Former Guantanamo translater says interrogations were faked News
Former Guantanamo translater says interrogations were faked

[JURIST] Former Army Sgt. Erik Saar, who served as a Guantanamo Bay [official website; JURIST news archive] translator, told CBS's 60 Minutes [news website] that prisoner interrogations were staged to give visiting congressmen, senators and generals the impression that valuable intelligence information was being gathered from detainees on a regular basis. The interview will be broadcast Sunday on CBS. Saar, who spent six months at the camp, said he believes only a few dozen of the 600 detainees being held at the camp were terrorists and that very little information has been obtained from them. Saar also claims detainees were treated in sadistic ways. Saar talked about an incident where a female officer smeared red ink on a devout Muslim detainee's face saying it was her menstrual blood. FBI agents stationed at Guantanamo Bay also have reportedly written classified e-mails to FBI [official website] headquarters saying detainees were being physically mistreated during interrogations. CBS News has more.

THIS DAY @ LAW

International Day Against Fascism and Anti-Semitism

November 9 is the International Day Against Fascism and Anti-Semitism [UNITED factsheet]. On November 9, 1924, American gay activist Henry Gerber and several associates formed the Society for Human Rights, the first gay rights organization in the United States. The Society received a charter from the State of Illinois in December but was disbanded in July 1925 after a police raid which led to Gerber's arrest and trial (albeit not conviction). Pay a virtual visit to Henry Gerber House, now a registered Chicago landmark.

Supreme Court strikes down Massachusetts anti-draft law

On November 9, 1970, the Supreme Court voted 6-3 in Massachusetts v. Laird not to hear the case of the state's anti-draft law. Massachusetts had passed a law, which allowed its citizens to decline to fight in any undeclared war, even if the person was drafted. The law was passed in opposition to the draft and the war in Vietnam. The First Circuit found the war constitutional and thus struck down the law.