[Peace-discuss] American barbarians

[C. G. Estabrook]

[The Russians began withdrawing from Afghanistan 21 years ago today.  What would 
we say if they were preparing "military commissions" to try people they'd 
kidnapped and held without charge or trial in Siberia? Our contempt for such 
barbarians is no more than Obama and his supporters deserve.  --CGE]

	REVIVING THE MILITARY COMMISSIONS.

Obama's decision to revive the military commissions is a contradiction of his 
campaign promise to abolish the military commissions. The AP reports that only 
20 of the 241 detainees at Guantanamo will be tried under military commissions. 
The number is not a significant departure from those tried under Bush.

“Only around 12, were ever even presented with charges before a commission, only 
3 were ever convicted," says the ACLU's Jonathan Hafetz. "Even during the Bush 
administration there was a recognition that only a relatively small percentage 
were going to be tried by military commission.” Hafetz is also skeptical of the 
idea that the administration can "save" the commissions by adhering to stricter 
rules of evidence governing the admission of hearsay, which is not allowed in 
civilian criminal trials, or the banning of evidence gained from torture. "There 
will be an attempt to continue to launder coerced evidence through lax hearsay 
rules. The bottom line is that if they’re claiming to make the military 
commissions more like the federal court system, why aren’t they using the 
federal court system?"

The revival of the commissions seems to be directed at the often referred to 
"third category" of detainees, those whom the government believes are too 
dangerous to let go but are unable to try. While the Obama administration 
insists that it will be applying stricter standards of evidence to the 
commissions, Hafetz says that the revival of the commissions in and of itself is 
an admission that the administration is attempting an end-run around the 
Constitution, adding that there's no reason to believe the military commissions 
would work better than the federal courts.

"The federal criminal system, and the material support for terrorism laws, have 
proven capable of trying terrorists from low-level supporters to significant 
players," Hafetz says. "The federal courts have tried dozens in the time that 
the military commissions have tried virtually none. And they can do it while 
maintaining a sense of legitimacy, which is crucial to the fight against terrorism."

Obama's decision to revive the commissions is unlikely to settle the issue 
completely. While it will depend on the individual specifics of each case, the 
Bourmediene ruling from June of last year that established habeas rights for 
Guantanamo detainees will likely be the platform through which civil-liberties 
groups intend to challenge the constitutionality of the military commissions, 
just as they did under Bush.

Asked whether he thought civil liberties groups intended to challenge the 
revived Obama military commissions, Hafetz said, “Oh absolutely.”

Posted by Adam Serwer on May 15, 2009 10:33 AM | Permalink