicalism statute. The Court ruled that government
cannot constitutionally punish abstract advocacy of force or
law violation and only can do so in instances of directly inciting
"imminent lawless actions." Dratel referenced the "Brandenburg
standard" that's the law of the land and under which Stewart
was within her rights.
Assistant US attorney in the
Southern District Anthony Barkow, who was part of the prosecutorial
team, argued for the government before a potentially sympathetic
court. It's at a time two-thirds of all federal judges are from
or affiliated with the extremist Federalist Society. It advocates
rolling back civil liberties; ending New Deal social policies;
opposing reproductive choice, government regulations, labor rights
and environment protections; and subverting justice in defense
of privilege.
This is what Stewart is up
against as she awaits the decision that can go either way in
an age of police state justice. Under New York state law, she
was automatically disbarred, and the state Supreme Court's Appellate
Division denied her petition to resign voluntarily. Adding insult
to her unjust conviction, it ruled that "federal convictions
provide a proper predicate for automatic disbarment."
It was the fourth injustice
against a woman who spent a lifetime advocating for society's
most disadvantaged. It followed two falsified indictments, a
kangaroo court proceeding, and an unjustifiable conviction on
all counts. Combined they represent an outrageous miscarriage
of justice.
An appeals verdict is due any
time, and legions of Stewart supporters hope justice delayed
won't be denied to her. She deserves full exoneration, readmittance
to the state bar, and to be able again to represent society's
most unwanted who need her advocacy and remain hopeful. So does
everyone who respects the law at a time it's being desecrated.
Stephen Lendman lives in Chicago and can be reached
at lendmanstephen@sbcglobal.net.
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