Sunday, June 8, 2008

Our shame: Gitmo

A few weeks ago, news was that military judge who'd seemed to be fair was summarily dismissed - no reason cited. This guy had done completely outrageous things, like insist that prosecution provide defense with "evidence". I somehow managed to not comment on this at the time.

Today Think Progress reports that
Gitmo interrogators told to destroy handwritten notes
A military defense lawyer today said that U.S. interrogators at Guantanamo Bay were instructed by the Pentagon “to destroy handwritten notes that might have exposed harsh or even illegal questioning methods.” According to Navy Lt. Commander Bill Kuebler, who is representing Canadian Omar Khadr, interrogators may have “routinely destroyed evidence” that could have been used to defend Khadr and other detainees.
I've said it before: when the Soviets conducted "trials" like this the proceedings were denounced as "show trials", universally condemned by what passed for the civilized world.

Just how are kangaroo courts going to advance our case?

Stop the madness!

[p.s. My Gitmo solution? Close it immediately & release all detainees - even the baddest of the bad... there's simply no way "trials" can be perceived as fair at this point, and I'm aware of no legal basis for continuing to detain these folks. I remind folks that one of the accused was 15 years old at the time of his capture, and a Canadian citizen. Yes - we're putting children on trial!]

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