Kangaroo Courts
By John Amato Saturday May 31, 2008 11:00amCould it be any clearer that this?
The Defense Department was mum Friday on the reasons for the abrupt removal of a Guantánamo war court judge who had threatened to suspend the trial of Canadian captive Omar Khadr in a showdown with the controversial prison camp.
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Military prosecutors had been pressing Brownback to set a trial date, but he has repeatedly directed them first to satisfy defense requests for access to potential evidence. At a hearing earlier this month, he threatened to suspend the proceedings altogether unless the detention center provided records of Khadr's confinement....read on
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Justice, american style.
The next Trials I'd like to see would be WAR TRIALS.
♠Bangkok-Bob♠ @ 2:
well said Bob, some good old fashion Nuremberg justice
The Bush administration has painted justice in this country black and white. If it works in their infinitesimally small palate of right and wrong it's okey dokey.
I brought this up on the NewsHounds Forum a few days ago, and didn't get much of a reaction. The mere fact that judges --- those tasked with protecting your rights and freedoms --- can be removed for doing exactly that. Kangaroo court is too "jolly" a name for what's going on. How about massacre on justice or something like that?
Its going to be one amazing media circus when the next administration put the current regime's players on trial.
Its going to make the 90's blojob stuff look like kindergarten and boring.
Buy tickets and popcorn now and make sure the cable is paid for.
Wuzup Hussein Dawk @ 5:
military court, they do as they want or are told to by the polticians, no justice there, just show trials for the media circus.
Same sh1t as the Stalin show trials of the 1930s.
Winning their hearts and minds, isn't that what Shrubnuts said? - he who has no heart or mind.
So if the MSM feels badly at all about towing the propaganda line like several have admitted this past week, why aren't they jumping all over this story like stench on manure?
I guess their lame 'my bad' response was enough for them and it is still business as usual.
Where's the toady Brokaw now??
ferrofluid (Obama 08) @ 6:
Won't the chimp issue some serious mass pardoning in his final hours? I'm not making that popcorn just yet. It would just like him to give one final kick to the ass of the American public and deny us our entertainment.
And can we really see our media throwing a circus around the downfall of those they've been brown-nosing for the past 8 years?
BushCO has damaged the US in more ways than we realize. It will take decades to undo the mess the BushCO made in the last 8 years. If you consider the Raygun - Bush I - Bubba - Chimp legacy as a whole; it might be impossible.
The war criminals at the White House want to ramrod a couple of Arabs onto death row. They think this will help the senile albino win the presidency. There will be no justice.
Gretchen @ 12:
Great points.
and then you have the guys who were cleared by these courts years ago that are still being detained
No surprises here...it's no different from what Bush has been doing in other areas of his administration, such as the military leadership for the War In Iraq
What I want to know about this trial that no one has ever mentioned that I've seen - how is killing an enemy soldier murder? When do we see the murder trials for war crimes for all the people on the US side?
In a kangaroo court
Do you take the stand
Or the pocket?
Removing a judge
Isn't that how Pervez Mussharef lost power?
Here come de judge...here come de judge...
dirty bastards.
ysbaddaden @ 19:
Neither, you simply make light of every tragic situation.
When will these trials begin?
http://www.consortiumnews.com/2008/060108a.html
Memo to members of our superstar media: In the wake of allegations made in Scott McClellan's book, your claims of being "misled" in the run up to the war don't wash when you consider stories like this are still being actively buried and ignored. Complicit then; complicit now.
Life in prison for a 15 year old Afghan boy who allegedly fought the Americans during the early months of an invasion of his home country.
Now, if he were one of the kids in "Red Dawn" -the reichwingers would be all over themselves singing his praises. If your a non-caucasian kid in some other country - not so much. I'v had it up to here with American exceptionalism. Let's call it what it is - rank hypocrisy.
That should read "if you're..." MUST.....FUCKING.......PROOFREAD!!
Many, many people have been detained at Guantanamo without trial for years. Isn't it time to simply release them? If not, then bring them to trial. To continue detaining people like this seems like a crime against humanity.
Switching gears a little, anyone else recall Stephen Colbert's "Formidable Opponent" segment on Guantanamo? He brilliantly trumped himself by arguing that if a detainee wasn't a threat years ago when he was captured, he surely is after all the anger that's built up while being held at Gitmo for years - ergo, every Gitmo detainee is a threat to the United States and must be detained.
The Magna Cheney doctrine precludes the use of civil liberties to promote a preordained justice.
An old friend of mine since prep school days is representing one of the 9/11 'masterminds." He's also represented several British detainees who've since been repatriated.
His response to this in an e-mail to me this morning was "business as usual."
Pffft. All you librul naysayers.
We're just showing the Eye-rakees how their "justice" system should be set up. Lead By Example(tm) - that's the BushCo motto...
Jason @ 18:
Half the Gitmo people have been quietly sent home, either for release or further torture by their respective govs.
The problem was that only a fraction were 'terrorist' proper and by snatching them up from around the world they become our problem,
then there was the POW class of detainee, people who never should have been removed from Afghanistan which broke every Geneva rule going, then the other half who were innocents sold to the CIA for money by people who prob had a grudge against them, people who coundnt prove nor disprove their innocence or guilt, but make handy show trial victims or good PR material for scaring the public.
But Bushco doesnt care as long as its scary (for the public) and makes good theater, plus was good training for interrogators and good zoo type entertainment for visiting VIPs and easy flying distance of DC.
Gitmo in reality was setup as a human zoo for pleasure of Washington and the MSM.
As a Canadian I am utterly ashamed by my own government's complicity in this appalling kangaroo court. Khadr is the only minor ever to be charged with war crimes, and he is the only citizen of a western democracy left in Guantanamo, purely because Canada has done nothing to have him returned. Because of the unpopularity of his family in Canada it is very easy for the government to demonize Khadr, and for the opposition to avoid the issue. The only time I've seen anyone stand up to the government on this issue was when the great Romeo Dallaire gave it to the Canadian Secretary of State at Senate hearings.
I'm not sure if I figured out how to make the link work, here is the address to cut and paste if it didn't.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-00a9MMACCM
Fox's "24" was the perfect propaganda to convince people that America should torture.
And the timing was not an accident.
"Life in prison for a 15 year old Afghan boy who allegedly fought the Americans during the early months of an invasion of his home country. I guess it's better than being shot dead, but that's about it."
He was shot, to the brink of death, and was revived to be placed in detention. I would have rather been shot dead on the spot.
Gretchen @ 12:
I'm wondering if part of the reason the dems aren't doing anything is they are going to wait until Bush is out of office and unable to issue pardons/communcations a la Scooter Libby before having the lot rounded up and convicted.
But then I'm an incurable optimist. This being America, nothing will happen to them. Some janitor will be scapegoated and all the guilty parties will retire and sit around drinking Mint Juleps and laughing about how stupid the non-rich are.
ferrofluid (Obama 08) @ 32:
It was not set up for pleasure. It was set up as a threat. It's no accident that pictures of hooded detainees have been shown over and over in the MSM. Who gave them those photos or let them take them? The Bush regime wanted the world to know what they were (are) doing.
♠Bangkok-Bob♠ @ 2:
With the Administration and the 2003 Congress on trial for war crimes, yes indeed!
Pawn @ 35:
So it's a war crime to defend yourself in your own country when you're being attacked by invaders...they don't even know if he actually did any fighting, or threw the grenade (which came out of the house) that killed the soldier. He was in the house. It's a war crime to hide from invading forces. And will earn you years in prison with no rights, then a life sentence when you finally get a 'trial.'
Remember that when they come for you.
This country has turned into what it allegedly despised the most. These are heinous activities on the part of the US government, which is no longer us.
Because "The Show Trials" must go on!
I sure would like to know how far up the chain of command the order to replace the judge originated. Commander-in -Chief, maybe?
John Q. @ 41:
probably Chainey. chimpident is too busy giving foreign policy advice and holding mcDumbAss fundraisers.
crazylikeafox @ 34:
neither was the network.
This is probably the single most embarrassing point of evidence against the "justice" system of AmriKa. When our rules of law don't fit the crimes we have committed, then change the rules.
How many offenses against the human idea of justice need to be committed by these thugs before we throw them in jail? Isn't that where we put sociopaths? Don't we use jail to protect the society from the people who refuse to play by the rules? Maybe I don't understand the "new" definition of crime.
LOL, the entire US Legal system has become one GIANT Kangaroo Court. No wonder the US is the laughing stalk of the entire world.
JJ
[Deleted.-Sitemonitor]
Canada's pasty-faced, evangelical prime ministrer, Stephen Harper, is a Bush clone and. as is the case with all neo-con right-wingers, has only contempt for the Canadian constitution, Canadian Charter of Rights and the Canadian citizenry, in whom all political power resides. Omar Khadr is a Canadian citizen and is being deprived of his rights by his own government. Stephen Harper = Bush Lite. Kick both of their criminal asses out the door.
Yep, they want to get these people in Gitmo tried & fried before the election to help out McBush.
The administration has a problem. Unless everyone in a cell in Guantanamo is convicted, then the US government will be found to have breached the rights of suspects who were ultimately found not guilty.
I expect the solution will be for the current administration to postpone any significant hearings until after the election. If the Democrats then hold hearings with procedural fairness and a number of the incarcerated are let out, the GOP will just accuse the Democrats of being "soft on terror" again.
Amerika, Amerika, Amerika.
Right up there with other Banana Republics.
Heckuva job, Dubya! hooh-ahh!
As a Canadian, I too am ticked off by our government's couldn't-care-less attitude about Omar Khadr. And this attitude pre-dates our own little fascist PM Harper's reign. Part of the reason may be the descpicable comments made by Khadr's sister (who keeps living in the Canada that she claims to hate), and the fact that other family members have been involved in or have sympathies with, jihadist claptrap. But, when you take Khadr's case on its own, it should outrage every Canadian. As pointed out by others, he was only 15, and the group he was with was being attacked. What the f---???!!!!! You're not allowed to fight back when attacked? Apparently not, if you're not an American. Unbelievable.
Why the US keeps pursuing this case is beyond me. I don't see the point in it. What kind of lesson is the world supposed to learn from it - we'll imprison your kids if they try to defend themselves when we attack them???? WTF???!!!!!!
Shame on the US, and shame on Canada. Maybe if we get rid of Harper (please, oh please!) in the next election (soon! pretty please!) we will have a PM with some balls to try to get Khadr out of there. Or, maybe you Yanks will finally get rid of the Bush cabal and the next pres (Obama, please! please!) will set things right. Surely, sooner or later, somebody has to do the right thing ...... I hope.
this is the same kind of justice you can expect from bush
after he declares martial law just before the 2008 elections
from his phone and illegal over throw of the govt after
declaring a national emergency and threat to the USA.
bush and cheney are f#cking reichwingneocon fascist dictators.
why do you think bush/cheney renewed blackwater's contract
secretly for another year? because they are just sweet?
rmf @ 50:
If you read Naomi Wolf's brilliant "The End of America", she explains that the kangaroo system employs torture knowing full well it will extract false confessions, but those confessions, false they may be, is exactly what they need to justify having a dictatorship. It's logic that is twisted and evil and dangerous but that's why they keep these prisoners and refuse to allow them real trials.
Oh psychopaths, outrageous lies, and crimes for our own gain.
We'll screw the poor, advance the rich, and blame it on Hussein
America-America, the shit holes your new name.
We once were good, we misunderstood, and now we've gone insane. sung to the tune of America the beautiful
CEO
These aren't legal proceedings, they're show trials. Instead of judges and lawyers, they could use B-grade, starving actors, and instruct them not to question the system.
But but... if they weren't guilty, they wouldn't be suspects, right?
mystic @ 53:
Keep the fear and danger alive. Sieg Heil!!
nedaddabsy @ 22:
No he doesn't. Stick around and see.
crazylikeafox @ 37:
I am sure the string pullers in DC were every happy at the shock and horror of Gitmo and the public shuddering at it.
It truely is sad to see just how weak our Republic is.
The Defense Department was mum Friday on the reasons for the abrupt removal ...
Is this why the Defense Department isn't the Justice Department? (Golly I'm getting so confused.
Just more evidence to be presented at Bush's war crimes trial.
ferrofluid (Obama 08) @ 3:
I think rope future are up!
When Antonin Scalia says you've gone too far, you've *probably* gone too far.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hamdi_v._Rumsfeld
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