Michael Collins aka autorank: An Exclusive Interview with Bush Political Prisoner Susan Lindauer

[babylonsister]

An Exclusive Interview with Bush Political Prisoner Susan Lindauer
Submitted by davidswanson on Fri, 2008-06-13 13:02.

American Cassandra: Susan Lindauer's Story
By Michael Collins, Scoop


"I am furious about the abuse that I have suffered. I regard this as a Soviet-style attack on my rights to dissent from the government."
Susan Lindauer


On March 11, 2004, Susan Lindauer was shocked to find FBI Agents pounding on the door of her Takoma Park house in Maryland with a warrant for her arrest. She was more shocked to discover that she was accused of acting as an "unregistered agent" of the Iraqi government under Saddam Hussein.

It's been four years since her federal indictment. On June 17, Lindauer will have her first pre-trial hearing, where she will be allowed to call witnesses to disprove the allegations.

Lindauer has never been tried in a court of law—nor allowed any pre-trial hearing to call witnesses to validate claims that she worked as an Asset supervised by U.S. intelligence for 9 years. Instead, she was forced to submit to a psychological evaluation inside a prison on a Texas military base, where she was held for seven months before getting transferred to New York. In all, she was detained for 11 months without a conviction or a guilty plea. Pro se motions for a hearing to prove the authenticity of her claims were ignored.

The psych evaluation culminated in a finding that she was incompetent to stand trial, on the grounds that she was "deluded" into believing that she had worked as a U.S. asset or would not get convicted. The coup de gras was a formal request by federal prosecutors to forcibly drug Lindauer with Haldol in order to cure her of those claims and beliefs, so that she could stand trial. She would be formally cured when she stopped declaring that witnesses would substantiate her story.

more...

http://www.afterdowningstreet.org/node/34065

[msedano]

1. collins does an outstanding job of delivering news

i missed the earlier story on lindauer-- out of new zealand of all places--but i won't miss the upcoming coverage of her trial. my fears are twofold. first, that any of her friendly or honest witnesses are still alive, and second that colliins survives a midnight knock on his own door.

if she's cassandra, who's our hector? let's hope for a better outcome against achilleus this time. and who is patroclos? and i shudder to consider andromache's alter ego.

good job, collins. thanks, babylonsister, for calling this story to my attention.

mvs

recommended.

[MinM]

2. This is happening in America

:kick:'n R

[Echo In Light]

3. Yes it sadly is

[MinM]

11. The menticide of Jose Padilla

This may have been the most extreme example:

Majikthise : The menticide of Jose Padilla

Democracy Now! has a fascinating interview with a psychiatrist who interviewed suspected terrorist Jose Padilla for over 22 hours in an attempt to determine whether he was fit to stand trial after more than 3 years of solitary confinement.

In 1951, psychiatrist Joost Meerloo coined the term "menticide" to describe the kind of systematic psychological violence that the Chinese inflicted upon American POWs during the Korean War. The basic techniques haven't changed much since then. Over the years, these tactics have been embraced by a variety of cults and coercive "treatment" programs in the United States and abroad.

Today, the US government insists that mind-killing is an essential part of their endless war on terrorism. For details, see Jane Mayer's excellent New Yorker piece, The Black Sites.

Dr. Angela Hagerty concluded that Padilla was not fit to stand trial. Amongst other things, she observed that the 36-year-old American was furious at his own lawyers for making the government's job harder...

Cannonfire: The Mind (Control) of Padilla

Padilla also says he was injected with a "truth serum", a substance his lawyers believe was LSD or PCP...
http://cannonfire.blogspot.com/2007/02/padilla-mystery.html

http://www.cooperativeresearch.org/entity.jsp?entity=jose_padilla
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=103x355206

[autorank]

14. These cases were close in time and Mukasey allowed the

prior detention of Padilla. Lindauere was just able to tough it out better. Very strong willed
individual, probably better support, and very strong education. And it was not easy for her.

Padilla was crushed.


There's no excuse for this, none. What's the difference when we let these "mental" health experts
ply a craft that their own profession doesn't even endorse.* Real misfits.

*On edit: The American Psychiatric Association's position on members assisting in interrogation
involving torture (or anything that looks like it) is, you're out, not acceptable for members.

The American Psychological Association FAILED to endorse a similar ban on enabling torture. Can
you imagine. Two of the top Gitmo torture choreographers are psychologists. How pathetic this
association is.

[kpete]

4. Mr. Collins

is one of the best!

[shifting_sands]

5. Born in the USA

Good work Michael and the reality of all this is stunning and yet it is real, remember Susan McDougall that they put away in Texas because she wouldn't lie.

As early as the mid to late 60's a man could put his wife in a mental institution without having to prove her mentally ill, all he had to say was that she was mentally ill and she was not allowed to speak on her own behalf, no one was - just her husband. We have the largest prison system in the world, this country is sick and we just go along with whatever anyone says. I saw an interview of an ex-pat from the US in France and when asked the difference in the countries she said "in France the government is afraid of the people and in the US the people are afraid of the government." And so we are and let sick psychotic people make the rules and run the country.

Good job Michael, I don't know how you can keep going, keep writing, it seems all discouraging. But we have to and maybe one at a time we can make the changes we need. I hope everyone reads this and sits back to let this sink in and figure out what's going on.

[formercia]

6. Mukasey was the judge that buried her case.

http://journals.democraticunderground.com/formercia/102

Susan Lindauer, Andrew Card's second cousin
Posted by formercia in Latest Breaking News
Mon Sep 17th 2007, 11:55 AM
committed by a panel of psychiatrists appointed by Judge Mukasey to a Texas mental facility. She supposedly delivered a letter to Card on behalf if the Iraqis imploring not to invade.
The Wiki entry presents Mukasey as a good guy, but he was responsible for taking her out of circulation in the run up to War. Public revelations of her letter were not what the Administration needed.

This may be his reward for helping keep the upcoming War on track.


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Susan_Lindauer

Arrest

Lindauer was arrested on Thursday, 11 March 2004 in Takoma Park, Maryland and charged with "acting as an unregistered agent of a foreign government". The indictment alleged that she accepted US$ 10,000 from Iraqi intelligence services in 2002. Lindauer denies receiving the $10,000, but admits to taking a trip to Baghdad.

She allegedly delivered a letter to Andrew Card, who is her second cousin and former Chief of Staff to President George W. Bush. The letter urged the White House not to invade Iraq, and outlined several likely consequences of a War in Iraq, including the resurgence of Osama bin Laden's Al Qaeda forces inside Iraq, and the emergence of Iran as a major regional power broker.<1>

Lindauer contends that her U.S. file was turned over to a Grand Jury just days after she approached Senator Trent Lott's office about how to contact the Presidential Commission on Iraqi Pre-War Intelligence regarding the work that she had done for the previous 7 years for the United States.

In late 2005, Lindauer was found incompetent to stand trial, a political solution to the indictment, and was sent to Carswell Federal Prison on a Texas military base for a psychiatric evaluation. The prosecution asked to forcibly drug Lindauer with needle injections of Haldol. She was released from prison in September 2006 after a federal judge, Michael B. Mukasey of U.S. District Court in Manhattan, ruled that she could not be forced to take anti-psychotic medication in an effort to make her competent to stand trial.

Judge Mukasey stated that Prosecution testimony supporting forcible drugging had been vicious and excessive. He also criticized the strength of the government's case against Lindauer in total, saying that the legal standard for forcibly administering medication requires a strong government interest in prosecution, and that the government has not established that standard in this case.

According to Judge Mukasey, "there is no indication that Lindauer ever came close to influencing anyone or could have." The indictment, he said, describes an attempt to influence an unnamed government official as unsuccessful. He stated that at least a half-dozen mental health professionals, including a psychiatrist retained by the government, have found Lindauer incompetent to stand trial-- though the Court denied Lindauer's repeated requests for a Competency Hearing, and failed to issue subpoenas for witnesses who nonetheless contacted the Court to validate her story. He also expressed humanitarian concerns about forcing Lindauer to take medication, which, he said, "necessarily involves physically restraining defendant so that she can be injected with mind-altering drugs."

Lindauer is currently free on bail. She is still officially considered incompetent to stand trial, and her case is still pending.

[autorank]

20. This is one of the most interesting things about the case

Susan Lindauer went to Carswell prison facility at the recommendation of the Asst. U.S. Attorneys,
and ordered by Mukasey. The review of the record at Carswell by Mukasey at at the hearing months
later is a mixed bag. The decision was correct. He refused to allow the totally unjustified
request for forced medication. He also failed to ensure a response affirming her ability to stand
trial, which would have included her putting up witnesses to show that the claimed delusions were not
that at all. Her attorney was not fighting the fight she's fighting now with counsel Brian
Shaughenessey.

In the order which denied the request for forced drugging, Mukasey clarified the nature of the
indictment, a deceptive document. Mukasey also went into some detail in his analysis of the
psychiatric testimony. Some of it was absurd. One psychiatrist stated a preference to never meet
the client directly, preferring to study records and written material. Can you believe that?
Could anyone conduct a practice like that at a hospital, facility, or in private practice?

Since there are no drugs specifically validated to treat delusions, Mukasey concluded that there
was no justification. He also agreed that there was no threat posed by Lindauer and she was
released to return to her home under court supervision.

Mukasey's most helpful anlaysis in the order concerned the indictment itself:

"From these charges, it appears that the high-water mark of defendant's efforts to act as an
unregistered agent for the Iraqi government was her delivery of a letter in January 2003 to the home
of an unspecified government official, in what is described even in the indictment as "an unsuccessful
effort to influence United States foreign policy." (Indictment 3n) "

This refers to the letter linked the first article I wrote on Tuesday: Bush Political Prisoner Gets Her Day in Court.
Imagine Mukasey's surprise when he read what was in the letter:

"Above all, you must realize that if you go ahead with this invasion, Osama bin Laden will
triumph, rising from his grave of seclusion. His network will be swollen with fresh recruits and
other charismatic individuals will seek to build on his model multiplying those networks. And the
United States will have delivered the death blow to itself."
Susan Lindauer’s last letter to Andrew Card, Jan. 6, 2003
N.B. The handwritten note at the bottom was for Colin Powell, who also received a copy of this
letter.

With regard to the indictment, measured by it's outcome, it was a clear attempt to discredit Lindauer
in the worst way - by linking her to the crimes of the two Iraqi nationals who were supposedly
tracking members of the Iraqi resistance in the U.S. The right wing had a hay day with that.
But Mukasey pointed out that Lindauer had nothing to do with the two Iraqis. This came after
her reputation was massively assaulted but it did come. Here's what Mukasey says in the order:

"Count One of the indictment charges Lindauer with participating in a conspiracy with two
other named defendants, Raed Noman Al-Anbuke and Wisam Noman Al-Anbuke, to act in the
United States das agents of the government of Iraq without notification to the Attorney
General, in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 951 (2000). The two defendants bearing the name
Al-Anbuke are sons of a former Iraqi diplomat who have already pleaded guilty, been
sentenced to time served, and left the United States ,I believe for Iraq. Their charged
conduct, as explained by the government in pretrial submissions,involved principally
obtaining the names of expatriate Iraqis in this country who were acting against
the interest of the Saddam Hussein regime, and turning them over to IIS.
It bears emphasis here that it was never the government's theory that Lindauer
participated in such conduct, or indeed that she even knew the Al-Anbuke brothers. Rather,
she and they were charged together only because both allegedly conspired with IIS."

How on earth could Lindaur's inclusion in the indictment with two unrelated Iraqi nationals be
anything other than a calculated move to smear her. And that was the result, including Lindauer
in the alleged crimes of the Iraqis was used to tear her down again and again. But as Mukasey
pointed out, there was no relationship other than her inclusion in the same indictment. Sad day
for justice and the rule of law.

I agree with you on Mukasey. I wish he'd done more. At the same time, he did toss out this
garbage request to drug her and freed her.

Lindauer appreciates Mukasey and says very kind things about his handling of this case. That's
her experience and I respect that. He did set her free, after all.

There's more to come on Tuesday. It will be very interesting, no doubt, and I suspectd that there
will be a lot more justice dispensed.

[formercia]

22. Mukasey was rewarded, none the less.

If Junior had felt that Mukasey had done them a disservice, he would not have been nominated for Attorney General.

There is one thing you can say about Bush Gang. They reward those those who do them service and punish without mercy, those who slight them in the least way.

Regardless how we traverse the labyrinth and what we perceive in passage, what greets us at the exit is a brief glimpse of reality.

[autorank]

24. Here's a good resource

The Sept. 6th order. I just put it up for you and others to review:
http://www.electionfraudnews.com/Resources/MukaseyOrder.htm

A Bush appointment is a huge negative, that's for sure. The frustrating thing about Mukasey is that
he doesn't close the loop and sufficient evidence existed to get him the job.

Mukasey has shown "glimpses of reality" but, frankly, I think the WTC bombing 1 trial, sitting
across from those folks, skewed his opinions and created a condition where he fell in line enough
to convince Bush/someone in that crew to accept him.

I've got an editorial I'll leave from Mukasey that shows this.

[autorank]

25. Judge (not A.G.) Mukasey stuff

http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/HL0709/S00326.htm

Let’s look at how he handled two very big cases.

In 2002, Jose Padilla, a U.S. Citizen, was arrested as a material witness and eventually charged with terrorist activities. Judge Mukasey issued the order for the arrest and detention. Yet the White House objected to the man even having an attorney. They argued intensely that Padilla must be denied legal counsel since any attorney-client contact would result in the defendant leaking information to associates through his attorney.

Mukasey was a judge of the U. S.. District Court, Southern District of New York, a position that he held for nearly two decades. He ruled that Padilla had the right to counsel; the right to see and work with a lawyer. His 2002 ruling was clear.

Padilla's statutorily granted right to present facts to the court in connection with this petition will be destroyed utterly if he is not allowed to consult with counsel. On the facts presented in this case, the balance weighs heavily in Padilla's favor.

The White House was outraged at the very thought of this defendant having an attorney. They were also upset with Mukasey. The Washington Post reported that “Cheney's office insisted on sending (Ted) Olson's deputy, Paul Clement, on what Justice Department lawyers called a suicide mission to tell Judge Michael B. Mukasey that he had erred so grossly that he should retract his decision.�

Mukasey was not amused. He had already decided the case. Padilla had a right to counsel. Rather than accept that and move forward, the White House challenged his intelligence and skill as a judge based on petty technicalities.

In reaffirming his original order, Judge Mukasey issued a devastating retort: “The government's arguments here are permeated with the pinched legalism one usually encounters from non-lawyers.� In this case, the Judge was sending a message to the trial lawyers and the absent Solicitor General, Ted Olson. He judged their arguments amateurish.

------------------------
http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/HL0709/S00326.htm

More Routine Judging – Equity and Humor

Mukasey handled the case of Susan P. Lindauer who was accused of being an Iraqi intelligence agent in an 11 count indictment in 2003. A number of psychiatrists determined that she had a serious mental illness which involved paranoid and persecutory delusions and hallucinations.

While the he government held her without bail, it petitioned Judge Mukasey to allow the forced administration of antipsychotic medication. The argument was that symptom relief would restore Ms. Lindauer to reality and thus allow a trial.

Judge Mukasey was quick to point out that “There is no indication that Lindauer ever came close to influencing anyone, or could have.� He then denied the request for forced medication and had Lindauer released from jail. Her court appointed attorney Sanford Talkin called the decision a difficult one that was both “right� and “just.�

The governments attempt to punish someone in tragic circumstances for a crime not committed was foiled.

----------------------
WSJ Editorial

This is not at all positive:

Two Wall Street Journal Articles Show a More Doctrinaire Side

Mukasey’s Wall Street Journal article defending the Patriot Act will raise concerns. The first is titled “The Spirit of Liberty Before attacking the Patriot Act, try reading it,� Wall Street Journal 5/10/2004 (http://tinyurl.com/278gc)

He argued:

"Most of the provisions have nothing to do with the current debate, including provisions authorizing purchase of equipment for police departments and the like, and provisions tightening restrictions on money laundering, including restrictions on the export of currency, which is the lifeblood of terrorists."

--------------------------

Water boarding is torture. And 1 million dead Iraqi civilians constitutes a war crime by Bush-Cheney even if the million were killed in civil strive (not by the US directly). Why? Because THEY KNEW THERE WOULD BE CIVIL STRIFE. Lindauer was one of those who warned them in no uncertain terms.

[bluesmail]

7. NeoCons are getting braver, daring. Everyday there's

Orwellian Stories telling of kidnapping, beatings, people whisked away without trials. They must feel cornered and asking what to do next, because the first few helped put them in the corner. It's getting more and more outrageous. Conyers, Waxman and Kucinich are doing what we the people pay them to do. (I know I missed a few that are in the above's rank) Drip Drip

[librechik]

8. like a trapped desperate animal

:scared:

[pleah]

9. K&R I wonder how many others there are out there that we haven't heard

about. I have great respect for those strong enough and brave enough to stand up to these evil people in our government. They are the true patriots.

[bleever]

10. Any American could be caught up in this nightmare.

Unfathomably despicable.

K&R.

[autorank]

28. If you've got the right information for the wrong time and PTB is at risk,

then any American is at risk. Then of course, there are the mistakes - when they get your name by
mistake and raid your home.

What a load of nonsense. People need to be held accountable.

[mmonk]

12. Thanks for this.

[autorank]

13. You know, I hoped that you'd run this and I figured

you hadn't. It always helps to look:dunce:

THANKS, I'm honored :toast:

[livvy]

15. Whaddy'a mean "Error, you've already rec'd this thread"?....

Sometimes once is just not enough!

:hi: Sis

:applause: Auto

[autorank]

16. Mr. Error here.

Big things happening on Tuesday, I suspect.

There are other shoes to drop in this case. When they're all on the floor, it's going to
be a big mess.

Wonder what former Judge Mukasey would think if it turns out all the mental health excuses for
locking SL up are baseless?

[tkmorris]

17. I'm heartened that someone remembers journalism

That's the way it's supposed to be done. Thanks autorank.

[autorank]

27. Thank you tkmorris!

That's much appreciated.

We'll see how things unfold on Tuesday.

Take care, Mike

[Swamp Rat]

18. Thank you autorank!

:applause:

[autorank]

26. Thank you!

Any impeachment art yet;)?

[Kaleko]

19. K & R

[G_j]

21. my god, how terrible!

sickening, actually

[seemslikeadream]

23. k and r

[countryjake]

29. kick