Bush Lays A Guantanamo Trap For The Next President
By Nicole Belle Sunday Feb 10, 2008 3:30pm
So it was a little interesting when, within days of McCain assuming a commanding lead in the race, and with the Democrats deciding between anti-Gitmo candidates Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama, that word was leaked of a secret site within Guantanamo for hard core al-Qaeda detainees, called Camp 7.
That was just the prelude -- today comes this leaked story:
Military prosecutors have decided to seek the death penalty for six Guantánamo detainees who are to be charged with central roles in the Sept. 11 terror attacks, government officials who have been briefed on the charges said Sunday.
The officials said the charges would be announced at the Pentagon as soon as Monday and were likely to include numerous war-crimes charges against the six men, including Khalid Shaikh Mohammed, the former Qaeda operations chief who has described himself as the mastermind of the attacks, which killed nearly 3,000 people.
A Defense Department official said prosecutors were seeking the death penalty because “if any case warrants it, it would be for individuals who were parties to a crime of that scale.” The officials spoke anonymously because no one in the government was authorized to speak about the case.
A decision to seek the death penalty would increase the international focus on the case and present new challenges to the troubled military commission system that has yet to begin a single trial.
[..] (T)he timing of this strikes me as just a little bit too much of a coincidence here. The likely unraveling of Guantanamo is Bush's worst nightmare. A legitimate criminal trial under American laws of jurisprudence would expose the worst of the Bush-Cheney torture regime, including waterboarding techniques, and have a result that nobody in this debate wants: Making it impossible to gain real justice against the 9/11 planners, because of inadmissable evidence.
A quick trial under military rules, and a speedy execution, is the only long-shot hope for Bush and Cheney for making the worst of the torture nightmare that they've created go away.
Just when I think they can't stoop any lower or sacrifice their humanity any more, the Bush administration finds yet another way to dredge a little more out of the swamp. Setting aside my personal feelings on the death penalty, we KNOW that this administration tortured innocent people (Maher Arar, anyone?), how on earth can we be assured that they are putting to death guilty people now?
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It is not a trap for the next President, because no matter who is chosen as next President, they will continue the patterns and policies of this President.
Our elites have decided as much.
beautiful. we're going to hold kangaroo courts and execute prisoners based on confessions obtained through torture. way to promote democracy. when will bush be brought up for war crimes?
Beyond reproach, far beyond. Besides the fact that we are barbarically executing people, we can't even be sure if all of them are guilty as they haven't been given public trials.
And does ANYBODY in the administration think that MAYBE they MIGHT be creating martyrs here?
For Christ's sake! LITERALLY!
Can Guantanamo be given the nick-name guano?
In the near future, when people are performing a big jump will they yell, "Guantanamo!!!"
all the next president has to do is just use their new powers of signing statements and what-nots to erase the horrible known as meester boosh.
If they get the "trial" that I expect, they will be convicted and sentenced.
There will be some sort of appeal.
If Obama or Hillary have been elected, does anyone think either of them would commute the sentence?
"how on earth can we be assured that they are putting to death guilty people now?"
Get thee to Gitmo.
Well, it follows, they erased the interrogation tapes, now its time to erase the only other witnesses who can shed some real antiseptic light onto this situation.
Dead men tell no tales.
This just seems to be the logical end of the whitewashing. CIA tapes have gone missing of the suspect. Dead men tell no tales.
*Two* anti-Gitmo candidates? Are we sure about that?
You just fell for the trap!
This administration has a lot of killing and shredding to do between now and December.
Yes, 3000 dead. Terrible crime indeed.
Turns out that since the invasion, Iraq has suffered the equivalent of one 9/11 attack...every week.
Anyone ever going to fry or dangle for that?
duh, they're in guantanamo. the gub'mint only puts bad people there.
http://democraticconvention.ytmnd.com/
geez, I hope Harold and Kumar's movie comes out before then, I'd hate to see those guy's heads chopped off.
We can't know, and for Bush and Cheney to be making such assertions in order to patch up the holes in this travesty of justice they've created... I.E. speedy trials and executions for war crimes for those accused, and in some cases admitting to the 9/11 atrocity after torture makes the admissions of guilt and the tribunals themselves questionable for all time in the eyes of impartial third parties... Further, given who is behind this sick charade and why... It makes the idea of justice attained for the victims reduced to political gamesmanship to save their (Bush/Cheney's) own sorry asses and makes the old pot/kettle rejoinder laughably though sadly far too inadequate to discribe this latest Bush/Cheney scheme....JD
It don't matter if they are guilty. boygeorge and littledick are murderers. killing people is what they do....
A new type of "trial" for a new type of combatant from a new type of war. Who needs the Constitution? It's a whole new ball game. With one side making up the rules as we go along.
"Just when I think they can’t stoop any lower or sacrifice their humanity any more."
There is No limit to what they will do to protect themselves from going to jail. None, Zero.
Bush CO. is made of hardened criminals who will use any tactic to get their way. Which is
why it's critical that we stand up to them now.
Eris @ 9:
Near exactly what I was thinking.
I believe that was precisely one of the goals of the using torture during interrogation - to make it "impossible to gain real justice against the 9/11 planners."
I know we're not supposed to discuss this .. but C&L posted it, not I.
Yes, lets all be Good Germans, ahem Good Americans, and support the war.
By the time the people of Germany figured out the truth about the Reichstag Fires, Operation Himmler, and similar Nazi operations, they had 500lb bombs dropping in Berlin and tanks on the outskirts.
There will be NO Normandy for to rescue America.
"We do not torture."
President Bush, Nov. 7, 2005
" Waterboarding has been used on only three detainees. . . . We used it against these three high-value detainees because of the circumstances of the time."
CIA Director Michael V. Hayden, Feb. 5, 2008
Gekke @ 24:
To a mere mortal that would seem to be a a big fat lie. No?!?!?!?!?!
Ozguy @ 13:
I dangle quite a bit, but only because I'm getting up in age.
Recognize the Iraq government as the authority, and transfer the prisoners like America should have done a long time ago.
Close gitmo and open a "Code Red" miltary review in open public investigations.
Most of all bring home all National Guard troops which should have been done years ago.
Why ?
Americans that want to voluteer for any war should know the policies and risks everyone is going to have take. From my veiw thats how America started this Republic and thats the way we should continue to support it. The patriot should be given all the elements of this risks and merit of conflict, most importantly, such basic action would educate about terrorist and America's goals. A one hundred year war dedicated after trillions of dollars in money, a too many life resouces have been spent shows to me a wildly irresponsible plan as many say who today knows if this is good judgements one hundred years from now.
Now everything is so secret, we don't even know how the sewer system works if it does at all....
In a 'normal' jurisdiction this case would be dead in the water before it even started. Hopelessly tainted by torture, hearsay and any number of other factors.
Are these guys guilty? No doubt there are 'confessions'. Just as the Spanish Inquisition, the witch finders or the Star Chamber elicited 'confessions'. But who outside of the neo-fascist extremists will take those at face value?
Apart from anything else, the justifiable horror and outrage felt by everybody from Tokyo to Tehran has been thoroughly dissolved in the ocean of blood that has been shed to 'avenge' those attacks.
These men will probably be executed. But if their goal was to undermine the standing and the power of the United States in the eyes of the world, they will really have had the last laugh.
You seriously think that the administration has the capability of trying these folks and then executing them in roughly 9 months? Not a chance. Defense attorneys can keep this one hung up in a court system--even a kangaroo one--for many months, while various motions work their way through appelate courts.
steve davis @ 28:
Of course they can(and will). This isn't a jury trial, it will be a military tribunal.
Think we have a 'Scottsboro Boys' trial all over again?
very sad if we repeat history. I am not sure why the fear of impeaching Bush and Cheney are so high?
steve davis @ 28:
Hope you are correct as to lenght of time it will take to convict and execute; but
when reading the NY Times Article above(this leaked story), what
I found of interest was fact that NONE of the defense attorney have had "death
penalty" experience, consequenlty unless such "new" expert attys are obtained, this
case could/might be on a "fast track" and processed much more rapidly than it should
be under normal legal conditions.
I prefer to seek the death penalty for Bu$h and Cheney.
steve davis @ 28:
The Patriot Act gives the President the authority to order their execution without a trial.
ysbaddaden @ 4:
Not up to your usual room-clearing standard.
If you waterboard him abob from the billo post comments will describe himself as the mastermind of the attacks! The fact is that Gitmo and the illegal fake 'trials' are the worst terrorist acts of this century.
Leave it to Dumbya not only to f*ck his own administration but the next 2 or 3.
gempei @ 34:
Yeah, I too had thought that Ysbaddaden might come up with something like..
"When people are going to perform a dump, they'd say I am going to take a Gitmo"
Ya know . . . maybe they are guilty. If they are and they can prove it, do what ya need to do to the bastards. However, it is utterly pathetic that the Bish Admin refuses to use the great "rule of law" they tout. Oh that's right, if they did push "rules of law" they'd be guilty of murder too. Only difference between Bush and these other terrorists is that one wears a suit and runs a country.
If Obama or Hillary don't shut down Gitmo during their first month in office, I will f**king go to Canada.
Dana (Everything I Say Is A Lie) Perino weighs in.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IQ9mmGK8Zew
Doggiebobo @ 31:
Also, all the "defense" lawyers will be military officers - officers that are aware of the retaliation they will face if they try to do their job too well. The military has already punished their predecessors.
Weaseldog @ 40:
Dana: 9-11!!!!
Maybe it was time for all "right-thinking Americans" to start challenging the likely nature of the proceedings, especially when some of the defendents invoke the claim that their confessions were procured by torture or duress.
How much of the trial of these six (as posed by the NYTimes) "will be in secret, behind
closed door proceedings and not available to the public's eye?" What has happend to
the often touted term "the rule of law" as used by bush-lite and his admin. ?
IludiumPhosdex @ 43:
How do you know that they will be allowed to testify?
In many countries, the accused simply wait in their cell until the trial decides their fate. They aren't allowed to defend themselves, face their accusers or see the evidence arrayed against them.
Is there any reason to believe that this isn't what Bush wants?
gempei @ 36:
The Bush Legacy , the skidmarks that won't away on the first wash.
As far as we know, they've been tried and executed already.
casper46 @ 47:
Or accidentally tortured to death.
How can Nancy Pelosi, "impeachment off-the-table" continue to stonewall impeachment proceeding? The category 5 storm of political and war crimes scandal is too strong to baracade the inevitabity of their deeply demise?
The massive of public evidences are are flood level, even a stonewall is under water. Its either we swim and stay above water with our Constitution or sink and drown along with the complicities of the current leadership of the Congress chained to the lawless COMMANDER IN CHIEF
jebus.love.me @ 39:
You say that like Canada is a bad place to go... it's sounding better all the time!
"..A quick trial under military rules, and a speedy execution, is the only long-shot hope for Bush and Cheney for making the worst of the torture nightmare that they’ve created go away."
Exactly.
Dead Men Tell No Tales.
Give them a fair open tribunal. Execute those found guilty.
manny @ 2:
Just like the Nazis...yes NAZIS...we are the NAZIS now...all of us.
Proud American @ 49:
the incredulity of the stonewall has to considered from a different perspective, for as Einstein coined Insanity as doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results.
Thus, Pelosi and any democrat who enables the administration is a collaborator and ultimately a traitor to the American people.
When you have eliminated all which is impossible, then whatever remains, however improbable, must be the truth. - Sherlock Holmes.
When you surrender your values to protect them...what have you really protected.
I'm not so sure about the "quick trial and execution to facilitate a cover-up" theory. If they really wanted a cover-up, insisting on the death penalty would be counter-productive. It is sure to generate far more worldwide attention.
I appreciate your post title, because when I heard about this this morning on NPR, it's exactly what I thought.
Oh, so he "described himself as the mastermind of the attacks" did he? Did he manage to splutter that out in one of the brief moments between those fuckers filling his lungs with water?
Fuck anyone who can try to justify this "justice".
Apparently, the administration expects a guilty verdict since the death chamber was constructed back in 2003. Visit the UK Guardian for the story.
Miles Tougeaux @ 53:
CAN WE SAY "SHOW TRIAL" There will be nothing fair or open about this tribunal
If any of the people in Guantanamo are found innocent it will be proof that the Bush administration was wrong about something and they'd rather nuke the Vatican than admit that.
Mel @ 60:
The Guardian, Thursday June 12 2003 Article history · Contact us Contact usClose Report errors or inaccuracies: reader@guardian.co.uk Letters for publication should be sent to: letters@guardian.co.uk If you need help using the site: userhelp@guardian.co.uk Call the main Guardian and Observer switchboard:
+44 (0)20 7278 2332
Advertising guide License/buy our content About this articleClose This article appeared in the Guardian on Thursday June 12 2003 . It was last updated at 02:17 on June 12 2003. US military officials are making preparations for the trial and possible execution of captives held in Guantanamo Bay, including the construction of a "death chamber".
A building at the detention camp in Cuba for suspected al-Qaida members is being renovated to serve as a courtroom for military tribunals, signalling that the US is moving towards bringing charges against some of the prisoners.
Hope you don't mind....found that quite telling.
I'm not a touchy feely sensitive type of person by any stretch of the imagination but these last few years have brought a tear to my eye on many occasions. To see people that have stood up and ruined this country, have committed crime after crime, have went about genocide in Iraq, and on and on and on and will not be convicted or hell even tried is beyond my imagination. The vast majority of the Americans sitting in jails in jail in this country that haven't done anything even close to what this administration has done. Yet the war criminals will walk away and live the remainder of their lives in luxury built on the plundering of the treasury, give speeches on how brilliant they are and what great patriots they are, and be afforded Secret Service protection that will cost us millions upon millions again.
The worst thing though has been the feeling of utter frustration and hopelessness. How the MSM and Congress can not bring themselves to speak the truth and do the right thing has just left me with the thought that this country will never ever be the same. We are living in the fastest decline of a world power in history. All it took was two stolen elections, a political party that was stood for party over country, and citizens asleep at the wheel who would rather discuss American Idol than the future of their country.
A United States President who authored torture, who authored spying on his own people, and who knows what else we don't about. A President who has come as close to stealing all the power it takes to become a dictator and who has done all of this in the open lately and without shame. I don't know anymore, I just don't know. This was all set about when Nixon wasn't brought to trial because the Republicans knew that no matter what they did they'd never spend a second in jail. The neo-cons that learned at the knee of Nixon certainly learned well didn't they?
Likely convictions gained by torture confessions.
Impeach. Indict. Imprison.
...
A Defense Department official said prosecutors were seeking the death penalty because “if any case warrants it, it would be for individuals who were parties to a crime of that scale.”
Hopefully the people behind 9/11 are found guilty and receive the death penalty, because if any case warrants it, it's that one...
...of course, those people should be tried at the Hague after Hugo Chavez stops the first plane from making its way to Paraguay and Mahmoud Ahmadinejihad stops the second one from getting to Halliburton HQ in Dubai.
Bush has never cared if the people he put to death were guilty. He refused an appeal to a man whose attorney slept through the trial.
How come Bush is not being tried for war crimes?
I heard most of the charges, but I thought it was about Bush, Cheney, Rice, Gonzo, Rumsfeld and Mulkasey
The Military Commissions Act is just one of many constitutionally illegal acts passed by Congress since 2001. The stupid Congress can no more pass a law permitting the admission of evidence obtained under coercion than can an even stupider President claim to be the supreme law of the land, because the Constitution of the United States does not provides for the suspension or amendment of any of its provisions by executive fiat or act of Congress except via the amendment process enumerated in the document itself. The only exception is for Habeas Corpus and then only if necessary during an actual foreign invasion or armed insurrection on American soil and only for the duration of such conflict. The first people who need to go on trial here are those responsible for violating their oaths of office by pissing on the Constitution in the name of national security.
but... but... they are not prisoners of war so logically they cannot be war criminals.
If only these people had anything to do with it.
I can't tell you how asinine it is without getting the post censored, but by god does anyone really believe that these guys had ANYTHING to do with it? The money points to big buisness. It points to Guilanni, it points to Bush..
They could be putting anyone on trial cause sure as hell they didn't do anything except farm in afghanistan, get captured by "militia" and sold to the US as a "terrorist" for like 20,000k.
Please, it's a myth. It's the neo-myth just like they used Communism before this.
ConcernedCanuck @ 63:
"Death Chamber" ... Like... "Gas Chamber"?
No... America isn't Nazi's are they? Nooooo....
CitizenX @ 70:
That was my thought too.
Great news;
now there will be an opportunity to ask those terrorist murderers some questions such as: (leaving out the ?s)
How did they fit the 757 (767) into the 16ft wide entry hole at the Pentagon.
What exited from ring 'c' at the Pentagon that made that nice round hole.
How did they arrange the flight recorder information for the pentagon flight to record the flight path about 400 ft above the Pentagon.
How did they manage to turn off the defence missile system at the Pentagon.
How did they manage to get Uncle Dick to ignore the warnings given thrice by the 'young man' about 'incoming' to the Pentagon (see Mineta's tetimony to the Commission)
Where did they get the thermate from for the destruction of the twin towers AND building No 7.
How did they arrange the 'power down' at the twin towers and get the dog squad out the week before the 'attack'
How did they manage to organise all the exercises that day to confuse the flight controllers.
How did they manage to have the whole US defence system going in circles whilst the planes went on their uninterrrupted way to their targets. (except one)
How many people did they tell of the pending attack that allowed people to place put options on stock, likely to be affected by the attacks. (and have the Commission not investigate those who new and profited)
How did they mange to get a passport to fall to the street at the twin towers, found the next day and allegedly identifying the pilot.
Why did they get caught on airport security camera getting on to a connecting flight ot meet with a flight that they were going to allegedly hijack b t not be seen getting on to any 'hijacked' flight.
Give me a b reak!!!!
I really do not have time to go on, I suggest that realists do their own research into the 'Government conspircay' fairytale.
Should be an interesting trial though!
Max (Aust)
Bush is the killin'est Gov in American history, since when does the accidental execution of innocent people concern him? The man loves death, he really likes to kill. In a way, he's a different kind of serial killer.
This is to help McCain win. The executions will happen a few days before the election and Bush, Cheney and McCain will give their spin about the "War on Terror" and how bad men will come here and kill us unless people vote Republican. Anyone want to bet me?
actually i'm one of the few who would still like to see the 9/11 planners brought to justice.
It has been obvious for years that the Bush will do anything to keep 9/11 covered up. Remember that the victims families sued Bush in order to get information for the Commission, but were unable to accomplish it. Bush recycled the steel from the towers within six weeks. Now, they are killing anyone who might still be able to provide evidence.
Doggiebobo @ 38:
Gitmo sounds like the title to the Kings of Comedy Sequel
As in Gitmo Dead Presidents
But I wouldn't mind if someone gave me a Ben.
So this is bad for Dems?
Wait till they trot out bin Laden again.
Most people in the State I live only care about themselves, The church tells them how good they are. What a sick, immoral fucking country. We already know the CIA sells drugs and runs the kiddi porn. Now the US kills innocents.
As KO said last night, the timing of this is quite telling. The kangaroo courts will be in full swing during this year's election prime-time and, voila, GUILTY VERDICTS signaling that only the rethugs can save us from them terr'ist folks who hate us for our freedom.
I am far from being a libertarian. I believe prisons should be hard places where punishment and reform are being dished out in equal measure. I believe life should mean life. However, I also believe in fair trials and that torture, in whatever form, has no place in civilised society.
At the same time as US Secretary of Homeland Security Michael Chertoff promises a fair trial for Guantanamo prisoners accused of organising the 9/11 attacks, the CIA admits torture in the Guantanamo Bay prison camp. No words of mine can express the horror of 9/11, but by committing acts of torture, the US authorities have sunk as low as the barbarians who plotted and carried out the attack on New York.
And Michael Chertoff's definition of a 'fair trial' is interesting. A conviction can be gained by a two-thirds vote, not unanimity as in a US jury trial. The jury is made up of military officers not members of the public. The 'evidence', including hearsay and some obtained by coercion, will be allowed, "if the military judge determines that the evidence would have probative value to a reasonable person".
And some evidence will be not released to the accused or his representatives if it is deemed to contain classified information. Neither is the accused protected by the Geneva conventions. Groups like Amnesty International, who would release the most fairly convicted paedophile back into the playground with a slap on the wrist and bag of sweets, are quite rightly having a field day with this blatant infringement of human rights.
Someone will be found guilty for 9/11. The US demands it, and will be extremely selective in both its morals and laws as to how that guilt and punishment is apportioned.
www.charlesletterman.com
If I were the incoming president, my first act, taken the very instant the last syllable of the oath was spoken, would be to order the arrest of Bush, Cheney the majority of the cabinet and every last person involved in Gitmo, and have them sent to the ICC at the Hague, in chains and orange jumpsuits, to be held indefinetely pending prosecution for crimes against humanity.
Paul @ 83:
That's why you'll never be president. :P
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