- Joined
- Aug 27, 2005
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On the heels of revelations that torture was used in Guantanamo, comes a case where evidence against a suspect does not exist. At best, this is sloppy work, and at worst, the evidence may very well have been fabricated.
A military prosecutor, who quit his position because of a crisis of conscience, has now talked. The case? A teenager who was picked up and sent to Gitmo, after a bomb wounded 2 US soldiers. the problem? Actually, there are 2 problems:
1) The evidence, which does not exist, but somehow magically disappeared.
2) His signed confession. The accused is functionally illiterate in his own language, is not Iranian so does not speak Farsi, and the confession itself was in Farsi. His signature on the written confession was his thumbprint, obtained after Afghan authorities told him that they would kill his wife and children if he did not affix his thumbprint to the document.
For generations, the USA was seen as a nation that others looked up to because we practiced the Democracy and freedom we preached. But in one fell swoop, we have become like those we condemn, willing to do whatever it takes, including trying people in kangaroo courts.
We cannot win the war against the Taliban if we decide to be like them. I am glad that the first business of the Obama administration is going to be to close down Gitmo, because it is a symbol - A symbol that that represents the worst kind of human behavior.
The prosecutor has now filed a brief in Federal court, attesting that detainees cannot receive fair trials. The brief itself is in support of the petition seeking the release of the detainee he was originally assigned to prosecute.
Article is here.
A military prosecutor, who quit his position because of a crisis of conscience, has now talked. The case? A teenager who was picked up and sent to Gitmo, after a bomb wounded 2 US soldiers. the problem? Actually, there are 2 problems:
1) The evidence, which does not exist, but somehow magically disappeared.
2) His signed confession. The accused is functionally illiterate in his own language, is not Iranian so does not speak Farsi, and the confession itself was in Farsi. His signature on the written confession was his thumbprint, obtained after Afghan authorities told him that they would kill his wife and children if he did not affix his thumbprint to the document.
For generations, the USA was seen as a nation that others looked up to because we practiced the Democracy and freedom we preached. But in one fell swoop, we have become like those we condemn, willing to do whatever it takes, including trying people in kangaroo courts.
We cannot win the war against the Taliban if we decide to be like them. I am glad that the first business of the Obama administration is going to be to close down Gitmo, because it is a symbol - A symbol that that represents the worst kind of human behavior.
The prosecutor has now filed a brief in Federal court, attesting that detainees cannot receive fair trials. The brief itself is in support of the petition seeking the release of the detainee he was originally assigned to prosecute.
Article is here.
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