MAY DAY RALLY AND MARCH: Raise your voices for protection and improved status for nonresidents!

April 30, 2009

Leaders and members from the Human Dignity Movement, United Workers Movement, Coalition of United Workers, Dekada, United Filipino Organization, FILCOWA, and the Chinese, Bangladeshi, and Korean communities have united to support the MAY DAY RALLY AND MARCH.

The rally will take place at 6:00 pm Friday, May 1st at the Fishing Base across from the Kristo Rai Church. It will be followed by a march to the American Memorial Park. Worker leaders, community members and officials will be addressing the crowd at the rally.

By holding the rally on May Day, the guest workers, IRs, and their supporters will be as one with millions of people across the globe who will rally on May 1st for political and social justice. Their voices will be heard in Washington, DC ahead of the May 19th House Hearing. Their letters will be submitted as testimony with my written testimony. (Please write a letter if you haven't submitted one already. See this post for information on the letter writing campaign)

The objective of the rally and march is to call attention to the need for protection for non-residents during the transition period, and the need for a pathway for permanent status. Families must not be divided. Our U.S. citizen children must be protected. CNMI permanent residents need U.S. status. FSM IRs require protection. Long-term workers should be given a pathway to citizenship.

For more information on the rally and march please contact Rene, Itos, Ronnie, Rabby, Boni, Conrad, Khondaker, or Zhai.

“There may be times when we are powerless to prevent injustice, but there must never be a time when we fail to protest.” -Elie Wiesel

Rep. Sablan Calls Cruz on Misinformation

April 29, 2009

"Never under any condition should this nation look at an immigrant as primarily a labor unit. He should always be looked at primarily as a future citizen."
-Theodore Roosevelt, 1917

The minute that anyone supports the fundamental rights of IR's, guest workers, non-residents, or the US citizen children, TTT president Greg Cruz sends off nasty emails, and writes to federal officials and/or members of Congress. 

It appears that Cruz had a fit again because of the upcoming May Day Rally and March. He penned a senseless letter to House Natural Resources Committee Chair, Rep. Nick Rahall, which he included in an email to Rep. Tina Sablan.  His email to Rep. Sablan stated that Boni Sagana had "no respect for our constitutional laws and our homeland and our people."

In an email response to the attack on Boni Sagana and the May Day Rally Rep. Christina Sablan sent a reply asking Mr. Cruz to stop spreading misinformation.  She said:

Amnesty involves the government's pardon for violation of immigration laws and policies. As far as I know, no one is asking for amnesty.

The purpose of the May Day gathering is to call for the protection of long-term workers, IRs, CNMI permanent residents, and their families during the transition period, and improved immigration status in the long run. The right authorities to appeal to would be the federal authorities, including Congress.

What exactly is so wrong or disrespectful about families wanting to stay together, and wanting a stable presence in the community in which they have lived and worked for so many years? What is wrong with me, or any other local citizen, supporting their efforts?

Wouldn't you do the same for your own family? Wouldn't you least ask? Believe me, Greg, I would support you too.

Freedom of speech, freedom of assembly, and freedom of petition are in fact constitutional rights. No one is trying to take away your rights, or the rights of anyone else.

The gathering on May 1 will be peaceful, as all such gatherings have been. There is nothing unconstitutional or illegal about it. You don't have to like it or agree with it, you don't have to attend, but at the very least you can make an effort not to spread misinformation about its purpose, and you can also at least try to understand the perspectives of the people you are attacking

Here is a  copy of a letter Cruz sent to Rep. Nick Rahall: 

April 28, 2009

To: Honorable Nick J. Rahall
Chairman Natural Resources

re: AMNESTY vs ADMINISTRATIVE PROCESS

Mr. Chairman,

We support anyone who exercises their freedom of Religion, Speech, Press and Assembly, but we do not support anyone who tries to circumvent, and manipulate Federal Immigration Laws in hopes of an AMNESTY, at a time so critical such as National Security and Border Control surrounding the Northern Mariana Islands. Again, today self-proclaimed Human Rights Activists are preparing a May Day March, calling for an improved Immigration Status.

Mr. Chairman, this is the same group who hailed VICTORY when Public Law 110-229 passed and also the same group who complained of Human Labor abuses, Human Torture, Human Smuggling, and Human Exploitations, and is the same group originating from countries that Department of Homeland Security excluded from the VISA-WAIVER entry into the Commonwealth.

The intent and purpose of the first Federalization Bill introduced by former Chairwoman of Subcommittee on Insular Affairs the Honorable Donna Christensen who introduced H.R. 3079, now U.S. Public 110-229 specifically addressed National Security and Border Control matters with the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands which in our view and opinion is an IMPROVEMENT to ones Immigration status here our homeland to include a New and improved and Immigration and Labor System. We firmly believe that U.S. Public Law 110-229 had addressed decades of Immigration and Labor abuse issues and it is time that we all move forward to a better and stringent Border control of our homeland, the Northern Mariana Islands, for the betterment of our people and our community as whole.

We disagree on the many Self-proclaimed Human Rights Activists who continued to mislead non-resident foreign guest workers in hopes of garnering "AMNESTY" towards Permanent Residency and Green Cards across the board. Anyone who has lived legally in our homeland should be able to go through the administrative process of a Federal Immigration and Labor system in obtaining such status requests. Mr. Chairman, we are in Political Union with the United States and our Covenant Agreement states clearly that our Government and the United States must consult one another before any further changes are to be made affecting the general well-being of the indigenous local U.S. Citizens and the future generations of our homeland.

Therefore we seek your attention on the following Public Statements below for further clarifications on the matter of AMNESTY vs ADMINISTRATIVE PROCESS.

Statements from the Department of Homeland Security and USCIS here in our homeland addressing concerns of to the same group now calling for another "IMPROVED Immigration status and a MAY DAY March. These groups and self-proclaimed Human Rights Activists are fully aware of how the Federal Immigration and Labor Control would apply, but they chose to ignore the Reality of it all.

Part One:

PUBLIC STATEMENTS by DHS and USCIS
On March 11, 2009 The regional media manager for the Department of Homeland Security, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, and Mr. Michael Aytes, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services acting deputy director, Answered Questions separating facts from fiction relating to the federalization of CNMI Immigration.
Q: Would foreign parents with U.S. citizen children be given humanitarian considerations and granted a status to remain here?

Aytes: We'll be looking at that on a case-by-case basis. We can't grant them permanent residence. U.S. Immigration law doesn't provide for that but we'll be looking at the age of their children, their circumstances, and [determine] the right answer for each person.

Q: Immediate relatives, IRs, believe that they will be granted a better immigration status come June 1, considering that they are either married or related to a U.S. citizen, a permanent resident, or a resident of Freely Associated States. Is this correct?

Sebrechts: No. This covers too many different situations. If someone is already eligible for U.S. immigration status due to marriage with a U.S. citizen, they can already begin the application process so that they have their status once the federalization of immigration begins.That will be the same option available to them once the transition period begins. There seems to be misconception that people think that whenever transition begins, everybody will lose their status and that's not true. People will maintain the status that they have as they transition into a U.S. citizen status.

Q: A group of people has been asking for the waiver of green card fees for immediate relatives of U.S. and Freely Associated States citizens. Will you grant their request?

Aytes: We are a fee-based agency. .There are certain types of applications where we will allow the fee waived. The customer can come in, based on their circumstances, and ask that we waive the fee. We will know the facts and decide whether or not to waive the fee. As an agency, we probably don't collect the fees or waive the fees for about 20 percent of our [services]. Where we can, we try to be as flexible and understanding as we can. Decision will be made on a case-by-case basis, not based on a certain class or group of people.

Q: Do you have separate status for IRs?

Sebrechts: No. We won't have IRs as a separate status. Immediate relatives in the United States are petitioned only by immigrants.

Part Two:

PUBLIC STATEMENTS by House Natural Committee Chairman Nick J. Rahall (D - WV) and Subcommittee on Insular Affairs Chairwoman Donna Christensen.

May 8, 2008

Washington, D.C. - House Natural Resources Committee Chairman Nick J. Rahall (D-WV) and Subcommittee on Insular Affairs Chairwoman Donna M. Christensen (D-VI) released the following statements commemorating the President's signing into law earlier today of the Consolidated Natural Resources At of 2008 (S. 2739), which contains provisions that will extend U.S. immigration laws to the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands (CNMI) and authorize a CNMI non-voting delegate to the U.S. House of Representatives:

"Enactment of this bill ushers in a new era for the people of the CNMI - one that promises closer cooperation and greater consultation among the territory, the Federal government, and the U.S. Congress. This long-awaited victory is a critical step toward preventing a recurrence of the horrible abuses that pervaded the CNMI as a result of an unchecked and ruthless garment industry. As Chairman of the House Natural Resources Committee, I look forward to welcoming a CNMI Delegate to this body in the 111th Congress," Rahall said.

"Today is a historic victory for the many people of the CNMI who have been frustrated by the lack of representation in the U.S. Congress and the poor management of local immigration policy. Finally, with the signing of this bill into law, every United States citizen, from the Virgin Islands to the Mariana Islands, will have a voice in Congress. The actions taken by the New Democratic Congress to pass this legislation serve to set the CNMI and the entire Marianas region on a new course of security and prosperity," Christensen said.

(End of Cruz Letter)

_______________________
Cruz says, "Again, today self-proclaimed Human Rights Activists are preparing a May Day March, calling for an improved Immigration Status." 

What's his problem? People who pay taxes, who contributed to and built the community that Cruz lives in, are going to exercise their constitutional rights in a peaceful march and rally. Cruz supports freedom of speech as long as those talking are expressing what he wants to hear.

What audacity to write to attempt to tell Rep. Rahall what is in his own bill. In his email to Rep. Sablan Cruz said, "This letter was spread all over the halls of U.S. Congress and to everyone concerned." How embarrassing.

The Marianas Variety reported:

He said it is the May 1 rally organizers who are misinforming “innocent nonresident guest workers with the promise of permanent residency and green cards across the board if they all joined…marches, candle vigils, flower and signature drives.”

No one is promising anything.   But there is an immediate need to address the regulations for the transitional guest worker now.  It is also time to remind those in Washington that questions regarding the nonresidents' status should be addressed. If the Obama Administration is considering granting a pathway to citizenship for illegal aliens in the mainland, surely the long-term legal aliens in the CNMI will be granted the same.  All of the non-residents have the right to ask to upgrade their status, to protect the unity of their families, and to ensure security and stability in their lives. Many of the long term guest workers and non-residents have lived in the CNMI longer than they have lived in their own countries.

Here is a comment from the Marianas Variety article that expresses what many of us feel:

One of the most dramatic aspects of slavery depicted in Harriet Beecher Stowe's anti-slavery book, "Uncle Tom's Cabin", is the breaking up of families when kids are sold off in auction to other plantation owners. Though under admittedly different circumstances, the same situation will happen to families of foreign workers with mixed citizenship. One can argue that kids can always go back to their parent's native country but it is not that simple. Kids who grew up here are rooted here: they can recite the names of US presidents from George Washington to Obama but won't have a clue as to who is Jose Rizal, Manuel Quezon, Sun Yat Sen, or Mahatma Gandhi. Disruption in the kids' life will simply be too high.

It is not a crime to aspire to improve own's lot and having children, regardless of where domiciled, is not a sin. Hope the locals would not attempt further to
prevent the feds from providing improved status to the foreign work...

MAY DAY RALLY AND MARCH

May 1st, 6:00 p.m.

Fishing Base across from the Kristo Rai Church

MAY DAY RALLY AND MARCH: Show your support!

April 28, 2009

Leaders and members from Dekada, Human Dignity Movement, United Workers Movement, Coalition of United Workers, United Filipino Organization, FILCOWA, and the Chinese, Bangladeshi, and Korean communities have united to support the MAY DAY RALLY AND MARCH.

The rally will take place at 6:00 pm Friday, May 1st at the Fishing Base across from the Kristo Rai Church. It will be followed by a march to the American Memorial Park.  Worker leaders, community members and officials will be addressing the crowd at the rally.

By holding the rally on May Day, the guest workers, IRs, and their supporters will be as one with millions of people across the globe who will rally on May 1st for political and social justice. Their voices will be heard in Washington, DC ahead of the May 19th House Hearing. Their letters will be submitted as testimony with my written testimony. (Please write a letter if you haven't submitted one already. See this post for information on the letter writing campaign)

The objective of the rally and march is to call attention to the need for protection for non-residents during the transition period, and the need for a pathway for permanent status. Families must not be divided. Our U.S. citizen children must be protected. CNMI permanent residents need U.S. status. FSM IRs require protection. Long-term workers should be given a pathway to citizenship.

Today the Marianas Variety featured an interview with Dekada leader, Boni Sagana. He echoed some of the same points that I have been making to federal officials since last year. The guest workers should have a place at the table and input on the regulations and policies for the federal guest worker program to ensure that it reflects democratic and just principles. From the article:

He said workers now need to take a more active role.

“We cannot simply wait to see what gets put in the regulations. We may wait forever and then not like whatever happens to us.”

Sagana also questioned provisions of the law that calls for consultation with the CNMI governor.

“Why only the governor, and why only consultation?” he asked.

Foreign workers have no say in who is elected governor of the CNMI and federal law prohibits aliens from advancing their views by making donations to political campaigns, he said.

...Sagana is calling on all workers in the commonwealth to unite and join the May 1 rally.

The business community and the general public should also join this effort because they have common interests and the economic future of the CNMI depends on capitalizing on those common interests, he said.

From yesterday's Saipan Tribune:

“Families must not be divided, and our U.S. citizen children must be protected,” said United Workers Movement-NMI president Rabby Syed in a statement.

Friday's May Day Rally, led by the United Workers Movement-NMI, will start 6pm at the Garapan Fishing Base, to be followed by a march to the American Memorial Park.

Syed yesterday said the confirmed guests, who will speak at the American Memorial Park, are Rep. Tina Sablan, Ed Propst, Ron Hodges, Atty. Steve Woodruff, and Simon Sin.

“Anyone who supports human dignity and justice can show their support by joining the march,” said Doromal in a statement yesterday. “I am extremely happy that all of the groups are coming together with one voice.”

Ronnie Doca, board chair of the United Workers Movement-NMI, said a special message from Doromal will be read during the rally and KN Mikel of the Pentecostal Missionary Church of Christ (4th Watch) will lead a prayer before the march to American Memorial Park on Friday.

“Our reason to have this rally is not to bring harm or to step into anyone's toes. We just want to express our rights to voice our concerns to the feds. We came to this island legally and we are paying taxes. For so many years that we have been here, we contributed a lot to the community, like cleanup drives in the beaches and parks,” he said.

From the Marianas Variety:

Yesterday, the Coalition of United Workers, NMI headed by Rene Reyes announced that it will participate in the rally.

Reyes said their group will also have a gathering on Sunday, a barbeque potluck at the 13 Fishermen Pavilion from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m.

Rene told me that people attending the gathering will also be writing letters for the upcoming May 19th hearing.

For more information on the rally and march please contact Itos, Rene, Rabby,  Boni, Conrad, Ronnie, Khondaker, or Zhai.

“There may be times when we are powerless to prevent injustice, but there must never be a time when we fail to protest.” -Elie Wiesel

Specter Jumps Ship!

April 28, 2009

Senator Arlen Specter (D-PA) announced his switch from the Republican Party to the Democratic Party today. With Al Franken (D-MN) winning the Minnesota election (even though poor loser Coleman is appealing), the Democrats are almost certain to reach the magic number of 60 to have the filibuster-proof majority in the Senate.

Senator Specter has been a Republican since 1966. Specter issued a statement to announce the change. From the statement:

Since my election in 1980, as part of the Reagan Big Tent, the Republican Party has moved far to the right. Last year, more than 200,000 Republicans in Pennsylvania changed their registration to become Democrats. I now find my political philosophy more in line with Democrats than Republicans.

When I supported the stimulus package, I knew that it would not be popular with the Republican Party. But, I saw the stimulus as necessary to lessen the risk of a far more serious recession than we are now experiencing.

Since then, I have traveled the State, talked to Republican leaders and office-holders and my supporters and I have carefully examined public opinion. It has become clear to me that the stimulus vote caused a schism which makes our differences irreconcilable. On this state of the record, I am unwilling to have my twenty-nine year Senate record judged by the Pennsylvania Republican primary electorate. I have not represented the Republican Party. I have represented the people of Pennsylvania.

I have decided to run for re-election in 2010 in the Democratic primary.

I am ready, willing and anxious to take on all comers and have my candidacy for re-election determined in a general election.

I deeply regret that I will be disappointing many friends and supporters. I can understand their disappointment. I am also disappointed that so many in the Party I have worked for for more than four decades do not want me to be their candidate. It is very painful on both sides. I thank specially Senators McConnell and Cornyn for their forbearance.
...
My change in party affiliation does not mean that I will be a party-line voter any more for the Democrats that I have been for the Republicans. Unlike Senator Jeffords’ switch which changed party control, I will not be an automatic 60th vote for cloture. For example, my position on Employees Free Choice (Card Check) will not change.

Whatever my party affiliation, I will continue to be guided by President Kennedy’s statement that sometimes Party asks too much. When it does, I will continue my independent voting and follow my conscience on what I think is best for Pennsylvania and America.

Senator Olympia Snowe (R-ME) called the move devastating to the Republican Party. From the Huffington Post:

Specter's switch to the Democratic Party "underscores the blunt reality" that the GOP is not a welcome place for moderates, she said.

So far, she said, she's staying put. "I believe in the traditional tenets of the Republican Party: strong national defense, fiscal responsibility, individual opportunity. I haven't abandoned those principles that have been the essence of the Republican Party. I think the Republican Party has abandoned those principles.

From Talking Points Memo:

Specter called the White House on Tuesday to notify Obama of his decision to switch. The president called back moments later, according to spokesman Robert Gibbs, to say the Democratic Party was "thrilled to have you."

Playboy article on endless sex in Saipan

Picture from Playboy

April 28, 2009

Haidee Eugenio from the Saipan Tribune brought to light an article from Playboy magazine entitled "Paradise Lost" written by author John Bowe.

I always thought of the Pacific Islands Club as a family-fun-water park kind of place. This article sure painted a different picture. From Playboy:

On landscaped grounds of bougainvillea and plumeria, with some 300 guest bedrooms, the Pacific Islands Club hotel runs a water park with swimming pools, tennis courts, an archery range, a miniature golf course, a volleyball court, a beach and three restaurants. PIC, as it is known, employs the usual assortment of clerks, waiters, janitors and housecleaning staff. But it also offers something more: a group of young people hired for their enthusiasm, outgoingness and warmth. They’re called Clubmates.

Clubmates aren’t hired specifically to have sex with the guests, but when you meet them, you may wonder if that’s the case. Their looks aren’t always perfect—some are almost cartoons of surfer dudes, but others are just wholesome-looking and healthy. Certainly, the management doesn’t instruct them to do anything other than help guests enjoy themselves.

Ask a Clubmate how often he could hook up if he wanted to, and he’ll say every night of the week. As one Clubmate, Fish, explains, “Part of your job is to make sure the guests have a good time.” With a laugh, he says, “I mean, if they go home with a smile on their face because they had sex with you.…" Another Clubmate, Jim, adds, “Our whole job here is to help people have a good time. Sometimes it’s a family that needs help. Sometimes it’s a young girl that needs help.” Mack says, “Asian women prefer us because we have blue eyes or blonde hair or different builds.” Since he prefers Asians in the first place, what the hell? “Everybody wins,” he says.

The Tribune quotes Kieran Daly, general manager of PIC:

“I would say 25 percent of the story is true and the rest is fictional. Clubmates help guests have a good time and enjoy their stay.It (story) is more fiction than fact,” Daly told Saipan Tribune over the phone when asked for comment.

The Playboy article makes it pretty clear that the clubmates are generally guys out for adventure and fun, which is why they accepted the low-paying positions in the first place.  What better place to have fun than on a beautiful tropical island with "a constant banquet of offerings", as Bowe puts it.

Bowe takes the reader from the PIC to the night scene of Saipan, describing action in the sleazy clubs like he did in his book, Nobodies. Chicago Club, Hard Rock, Godfather's, Johnny's and the Flair Bar. There is a strong undercurrent of disrespect for women in his writing. He writes in a demeaning way about women referring to them as body parts, and objects of fun and pleasure.  Or is he trying to say that this is the way that the clubmates view women? The lines are blurred both in the Playboy article and in his book.

Bowe describes one clubmate who cheats on his girlfriend, hops from bar to bar, bed to bed, and finally falls in love with a local anchorwoman that he wants to pursue. 

"Paradise Lost" is rather a sad story about some wayward males who appear to have a struggle between remaining Peter Pan or growing up. It suggests that if you are a lost or restless male seeking endless sex and fun, go to Saipan. 

What impact, if any, will the article have on CNMI tourism? Will an endless flow of sex-starved men book flights?  Will the  PIC be flooded with piles of applications from lonely guys wanting to be clubmates? Will families think twice about booking a stay at the PIC or traveling to Saipan?

Eloy Inos Governor's Pick for Lt. Governor

Governor Fitial and Finance Secretary Eloy Inos

Photo from Marianas Variety

April 27, 2009

Fitial has picked Finance Secretary Eloy Inos to replace convicted felon, former Lt. Governor Timothy Villagomez, who resigned from office over the weekend. The Senate has to approve his appointment.

Inos was a predictable pick. He is already a cabinet member serving as Secretary of Finance and Fitial picked him as his running mate for re-election.

Governor Fitial surrounds himself with people who have former garment industry ties.  Some people joke that Saipan should be renamed SaiTan. Indeed, within the Fitial Administration former and present Tan employees have prominent positions.  Eloy Inos, like the governor, was the former vice-president of Tan Holdings. Like Fitial, he figures prominently in the Abramoff billing records.  Inos, Fitial, and Willie Tan, were all recipients of Abramoff's infamous "secret memo" that outlined how to defeat federalization and take some federal officials down as well. They were and are the core anti-federalization fighters.

Lynn Knight took a leave from Tan Holdings this year to act as Fitial's "volunteer" lobbyist in Washington, DC.  (She still has not registered as a lobbyist.)  Knight also is the chair of  HAMNI (Hotel Association of the Northern Mariana Islands),  Jerry Tan serves as the chair of the board of directors of the Marianas Visitors Authority and is a member of the governor's Tourism Task Force. 

Fitial appointed Richard Pierce to serve as his special assistant for trade relations and economic affairs and appointed him to the Commission on Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands Comprehensive Economic Development Strategy. Pierce served as president of the Saipan Garment Manufacturing Association and executive director and founder of the Western Pacific Economic Council the organization that hired Abramoff to lobby against federalization when the CNMI government ran out of funds.

Eloy Inos, like Fitial, Tan, and others connected to the CNMI garment industry, donated thousands of dollars to support campaigns of Abramoff-backed candidates like former Montana Senator Conrad Burns (R-Mont.) In fact, the $5,000 campaign contribution Eloy Inos made to Burns was featured in headline stories in several mainland publications and on well-known blogs. From the The Missoulian:

U.S. Sen. Conrad Burns, R-Mont., met with a Marianas official who had close ties to disgraced lobbyist Jack Abramoff in the weeks before Burns received an Abramoff-related $5,000 contribution from the Marianas and reversed his earlier position on a bill about the islands.

Burns voted against a bill in May 2001 that would have strengthened U.S. oversight over the commonwealth's labor and immigration laws. A little more than a year before Burns had not opposed an identical measure.

Burns has said the $5,000 donation from an Abramoff client had nothing to do with his 2001 change in stance on the bill. Rather, the senator told Lee Newspapers this month he was persuaded to vote against the measure after reading two government reports about the islands and meeting with Fitial, who was then speaker of the Marianas House of Representatives.

Initially, Burns said he didn't know why he changed his position on the bill.

Burns' records show the senator met with Fitial for 15 minutes on the afternoon of April 3, 2001.

Campaign finance records and reports in Pacific Magazine show Fitial is a former executive of Tan Holdings. Eloy Inos, another Tan Holdings executive, donated $5,000 to Burns' Friends of the Big Sky on April 20, 2001, a little more than two weeks after Fitial's meeting with the senator.

Inos worked on Fitial's transition team last December, shortly after Fitial won the islands' governor seat, Pacific Magazine reports.

Inos' check was among $12,000 Burns collected from Abramoff, his clients and associates in the weeks before the vote.

Tan Holdings, the largest employer on the islands, according to the company's Web site, is a member of the Saipan Garment Manufacturers Association.

Records show the garment association hired Abramoff in 2001 to defeat laws that would put greater federal oversight over labor and immigration on the islands, and paid him $460,000.

The Los Angeles Times and Pacific Magazine have both reported that Fitial won his bid for speaker of the Marianas House through the actions of Abramoff's lobbying partner, Michael Scanlon.

Scanlon has since pleaded guilty to bribery and other crimes.

Records show the commonwealth government, at Fitial's urging, hired Abramoff in 2001 and paid him $1.1 million to defeat the kind of bill Burns voted against.

Burns lost his Senate seat in 2006, partly because of the exposure of his Abramoff-CNMI connections.  Besides the CNMI government-garment connections to Burns there are many others including those to former Rep. Tom Delay, (R-TX), former Rep. Bob Schaffer, (R-CO), Rep. Dana Rohrabacher (R-CA), Sen. Rick Santorum (R-PA), former Rep John Doolittle, (R-CA), Rep. Don Young (R-Alaska), and other CNMI junket-takers who were Abramoff foot soldiers. 

The CNMI government-garment-Abramoff ties reach far back in time -as far back as the 1996. Jack Abramoff, his loyal members of Congress, CNMI officials, right-wing think tank representatives, and garment magnates did not just connect in Washington and in the CNMI. The 1996 Republican Convention held in San Diego, California from August 12th to the 15th was another gathering place where friendships would be forged and seeds would be sown. 

Abramoff hosted Saipan garment magnate Willie Tan, his company executive, Benigno Fitial (former speaker of the CNMI House and present governor), and another Tan executive, Eloy Inos (current Secretary of Finance) at the convention. Willie Tan, owner of Tan Holdings also was an Abramoff client, and he was a labor violator. He was charged with the largest labor settlement with the U.S. Dept. of Labor in U.S. history, paying $9 million in back wages to cheated workers. He also paid $76,000 in OSHA violations and pledged $1.3 million in factory renovations. Over the years many more labor cases would be filed against the company, including a case filed September 2008 against Tan Holdings by the EEOC.

It appears that the three CNMI visitors had a busy schedule at the GOP convention. Abramoff billed the CNMI for five days of meetings, meals, introductions to conservative members of Congress, and parties. Strategies were developed including plans to recruit still more potential CNMI-backers for junkets to the CNMI. From the billing records:

8/10/96 PP [Patrick Pizella] 2.70 Dinner meeting with W. Tan, E. Inos and B. Fitial re: CNMI issues—minimum wage , immigration and upcoming congressional elections and CNMI legislation; discussion re: upcoming trips of journalists and think tank representatives to CNMI and visits to Tan Holdings factory.

8/11/96 PP [Patrick Pizella] 4:30 Participate in event sponsored by Sen. Santorum's “FIGHT PAC” with W. Tan, E. Inos, B. Fitial and Senator Jim Jeffords (R-VT); follow-up luncheon/discussion with staff director of Senate Energy committee- G. Renkes; introduction of B. Fitial to Cong. Dan Burton (R-IN).

8/13/96 JA [Jack Abramoff] 4.00 Meetings at the Republican National Convention regarding Congressional Conservative Movement and Republican Party support for CNMI

8/13/96 JB [ Jonathan Blank ] 8:00 Meet with Saipan officials.

8/14/96 JA [Jack Abramoff] 4.00 Meetings at the Republican National Convention regarding Congressional Conservative Movement and Republican party support for CNMI

8/14/96 JA [Jack Abramoff] 8:00 Meet with Saipan officials.

8/15/96 JB [ Jonathan Blank ] 8:00 Meet with Saipan officials.

The CNMI government was billed a total of 39 hours for those meetings.  

Corrected from an earlier version:

The Saipan Tribune quotes Senate President Pete Reyes speaking on the governor's pick:

Asked why he supports the Finance Secretary to fill the position of lieutenant governor, Reyes said:

“Eloy is a jack of all trades. Eloy is a person that repairs any damages. He's the person that fixes everything that goes wrong.

Also, Reyes said, Inos is running as lieutenant governor with Fitial in November's election. By confirming Inos, the Senate is showing its respect that he is the natural choice for the appointment.

In his appointment letter, Fitial said:

“I am confident that Mr. Inos, with his many years of service in the Commonwealth government, will be an asset to my administration and serve ably on behalf of the people of the Commonwealth,” the governor wrote. “I respectfully request your prompt and favorable action on this appointment.”

Open Government Act Request: The Privilege Log

April 26, 2009

I sincerely hope that Associate Judge Wiseman does the right thing and orders the release of the documents in the privilege log. 

From Assistant CNMI Attorney Huesman's Privilege Log:

As noted in the Defendants’ Motion to Withhold Documents, Representative Sablan’s requests would generate the production of the following types of public records:

(1) the Engagement letter or contract between the CNMI and Jenner & Block, LLP; (2) the current employment contract between the CNMI and Howard Willens;1 (3) ACH or other payment receipts regarding payments to Jenner & Block, LLP; (4) ACH or other transaction reports showing the internal transfer of funds from CNMI accounts; and (5) billing statements from Jenner & Block, LLP. 

At the hearing on Defendants’ Motion to Withhold Documents, Defendants’ offered to turn over two types of documents: (1) Mr. Willens’s current contract; and (2) documents indicating “All records identifying the department(s), agency(ies), and/or instrumentality(ies) of the CNMI government from which public funds have been reprogrammed to the Governor’s operating account #1011-6250.”

Defendants produced Mr. Willens’s current contract, but did not produce any records of transfers from other government agencies to any of the Governor’s accounts. In preparing the privilege log, Counsel for Defendants became aware of two documents that indicate internal Office of the Governor transfers that are not responsive to Plaintiff’s request. Out of an abundance of caution, Defendants chose to list these documents in the privilege log as numbers 24 & 25. Defendants do not believe these documents are responsive for two reasons.

First, document #24 indicates that money was transferred from one of the Governor’s account into the Governor’s Discretionary account. Document #25, however, indicates that the money was, in the same day, transferred back to the original account. Thus, the documents are not responsive because the original transfer was undone. The second reason the documents are not responsive is that the money was transferred from within the Office of the Governor. No other agencies were affected. In spite of this, Defendants have included the documents in the log for the Court’s review.

The remaining types of documents are all listed, in general form, on the attached Privilege Log. As explained previously, however, none of these documents are discoverable because these records are not relevant for evidence purposes.3 As they are not “available to another party under the rules of pretrial discovery[,]”4 by the plain language of 1 CMC § 9918(a)(8) they are exempted from disclosure under the Open Government Act. Despite Plaintiff’s protests, documents not likely to lead to the discovery of admissible evidence may still be relevant to a controversy in a broader sense.

The Commonwealth is only seeking the same protection from its adversaries as the federal courts in the District of Columbia provide for the litigants before them, the right to keep litigation budgets and expenses secret from the opposing party.

A few things struck me about the attached log.  It is extremely vague.  It lists lengthy billing invoices with no dates.  It references letters and memos between the Governor, the Bank of Guam, and A. Calvo. Who is A. Calvo? Someone at Finance? Title?

Number 23 on the log is called a "Supplier Payment Inquiry" and it is undated. I assume it is a note asking, "Where's our money?" from Jenner and Block.

There are no listings of correspondence between Jenner and Block and any CNMI officials. Absolutely no emails, no letters, no faxes. That is extremely unlikely.  Perhaps "volunteers" Siemer and Willens were corresponding with the firm, and it wasn't on the log because they are "volunteers" so everything they do is considered under the radar?

Another thing that stuck out to me is the fact that the governor retained the law firm of Jenner and Block on June 6, 2008. That means at $50,000 a month the bill is well over the $400,000 that the lawsuit was estimated to cost. Closer to $550,000. I wonder if Siemer and Willens receive any money from Jenner and Block. Of course, it wouldn't be called a fee, money, or compensation. Maybe it would be called a tip?

Considering what documents Rep. Sablan requested, this privilege log appears sparse. Here is what she asked for in her Open Government Act request sent to Finance Secretary Eloy Inos:

1. All records, including all contracts related to the lawsuit, including contracts executed between the CNMI government and Jenner & Block LLP, and any other private attorneys or law firms involved in the lawsuit;
2. All records detailing payments made on said contracts to date, including but not limited to payments made from the Governor's operating account #101 1-6250;
3. All records identifying the source(s) of funding on said contracts, whether private or public;
4. All records identifying the department(s), agency(ies), and/or instrumentality (ies) of the CNMI government from which public funds have been reprogrammed to the Governor's operating account #101 1-6250;
5. All documents subject to your control containing the words or phrases "Jenner" "Block" "Jenner & Block" "Jenner & Block LLP" "Jenner and Block LLP" "Jenner & Block, LLP" or "Jenner and Block, LLP".

Where are the log entries for the private funders that in June 2008 the governor claimed would fund the lawsuit? From the Marianas Variety:

THE “sympathizers” of the Fitial administration” in the private sector will finance the costs of suing the U.S. government over the federalization law, Variety was told yesterday.

Gov. Benigno R. Fitial, a former executive of Tan Holdings, left yesterday for the U.S. mainland and will be gone for 10 days.

He said the lawsuit will focus on the “economic injury” that the provisions of the federalization law, or U.S. P.L. 110-229, will inflict on the CNMI.

“I have now retained the firm of Jenner & Block to assist our government lawyers,” he said.

Then there was this from the Saipan Tribune:

The Fitial administration remains vague about the funding source for the lawsuit it is preparing to file against the U.S. government over the new immigration law.

Gov. Benigno R. Fitial has hired a U.S.-based law firm to review the draft complaint and recommend whether there is any legal barrier to the effort to sue the federal government.

Press secretary Charles P. Reyes Jr. said the legal review done by Jenner & Block is funded “by several individuals interested in a careful and professional independent assessment of the litigation alternative.”

Reyes ducked requests to name those individuals, and suggested that the law firm may be working without a formal contract. Asked whether the governor is helping to pay the law firm, Reyes replied, “I do not have a copy of any such contract, if there is one yet.”

However, he said that public funds will be used to pay for the lawsuit if the government files it.

“We are still in a very preliminary stage,” said Reyes. “If the governor decides to file a complaint after receiving the report from the outside lawyers, he will then be prepared to estimate the projected cost of the litigation through the preliminary injunction stage and seek the support of the Legislature.”

The Marianas Variety article was written on June 26, 2008 and the Saipan Tribune article was written June 27, 2008. Why wasn't the private sector funding logged?

No transfers were made to the governor's operational account? The governor has half a million dollars in his operational account?

Additional Comments

The privilege log shows 7 entries for billing invoices from 8/26/08 to 2/27/09.  I think it is odd that there is no billing entry for hours up until the last document was filed by Jenner and Block, which was April 7, 2009.  Additionally, there is no billing invoice for the fees for the court hearing on March 12, 2009.  The billing invoices total 45 pages. That equals a lot of money! 

Howard Willens: Dancing with Words; Deanne Siemer: Crossing Lines

April 26, 2009

Howard Willens receives no more than $48,000 annually in taxpayer money from the CNMI to perform duties as a "special legal counsel" and an assistant CNMI attorney dealing with public land issues. This is according to his contract with the CNMI government.

He has written a letter to the editor to clarify his contract that was recently released under the Open Government Act request of Rep. Tina Sablan. The letter was published in the Saipan Tribune:

No great mystery or conspiracy here

In response to recent publicity regarding my contract with the Commonwealth, I would like to emphasize the following:

1. I do not receive any compensation or salary for my professional services to the Commonwealth as Special Legal Counsel to the Governor. I submit no billing statements reflecting the hours that I work on identified Commonwealth matters. This is the same basis on which I worked for former Gov. Pedro P. Tenorio during 1998-99.

2. I do receive reimbursement for documented expenses that I incur on a monthly basis in my capacity as Special Counsel. There is a ceiling of $12,000 for each three-month period. Under the contract I can seek reimbursement for only one trip to and from the CNMI during the quarter (not to exceed $3,000), monthly car rental (not to exceed $1000), and no more than 60 days of $100 per diem during each quarter that I live in the Commonwealth.

3. In each of the three calendar years of 2006, 2007, and 2008, my total reimbursements for the year have been less than the authorized amount of $48,000 per year. I do not seek reimbursements for expenses incurred while I work for the CNMI in Washington, D.C. During the last two months of 2008 and the first two months of 2009, I was working for the Commonwealth in Washington on several important matters and received no compensation of any kind.

There is no great mystery or conspiracy here. My wife and I have a long-standing commitment to this Commonwealth. We have worked for more than 30 years with hundreds of Commonwealth officials and residents. We have many friends here, and are pleased to provide our services without any charge for legal fees. We are proud of our record of achievement in the Commonwealth, and anticipate that we will continue to enjoy our work with the people of this community in the years ahead.

Howard P. Willens
Via e-mail

Okay, it is not salary. It is not compensation. It is not legal fees. What is it? Reimbursement? Whatever it is called, Willens receives no more than $48,000 annually for his "services" to the governor and lieutenant governor. How can services be free and "without charge" if the CNMI is paying him from public coffers? Mr. Willens never did define what the $12,000 per quarter is called. He just dances with words. Whatever it is, he GETS MONEY for his services!

I am glad they are proud of their achievements. It's good to feel pride in your work. Please remind us, what was it you two did to help the Commonwealth? Help draft PL 15-108, draft the anti-federalization lawsuit that cost the CNMI (oops we don't know that, do we...), vilify the federal ombudsman, attack Representative Tina Sablan, ghost-write letters for the CNMI Department of Labor, promote the anti-federalization lawsuit with a slide show, help draft the Covenant that you defend as if it were your child?

I think the valuable contributions that they may have made were writing several books that I have been told were funded by the NMI Council for the Humanities under grants from the U.S. National Endowment for the Humanities. (This would mean that they were paid, compensated, or otherwise received money to write the books.) The books are An Honorable Accord: The Covenant between the Northern Mariana Islands and the United States, published in 2001; National Security and Self-Determination. U.S. Policy in Micronesia (1961-1972), published in 2001; and Oral Histories of the Northern Mariana Islands: Political Life and Developments, 1945-1995, published 2005; and From the White House, Documents on the Northern Mariana Islands and Micronesia (1945-1995).

The couple received $15, 949.00 for the last book. That year they also received $8,066.00 to copy federal documents digitize a large collection of federal documents relating to the political status negotiations between the U.S. government and the Marianas Political Status Commission in the early 1970s resulting in the Covenant. I am unsure of how much money they received for the other projects.

Receiving money implies you are not a "volunteer" or providing free services. There is nothing wrong with being compensated. What's wrong is pretending you are volunteering. Where are the ethics?

Haughty, smug, and arrogant. All words that people have used to describe Howard's partner and wife, Deanne. Yet, in 1994, Deanne Siemer and her firm, Pillsbury Madison & Sutro, were hit with a $500,000 legal malpractice judgment, finding that Pillsbury lawyers violated conflict-of-interest rules by siding against their own client, a lobbying firm.

From The Washington Post:

In a harshly worded opinion, Circuit Court Judge Jane Roush asserted that Siemer "willfully ignored" the D.C. Rules of Professional Conduct for lawyers, and that the law firm shared the blame for failing to heed the warnings of junior associates that the "dual representation ... was rife with conflicts of interest."

According to trial testimony, when internal tensions erupted at the lobbying firm of Murphy & Demory (a District firm that is incorporated in Virginia), Pillsbury lawyers assisted one partner, retired Adm. Daniel Murphy, in his plans to take control of the small corporation or divert its clients to a new firm, leaving Murphy & Demory to "wither." At the time, Pillsbury lawyers represented Murphy & Demory as a corporation, the judge ruled, and owed their allegiance to the entire firm, rather than to any individual officer.

The ruling came in a lawsuit filed by the lobbying firm and Willard L. Demory, the partner left behind when Murphy resigned to start a competing lobbying firm. In the midst of the feud between Demory and Murphy, Demory fired Pillsbury and hired John Dowd, of Akin, Gump, Strauss, Hauer & Feld. Demory's lobbying firm later sued Murphy for breach of contract and Pillsbury for malpractice. The judge also awarded Demory's firm $1 million on his claims against Murphy.

Siemer, with Pillsbury since 1990 and a onetime partner at Wilmer, Cutler & Pickering, also was haunted at trial by her own ethics expertise. She has written a book, "Understanding Modern Ethical Standards," for the National Institute on Trial Advocacy, a nonprofit group that teaches young lawyers how to try cases. Known nationally as a fierce litigator, Siemer is now the institute's chair-elect.

This was not Siemer's first brush with ethical problems. In 1980, she resigned as a top Energy Department aide after an internal investigation concluded that her efforts to get the Energy Department to hire her stepson "appear to violate the federal laws against nepotism."

Attempting to hire her stepson? It is rumored that another child works for Jenner and Block which was selected as the law firm to handle the anti-federalization lawsuit for an estimated $50,000 a month. (I said rumored because this has not been verified, and I have no idea if this is true.)

The malpractice case was so notorious that it was featured in a legal textbook, "Lawyers Crossing Lines, Nine Stories," by James L. Kelley. The book is an ethics/responsibility casebook. The chapter entitled, Breaking Up is Hard to Do features the case with Siemer outlined above, and oddly enough the chapter about Siemer's case is online. From a comment on Amzaon.com where the book is being sold:

It is too easy to think that falling foul of the Bar Disciplinary Committee is the privilege of the solo or small law firm. Kelley shows that even nationally renowned law firms can get themselves in a terrible mess when the partners' eyes are on profits rather than ethics.

Is it ethical to claim you earn no salary and no compensation when you have a contract that says you receive no more than $48,000 annually? I don't think so.

The Sand Painter Honored at the Flame Tree Arts Festival

Jun Toves creating a sand painting. Photo by W.L Doromal ©2007

April 26, 2009

I was so happy to see that the amazing work of my friend renown artist, Jun Toves, was honored at this year's Flame Tree Art Festival. Jun, passed away in February this year, but his legacy lives on.  His talented sons, Barry and Albert III are continuing his work through their own sand paintings.

From the Marianas Variety:

On Friday, during the opening of the 28th Flame Tree Arts Festival, Gov. Benigno R. Fitial recognized seven notable local artist, including Toves.

His family received a certificate lauding the master sand painter’s artistic achievements and for encouraging the preservation of the CNMI’s rich and varied heritage art.

Toves’s widow, Carmen, said she is thankful that the people continue to appreciate the work of her husband.

“My heart is in pain but I am happy our sons are continuing his work. I hope the people will always remember him,” said Carmen Toves, a well-known herbalist and advocate of traditional medicine on Rota.

Her sons, Albert S. Toves III and Barrie Toves, are also sand painters like their father.

Toves III and his son Albert Toves IV are scheduled to hold a sand painting and handicraft exhibit on Saipan next month.

Toves III said since high school he has been interested in the arts and was one of the CNMI’s representatives to a art fair in Japan in 1990.

“Like my father, I’m trying to keep our culture and tradition alive,” he told Variety.

His father’s paintings were on display during this year’s Flame Tree Arts Festival.

He said their family has no plan to sell these paintings which they want to display in their own gallery on Rota for tourists and local residents alike.

I am so lucky to have been given a beautiful sand painting by Jun, which is one of my most cherished, in a collection of original art from the Marianas. 

Here are some beautiful sand paintings by Jun (photos by W. L. Doromal © 2007-2008):

LT. GOVERNOR VILLAGOMEZ RESIGNS

April 26, 2009

 

Convicted felon, Lt. Governor Timothy Villagomez has resigned from office over the weekend. From the Saipan Tribune:

By resigning from office, Gov. Benigno R. Fitial said Villagomez made one of the most difficult decisions of his life.

“I recognize the enormous difficulties experienced by Lt. Governor Villagomez and his family at this time, and I admire the courage and fortitude displayed by Lt. Governor Villagomez in carrying out his last official act for the Commonwealth's benefit,” Fitial said in a statement released yesterday. 

“I understand Tim's decision. It is a decision he has made for his family-for his wife, six children, and grandchild-as well as for the people of the CNMI. I respect his decision and the efforts he will make to comfort his family, maintain his dignity, and restore a sense of normalcy to his life.”

Villagomez is the highest ever CNMI official to be convicted in a criminal case. He is the brother of Joaquina Santos, who is married to James Santos.

The administration is not prepared to announce an appointment to the position at this time, Charles Reyes, press secretary for the Governor's Office, said yesterday.

Under the CNMI constitution if a lieutenant governor leaves office a successor is appointed by the governor in consultation with the Senate. Even if Villagomez did not resign he would have been removed from office since no person convicted of a felony in the United States can hold the positions of governor or lieutenant governor.

The Marianas Variety also quoted Fitial :

“I am grateful for the service he has provided on the Water Task Force, the Coral Reef Task Force, and the CNMI’s Military Task Force,” the governor said.

“Most of all, I am grateful to Tim for the role he played when I underwent medical treatment during my first year in office as governor. Tim capably handled the affairs of government during my absence and served the commonwealth well during that time.”

Villagomez, 45, holds a civil engineering degree from the San Diego University and served as the Commonwealth Utilities Corp.’s executive director from 1994 to 2002.

The sentencing for Villagomez, his sister Joaquina Santos, and her husband James Santos has been set for July 28, 2009.  The three were convicted on four counts.  From the Tribune:

The maximum penalty for wire fraud is 20 years in prison, while the other counts range from five to 10 years.

Munson allowed the defendants to remain free pending their sentencing.

The Variety also quoted U.S. Attorney for Guam and the Northern Marianas Leonardo M. Rapadas:

Leonardo M. Rapadas told the Variety in a telephone interview that wire fraud carries a maximum penalty of 20 years in jail; conspiracy, five years; and theft of federal funds, 10 years.

Rapadas said the Villagomez case should send a strong message to public officials.

“This is an important step toward introducing accountability among public officials. They should keep their house clean. Keep the people’s trust because the consequences of not doing that are real.”

U.S. Assistant Attorney Eric O’Malley, who prosecuted the case, said they expect an appeal but firmly believe that justice will be upheld.

I doubt that Villagomez will be able to "maintain his dignity and and restore a sense of normalcy to his life" as the governor suggested.  There is nothing dignified in the acts of theft or conspiracy. Unless perhaps you are a pirate or crook with no conscience, you could not commit such an act and maintain any sense of dignity or pride. As far as restoring normalcy to his life, I doubt that contemplating years in prison or thinking about how his family will survive without his income, could be considered normal to anyone.   

Being publicly convicted of a felony is something that will always follow Villagomez.  He probably should have considered the impact that these crimes would have on his family before he committed the criminal acts, which truly were acts of greed.  I am sure most people feel sympathy for the innocent members of his family.

As far as a replacement, I think Eloy Inos who is running now on the Fitial ticket, will be appointed as the lieutenant governor. What do you think?

Op-Eds and Bloggers on Torture

Photo from Abu Gharib prison

April 26, 2009

Torture, an evil practice that should never be condoned or used as a method of interrogation by any civilized country, is on the lips of millions since the recent release of the torture memos. It is also the word flowing from the pens of editors, opinion writers, and bloggers across the land. I have compiled some of the most interesting thoughts on the issue.

One of the best opinions, published yesterday in the New York Times, is an editorial by Frank Rich entitled The Banality of Bush White House Evil. It's long, but worth the read. Some excerpts

On Tuesday, it will be five years since Americans first confronted the photographs from Abu Ghraib on “60 Minutes II.” Here, too, we want to cling to myths that quarantine the evil. If our country committed torture, surely it did so to prevent Armageddon, in a patriotic ticking-time-bomb scenario out of “24.” If anyone deserves blame, it was only those identified by President Bush as “a few American troops who dishonored our country and disregarded our values”: promiscuous, sinister-looking lowlifes like Lynddie England, Charles Graner and the other grunts who were held accountable while the top command got a pass.
...Perhaps some new facts may yet emerge if Dick Cheney succeeds in his unexpected and welcome crusade to declassify documents that he says will exonerate administration interrogation policies. Meanwhile, we do have evidence for an alternative explanation of what motivated Bybee to write his memo that August, thanks to the comprehensive Senate Armed Services Committee report on detainees released last week.

The report found that Maj. Paul Burney, a United States Army psychiatrist assigned to interrogations in Guantánamo Bay that summer of 2002, told Army investigators of another White House imperative: “A large part of the time we were focused on trying to establish a link between Al Qaeda and Iraq and we were not being successful.” As higher-ups got more “frustrated” at the inability to prove this connection, the major said, “there was more and more pressure to resort to measures” that might produce that intelligence.

In other words, the ticking time bomb was not another potential Qaeda attack on America but the Bush administration’s ticking timetable for selling a war in Iraq; it wanted to pressure Congress to pass a war resolution before the 2002 midterm elections. Bybee’s memo was written the week after the then-secret (and subsequently leaked) “Downing Street memo,” in which the head of British intelligence informed Tony Blair that the Bush White House was so determined to go to war in Iraq that “the intelligence and facts were being fixed around the policy.” A month after Bybee’s memo, on Sept. 8, 2002, Cheney would make his infamous appearance on “Meet the Press,” hyping both Saddam’s W.M.D.s and the “number of contacts over the years” between Al Qaeda and Iraq. If only 9/11 could somehow be pinned on Iraq, the case for war would be a slamdunk.

But there were no links between 9/11 and Iraq, and the White House knew it. Torture may have been the last hope for coercing such bogus “intelligence” from detainees who would be tempted to say anything to stop the waterboarding.

Last week Bush-Cheney defenders, true to form, dismissed the Senate Armed Services Committee report as “partisan.” But as the committee chairman, Carl Levin, told me, the report received unanimous support from its members — John McCain, Lindsey Graham and Joe Lieberman included.

Levin also emphasized the report’s accounts of military lawyers who dissented from White House doctrine — only to be disregarded. The Bush administration was “driven,” Levin said. By what? “They’d say it was to get more information. But they were desperate to find a link between Al Qaeda and Iraq.”

Five years after the Abu Ghraib revelations, we must acknowledge that our government methodically authorized torture and lied about it. But we also must contemplate the possibility that it did so not just out of a sincere, if criminally misguided, desire to “protect” us but also to promote an unnecessary and catastrophic war. Instead of saving us from “another 9/11,” torture was a tool in the campaign to falsify and exploit 9/11 so that fearful Americans would be bamboozled into a mission that had nothing to do with Al Qaeda. The lying about Iraq remains the original sin from which flows much of the Bush White House’s illegality.

Levin suggests — and I agree — that as additional fact-finding plays out, it’s time for the Justice Department to enlist a panel of two or three apolitical outsiders, perhaps retired federal judges, “to review the mass of material” we already have. The fundamental truth is there, as it long has been. The panel can recommend a legal path that will insure accountability for this wholesale betrayal of American values.

President Obama can talk all he wants about not looking back, but this grotesque past is bigger than even he is. It won’t vanish into a memory hole any more than Andersonville, World War II internment camps or My Lai. The White House, Congress and politicians of both parties should get out of the way. We don’t need another commission. We don’t need any Capitol Hill witch hunts. What we must have are fair trials that at long last uphold and reclaim our nation’s commitment to the rule of law.

Read the newly released 263-page Senate Report on Detainee Abuse for more insight on this black chapter in U.S. history.

On Michael Moore's web site I found this chilling ediorial, U.S. Soldier Who Killed Herself--After Refusing to Take Part in Torture by editor and publisher, Greg Mitchell. Some excerpts:

With each new revelation on U.S. torture in Iraq, Afghanistan and Gitmo (and who, knows, probably elsewhere), I am reminded of the chilling story of Alyssa Peterson, who I have written about numerous times in the past three years but now with especially sad relevance. Appalled when ordered to take part in interrogations that, no doubt, involved what we would call torture, she refused, then killed herself a few days later, in September 2003.

Of course, we now know from the torture memos and the U.S. Senate committee probe and various new press reports, that the "Gitmo-izing" of Iraq was happening just at the time Alyssa got swept up in it.

Alyssa Peterson was one of the first female soldiers killed in Iraq. A cover-up, naturally, followed.

Peterson, 27, a Flagstaff, Ariz., native, served with C Company, 311th Military Intelligence BN, 101st Airborne. Peterson was an Arabic-speaking interrogator assigned to the prison at our air base in troubled Tal Afar in northwestern Iraq. According to official records, she died on Sept. 15, 2003, from a "non-hostile weapons discharge."

...When the documents of the official investigation of her death arrived, they contained bombshell revelations. Here's what the Flagstaff public radio station, KNAU, where Elston then worked, reported:

"Peterson objected to the interrogation techniques used on prisoners. She refused to participate after only two nights working in the unit known as the cage. Army spokespersons for her unit have refused to describe the interrogation techniques Alyssa objected to. They say all records of those techniques have now been destroyed."

According to the official report on her death released the following year, she had earlier been "reprimanded" for showing "empathy" for the prisoners. One of the most moving parts of that report is: "She said that she did not know how to be two people; she ... could not be one person in the cage and another outside the wire."

Peterson was then assigned to the base gate, where she monitored Iraqi guards, and sent to suicide prevention training. "But on the night of September 15th, 2003, Army investigators concluded she shot and killed herself with her service rifle," the documents disclose.

A notebook she had been writing was found next to her body. Its contents were redacted in the official report. The Army talked to some of Peterson's colleagues. Asked to summarize their comments, Elston told me: "The reactions to the suicide were that she was having a difficult time separating her personal feelings from her professional duties. That was the consistent point in the testimonies, that she objected to the interrogation techniques, without describing what those techniques were."

Elston said that the documents also refer to a suicide note found on her body, which suggested that she found it ironic that suicide prevention training had taught her how to commit suicide. He filed another FOIA request for a copy of the actual note.

Read the entire editorial.

From Vagabond Scholar are several great blogs including Videos on Torture, The Torture Flowchart and The Senate Report on Detainee Abuse. Some excerpts from that post:

Some initial thoughts - some of the senators listed are quite conservative, and even more are less than honorable. I think it's wise to remember that as damning as this is, this is still probably a watered-down version. It's more useful for its documentation of facts and events than its conclusions. Case in point – those conclusions mention "anti-torture laws" twice, but always refer to "abuse" versus "torture." I'd be very surprised if Cornyn and the lot didn't fight like the scumbags they are over that. Also, the dissembling public statements of Cornyn and Lieberman, among others, are even more damnable given that they had access to this information. Lieberman has claimed waterboarding is not torture and described it inaccurately on several occasions (including yesterday), while Cornyn has tried to claim torture is justified with his ludicrous ticking time bomb scenarios. Cornyn has also opposed a truth commission of any sort and whined about partisanship.

Meanwhile, the McClatchy piece "Report: Abusive tactics were used to find Iraq-al Qaida link" focuses on a specific point, confirming what long has been likely and we have noted in part before, even if there are smoking guns yet to come. The torture apologists will argue details as a distraction, but even if specific timelines, events and motives still need to be nailed down, at the most generous, this was criminal, reckless negligence.

From Talking Points Memo, A Glimps of the Dark Side by David Kurtz focuses on the Darth Vader of the Bush Administration, Dick Cheney. Some excerpts:

Dick Cheney apparently kept a file in his office marked "Detainees" (.pdf).

The document in question, obtained by Greg Sargent, is Cheney's request to the National Archives to declassify and release certain documents that he says "proves" that U.S. torture produced actionable intelligence.

In particular he requests two CIA reports: a 12-page report dated July 13, 2004, and a 19-page report dated June 1, 2005.

But note especially that Cheney's request identifies a specific folder marked "Detainees" kept in "OVP Cheney Immediate Office Files."

...The point here is that by 2004-05, the Administration's self-justification for its torture policy was well underway. These reports are not contemporaneous accounts of what intelligence the torture yielded. Rather, the CIA and Cheney were papering the file well after the fact.

Now, I know some of you will say it doesn't matter whether torture worked or not. This is true, as far as it goes. But there's a large body of evidence not only that torture doesn't work generally, but that that it didn't work specifically when implemented by the U.S. (or didn't work any better than non-criminal methods would have worked).

Read Cheney's request form for detainee files.

From the Docudharma site is a post worth reading, The Torture Was Political, The Politics Was Personal by buhdydharma:

Before George Bush was even elected, he wanted to invade Iraq. The evidence for that is in this video of Blitzer interviewing Candidate Bush. (at 1:40)
Multiple sources have said that Bush's response to the tragedy of 9/11 was to try to find a way to blame his fathers undefeated nemesis, Saddam Hussein. Richard Clarke, in his book Against All Enemies, provides this quote.

HT to Richard Cranium

"...see if Saddam was involved. Just look. I want to know any shred..."

"Absolutely [Mr. President], we will look...again." I was trying to be more respectful, more responsive. "But, you know, we have looked several times for state sponsorship of al Qaeda, and not found any real linkages to Iraq. Iran plays a little, as does Pakistan, and Saudi Arabia, Yemen."

"Look into Iraq, Saddam," the President said testily, and left us...

That conversation reportedly took place on September 12, 2001.

...America did NOT torture for "National Security" reasons. America tortured for political reasons, to support the political decision to invade Iraq.

That political decision was not based on the facts now at our disposal. Or, indeed, even the facts at the time. The reasons to invade Iraq even then were non-existent. Thus they had to be manufactured. Part of that process was the unsuccessful attempt to use torture to produce a justification for that invasion. And even using torture, they were unable to come up with a justification.

Anti-torture action campaigns
Want to take action to oppose torture? See links to petitions below:

Ask Congress to request that U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder appoint a Special Prosecutor to investigate torture

Tell Congress to take action to Impeach Judge Jay Bybee

Five days until the

MAY DAY RALLY AND MARCH!