Cowboy Justice
We've just had 7+ years of cowboy diplomacy, so it should come as no surprise that the Bush administration and the Pentagon intend to use the same techniques in their handling of the trials of the detainees at Guantanamo Bay. Fortunately for those of us who have a different view of justice, the forces of "try 'em, then hang 'em" have been stalled at the starting blocks. From NY Times:
When military officials announced war crimes charges against six detainees for the Sept. 11 attacks two months ago, the move was part of an effort to accelerate the Bush administration’s sluggish military commission system, which has yet to hold a single trial.
But the Sept. 11 case immediately hit a snag. Military defense lawyers were in short supply, and even now, two months later, not one of the six detainees has met his military lawyer.
The delay in getting lawyers to those detainees, which largely grew out of a struggle within the Pentagon over legal resources, is indicative of the confounding obstacles facing this latest effort to expedite the military tribunals.
...there is a growing consensus among lawyers inside and outside the military that few of those cases are likely to actually come to trial before the end of the Bush administration. [Emphasis added]
The lawyers charged with defending the detainees, some of them facing the death penalties still have not met with their 'clients.' The lawyers haven't actually heard the other side of the story directly from those who face trial, nor have the lawyers been able to assess their mental and physical competence to stand trial, much less to testify in their own behalf. But that's just part of the problems facing the lawyers.
Guantánamo military defense lawyers have long said they are not given resources by the Pentagon to match the investigative capability of the military prosecution, which draws on the Federal Bureau of Investigation, Central Intelligence Agency and other agencies. Until a handful of new military lawyers were appointed this week to represent Sept. 11 defendants, the military defense office was sharply outnumbered, with 15 defense lawyers to battle 31 prosecutors.
But Brig. Gen. Thomas W. Hartmann, an official of the Office of Military Commissions at the Pentagon, argued that the defense office was staffed well enough to have begun to defend the Sept. 11 case the day it was announced.
Yeah, right.
Gen. Hartmann just divulged what cowboy justice actually involves.
"Judge?" Check.
"Lawyers?" Check.
"Rope?" Check.
"OK, let's go get us some justice."
Note: For an inside view of what is actually going on at Gitmo from the perspective of a civilian defense attorney struggling to provide some real justice to the detainees, I recommend highly H. Candace Gorman's The Guantanamo Blog.
When military officials announced war crimes charges against six detainees for the Sept. 11 attacks two months ago, the move was part of an effort to accelerate the Bush administration’s sluggish military commission system, which has yet to hold a single trial.
But the Sept. 11 case immediately hit a snag. Military defense lawyers were in short supply, and even now, two months later, not one of the six detainees has met his military lawyer.
The delay in getting lawyers to those detainees, which largely grew out of a struggle within the Pentagon over legal resources, is indicative of the confounding obstacles facing this latest effort to expedite the military tribunals.
...there is a growing consensus among lawyers inside and outside the military that few of those cases are likely to actually come to trial before the end of the Bush administration. [Emphasis added]
The lawyers charged with defending the detainees, some of them facing the death penalties still have not met with their 'clients.' The lawyers haven't actually heard the other side of the story directly from those who face trial, nor have the lawyers been able to assess their mental and physical competence to stand trial, much less to testify in their own behalf. But that's just part of the problems facing the lawyers.
Guantánamo military defense lawyers have long said they are not given resources by the Pentagon to match the investigative capability of the military prosecution, which draws on the Federal Bureau of Investigation, Central Intelligence Agency and other agencies. Until a handful of new military lawyers were appointed this week to represent Sept. 11 defendants, the military defense office was sharply outnumbered, with 15 defense lawyers to battle 31 prosecutors.
But Brig. Gen. Thomas W. Hartmann, an official of the Office of Military Commissions at the Pentagon, argued that the defense office was staffed well enough to have begun to defend the Sept. 11 case the day it was announced.
Yeah, right.
Gen. Hartmann just divulged what cowboy justice actually involves.
"Judge?" Check.
"Lawyers?" Check.
"Rope?" Check.
"OK, let's go get us some justice."
Note: For an inside view of what is actually going on at Gitmo from the perspective of a civilian defense attorney struggling to provide some real justice to the detainees, I recommend highly H. Candace Gorman's The Guantanamo Blog.
Labels: Guantanamo Bay, Justice
posted by Diane at 4:03 AM
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