Sunday, October 21, 2007

Due process???

Administration arguments against giving detainees the same rights that Americans have have had two main justifications: first, we can't afford to give them the right to be heard in federal court because of the risk that critical national security information would be released; and second, that we can provide a fair process without affording them access to federal court.

Yesterday's Post shows us why the second claim is a fraud, as if we didn't know already.

Politically motivated officials at the Pentagon have pushed for convictions of high-profile detainees ahead of the 2008 elections, the former lead prosecutor for terrorism trials at Guantanamo Bay said last night, adding that the pressure played a part in his decision to resign earlier this month.

Senior defense officials discussed in a September 2006 meeting the "strategic political value" of putting some prominent detainees on trial, said Air Force Col. Morris Davis. He said that he felt pressure to pursue cases that were deemed "sexy" over those that prosecutors believed were the most solid or were ready to go.


This is all from Col. Morris Davis, who resigned his position as the lead Guantanamo prosecutor because of the political pressure he was receiving from the Pentagon's general counsel.

"There was a big concern that the election of 2008 is coming up," Davis said. "People wanted to get the cases going. There was a rush to get high-interest cases into court at the expense of openness."

Remember how we were taught about the show trials in the Soviet Union, and how they proved that the Communists were willing to do anything to suppress their opponents?
How is our justice system any better?

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