The other Gitmo: In a nutshell, the bit highlighted by emphasis here provides the doleful nugget of what is being undertaken in our good name by the out of control, imperious G. Walker administration.

Officials at the Navy’s brig in Hanahan developed elaborate plans to dodge public scrutiny of its operations to detain enemy combatants, plans that include destroying “critical info,” scrubbing public Web sites, and warning brig staff about the temptations of “high priced offers from news agencies,” a Navy report shows.

The 17-page document also describes how, with relatively short notice, the Naval Consolidated Brig created an expensive prison-within-a-prison, in part to prevent regular inmates from retaliating against the detainees. In this separate facility, a brig official said detainees are accorded protections under the U.S. Constitution, “except where curtailed by higher guidance.” [No. No. No. Article VI of the Constitution: “This Constitution, and the Laws of the United States which shall be made in Pursuance thereof; and all Treaties made, or which shall be made, under the Authority of the United States, shall be the supreme Law of the Land; and the Judges in every State shall be bound thereby, any Thing in the Constitution or Laws of any State to the Contrary notwithstanding. The Senators and Representatives before mentioned, and the Members of the several State Legislatures, and all executive and judicial Officers, both of the United States and of the several States, shall be bound by Oath or Affirmation, to support this Constitution….” — voxd]

The document provides a rare insider’s glimpse into what has emerged as one of the most secretive installations in the government’s anti-terrorism effort. It reveals new details about the challenges of housing high-profile terrorism suspects. It also comes amid a backdrop of lawsuits alleging that the solitary confinement of detainees constitutes torture, and that the administration’s policy of holding terrorism suspects without charges is unconstitutional.

[snip]

While the Pentagon has allowed more than 1,100 visits by reporters and others to detention facilities in Guantanamo, Cuba, military officials have denied media requests to tour the Hanahan brig. In fact, much of the brig’s presentation was devoted to how officials sealed the facility from public scrutiny.

[snip]

Jonathan Hafetz, an attorney for the lone detainee in the facility, Ali Saleh al-Marri, said the document shows how the Bush administration is trying to build a separate detention system unbound by the Constitution. “They’re saying, ‘We’ll follow the Constitution, unless the president tells us not to.’ That’s very significant.”

Jacob Hornberger, president of The Future of Freedom, a libertarian think tank near Washington, D.C., added that “the brig officer has it all wrong. The rights enumerated in the Constitution are not privileges bestowed by federal officials subject to discretionary curtailment. Instead, they are inherent, fundamental rights and guarantees that the Constitution expressly prohibits federal officials, including those in the military, from infringing.”

Plexico said the term “higher guidance” refers to “guidance higher in the military chain of command than the brig and alludes to rights” that are commonly restricted in detention facilities to ensure order. He added that “even active duty military members in good standing do not have the full benefit of the Constitution, i.e., the First Amendment.” [Immaterial. They volunteered and signed contracts accepting the limitations, they were not possibly swept up or labeled arbitrarily outside of standard legal or judicial procedure. — voxd] Article

Making mochi out of Rice: Go savor Keith Olbermann.

In three words: failing the fallen.

The number of U.S. soldiers who have received permanent disability retirement has fallen sharply since 2001, according to the Government Accountability Office.

A March 2006 GAO report shows that 642 soldiers received permanent disability retirement in 2001, compared with 209 in 2005.

The Army Times first reported Friday that critics claim the numbers show the Army is trying to save money by giving wounded soldiers less of a disability rating than they deserve.

“These people are being systematically underrated,” Ron Smith, of Disabled American Veterans, told Army Times. “It’s a bureaucratic game to preserve the budget, and it’s having an adverse affect on servicemembers.”

[snip]

Over the past five years, the Army has also seen a surge in the number of soldiers needing in-patient care, with Medical Evaluation Boards increasing from 6,500 cases in fiscal 2002 to about 11,000 cases in fiscals 2005 and 2006, and Physical Evaluation Boards going from about 9,000 cases in 2001 to a peak of 15,000 cases in 2005, Boyce said. Article