The Pentagon, in response to the Supreme Court's decision that it was jailing terrorism suspects without due process, has fashioned a new process. So far nearly 600 men and boys have been held for two years without charges of any kind. Most have been subjected to the "harsh interrogation" tactics of sleep deprivation, standing for hours, strange positions, and all have been held in small open-air cages (with roofs) for more than 23 hours out of the day, in violation of all jailkeeping norms. They have no idea what they are being charged with, if anything. And they've been there for two years and have no idea when they will ever get home, or how.
It all stinks.
All 595 detainees will be given a non-lawyer "personal representative" to aid them in coming before a 3-person military tribunal. The government will have a "rebuttable presumption" in favor of all of their evidence. In other words, the 595 are presumed guilty and must prove their innocence. They must do so in without the aid of a lawyer, any witnesses, any ability to collect or present evidence, and in front of three officers who know that any "innocent" verdicts will shame their superiors.
Why no lawyer? Why no civilian judges? Why no process for witnesses?
This isn't due process at all. It's a railroad.
Worse, this violates everything America stands for.
Ask yourself this: When they put you in Gitmo, how will you get out?
Thursday, July 08, 2004
Gitmo Railroad
Posted by The Law Talking Guy at 5:18 PM
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I suppose the plan is that this new procedure will provoke a new challenge before the courts and that will take another 3 years to work its way through. This buys the Bush administration more time - at least until well after the election in 2004 and possibly after the election in 2005, and 2006.
Their unwillingness to release or charge makes me suspect the following: They won't charge because they have no evidence against these people that would stand even in a normal military tribunal with lawyers etc let alone a civilian court. They won't release because by now they've been torturing these people for years on bad evidence and releasing them would cause yet another torture scandle.
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