According to the government, Mr. Munaf confessed to concocting the plot with friends and relatives and only acted as if he were a victim.
But Jonathan Hafetz, a lawyer with the Brennan Center for Justice at the New York University School of Law, said Mr. Munaf's confession was made under torture.
Mr. Munaf is being held by the American military at Camp Cropper near the Baghdad International Airport.
Because Mr. Munaf is a United States citizen, Mr. Hafetz and his other lawyers have asked Judge of the United States District Court here to order the military to maintain custody and not give him to the Iraqi criminal court.
In papers filed with the court, Mr. Hafetz said that United States military officials had intervened with the Iraqi judge and insisted that Mr. Munaf be convicted and sentenced to death. Earlier, the Justice Department said that Judge Lamberth should not intervene in the case for several reasons. The department said that Mr. Munaf's claims that he could face torture and physical harm if transferred to Iraqi custody were only speculative and based on news reports of abuse in the government's prison system.
The above is from Neil A. Lewis' "Lawyers Seek to Free U.S. Citizen Held in Iraq" in this morning's New York Times and we addressed the issue yesterday. The paper also offer Michael Luo and Qais Mizher's "26 Killed in Revenge Attacks Outside Baghdad" about retaliation killings going on in Balad:"
The killings in the town of Balad , about 50 miles from Baghdad, were in response to the slaughter of 14 Shiite construction workers whose beheaded bodies were found Friday in an orchard in Dhuluiya, a Sunni town, said Hamad al-Qaisi, governor of Salahuddin Province, which includes both towns.
The workers had gone to Dhuluiya on Thursday to help rebuild houses and were on their way back when they were kidnapped by Sunni militiamen, said another government official from Salahedin who spoke on condition of anonymity.
When their corpses were eventually brought back to Balad, angry mobs gathered in the streets clamoring for revenge, Mr. al-Qaisi said.
Armed residents set up a checkpoint inside Balad's central market area, where many people from Dhuluiya come to shop, he said, as well as one on the road between the two towns.
At least 26 bullet-riddled bodies, all believed to be Sunni residents of Dhuluiya, were found around Balad on Saturday, he said.
The reporters also note that a prisoner at Camp Boca died (How? Who knows? Never accept the initial statements) and that two American troops died yesterday. On the latter topic, Martha highlights Ellen Knickmeyer and Muhanned Saif Alden's "Three More U.S. Troops Killed Near Baghdad" (Washington Post):
Three U.S. soldiers were killed Saturday when their vehicle was hit by a roadside bomb, the U.S. military said in a statement Sunday. Their deaths raised the toll to 49 U.S. troops killed so far for the month, putting October on track to be one of the deadliest months in the war for American soldiers.
The three soldiers were killed at about 11 a.m. Saturday, local time, when their vehicle was struck by an improvised explosive device south of Baghdad, the military said. Their names were withheld pending notification of their families. The military did not release any other details of the incident.
The U.S. military earlier reported that a bomb killed an American soldier southwest of Baghdad on Friday and that a Marine died "due to enemy action" Saturday in the western province of Anbar.
The current total for American fatalities in Iraq is 2764 since the start of the illegal invasion and 52 for the month thus far.
That's it for this site this morning. (Isaiah read Ruth's report and kindly offered to wait on the comic.) The e-mail address is common_ills@yahoo.com.
the new york times
david e. sanger
michael luo
qais mizher
ellen knickmeyer
muhanned saif alden
the washington post