A Nation of Laws
Our country is holding accused terrorists in Guantanamo Bay in a sort of limbo that thus far has not included bringing them to trial and letting them speak for themselves. We all know that this is not right, and the Supreme Court has declared it illegal. They have to be charged, and they have to be tried. A military tribunal is the best this administration will allow, and the standards for those tribunals are being written.
The statute provides for the admissibility of hearsay evidence, an issue of contention among defense lawyers. Dell'Orto said the admission of such evidence should not necessarily weigh against defendants, since they, too, can enter such evidence, which thereby "levels the playing field, if you will."
And both sides can attack the credibility of witnesses, he said.
Brig. Gen. Thomas Hemingway, a legal adviser to the Office of Military Commissions, told reporters that the manual provides for a "clear prohibition of evidence obtained by torture" if it was obtained after December 30, 2005.
But if it was obtained before that time, and if the judge determines that it is reliable, it may be admitted, he said.
No evidence -- not even classified evidence -- will be admissible that the accused has not seen, but the manual lays out procedures under which the government could ask the judge to rule on whether "certain matters should be redacted," or summarized or replaced with substitute evidence, Hemingway said.
This country has earned the right to be ashamed of itself. If we cannot defend the accused from a standard of behavior that is not allowed in our regular courts, we are not prosecuting a case, we are railroading the accused.
The threat that these prisoners pose to this country is a real one. They are causing us to violate the most precious rights of anyone, citizen or not.
If I accused you of theft because some one else told me you stole, it would be laughable. These accused terrorists are being tried with that measure of justice that would allow that. In some cases, money was paid to those who told the stories about these accused. The information given by a former interrogator at the camp, Erik Saar, is pretty disgusting
We ourselves cannot verify that they were enemy combatants picked up on the battlefield, as General Miller has repeatedly said to the media. A number of them were turned over to us by foreign governments, and the Northern Alliance, who were paid a bounty for them. There wasn't this extensive vetting process, as the Pentagon would lead you to believe. What extensive vetting process allows an 88-year-old to end up at Guantanamo Bay? And we are operating outside of the scope of the Geneva Conventions. Some of the things I saw were not only what I would consider unethical, but ineffective.
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To be honest, most of the visitors who were coming to the island knew what techniques were approved. They knew we were interrogating people in the middle of the night. They knew there were people that were subject to sleep deprivation. They knew that certain stress positions were allowed. These were leaders.
The prisoners of Guantanamo are a real threat to our standing in the world, and the basis for our self-respect. The treatment we have allowed in Guantanamo will define our real standards if we do not renounce and forbig it.
This country cannot hold its head up while we use the excuse of our security to violate basic human values.
The statute provides for the admissibility of hearsay evidence, an issue of contention among defense lawyers. Dell'Orto said the admission of such evidence should not necessarily weigh against defendants, since they, too, can enter such evidence, which thereby "levels the playing field, if you will."
And both sides can attack the credibility of witnesses, he said.
Brig. Gen. Thomas Hemingway, a legal adviser to the Office of Military Commissions, told reporters that the manual provides for a "clear prohibition of evidence obtained by torture" if it was obtained after December 30, 2005.
But if it was obtained before that time, and if the judge determines that it is reliable, it may be admitted, he said.
No evidence -- not even classified evidence -- will be admissible that the accused has not seen, but the manual lays out procedures under which the government could ask the judge to rule on whether "certain matters should be redacted," or summarized or replaced with substitute evidence, Hemingway said.
This country has earned the right to be ashamed of itself. If we cannot defend the accused from a standard of behavior that is not allowed in our regular courts, we are not prosecuting a case, we are railroading the accused.
The threat that these prisoners pose to this country is a real one. They are causing us to violate the most precious rights of anyone, citizen or not.
If I accused you of theft because some one else told me you stole, it would be laughable. These accused terrorists are being tried with that measure of justice that would allow that. In some cases, money was paid to those who told the stories about these accused. The information given by a former interrogator at the camp, Erik Saar, is pretty disgusting
We ourselves cannot verify that they were enemy combatants picked up on the battlefield, as General Miller has repeatedly said to the media. A number of them were turned over to us by foreign governments, and the Northern Alliance, who were paid a bounty for them. There wasn't this extensive vetting process, as the Pentagon would lead you to believe. What extensive vetting process allows an 88-year-old to end up at Guantanamo Bay? And we are operating outside of the scope of the Geneva Conventions. Some of the things I saw were not only what I would consider unethical, but ineffective.
***********************************************
To be honest, most of the visitors who were coming to the island knew what techniques were approved. They knew we were interrogating people in the middle of the night. They knew there were people that were subject to sleep deprivation. They knew that certain stress positions were allowed. These were leaders.
The prisoners of Guantanamo are a real threat to our standing in the world, and the basis for our self-respect. The treatment we have allowed in Guantanamo will define our real standards if we do not renounce and forbig it.
This country cannot hold its head up while we use the excuse of our security to violate basic human values.
Labels: Dirty Tricks, Guantanamo Bay, Torture
posted by Ruth at 2:24 AM
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