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US Covers Up for Tinners, a Nuclear Family; Attorney Jon Eisenberg Wins Wiretap Judgment; Prof. Marjorie Cohn on Gitmo Setbacks; Will Durst’s 2011 Predictions

Important short segments with Jason Leopold, Truthout; attorney Jon Eisenberg gets token award for illegal government wiretapping; Prof. Marjorie Cohn on 2 new setbacks for plans to close Guantanamo; Will Durst’s wacky predictions for 2011. These interviews were first broadcast on 12/27/10 on the Norman Goldman Show. Leopold comments on the NY Times recent coverage of the case of the Tinners, Swiss pere-et-fils (father and two sons) who were part of the nuclear proliferation schemes of Pakistan’s A. Q. Khan. Leopold first reported on the Tinners at Truthout in 2004, and he connects them to the work of Valerie Plame disrupted by her exposure by Cheney, Libby and Rove. We also recap some of Truthout’s top original reports of the past year. At 18:00 we talk with attorney Eisenberg about the only case against the government’s illegal wiretapping that was permitted to proceed. His clients won token damages and legal fees, but Judge Walker wrote the ruling as if the Bush team had been unintentionally misled by John Yoo’s bogus legal advice (memos which are still classified) and denied punitive damages. Lots of twisted irony in this story. At 35:28 we talk with Prof. Cohn about the language in the new defense funding bill that bans the transfer of Gitmo inmates to the US, even for trial, and puts sharp limits on the release of innocent and uncharged detainees. She also criticizes the executive order that will define a policy of unlimited detention without charges, which is likely unconstitutional. Cohn is editor of the new book The United States and Torture and teaches at the Thomas Jefferson School of Law in San Diego. At 51:21 Will Durst offers his predictions for 2011.