An interesting juxtaposition of news clips concerning lefty icon Julian Assange. First, from the New York Times, March 1:

Assange Complains of Jewish Smear Campaign
A report published by a British magazine on Tuesday said the WikiLeaks founder, Julian Assange, suggested that British journalists, including the editor of The Guardian, were engaged in a Jewish-led conspiracy to smear his organization.

A US military tribunal on Feb. 18 sentenced Sudanese Guantánamo Bay detainee Noor Uthman Mohammed to 14 years in prison following a plea agreement in which he admitted to helping al-Qaeda and providing material support to terrorism. Mohammed admitted earlier this week to meetings with al-Qaeda and acting as a weapons instructor and manager at the Khaden military camp in Afghanistan, where hijackers and other members of al-Qaeda trained prior to the 9-11 attacks. Mohammed was charged in May 2008 and has been detained at Guantánamo since his capture in Pakistan in 2002. As part of his plea agreement, Mohammed promised to cooperate with US investigators in ongoing investigations. If he does so, he will likely be released in advance of the 14 years to which he was sentenced.

A judge for the US District Court for the District of Columbia on Feb. 18 denied a petition for writ of habeas corpus of a Yemeni man currently detained at Guantánamo Bay. Judge Ricardo Urbina held that the government proved by a preponderance of the evidence that Mashour Abdullah Muqbel Alsabri provided material support to the Taliban, al-Qaeda or associated enemy forces. The court found that the petitioner traveled to Afghanistan to fight with the Taliban or al-Qaeda, stayed at Taliban or al-Qaeda guesthouses, received military training at an al-Qaeda facility, traveled to the battle lines and was captured during armed conflict. The court found no evidence that the petitioner dissociated with these enemy forces at any point prior to his capture. These findings taken together, the court said, support the government's contention that the petitioner was lawfully detained. The petitioner was arrested in 2002 and filed his habeas corpus petition in October 2006.

US Defense Secretary Robert Gates said at a congressional hearing Feb. 17 that Guantánamo Bay is unlikely to be closed because of security concerns. Responding to a question from the Senate Armed Forces Committee, Gates said that the odds of closing the detention facility are "very, very low," particularly because of congressional opposition, the difficulty in predicting which detainees are likely to return to terrorist activities and restrictions on detainees being brought to the US for trial under the Ike Skelton National Defense Authorization Act of 2011. Gates made his comments one day after CIA Director Leon Panetta told Congress that, if captured, Osama bin Laden and his second-in-command would probably be sent to Guantánamo Bay. At his first press briefing on Feb. 16, press secretary Jay Carney said that President Barack Obama still aims to close Guantánamo, despite Panetta's comments.

Sudanese Guantánamo Bay detainee Noor Uthman Mohammed pleaded guilty before a military tribunal Feb. 16 to terrorism charges. Mohammed entered guilty pleas to one count of providing material support of terrorism and one count of conspiracy. The charges against him stem from supposed meetings with al-Qaeda and his service as a weapons instructor and manager at the Khaden military camp in Afghanistan, where hijackers and other members of al-Qaeda trained prior to the 9-11 attacks. Mohammed was charged in May 2008 and has been detained at Guantánamo since his capture in Pakistan in 2002. Prior to the plea agreement, the details of which have not been released, Mohammed faced life in prison if convicted. A jury, consisting of at least five US military officers will now be chosen to issue a sentence in the hearing, set to begin this week.

The Pentagon announced Feb. 9 that a senior Department of Defense official has reduced the sentence of Ibrahim al-Qosi, the accused former al-Qaeda cook and accountant who pleaded guilty before a military tribunal last July to crimes of conspiracy and supporting terrorism. His sentence reduced to just two years, al-Qosi could return to his native Sudan as soon as summer of 2012, and he will serve the balance of his sentence in a minimum-security Guantanamo Bay facility until then. Unbeknownst to the 10-officer jury that sentenced him to 14 years last August, al-Qosi had struck a secret plea deal with Pentagon officials that will remain sealed until his eventual release. Under the terms of the deal, the Convening Authority for Military Commissions (CAMC), which has final review authority over military tribunal sentences, agreed to cut al-Qosi's jury sentence to the extent that it exceeded the bargained-for term. Senior CAMC overseer Bruce MacDonald had the authority to reduce al-Qosi's sentence further, but adhered to the two-year maximum term in the plea agreement.

The City Council of Berkeley, Calif., is to vote Feb. 15 on a resolution to invite Guantánamo Bay detainees who have been cleared of wrongdoing to resettle in the town. Of the 38 detainees that have now been cleared, Berkeley would invite two: a Russian ballet dancer and an Algerian who was once a top-rated Italian chef in Austria. "Our hearts are with all those people who were never tried, held for years and in some cases tortured," said Wendy Kenin, chair of the city's Peace and Justice Commission. "As a municipality, this is one thing we can do to right some wrongs of our federal government."

The Center for Constitutional Rights (CCR) on Feb. 3 said the death of a Guantánamo Bay detainee highlights problems with the detention system currently used by the US for dealing with terrorist suspects. The detainee, Awal Gul, had been at the Guantánamo detention center since October 2002, suspected of having aided the Taliban and al-Qaeda in Afghanistan. Gul apparently died on Feb. 1 of an apparent heart attack after he had completed aerobic exercises.