I posted a diary on this topic last night, but because the image is such a powerful one, I am posting again this morning to hopefully propagate it to a wider audience.

See below for the Photo released by the U.S. Army and an analysis:

Those of us who remember photos of Dukakis in a tank realize the power of images to help or hinder a candidate's message.

Today, the U.S. Army released an image of Barack Obama and top U.S. military commander in Iraq, David Petraeus, conversing aboard a helicopter over Baghdad.  As far as composition and effect go, this is an exceptionally powerful image that should be spread far and wide.

According to an article by Scott Shane in today's New York Times, a new book by New Yorker counterterrorism reporter Jane Mayer contains references to a secret report by the Red Cross that warned that the abuse of high value detainees such as Khalid Sheik Mohammed and Abu Zubaydah "constituted war crimes, placing the highest officials in the U.S. government in jeopardy of being prosecuted."

According to Shane, Mayer's book, "The Dark Side: The Inside Story of How the War on Terror Turned Into a War on American Ideals," contains new details on the CIA's detention program, as well as interrogation methods and other tactics in the "War on Terror".

After six years of waiting, the Pentagon has rushed trials at Guantanamo to seek to achieve convictions of high value detainees before the fall elections.  Many, including myself, have argued that the rush is to try to rescue Bush's dismal record of prosecuting the "War on Terror" and benefit GOP candidates at the polls.

Yesterday, in a capitulation to defense lawyers and a step away from injustice, the Judge presiding over the Guantanamo tribunals decided to slow down the rush to prosecution to hold individual hearings of the accused to address irregularities.

For those of you who wasted time watching the House Judiciary Committee try to get responses from John Yoo and David Addington yesterday, the only worthwhile moment from the 5 hour session was a definitive statement of which branch of government vice president Dick Cheney belongs to.

Cheney's counsel David Addington gave the description, and congressman Steve Cohen (D, TN) provided the assessment that should go down in history as a precise summary of the Dick Cheney's role in our Government:

Dick Cheney is a Barnacle.

Any of you who have been following the FISA issue remember how Chris Dodd took an active, leadership role back in December, January and February to stand up to  FISA update legislation.

Although his filibuster threat in the Senate was overcome, House Democrats joined behind his leadership to reject any FISA legislation with TelCom immunity.  Democrats in the House stood firm against the Administration.

So where is the Dodd Filibuster threat now that the senate is poised to pass TelCom immunity?

This is a short Diary with the purpose of calling to your attention an article in today's New York Times about a Military Lawyer at Guantanamo who is fighting for the Rule of Law.

Lt. Cmdr. William C. Kuebler in an American Hero.

Today the Supreme Court dealt a blow to the Bush Administration's imprisonment of terror suspects without charges.
This is certainly welcome news to the hundreds of Guantanamo prisoners who wish to fight their detainment.

But there is one important point about the ruling that should not be overlooked:

It requires a detainee to want to fight their detention.

This is a simple recipe for making a Martyr (or in this case 5 Martyrs).  Your goal does does not necessarily have to be making a martyr.  But when you have a group of guys you need to kill for political reasons, it is really helpful if they adhere to the singular goal of becoming martyrs.  

This plan is especially helpful when you cannot use a fair trial system to do the killing you need to do.  For example, when you have tortured the Martyr Wannabes; or if you lack evidence; or if your Kangaroo Kourt system is only gonna be around for a few more months; or if you just need to do things before a set date, like a few weeks before the US general election.

In criminal trials, destruction of evidence is a serious offense.  If a judge were to learn that a prosecution attorney destroyed evidence in a Death Penalty case, this would almost certainly taint the prosecution and prevent the death penalty, if not result in a mistrial.

Remember the destroyed Torture Tapes?
We still do not know who gave the orders to destroy the CIA videos of the torture of high-value detainees.

Well the orders to destroy torture evidence also extended to handwritten notes from interrogations at Guantanamo.

The Guantanamo detainees in the upcoming Military Commission Trial and the Bush Administration are in perfect agreement:

They want a speedy conviction and death.

Three of the detainees have been allowed to reject their defense lawyers, removing obstacles to their quick "martyrdom".

The remaining two have requested to fire their lawyers, but the judge has yet to rule.  But the possibility that defense lawyers may interfere with their desired deaths has 4 of the detainees threatening and intimidating the fifth- one who's lawyers are trying to stay involved.  

And despite all principles of Justice, our Government permitted the intimidation to take place.

I warned on Tuesday that the Bush Administration is planning to use the Military Commissions Trials at Guantanamo to inject "terrorism" into the elections.

The Bush Administration plan is to start the trial 4 days after the 9/11 anniversary; 6 weeks before the election.

Normally, a capital murder case would take years to resolve.  But with a politically motivated prosecutorial structure and without defense lawyers, the 5 highest profile captives are on track to be tried, convicted and executed before the election.  At least if the detainees and the Bush Administration get their wish.....

Democrats should expect that a major tactic to be employed by the Republicans in the coming election will be the issue of "terrorism".

Look for campaign ads exploiting the images of 9/11, the Flag Pins, and the rhetoric about "Islamofascism" and the threat to the "Homeland".

And just wait for the media circus surrounding the spectacle Government has prepared for the summer:

The War Crimes Trials of Khalid Sheik Mohammed.

Tim Griffin, a protege of Karl Rove, has been hired by the RNC for opposition research.  According to TPM,
his role will be to dig into Barack Obama's past for damaging information to use against him in the general election (Griffin is credited with finding material to "swiftboat" John Kerry).

This may very well be true, but there are no doubt many operatives doing the same type of digging.  Another possibility is that Griffin is being brought on to do whet he did in 2004: shepherd the RNC's vote suppression works.  Combined with GOP plans to appoint former RNC lawyer Caroline Hunter to the Federal Elections Commission, and I think we are witnessing the birth of another GOP vote suppression scheme for 2008.

If George Bush told you we were winning in Iraq, would you believe him?

If Dick Cheney told you that Al Qaeda in Iraq was in its last throes, would take him at his word?

If Fox News reported that Barack Obama's new health care plan was equal to socialized medicine, would you wait to pass judgment until you read about the plan from another source?

So, you'll never vote for Hillary.
Not even if she is the last Democrat standing (which she won't be).

Do you want to know why I am looking at you like you are holding a chad tombstone*?

* The award given by the Republican National Lawyers Association to lawyers who "contributed greatly to Bush's "election" victories- blocks of Lucite containing handfuls of chads from Florida ballots.

As has been covered extensively at TPM muckraker and noted by Adam B on the front page here today, the Federal Elections Commission (FEC) has been disabled by the Bush Administration's efforts to confirm notorious vote-suppression guru Hans von Spakovsky to the FEC.

Democrats rightly continue to block approval of von Spakovsky.  However, in another shameless effort to install Republican Partisans in influential positions in our elections bureaucracy, the Bush Administration has nominated for the FEC a lawyer intimately acquainted with how to suppress voters:

Caroline Hunter

The House has passed reasonable a FISA update bill that lacks immunity for Telecommunications companies that would forever hide any illegality associated with the Bush Administration Warrantless Wiretapping Program.

The Senate will soon readdress the FISA issue.
Republicans and the Bush Administration (and several Democratic Senators) favor TelCo immunity.

We must target our Senators to urge them to support the House version of FISA update, which protects our civil liberties as much as it protects our country from terrorists attacks.