Civil Liberties Articles & News - Veterans For Common Sense

Veterans for Common Sense (VCS) was formed in August 2002 as a nonprofit 501(c)3 organization by war veterans who believe that we, the people of the United States of America, are most secure when our country is free, strong, and responsibly engaged with the world. Our mission, based on the pragmatic ideals of the American patriot Thomas Paine, is to raise the unique and powerful voices of veterans so that our military, veterans, freedom, and national security are protected and enhanced, for ourselves and for future generations.

"We owe a debt to all who served and when we repay that debt to those bravest Americans among us, then we are investing in our future."
~ Barack Obama, August 3, 2009

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Disabled Iraq War Veteran with Service Dog Beaten by McDonalds Employee

October 30, 2009, Brooklyn, New York (Courthouse News Service) - A disabled Army captain who was wounded in Iraq claims McDonald's employees beat him with garbage can lids after he brought his service dog to the restaurant. Luis Montalvan says the attack came as he was photographing the restaurant after he repeatedly complained about the treatment he received there.

Deployment at All Costs: Military Arrests Mom, Sends Child to Protective Serivces

Soldier mom refuses deployment to care for baby

November 16, 2009, Savannah, Georgia (Associated Press) – An Army cook and single mom may face criminal charges after she skipped her deployment flight to Afghanistan because, she said, no one was available to care for her infant son while she was overseas.

Fort Hood Fallout: Camp Lejeune Whistle-Blower Fired

A psychiatrist who tried to prevent Fort Hood-style violence among Marines about to "lose it" instead loses his job

November 16, 2009 (Salon) - Last April, two Marines at Camp Lejeune predicted to a psychiatrist that some Marine back from war was going to "lose it." Concerned, the psychiatrist asked what that meant. One of the Marines responded, "One of these guys is liable to come back with a loaded weapon and open fire."

New York Times Profiles VA and Secretary Shinseki

No Longer a Soldier, Shinseki Has a New Mission

November 11, 2009 (New York Times) - It was a sad homecoming of sorts. On Tuesday, Eric Shinseki, the secretary of veterans affairs, returned to Fort Hood, Tex., where he was a division commander in the mid-1990s, to pay tribute to two veterans affairs employees who died in the shootings there last week.

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Civil Liberties Articles & News

Veterans for Common Sense (VCS) posts articles, news and other related items about Constitutional civil liberties. This section focuses on torture, rendition, domestic spying, the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA), and other Constitutional issues, most often involving the Department of Justice (DoJ), yet sometimes involving the Department of Defense (DoD), Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), and other agencies.

Learn about VCS's FOIA requests here.

Piecing Together Bush's Torture Program

Written by Larry Siems

Monday, 28 September 2009 09:48

The Torture Report, an initiative of the ACLU's National Security Project, aims to give the full account of the Bush administration's torture program. It will bring together everything we know from government documents, investigations, press reports, witness statements and other publications into a single narrative - one that is updated regularly and subject to critical review and improvement as it unfolds.

September 24, 2009 - Today we launch The Torture Report. On this site, over the next several months, we will construct a comprehensive account of the Bush administration's torture program.

Written by Anthony D. Romero

Friday, 25 September 2009 12:50

September 25, 2009 - "Jack, you want to prosecute a member of the Bush administration for assaulting suspected terrorists?"

Written by Daphne Eviatar

Thursday, 24 September 2009 08:42

September 23, 2009 - Just in case he wasn't familiar with it, Sen. Al Franken (D-Minn.) decided to read the Fourth Amendment to the Constitution to David Kris, assistant attorney general of the Justice Department's National Security Division, who was testifying to the Senate Judiciary Committee today to urge reauthorization of expiring provisions of the USA Patriot Act.

Don't Ask, Don't Lie

Written by Harvard Gazette

Wednesday, 23 September 2009 09:19

Humanists honor gay military activist Dan Choi

September 23, 2009 - Lt. Dan Choi is not asking. He is telling.

In an appearance at Harvard last week (Sept. 17), the West Point graduate, Iraq veteran, and Arabic linguist told the story of his coming out this March as a gay man - and his campaign since then to repeal DADT, the military's "don't ask, don't tell" policy.

The Latest Drafts of the History of Torture

Written by Andrew Cohen

Wednesday, 23 September 2009 09:17

September 22, 2009 - Ninety years ago, in the shadow of the Great War, long before the invention of cable news and bloggers, the great American writer and journalist Walter Lippmann wrote in Liberty And The News that:

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