marjorie says...
In the latest episode in the ongoing torture and illegal detainment practices of the United States, U.S. military hearings begin this week for 14 prisoners at Guantanamo Bay who were originally held last year in secret CIA prisons elsewhere. The fact that there was an uproar about the secret CIA prisons, that they were even exposed in the first place, does say a lot about the ability of the international community (which includes U.S. citizens) to find information and effectively pressure the U.S. government. The fact that the secret prisons existed to begin with, on the other hand, is a damning indictment of our country, particularly given how we like to make pronouncements about the human rights records of other countries.
According to the NYT, the hearings ..."are to determine formally if the prisoners, who include the accused mastermind of the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, Khalid Shaikh Mohammed, and 13 others, are properly held as enemy combatants and may be tried by special military courts."
So, let's get this straight: The U.S. military is holding secret hearings in order to determine if these fellows are "enemy combatants," and I presume therefore "prisoners of war," in order to determine if they can then try them in military courts, which do not provide them with the due process all others are supposed to be afforded in the U.S. courts. Am I getting the circularity of this right?
How unbiased do folks think the U.S. military is going to be? Well, according to Bryan Whitman of the Pentagon, "I think everybody recognises these individuals are unique for the role they have played in terrorist operations and in combat operations against US forces."
That gives us a little bit of a clue.
Reading further in the press reports, we find that:
- No defense counsel will be present;
- Transcripts will be released that are heavily edited for "national security";
- No prisoners names will be released in the transcripts;
- The circumstances of their capture will not be released; and
- The Defense Department refuses to say whether or not they will release in the transcripts any allegations by the prisoners of torture.
So, essentially, there are a number of men who were abducted by the CIA and taken to secret prisons, where we all know they were tortured. They were then transferred to Guantanamo Bay after the public found out about those prisons and reacted accordingly (because many of us do operate from a set of ideals and values). Now the military is secretly determining if they get to try the prisoners in military tribunals.
Folks, our country is founded on checks and balances. The only way these prisoners get a fair shake is if another body has access to all that secret information and has equal power to check the military in these proceedings. Should that body be public? Maybe, maybe not. But it should definitely exist, and it should be completely independent.
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