Six Guantanamo detainees charged with connection to Sept. 11, 2001

Six Guantanamo detainees were, for the first time in six years, formally charged with involvement in the attacks of Sept. 11. The men face the death penalty if convicted.

Still, many have concerns about the role of torture used in the trials. One of the men, Khalid Sheikh Mohammad, experienced forced suffocation through waterboarding, a form of torture where drowning is induced.

“The evidence so far against these people will be tainted [by torture],” said Sept. 11 widow Lori Van Auken to CNN.

Charles Swift, a former Navy JAG lawyer who represented Salim Hamdan in the case Hamdan v. Rumsfeld, informed CNN that the last time waterboarding evidence was admitted in court was during the Spanish Inquisition.

The timing of these charges is also suspect, said Michael Ratner, president of the Center for Constitutional Rights, in an interview on therealnews.com. He said that the military commissions have been around for years, and wondered why they are suddenly bringing charges now.

Ratner thinks Republicans are using it for political and electoral gain, and when Democrats point to the unfairness of the trials and use of torture, they’ll be painted as ‘weak on national security.’

“[Republicans will say], look, we’ve captured the 9/11 guys,” Ratner said. “We’re going to put them on trial.”

Senate moves to ban torture, faces Bush’s veto

In a 51-45 vote, the U.S. Senate approved a provision included by Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) that would outlaw torture, according to The Associated Press. The provision in the intelligence bill would restrict all U.S. government agencies to the interrogation methods specified by the Army Field Manual, and would outlaw waterboarding, beating, electrocution and the withholding of food and medicine.

The White House is likely to veto the measure, according to Tony Fratto, a White House spokesman. Republican presidential frontrunner John McCain also voted against the measure.

Additionally, Sens. Richard Durbin (D-Ill.) and Sheldon Whitehouse (D-R.I.) asked the Justice Department’s internal watchdog to investigate whether those who authorized waterboarding are criminally liable after the White House recently admitted the use of torture techniques.

U.S. official caught recruiting spies in Bolivia

Vincent Cooper, a U.S. embassy official in Bolivia, was recalled back to Washington, D.C., after asking a Fulbright scholar to spy for U.S. interests in the country, reported The Real News.

“[He] asked me that if I should encounter any Venezuelans or Cubans while I’m in the field, doctors, field workers, that I should report to the embassy with their names and [whereabouts],” said John Alexander van Schaick, the Fulbright scholar.

Cooper reportedly made similar requests to 30 Peace Corps volunteers last July, according to ABC News.

Using Fulbright scholars or Peace Corps volunteers to gather U.S. intelligence can compromise their work and endanger their safety, said Robert Farley in the American Prospect.

Customs agents can search and copy data from travelers’ laptops

As a part of the rapidly emerging “Homeland Security state,” U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials have the authority to search, copy and store information from travelers’ laptops and electronic devices, like a BlackBerry.

“Your banking records, your music choices, your emails, your business contacts — all can be examined, copied and stored by the government when you enter the country, if they’re in an electronic device,” said CNN reporter Jeanne Meserve.

[Reach columnist at Aditya Ganapathiraju at news@thedaily.washington.edu.]