Eideard

The American Civil Liberties Union plans to sue the U.S. government on behalf of 10 citizens or legal permanent residents who have been placed on a no-fly list and, in some cases, stranded abroad.

The number of names placed on the list has increased significantly since the attempted bombing of a Detroit-bound aircraft on Christmas Day, U.S. officials said. Some Americans have been barred from flying home from overseas because their names were listed.

“It really is abominable that they would treat U.S. citizens this way,” said Ben Wizner, a staff lawyer at the ACLU’s National Security Project. “There is simply no legal basis for placing a U.S. citizen into involuntary exile. And to use a secret government list without any process to accomplish that goal is so un-American and so unconstitutional…”

“The government does not provide the individual with any opportunity to confront, or to rebut, the grounds for his possible inclusion on the watch list,” according to the suit, which will be filed in Oregon. “Thus, the only ‘process’ available to individuals is to submit their names and other identifying information to the Department of Homeland Security and hope that an unknown government agency corrects an error or changes its mind.”

An FBI spokesman declined to comment on the suit, noting that the agency had not seen it. He referred to a previous statement on the no-fly list that said that the “FBI is always careful to protect the civil rights and privacy concerns of all Americans…”

I’m glad I wasn’t drinking my morning cuppa when I read that line. 50 years in the civil rights movement gets you any number of confrontations with the FBI – at home, on the street, where you’re employed. I might have gotten tea on my monitor.

The 10 plaintiffs in the ACLU suit were barred from getting on planes since December; seven were stopped while attempting to fly to the United States and three while trying to leave the country or take a domestic flight.

Ayman Latif, 32, a former U.S. Marine, said he was attempting to return to Miami from Egypt with his wife and two children in April when he was told he could not board the aircraft and should contact the U.S. Embassy. Since then, he said, he has repeatedly visited the embassy, where the FBI interviewed him, but he cannot get the no-fly ban lifted.

“We are very stressed over here,” Latif, who said he moved to Egypt to study Arabic, said in a phone interview. “I didn’t do anything wrong. I’m not a terrorist. . . . If I did something, fine, give me due process.”

One of the ten in the suit is from New Mexico. A former fireman in Las Cruces and at the White Sands Test Facility, retired Air Force officers – and he’s a convert to Islam and, oh yeah, the FBI told him one of the reasons for his ordeal is that he’s a graduate of New Mexico State University. And the father of a guy who is a terrorist once taught there.

Great reasoning power in our intelligence services.

Maybe Dickie can find Musharraf a place to live in appropriate style
Daylife/Getty Images used by permission

Former president Pervez Musharraf is living in a flat near London’s Edgware Road. The former military leader has swapped the presidential palace in Islamabad for a relatively modest flat surrounded by the shisha bars and kebab joints of London’s Arabic quarter, The Guardian said in a report on Thursday.

The area is also home to Tony Blair, who owns a large house in the nearby Connaught Square.

The former president has chosen a simple apartment in a red-brick complex to retire in. It is a contrast to the pomp of Musharraf’s nine-year rule in Pakistan, during which he was guarded by liveried soldiers and surrounded by political acolytes.

However, security remains tight at his £1 million London flat. The retired general is guarded by a small team of retired Pakistani commandos, which he pays for himself, and has a protection detail from Scotland Yard…

The report also says Musharraf travels in a bulletproof vehicle.

Lord Nazir Ahmed, a critic in the House of Lords…said ‘our old age pensioners don’t get security, so how can we pay for an old general who wants to enjoy himself in London?’…

It is claimed that Musharraf is on a visitor’s visa and it has been reported that he intends to take up permanent residence in the Middle East or in the United States, where his son Bilal lives.

The son lives in the Bay area. They can always use another right-wing hustler moving in. Get him a job on talk radio and TV as an expert on counter-terrorism.

Lawyers dance in celebration outside Karachi Bar Association
Daylife/Reuters Pictures used by permission

Pakistan’s former military ruler Pervez Musharraf faces an extended exile, possibly in Britain, following a court ruling that has paved the way for a possible – although unlikely – treason prosecution.

Celebrating lawyers danced on the steps of the supreme court after a 14-judge bench ruled that Musharraf acted illegally when he suspended the constitution and imposed a six-week period of emergency rule on 3 November 2007. At the time, the rule was seen as a gambit by Musharraf to strengthen his grip on power. After a long struggle, he was forced from office a year ago.

The court ruling was delivered by chief justice Iftikhar Chaudhry, whose attempted removal by Musharraf in March 2007 sparked a protest movement that eventually led to the general’s downfall…

Neither Musharraf, who seized power in a 1999 coup, nor his lawyers attended the court hearing. The retired general left Pakistan for Britain two months ago, reportedly at the urging of the army chief, General Ashfaq Kayani, who wanted to remove all political distractions as the army fought the Taliban along the Afghan border…

Talat Masood, a retired general and former Musharraf confidante, said it was unlikely he would return to Pakistan soon. “He will stay away and the army will advise him to stay away,” he said…”

According to the ruling, all judges who swore allegiance to Musharraf will now be sacked. Also, some 37 laws passed during the emergency period will be subject to review by parliament.

“It is open to the courts to condone all or any of them,” said Saeed-uz-Zaman, a former chief justice, speaking on Dawn television.

Does any of this sound like a potential scenario to be played out in the United States? Or the U.K.?

Any politicians and/or judges with the backbone to set precedents that include prosecution for suspending the constitution?