This is a short diary--I can't stay around due to taking care of my teenage daughter on a Friday night, bit this is just in from the NY Times.
Link Here:
US May Revive Guantanamo Military Courts
Apparently, the Obama administration is changing its mind about Guantanamo. The NY Times reports the following:
The Obama administration is moving toward reviving the military commission system for prosecuting Guantánamo detainees, which was a target of critics during the Bush administration, including Mr. Obama himself.....Continuing the military commissions in any form would probably prompt sharp criticism from human rights groups as well as some of Mr. Obama’s political allies because the troubled system became an emblem of the effort to use Guantánamo to avoid the American legal system.....Officials who work on the Guantánamo issue say administration lawyers have become concerned that they would face significant obstacles to trying some terrorism suspects in federal courts. Judges might make it difficult to prosecute detainees who were subjected to brutal treatment or for prosecutors to use hearsay evidence gathered by intelligence agencies.
And there is this feedback from rights groups:
Human rights groups said Friday that using any form of military commission would be seen as permitting shortcuts that would not be available in existing American courts.
Anthony D. Romero, the executive director of the American Civil Liberties Union, said that Mr. Obama had pledged to return the country to the rule of law and that "continuing with the military commission system would be a retreat from that promise."
Gabor Rona, the international legal director of Human Rights First, said military commissions would only be necessary if the administration wanted to assure convictions that might not otherwise be certain.
"The administration is making a huge mistake," Mr. Rona said, "if they believe getting convictions through suspect methods is more valuable than letting justice take its course."
I am not a lawyer, but to me this doesn't look like the change we canvassed, registered voters and walked our asses off for (at least I did). Anyone have comments that can explain this?