Will Bush and Rumsfeld listen?

The European Commission urged the United States on Friday to avoid applying the death penalty to six foreign captives designated by President Bush to be tried before U.S. military commissions.

The 15-nation bloc is a fierce opponent of capital punishment and the EU's executive Commission said use of the death penalty could undermine international support for the so-called U.S.-led war on terrorism.

``The death sentence cannot be applied by military courts as this would make the international coalition lose the integrity and credibility it has so far enjoyed,'' said Commission spokesman Diego de Ojeda, recalling comments by External Relations chief Chris Patten.

Reuters reports here that two British citizens are among those targeted by Bush for military trial and possible execution.

Britain's Foreign Office said Moazzam Begg and Feroz Abbasi were among six prisoners at Camp X-ray in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, whom President Bush designated on Thursday for military trial.

....Human rights campaigners questioned whether they would receive a fair trial. "The U.S. Department of Defense will appoint the judges and prosecutors, control the defense and make up the rules of the trial," said Stephen Jakobi, Director of Fair Trials Abroad. "We have got to the point where the hallmarks of the Cuban exercise are those of a failed and cynical public relations stunt," he added.

The Mirror reports that pleas to Bush to eliminate the death penalty as an option for the British men have "fallen on deaf ears."

Is it just a coincidence that Bush makes this announcement on July 3, when Americans are embarking on a weekend long celebration of their independence and less attuned than usual to the news? No. This is the sneakiest and most secretive Administration in recent times, if not in history. We'd put nothing past them.