Story Assignment: ACLU Tries to Take John Ashcroft to Court

From the CommonDreams.org Newswire:


FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
April 8, 2008
12:25 PM


CONTACT: ACLU
Maria Archuleta, ACLU, (212) 519-7808 or 549-2666;
media@aclu.org

ACLU Argues That Ashcroft Can Be Held Accountable for Wrongful Detention
Government Cannot Use Material Witness Statute to Detain People As Suspects, Says ACLU


SEATTLE - April 8 - The American Civil Liberties Union is arguing today in the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit that former Attorney General John Ashcroft can be held personally responsible for the wrongful detention of an innocent American, Abdullah al-Kidd. The ACLU is also arguing that the federal material witness law cannot be used to preventively detain or investigate suspects without sufficient evidence that they have actually committed crimes.

“Former Attorney General Ashcroft championed the use of the federal material witness law to circumvent the American traditions of fairness and due process,” said ACLU Immigrants’ Rights Project senior staff attorney Lee Gelernt. “He shouldn’t escape liability after personally creating and overseeing the policy of deliberately misusing the statute.”

Prior to 9/11, the federal material witness law was used sparingly - especially with U.S. citizens - to ensure that witnesses would be available to testify in criminal cases. Arrests, under the statute, took place in rare cases to secure testimony where there was hard evidence that an individual had material information but would not testify voluntarily. After 9/11, Ashcroft distorted the law into a preventative detention statute, allowing the government to arrest and detain individuals for whom the government lacked probable cause to charge with criminal violations.

The appellate court hearing in al-Kidd v. Ashcroft comes after a U.S. district court in 2006 found that the material witness law may only be used when an individual is genuinely sought as a witness and where there is a real risk of flight. The court also ruled that the law does not allow an end-run around the constitutional requirements for arresting someone suspected of a crime.

Former Attorney General John Ashcroft appealed the ruling and has asked for immunity from liability.

Al-Kidd is a U.S.-born American citizen who was unlawfully arrested and detained on March 16, 2003. Al-Kidd was on his way to Saudi Arabia to study when he was arrested in Washington’s Dulles Airport as a material witness in the trial of Sami Omar Al-Hussayen. For 16 days, al-Kidd was held in heightened-security units of various jails and shackled whenever moved. Eventually al-Kidd was released under onerous conditions that included confining his travel to four states, surrendering his passport and reporting to probation officers. He was held for more than 13 months under these conditions without ever being asked to testify or being charged with any crime.

At the time of his arrest, al-Kidd had already shown that he was not a flight risk and would cooperate as a witness. He had voluntarily met with the FBI repeatedly, never missing a scheduled appointment. For six months prior to his arrest, al- Kidd had not been contacted by the FBI, and he had never been told that he was prohibited from traveling abroad to pursue his studies.

The ACLU lawsuit names former Attorney General John Ashcroft, the United States, several federal agents and local officials in Virginia, Oklahoma and Idaho.

Organizations and individuals who have submitted friend-of-the-court briefs in the case include former federal prosecutors, former presidents of the American Bar Association, the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers and Human Rights Watch.

Attorneys on the case are Gelernt, Robin Goldfaden and Lucas Guttentag from the ACLU Immigrants’ Rights Project; Jack Van Valkenburgh from the ACLU of Idaho; Cynthia Woolley from the Law Offices of Cynthia J. Woolley, PLLC; R. Keith Roark from the Roark Law Firm, LLP; Kathleen Elliot from Hampton & Elliott; and Michael J. Wishnie from Yale Law School who is cooperating counsel for the ACLU.

Clinton Campaign Offers VIP Interviews

***MEDIA ADVISORY***

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
April 8, 2008

Contact: Cassie Trotter 202-797-9001
cassiet@qrsnews.com


Secretary Madeleine Albright and Mike McCurry
Available for Radio Interviews



Hillary Clinton Campaign Senior Advisors Madeleine Albright and Mike McCurry are available Wednesday for Radio Interviews. Both individuals will discuss their support for Hillary Clinton, the war in Iraq and the importance of making every vote count.



Availability

Madeleine Albright, Wednesday, April 9th: 7-8:15am EDT

Mike McCurry, Wednesday, April 9th: 8:00-9:00am EDT



Contact Cassie Trotter for available times and to schedule an interview:
(202) 797-9001

Junot Diaz Wins Pulitzer

One of the most wonderful novelists I've ever interviewed was named wiinner of the Pulitzer Prize for Literature yesterday. Juno Diaz is a native of the Dominican Republic while also being a native of New Jersey.

His book, The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao, tells the story of a geeky immigrant kid who loves to write and dreams of being the Dominican JRR Tolkien. I spoke with Junot last fall at the KBOO studios, one of those interviews with someone you had never heard of but after conducting a Google Five Point Search, you suddenly discover he's very, very famous among those who have heard of him.

Plus, wonderful, intelligent, sexy and political; my favorite part of the interview was his analysis on why more and more people should be encouraged to write fiction -- because, he said, where there are more writers, there are more readers. And in the US of A, fewer and fewer people read books.

Here's the interview.

IPA: Interviews Available on Muqtada al-Sadr

PM Tuesday, April 8, 2008

PATRICK COCKBURN, via Katie Monaghan, katherine.monaghan@simonandschuster.com
Currently in London, Cockburn is available for a limited number of
interviews. He is author of the just-published "Muqtada: Muqtada al-Sadr,
the Shia Revival, and the Struggle for Iraq." An excerpt from the book is
available at: .
Seymour Hersh has called Cockburn, who writes for the British paper
The Independent, "quite simply, the best Western journalist at work in Iraq
today." His previous books include "The Occupation: War, resistance and
daily life in Iraq."

Institute for Public Accuracy

Storytelling Grant: This Just in from Our Friends at Airwaves and Liberty

National Storytelling Network Invites Applications for Applied Storytelling Award

Posted: 07 Apr 2008 10:47 AM CDT

Deadline: May 2, 2008 (Preliminary proposals)

The National Storytelling Network ( http://www.storynet.org/ ) invites applications for the fifth annual Brimstone Award for Applied Storytelling.

The award focuses on the transformational properties of story-telling and aims to increase understanding of the ways story-telling can promote change in individuals and communities.

The award provides a grant of $5,000 for a project that will be completed in calendar year 2009. The grant will support a model storytelling project that is service-oriented, based in a community or organization, and to some extent replicable in other places and situations. Many different sorts of projects can be considered for the award, including community, organizational or institutional programs, curricular activities, short residencies, and projects combining complementary art forms.

Applicants who are not members of the National Storytelling Network must pay the current membership fee to become an NSN member.

Program information and an application form are available at the NSN Web site.

Oregon Public Broadcasting Hiring a Reporter

Reporter/Producer II Radio Department
Position: Full-Time, Non-exempt, Regular Status
Compensation: Salary, plus benefits package
Position Summary: Produce high quality, feature and spot news stories for OPB Radio, for a specific beat, within the newsroom. Consistently meet daily deadlines, as well as ethical, technical, legal and aesthetic standards.
Working Conditions: Work between the Portland office/studio and field as needed for newsgathering. In-state travel is common, but trips are often short; some out-of-state travel is required. Travel may include remote locations, working evening or weekends, and possibly working in inclement weather. Lifting and carrying equipment up to 25 lbs may be required, including some extended periods of standing and walking.
Required Qualifications:

* Bachelor's degree in Journalism or related field
* One year full-time professional experience as a news reporter or producer
* Demonstrated experience in use of digital audio recording and editing equipment and computer workstations

Preferred Qualifications:

* Radio news experience, preferably in a public broadcasting environment.
* Advanced skills in digital audio recording and editing
* Knowledge of Northwest region
* Outstanding writing, interviewing and on-air skills
* Ability to deliver reports and engage in conversation during live broadcasts
* Ability to work well with colleagues in collaborative newsroom environment
* Ability to follow multiple stories at once
* Ability to develop sources and follow beat area(s)
* Ability to contribute to shaping coverage of that beat within OPB's editorial structure
* Demonstrated ability and commitment to apply high ethical standards to reporting

To Apply: Please submit cover letter, resume, 2-3 audio samples of recently produced stories and salary history to: OPB HR, MS-WWW, 7140 SW Macadam Ave., Portland, OR 97219 or hr@opb.org
Application screening closes June 6, 2008, 5:00pm

Story Idea: Clinton and Obama Supporting Scaled-Down Occupation in Iraq

Institute for Public Accuracy
915 National Press Building, Washington, D.C. 20045
(202) 347-0020 * http://www.accuracy.org * ipa@accuracy.org
___________________________________________________

Monday, April 7, 2008



Interviews Available

JOSHUA HOLLAND, joshua.holland@alternet.org, http://www.alternet.org/waroniraq/81251
Holland just wrote the piece "Obama and Hillary Spin a 'Big Lie' About Iraq," which states: "On the campaign trail, the two candidates often speak of bringing the troops home and ending the war, and Democratic primary voters, 80 percent of whom want U.S. troops out of Iraq within 12 months, reward them with boisterous applause. ... Both Clinton and Obama have been very clear -- in the fine print -- about the fact that they will leave a significant number of 'residual forces' in Iraq, albeit with a more limited mission than the Bush administration has pursued."
Holland told the Institute for Public Accuracy today: "For example, Obama has played this trick of calling for the removal of all 'combat troops' in 16 months; what the campaign doesn't highlight is that it plans to leave 'non-combat troops,' but the idea of 'non-combat' troops in Iraq makes no sense. Also, the campaign is backing off of the 16 months pledge: 'Obama Advisor: 60,000 Troops Should Stay In Iraq Through 2010' ."

JEREMY SCAHILL, jeremy.scahill@gmail.com
Author of "Blackwater: The Rise of the World's Most Powerful Mercenary Army," Scahill said today: "All three of the major U.S. candidates for president have Iraq plans that would continue the occupation for the foreseeable future. McCain clearly would continue the Bush policy, but both Obama and Clinton have plans that would maintain some of the largest encampments of the occupation -- the Green Zone, the monstrous U.S. embassy, U.S. control of the Baghdad airport. Additionally, the Democratic candidates speak of maintaining a U.S. 'strike force' in Iraq and surrounding countries. In all, this could mean as many as 60,000-80,000 troops in Iraq for many years to come. On top of this, both Democrats have plans that would maintain a massive force of so-called 'private contractors' to support their Iraq policy. They are misleading their supporters when they passionately denounce the war and profess to support bringing it to an end. At best, what Obama or Clinton are offering is a scaled-down occupation -- but still a sizable one -- re-branded as a different mission.
"For the first time in 14 years, weapons manufacturers are donating more to Democrats than to Republicans. The Dems have received 52 percent of the military industry's political donations in this election cycle -- up from a low of 32 percent in 1996. There is a reason for this: it is good business policy." See: "Blackwater Seeps Into the Campaign" at .
"Meanwhile, the Bush administration has extended Blackwater's Iraq contract for yet another year. This is hardly a surprise and shows just how morally bankrupt the outsourcing of Washington's war -- and the de facto immunity offered to the shadow army -- has been from day one.
"Instead of holding this force accountable for its alleged crimes, the White House continues to reward Blackwater with lucrative contracts. The White House says Blackwater is necessary to protect U.S. officials. When will we hear any concern for the protection of Iraqi civilians who have consistently been wounded or killed by these forces over the past five years?" See: "Contract Justice: An Iraqi Translator Gets Prosecuted While Blackwater Gets Another Year in Iraq" at .