Stacking The Deck
It's been clear right from the start that those being held at the Guantanamo gulag were never going to be given a shot at a fair trial, but now even the military lawyers charged with either prosecuting or defending the detainees are speaking out about the perversion of justice involved in the show trials. From today's Los Angeles Times:
The rules governing war-crimes trials here require defense lawyers and prosecutors to inform each other of witnesses they will call and evidence they will present at the military commissions.
But the vague guidance on the process known as discovery doesn't impose any obligation to make timely disclosures. Nor does it oblige the government to make its witnesses available to the defense for pretrial interviews.
Unique to the tribunal system that is governed by neither U.S. criminal law nor the Uniform Code of Military Justice, the commissions allow liberal use of classified evidence that a defendant doesn't get to see and protective orders that shield the identity of witnesses, interrogators and informants.
Stacking the deck? Of course. After the administration dispensed with habeas corpus and the presumption of innocence, what else was left once it became clear that the Supreme Court and the American public were uneasy with just letting hundreds of people to sit and rot thousands of miles from their homes. The extent to which the deck is stacked, however, is stunning, so stunning that military lawyers, including the head prosecutor, are quitting the process rather than take part in the travesty:
The administration's quest to deliver showcase convictions of alleged war criminals ahead of next year's election was a factor in the former chief prosecutor quitting the job two months ago. Air Force Col. Morris Davis cited what he considered inappropriate political pressures on the legal process in his decision to seek reassignment.
As the article points out, behavior being encouraged in this mockery of justice would result in charges of prosecutorial misconduct. Hiding witnesses or exculpatory evidence is simply not tolerated in any system designed to accomplish actual justice, yet that is exactly what is going on here.
The extent to which the government can thwart defense preparation became apparent last week just 36 hours before the Thursday arraignment of Canadian war-crimes suspect Omar Khadr. His Navy lawyer, Lt. Cmdr. William C. Kuebler, learned then that the commissions' hierarchy had known for five years of a U.S. government employee who was an eyewitness to the 2002 firefight in Afghanistan in which Khadr is accused of having thrown the grenade that killed a U.S. Special Forces medic.
The eyewitness' account contradicts the government version of events and could exonerate Khadr of the war crimes with which he is charged: murder, attempted murder, conspiracy, spying and material support for terrorism. [Emphasis adde]
And that's the whole point. The 2008 elections are on the horizon and the current administration wants a few victories before then, victories gained on the backs of a few truly defenseless men.
Rule of Law? Principles of freedom? Pervez Musharraf has a few things he could learn from this administration.
The rules governing war-crimes trials here require defense lawyers and prosecutors to inform each other of witnesses they will call and evidence they will present at the military commissions.
But the vague guidance on the process known as discovery doesn't impose any obligation to make timely disclosures. Nor does it oblige the government to make its witnesses available to the defense for pretrial interviews.
Unique to the tribunal system that is governed by neither U.S. criminal law nor the Uniform Code of Military Justice, the commissions allow liberal use of classified evidence that a defendant doesn't get to see and protective orders that shield the identity of witnesses, interrogators and informants.
Stacking the deck? Of course. After the administration dispensed with habeas corpus and the presumption of innocence, what else was left once it became clear that the Supreme Court and the American public were uneasy with just letting hundreds of people to sit and rot thousands of miles from their homes. The extent to which the deck is stacked, however, is stunning, so stunning that military lawyers, including the head prosecutor, are quitting the process rather than take part in the travesty:
The administration's quest to deliver showcase convictions of alleged war criminals ahead of next year's election was a factor in the former chief prosecutor quitting the job two months ago. Air Force Col. Morris Davis cited what he considered inappropriate political pressures on the legal process in his decision to seek reassignment.
As the article points out, behavior being encouraged in this mockery of justice would result in charges of prosecutorial misconduct. Hiding witnesses or exculpatory evidence is simply not tolerated in any system designed to accomplish actual justice, yet that is exactly what is going on here.
The extent to which the government can thwart defense preparation became apparent last week just 36 hours before the Thursday arraignment of Canadian war-crimes suspect Omar Khadr. His Navy lawyer, Lt. Cmdr. William C. Kuebler, learned then that the commissions' hierarchy had known for five years of a U.S. government employee who was an eyewitness to the 2002 firefight in Afghanistan in which Khadr is accused of having thrown the grenade that killed a U.S. Special Forces medic.
The eyewitness' account contradicts the government version of events and could exonerate Khadr of the war crimes with which he is charged: murder, attempted murder, conspiracy, spying and material support for terrorism. [Emphasis adde]
And that's the whole point. The 2008 elections are on the horizon and the current administration wants a few victories before then, victories gained on the backs of a few truly defenseless men.
Rule of Law? Principles of freedom? Pervez Musharraf has a few things he could learn from this administration.
Labels: Due Process, Guantanamo Bay, habeas corpus
posted by Diane at 4:16 AM
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