Under this legal doctrine, how can Obama prosecute terrorists in a civilian court who were captured in a military action and waterboarded for information? They were never read their Miranda Rights when they were captured and the military and intelligence agencies used duress to obtain information and confessions. Shouldn't this be handled in the military courts?
I think they're making it up as they go. Seriously, I don't know if we've ever done this before in any tribunal, military or civilian. Nuremberg was an international ad-hoc aberration, and I can only imagine the shit fit people would have if we handed prosecution over to the Hague.
It should be left to the military tribunals, but Pres. Obama () needs to throw some red meat to his moonbat base. This whole KSM business is more about putting the Bush Admin. & the CIA on trial, not captured terrorists. Pres. Obama () is going make the Church commision look like a CIA fund-raiser before he's through.
Let's see, the cases are pushed to a civilian court, the court promptly tosses everything out on a technicality and orders the terrorists to be immediately turned loose onto the streets of NYC. How long do you think they'd last on the streets of NYC, with over 7 million pissed off people wanting to find them and go all "Jack Ruby" on them? Kinda sounds like justice served, to me!
Only if NYC has reversed its gun laws and the folks are packing heat. Or good old-fashioned switch-blades. Maybe make sure that when they are released, there are several gangs in the vicinity that wouldn't mind a truce to do serious bodily harm to them......
Hey! I support the Second Amendment and all, but this would not be the time for guns. Some idiot's liable to get in a headshot and take all the fun out of it. Much better if the terrorists are brutally torn to pieces.
The prosecutors must believe there is sufficient evidence even without using evidence gained by torture or other illegal methods.
The correct tool for dealing with such men is the sock and bar of soap, wielded by as many citizens as you can find.
Not only that, but Nuremberg trials happened immediately after the end of WWII. And, while the "war on terror" isn't going to end anytime soon, these people - guilty or innocent - have been sitting in gitmo for close to a decade. I think the military should have done something long before now.
I think it's somewhat dangerous to bring terrorists into the mainland -- surely the terrorists would never resort to anything underhanded to get their people out ... And failing that, yes lets talk about how we catch terrorists so as we can broadcast it on CNN and MSNBC, after all terrorists don't watch TV.
The Nuremberg trials covered events from 1932 all the way up to 1945. That's a 12 year period. The trials for east Asia covered stuff going back to the late 1920's. Comparisons of time scales does not seem to present a problem.
Events may have happened in 1932, but "they" were not 'captured' until 1945. At which time, the trial took place. These people were captured 8 years ago, but still haven't had a 'trial'.
"Under the provisions of the Geneva Conventions, it's legal to keep enemy combatants until the cessation of hostilities..." ~ David Iglesias, US Naval Reserve Judge Advocate General's Corps Esquire, December 2009.
Aye. KSM gave a full confession upon entering US Custody, asked to plead guilty, and requested martyrdom (execution) ASAP.
Yet, strangely, they've never attacked the prison at Gitmo. Almost as if the unholy powers of Castro somehow kept them off the island. After all, there's no way the terrorists could, oh, I don't know get to Cuba, it being an impenetrable fortress and all (since nobody from there ever winds up here), and then maybe hijack a plane and crash it into Gitmo.
You're not stupid, but you just said something stupid. Try to get into Gitmo. Try it. Try to fly a plane over it. I dare you.
Oh, there's going to be a trial. Who cares if he gave a confession? There'll be shouts that he was coerced or worse. When/if he does go on trial, the lawyers will push for for examination of whether his legal rights were fully observed - was he Mirandized for instance? If/when a guilty verdict comes back there'll be the inevitable and endless appeals. Don't think it'll happen? Think of the money, fame and prestige for the lawyers. This will never end with a conviction. It may end with an OJ-esque proclamation that no golf course will go unsearched for the true criminals. But it won't end with a conviction. I hope I'm wrong.
I don't think you're wrong. We have a case in our area where a man killed 2 teenagers back in 2002 and his mother helped him dismember the bodies. Parts of one body were found in a local lake and the rest of both bodies were found in containers in a rented storage unit. The man was charged for the murders and his mother was charged as an accessory. Under Tennessee law, she couldn't be tried until after his case was tried. They have to convict him in court first before the state can prove that she helped him do it. He was appointed a public defender for trial, but fired the lawyer. So he was appointed another public defender, but he fired him too. And another, and another, and another. He's gone through something like 10 or 12 public defenders (?) and fired them all. Then the judge told the man he'd have to defend himself. To help him prepare his case, the courts have made the state provide him with an entire law library in the county jail. He's managed to get delay after delay and, 7 years later, the case has yet to go to trial. His mother was bailed out of jail early on and allowed to move to another state to stay with relatives awaiting trial. This man has managed to play the system and delay his trial for 7 years and has cost the state of Tennessee a small fortune with all his bullshit. Think about it: he's done all of this without the help of a lawyer. He fired them all. Oh, and his mother? She recently died of natural causes without ever having gone to trial. If one uneducated, dumbass redneck can do that all by himself, just think what these terrorists can do.
A group of *potential* terrorists has managed to get quite a good life down in Gitmo for supposedly being tortured.
I believe out of 300+million in this country the lawyers will manage to find at least 1 who won't agree.
