[Peace-discuss] Like Soviet or Nazi show trials

[C. G. Estabrook]

By Paul Kiel - April 29, 2008, 10:06AM

Just another day at Guantanamo, I guess.

On the witness stand was the former chief prosecutor for the tribunals, Col. 
Morris Davis. Called to testify by defense lawyers, he told the court what he'd 
told the press -- that he'd quit after becoming convinced that the political 
appointees overseeing the system were about politics first and justice second, 
that he was told "we can't have acquittals," and that he was pushed to land 
indictments or plea deals before the election. He also said that his superiors 
saw no problem with using confessions obtained through torture, including 
waterboarding. Everything is "fair game," he says he was told, "let the judge 
sort it out."

And then there's Salim Ahmed Hamdan, the alleged driver for Osama bin Laden. 
Hamdan's lawyers say that interrogators beat him and sexually humiliated him, 
among other things, and are arguing that he's unfit to stand trial because he's 
essentially been driven crazy by spending 22 hours in solitary confinement for 
the past several years. His lawyers say "he is suicidal, hears voices, has 
flashbacks, talks to himself and says the restrictions of Guantánamo 'boil his 
mind.'"

Nevertheless, Hamdan was there yesterday -- sort of:

	But Hamdan, during the morning session, also appeared to show some evidence of 
mental deterioration, which his attorneys have ascribed to mistreatment and 
lengthy solitary confinement. He seemed in a daze as he was led into court in 
his khaki detention uniform.

	He then engaged in a short, subdued rant to Allred about how he believes he is 
not being afforded human rights and would like to use the bathroom without 
soldiers watching him. He also tried at one point to get up from the defense 
table to leave the room. "I refuse participating in this, and I refuse all the 
lawyers operating on my behalf," Hamdan said. He returned for the afternoon 
session in traditional Yemeni garb and a sport coat and agreed to continue.

And just to complete the context for the scene, the Post notes, is the fact that 
the Supreme Court is nearing "a decision on whether the Military Commissions Act 
of 2006 that laid the legal foundation for these hearings violates the 
Constitution by barring any of the approximately 275 remaining Guantanamo Bay 
prisoners from forcing a civilian judicial review of their detention." In the 
meantime, the ugliness of Gitmo is on full display.

<http://tpmmuckraker.talkingpointsmemo.com/2008/04/todays_must_read_326.php>