Talks given on the Military Commissions Act

On January 11 and 24, 2007, Coalition for Peace Action (Central Bucks) and Upper Bucks for Democracy co-hosted Cristi Charpentier and Shawn Nolan, of the Federal Defender's Office, E.D. Pa., and recently returned from Guantánamo, where they have been working with detainee clients. They spoke about the Military Commissions Act (MCA) of 2006, the denial of habeas corpus, and the dangers they pose for U.S. Constitutional law and basic human rights.

Charpentier: “So my answer [to question] is that the Military Commissions Act does not afford the detainees a fair trial, and the Congress would have been better off to take heed from what the Supreme Court was truly telling them in the decision of Hamdan, which is that if you aren't going to use the civil courts, which is where I practice, use the Code of Military Justice. We have things in place. And so you as involved taxpayers—or else you wouldn’t be here, you as involved citizens, you know, should really hear that.”

Nolan challenges the administration’s claims about who is imprisoned at Guantánamo and whether U.S. treatment of detainees accords with U.S. and international law. “It’s outrageous. This is a classic study of government out of control. They go on TV and say, ‘We don’t torture,’ but they do!” He also disputes the government’s claim that “these are the worst of the worst.” According to Seton Hall Law School Professor Mark Denbeaux's analysis, “only 5 percent of the detainees were captured by United States forces. 86 percent of the detainees were arrested by either Pakistan or the Northern Alliance.” Many had been turned in by bounty hunters responding to U.S. leaflets dropped over Afghanistan promising “wealth and power beyond your dreams . . . millions of dollars.”

“They’ve been stripped of habeas corpus, and they can’t challenge their detention,” Nolan says. “Some of them have been there five years. There’s no due process.”

Charpentier and Nolan participated in the Guantánamo teach-in on October 5, 2006, at Temple University's Beasley School of Law. Charpentier grew up in Doylestown and graduated from CB West. Raised in the area, Nolan graduated from Lansdale Catholic High School.

Jimmy Carter re Israel/Palestine

A New Chance for Peace?
By Jimmy Carter, Washington Post, January 18, 2007
"I am concerned that public discussion of my book Palestine: Peace, Not Apartheid has been diverted from the book's basic proposals: that peace talks be resumed after six years of delay and that the tragic persecution of Palestinians be ended. Although most critics have not seriously disputed or even mentioned the facts and suggestions about these two issues, an apparently concerted campaign has been focused on the book's title, combined with allegations that I am anti-Israel. This is not good for any of us who are committed to Israel's status as a peaceful nation living in harmony with its neighbors." [Continued]

Jimmy Carter on Fresh Air/WHYY, November 27, 2006

Expert on terrorism sheds light

Louise Richardson, executive dean of the Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study and author of What Terrorists Want: Understanding the Enemy, Containing the Threat, is Marty Moss-Coane's January 16, 2007, guest on Radio Times. Ms. Richardson explains terrorists' three major motivations: revenge, glory—to compensate for perceived humiliation, and to provoke the powerful to react—better yet, to over-react—to them. President Bush, she argues, has played directly into their hands. She also outlines her recommendations for effective counterterrorism.

Talk on MCA on Wednesday, January 24, 7:30 p.m. in Doylestown

Coalition for Peace Action (Central Bucks) &
Upper Bucks for Democracy
January 24, 7:30 p.m., Celtic Cross Room
Doylestown Presbyterian Church
127 E. Court St., Doylestown, PA 18901

Coalition for Peace Action (Central Bucks) and Upper Bucks for Democracy will co-host Shawn Nolan, of the Federal Defender's Office, E.D. Pa., and recently returned from Guantánamo, where he has been working with detainee clients. He will speak about the Military Commissions Act (MCA) of 2006, the denial of habeas corpus, and the dangers they pose for U.S. Constitutional law and basic human rights. Mr. Nolan participated in the Guantánamo teach-in on October 5, 2006, at Temple University's Beasley School of Law.

Nolan challenges the administration’s claims about who is imprisoned at Guantánamo and whether U.S. treatment of detainees accords with U.S. and international law. “It’s outrageous. This is a classic study of government out of control. They go on TV and say, ‘We don’t torture,’ but they do!” He also disputes the government’s claim that “these are the worst of the worst.” He points out that only 5 percent of those being held were actually picked up on battlefields. Many were turned in by bounty hunters responding to U.S. leaflets dropped over Afghanistan promising “wealth and power beyond your dreams . . . millions of dollars.”

“They’ve been stripped of habeas corpus, and they can’t challenge their detention,” Nolan says. “Some of them have been there five years. There’s no due process. This is Star Chamber litigation. No one can see the light of day.”

Raised in the area, Nolan graduated from Lansdale Catholic High School in 1981. In addition to his work with Federal Community Defender, he is Adjunct Professor of Social Justice with the Great Lakes College Association.

Mary Robinson, champion of human rights

Listen to Mary Robinson, founder of Realizing Rights--The Ethical Globalization Initiative, in the archived edition of her January 9, 2007, Radio Times interview with Marty Moss-Coane at WHYY.org.

Talk on MCA on Thursday, January 11, 7 p.m., and Wednesday, January 24, 7:30 p.m.

"So my answer [to question] is that the Military Commissions Act does not afford the detainees a fair trial, and the Congress would have been better off to take heed from what the Supreme Court was truly telling them in the decision of Hamdan, which is that if you aren't going to use the civil courts, which is where I practice, use the Code of Military Justice. We have things in place. And so you as involved taxpayers—or else you wouldn’t be here, you as involved citizens, you know, should really hear that."
—Cristi Charpentier, January 11, 2007

Coalition for Peace Action (Central Bucks),
Upper Bucks for Democracy, &
Bucks County PDA
January 11, 7 p.m., Plumstead Township Building
5186 Stump Road (0.4 mi east of 611 on right)
Plumsteadville, PA 18949
January 24, 7:30 p.m., Celtic Cross Room
Doylestown Presbyterian Church
127 E. Court St., Doylestown, PA 18901

Coalition for Peace Action (Central Bucks) and Upper Bucks for Democracy will co-host Cristi Charpentier and Shawn Nolan, both of the Federal Defender's Office, E.D. Pa., and recently returned from Guantánamo, where they have been working with detainee clients. They will speak about the denial of habeas corpus, the Military Commissions Act (MCA) of 2006, and the dangers they pose for U.S. Constitutional law and basic human rights.

Ms. Charpentier, who grew up in Doylestown and graduated from CB West, will speak on January 11 at 7:00 p.m. in the Plumstead Township Building, 5186 Stump Rd., Plumsteadville, PA 18949, and Mr. Nolan on January 24 at 7:30 p.m. in the Celtic Cross Room of the Doylestown Presbyterian Church, 127 E. Court St., Doylestown, PA 18901.

Ms. Charpentier and Mr. Nolan participated in the Guantánamo teach-in on October 5, 2006, at Temple University's Beasley School of Law. Background on Guantánamo from Legal Times:

When the U.S. military began shipping prisoners from the war on terror to Guantánamo Bay, Cuba, one goal was clear: to keep them outside the reach of the U.S. court system. But nearly five years later, those cases remain stuck exactly where the Bush administration didn't want them to be. [continued]

Andy Warren and Fred Viskovich, Democratic candidates for Bucks County Commissioner, will also speak on January 11 in Plumsteadville.