Can You say 'Kangaroo Court', (no offense to skippy!)

posted by The Vidiot @ 6:02 PM Permalink

Al-Qaida suspect appears before tribunal

GUANTANAMO BAY NAVAL BASE, Cuba -- A suspected al-Qaida terrorist charged in a 2002 grenade attack in Afghanistan appeared Tuesday before a military tribunal, but the judge would not tell the defense attorney which laws would apply in the rarely used proceedings. [...] when pressed by the defense attorney, Army Lt. Col. Thomas Bogar, the judge would not specify which set of laws would guide the trial.

The chief military prosecutor, who cannot be identified for security reasons

Stop right there! An American, on American soil*, prosecuting a foreigner held by American's, can't be identified because of 'security!' What is wrong with this picture when a prosecutor is afraid to reveal his name but the judge and the defense attorney put their names on the record?

Let's recap: The Judge won't tell the defendant the charges, the prosecutor refuses to be identified, the defendant's lawyer is kept in the dark, (just not in a cage), and the defendant doesn't speak the language and doesn't have an interpreter.

Next:

the judge can choose from several standards of law "to provide a full and fair trial."

I'm sorry, didn't we fight several wars and many constitutional battles to establish what constitutes a fair trial!?

Critics of the military tribunals say it is a poorly planned ad hoc process.

Me thinks: instead of 'ad hoc', it's closer to 'cum hoc ergo propter hoc.'

Standard disclaimer ... or ... why do I even have to say this: Look, ideally we have the best system of government that has ever existed. But we have to maintain those ideals for it to mean anything. This 'process' at Gitmo is not just beneath us as humans, it violates everything we stand for as a nation.


* Yes, Gitmo is American soil, we rented it, we occupy it, we soiled it.