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Gandalf Grey
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U.S. military to seek death penalty in Gitmo's kangaroo court
By Mary Shaw
Created Feb 12 2008 - 6:40am
As the New York Times reported [1] yesterday, "Military prosecutors have
decided to seek the death penalty for six Guantanamo detainees who are to be
charged with central roles in the Sept. 11 terror attacks."
If anyone deserves harsh punishment, it's the people responsible for 9/11.
But those are my emotions talking. Justice is supposed to be a sober matter,
not an emotional one.
I have long held that the death penalty is about revenge, not justice. And,
in the hands of the corrupt and biased [2] U.S. military tribunal system at
Guantanamo, it's of particular concern for a number of reasons, not the
least of which is the prospect that this is likely to fuel more terrorism
against the U.S. Besides that, it's just wrong.
The world is watching, and much of the world disapproves of the way we're
handling things in Guantanamo.
According to an article [3] published today in the British newspaper The
Independent:
The decision to use Mohammed and the others as guinea-pigs in a
constitutionally dubious legal proceeding is likely to trigger a firestorm
of anti-American sentiment in the Islamic world and spark a fractious
domestic debate in an already highly charged presidential election year.
[...]
"What we are looking at is a series of show trials by the Bush
administration that are really devoid of any due process considerations,"
said Vincent Warren, the executive director head of Centre for
Constitutional Rights, which represents many Guantanamo detainees. "Rather
than playing politics the Bush administration should be seeking speedy and
fair trials," he said. "These are trials that are going to be based on
torture as confessions as well as secret evidence. There is no way that this
can be said to be fair especially as the death penalty could be an outcome."
While few doubts have been raised, domestically or internationally, about
the men's involvement in the attacks on New York and Washington, just about
everything else about their treatment has been bitterly contested and is
likely to continue to be contested, inside the courtroom and out. Everything
is laden with potential controversy - the decision to try the six men
together rather than individually, the proposed venue at Guantanamo Bay,
where all six are being held, the threatened use of the death penalty, and
perhaps the most controversial question of all: the admissibility of
evidence gathered through waterboarding and other coercive techniques
generally defined as torture.
It is said that a society can be judged by how it treats its prisoners. In
the "war on terror", the world is judging us harshly -- and with good
reason.
The U.S. used to stand for freedom. Now the world looks at us and sees a
nation that tortures people, deprives them of their basic human rights and
due process, and then executes them -- all while waving the American flag in
one hand and the Bible in the other.
--
NOTICE: This post contains copyrighted material the use of which has not
always been authorized by the copyright owner. I am making such material
available to advance understanding of
political, human rights, democracy, scientific, and social justice issues. I
believe this constitutes a 'fair use' of such copyrighted material as
provided for in section 107 of the US Copyright
Law. In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107
"A little patience and we shall see the reign of witches pass over, their
spells dissolve, and the people recovering their true sight, restore their
government to its true principles. It is true that in the meantime we are
suffering deeply in spirit,
and incurring the horrors of a war and long oppressions of enormous public
debt. But if the game runs sometimes against us at home we must have
patience till luck turns, and then we shall have an opportunity of winning
back the principles we have lost, for this is a game where principles are at
stake."
-Thomas Jefferson
By Mary Shaw
Created Feb 12 2008 - 6:40am
As the New York Times reported [1] yesterday, "Military prosecutors have
decided to seek the death penalty for six Guantanamo detainees who are to be
charged with central roles in the Sept. 11 terror attacks."
If anyone deserves harsh punishment, it's the people responsible for 9/11.
But those are my emotions talking. Justice is supposed to be a sober matter,
not an emotional one.
I have long held that the death penalty is about revenge, not justice. And,
in the hands of the corrupt and biased [2] U.S. military tribunal system at
Guantanamo, it's of particular concern for a number of reasons, not the
least of which is the prospect that this is likely to fuel more terrorism
against the U.S. Besides that, it's just wrong.
The world is watching, and much of the world disapproves of the way we're
handling things in Guantanamo.
According to an article [3] published today in the British newspaper The
Independent:
The decision to use Mohammed and the others as guinea-pigs in a
constitutionally dubious legal proceeding is likely to trigger a firestorm
of anti-American sentiment in the Islamic world and spark a fractious
domestic debate in an already highly charged presidential election year.
[...]
"What we are looking at is a series of show trials by the Bush
administration that are really devoid of any due process considerations,"
said Vincent Warren, the executive director head of Centre for
Constitutional Rights, which represents many Guantanamo detainees. "Rather
than playing politics the Bush administration should be seeking speedy and
fair trials," he said. "These are trials that are going to be based on
torture as confessions as well as secret evidence. There is no way that this
can be said to be fair especially as the death penalty could be an outcome."
While few doubts have been raised, domestically or internationally, about
the men's involvement in the attacks on New York and Washington, just about
everything else about their treatment has been bitterly contested and is
likely to continue to be contested, inside the courtroom and out. Everything
is laden with potential controversy - the decision to try the six men
together rather than individually, the proposed venue at Guantanamo Bay,
where all six are being held, the threatened use of the death penalty, and
perhaps the most controversial question of all: the admissibility of
evidence gathered through waterboarding and other coercive techniques
generally defined as torture.
It is said that a society can be judged by how it treats its prisoners. In
the "war on terror", the world is judging us harshly -- and with good
reason.
The U.S. used to stand for freedom. Now the world looks at us and sees a
nation that tortures people, deprives them of their basic human rights and
due process, and then executes them -- all while waving the American flag in
one hand and the Bible in the other.
--
NOTICE: This post contains copyrighted material the use of which has not
always been authorized by the copyright owner. I am making such material
available to advance understanding of
political, human rights, democracy, scientific, and social justice issues. I
believe this constitutes a 'fair use' of such copyrighted material as
provided for in section 107 of the US Copyright
Law. In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107
"A little patience and we shall see the reign of witches pass over, their
spells dissolve, and the people recovering their true sight, restore their
government to its true principles. It is true that in the meantime we are
suffering deeply in spirit,
and incurring the horrors of a war and long oppressions of enormous public
debt. But if the game runs sometimes against us at home we must have
patience till luck turns, and then we shall have an opportunity of winning
back the principles we have lost, for this is a game where principles are at
stake."
-Thomas Jefferson