'Kangaroo Courts': Guantanamo
No suprise here, the first four detainees at Guantanamo to have a hearing have been adjudged "enemy combatants." They only got the hearing after the Supreme Court said they were entitled to them. Rumsfeld and the Bush Administration settled on rules that ensured a lack of due process and fairness....such as the detainees would not be allowed to have a lawyer present at the hearing; would not be allowed to review all the evidence against them; and would have their fates decided by three military officers.
The government's flaunting of the Court's order could lead to a constitutional crisis--if a federal judge would find Rumsfeld and Ashcroft in contempt. That is not likely to happen. Here is about all you are going to hear about the proceedings--a report from the Associated Press, without a byline. The Pentagon allowed a few "journalists" to sit in on some of the hearings of the nameless and hapless prisoners, on the ground that it review (and presumably "correct") the reports before they were printed.
Have I been dreaming through the last half of the 20th century? Did I just wake up to read about hearings in the Soviet Union or China? Sure seems like it.
I'm in the midst of reading Elaine's new book, The War on Civil Liberties: How Bush and Ashcroft have Dismantled the Bill of Rights. You ought to pick up a copy--while we still have a Bill of Rights to protect.
| < Get Well Wishes for Charlie Watts | Mayhem in Iraq: Weekend Edition > |