Letters to the Editor
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Oh my God.
I hope that anyone who wants to vote for a Republican over their less favored Democrat this year is reading this.
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At Nuremberg they tried the architects of war, torture, and prison camps outside of the law
I'm not sure this administration can afford the comparison.
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Anon 9:44
I dearly wish you were right. Every morning I wake up and still cannot believe it's not a nightmare and they really haven't been tried for war crimes yet. I don't believe in capital punishment, even for war criminals, but I hope I live to see the day when Bush and Cheney are either in prison or international fugitives like the cave-dweller they should have caught and tried years ago. It is to weep.
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Geeze. What a surprise!
Fixed trials with guaranteed convictions coming from a government so steeped in secrecy and fear that only the fascists could do a better job of proceeding with this kind of Kangaroo Court.
Where is the outrage from the candidates? Congress? MSM? The world is looking at us like we are a bunch of clowns. Man, we truly have lost our Republic...
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The Accidental Administration
Maybe there'll be some kind of "accident" that seems to befall this administration a lot, and the prisoners will all die in a mysterious fire. Or maybe their plane will crash en route to some other facility. Given all of the supposed "Whoopsie!" moments this administration has had over the years, nobody would be surprised, and the spin machine would gloss over it in no time.
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The only way to be fair is not to start
The moment you open up extra-judicial processes, you create the conclusion. The first day that someone is seized and held in permanent detention, it becomes impossible to release them without consequences. As comedians have noted, if they didn't hate America enough to want to attack it before they were seized, tortured, and denied access to trial, they damn sure will. Hence, the declaration of guilt that must follow is a sentence and assessment not of the person's actions, but of the process itself.
There cannot be an acquittal, because we made the guilt the moment we broke all law and morality with these "battlefield" detentions (where the "battlefield" is the globe, as this is "terrorism" that is the enemy).
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Who's shocked?
Our rogue government has painted itself into such a corner with this thing that anything resembling propriety is pretty much off the table.
Let's face it, a valid point is made in that those who have been subjected to incarceration an torture at the hands of our government are now significantly more dangerous than they were. They have been radically destabilized and are prime for recruiting by any number of radical/terrorist organizations.
Besides, those who are found not guilty would undoubtedly be due some sort of compensation, the legal process involved and the rewards themselves would be devastating and would open US procedures and policies up to worldwide scrutiny.
The Bush Administration has left itself no chance to do the right thing should any of the detainees be the innocent victims of a rogue nation.
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Go Ask Alice
The Queen of Hearts has spoken.
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Haynes's provenance
General counsel to the Pentagon William James Haynes II is a protege of David Addington, Cheney's chief of staff and one of the main architects of the Cheney/Bush executive-branch power grab. Addington is probably one of the scariest people in our government, in terms of his life-long goal of realizing the "unitary executive" -- and Haynes is his guy. As civilian general counsel of the Army in the run-up to the first Gulf War, Haynes fought with the Army's top lawyer (a two-star general) over who should control legal issues arising out of that conflict. He's a "good lawyer" in the pejorative sense, and he's been one of the key players in the debacle of our foreign policy since (and before) 9/11. He's symptomatic of the extent to which Cheney's acolytes have infiltrated every office under the purview of the executive branch and who-knows which offices of the other branches. The more we read, the more we see the same names come up over and over, and the more we learn that they're dangerous zealots and they've been burrowing in ever since Watergate. They are truly committed to freeing the president from oversight by Congress and to a large extent by the Supreme Court.
The next president will have a monumental task getting rid of this scourge on our Constitution. Let's hope that we elect someone who will proceed from a commitment to the principle of checks and balances, and that we won't all just relax when our guy is the one holding the reins of unaccountable power.
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That reminds me
Speaking of Nuremberg, when do get to send the Bush gang to The Hague?
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And another thing...
When (and if) the "other side" supplants the present occupants, my guess is that the current occupants will sabotage the considerable amount of underpinning they spent the last eight years implanting into our once democratic Republic. These guys are dangerous and will not relinquish their power so easily. Rove is small potatoes compared to what President Cheney has wrought onto our vestige form of government. Bet on it.
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justice delayed?
i'm still waiting for someone to hang for mylai, or cambodian carpet-bombing.
american justice is situational. it depends on who commits the crime.
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and then
we can punish the american public for their complicity in letting this travesty go on. right.
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Cuba
All day yesterday I listened to the Corporate Media pontificate about mean ole Fidel Castro. I kept wondering if anyone would mention that fact that the majority of political prisoners in Cuba are at Gitmo.
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Can we maybe have real trials?
If Hillary or Barack gets elected, can we bring the Gitmo inmates to the USA, and give them lawyers, and charge them openly, and have open trials according to American law?
Can we hold off on the trials until the next presidential administration comes into office? Would Hillary or Barack prefer not to wait, so that they do not have to deal with this issue?
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More on Cuba
Judge for yourself.
From Amnesty International quote
http://www.amnesty.org/en/detention
"Current campaign: Close Guantánamo
It is now more than five years since the USA opened its prison camp for ‘war on terror’ suspects at the US naval base in Guantánamo Bay, Cuba.
A total of 759 people have been detained there and, despite widespread international condemnation, hundreds of people of more than 30 nationalities remain imprisoned without charge.
Amnesty International sees Guantánamo Bay is a symbol of injustice and abuse and is campaigning for its closure."
Then regarding Cuba
http://www.amnestyusa.org/document.php?lang=e&id=ENGAMR250032007
"Prisoners of conscience
At least 67 prisoners of conscience -- people such as teachers, journalists and human rights defenders detained for their peaceful activities -- are currently held in prisons across Cuba, following unfair trials that failed to uphold international standards.
AI is currently reviewing the cases of dozens of other prisoners who could also be considered prisoners of conscience.
13 men and women are serving their sentences outside prison because of health concerns.
1 prisoner of conscience was released during 2006."
Thats just comparing Gitmo to Communist Cuba. There are political prisoners in mainland USA also. Don Siegelman is the most prominent.
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article19241.htm
Its shamefull that we look bad compared to a Dictatorship.