It’s hard to imagine how the United States could heap more abuse on Pakistan. We are approaching the one year anniversary since Jeremy Scahill disclosed the extensive JSOC-Blackwater secret war effort within Pakistan and yet there is no indication that either Barack Obama or David Petraeus sees a need to shut down the rogue operators there. Despite the occasional attempt to portray the US military as providing crucial relief efforts in the massive floods in Pakistan (such as in the accompanying photo), the reality is that US military relief to Pakistan has been derided as but a tiny fraction of the military relief provided in other recent world catastrophes. Last week’s sentencing of Aafia Siddiqui to eighty-six years in jail provoked massive protests across Pakistan. And now we are learning that NATO (which really means US) helicopters have killed over 50 people in air raids on the Pakistan side of the border with Afghanistan over the weekend.

Judge Richard Berman rewrote verdicts, applied enhancements and came up with 86 years, and after insisting that the defendant was sane, remanded her to Carswell Federal Prison for the Criminally Insane. For her part, Aafia Siddiqui told her supporters not to be angry but to forgive.

Thursday Morning at 8:45, at 500 Pearl St. in Manhattan, in Room 21D, Judge Berman’s Court, Dr. Aafia Siddiqui will be sentenced. She is facing 30 years to life. People that are there might show up to pay their respects, there is no way justice will have been served.

Hakimullah Mehsud threatens US attacks as revenge for incarceration of Dr. Aafia Siddique. His terror group Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan in NWF appears to be tied in to the Times Square car bomb suspect. Faisal Shahzad received bomb-making training in South-Waziristan, his birthplace is near Peshawar and sought revenge for US drone killings of Taliban leaders.

The Pakistani press is crediting Hamid Karzai with the re-appearance of Maryam Siddiqui, daughter of Aafia Siddiqui. But did her release require the authority of Stanley McChrystal?

Happy Monday. Welcome to my weekly letter writing campaign for torture accountability. This campaign is designed to keep the issue of accountability under the law for the Bush administrations torture program alive. Here is how it works, every Monday I write to one of the decision makers on the issue of torture accountability. You get involved (and increase the impact) by either cutting and pasting the letter over your own signature or just writing your own letter. I even provide the e-mail links so you can cc the letter to all the decision makers.

"Originally posted at Squarestate.net"

This week we are back to writing the Attorney General, as he has the final say as to whether comprehensive investigations will accrue or not.

Dear Attorney General Holder:

I write you once again to urge your action on the issue of the Bush Administration’s apparent torture program. The legal reasons why you should act are clear. Torture is both a Federal and International crime. Under the International Conventions Against Torture, any signatory has the obligation to investigate every credible allegation of torture.

Further there is an obligation to investigate not just those that carried out the act of torture, but those who ordered it. This is due to the specific exclusion of “action on orders” as a defense for commission of torture.

It is fairly clear that you and the Department of Justice have not acted on these requirements because of domestic political concerns. These concerns are probably quite real. The Republican Party and the conservative base would react vehemently to any serious investigation of the Bush Administrations ordering of torture.

This should not matter, as the rule of law is based on the idea of equal justice, regardless of political position or political calculation.

While upholding the rule of law should be enough to initiate action, it appears it is not. However, there are other considerations that you should be taking into account in making the choice to appoint a Special Prosecutor and allow him or her to fully investigate all aspects of our torture of prisoners.

It is well known, from the under oath testimony, that the Bush Administration ordered the torture of prisoners. That prisoners can not be tried because their treatment has risen to the level of torture, that we waterbaorded at least three prisoners, that we have very harshly treated hundreds more is common knowledge world wide.

Take the case of Aafia Siddiqui. She was recently convicted seven counts including attempted murder. Ms. Siddiqui is a Pakistani citizen who was on the FBI most wanted list for years before her capture. It seems that Ms. Siddiqui is guilty of the crimes she is convicted of, but the issue of United States holding of prisoners in so-called Black Sites and the torture of prisoners has clouded this issue in Pakistan.

Six months ago, I asked, “Can a terrorist get a fair trial?” With both the defenders of trials in U.S. courts and the prosecutors of “terrorists” promising a guilty verdict, 100% of the time, the answer is obviously no. Minimum sentencing will net Aafia Siddiqui 50 years.

“You can’t build a case on hate, you should build it on fact.”

The trial of Aafia Siddiqui for attempted murder of U.S. agents in Afghanistan began on Tuesday of last week in Manhattan. The prosecution presented witnesses, the defense tore into them, the defendant was unruly, the court intimidated spectators and the big news was in the other trial in Pakistan.

Aafia Siddiqui’s trial is in jury selection this week. The trial begins January 19th.