Gitmo's Kangaroo
Court: First Torture Them, Then Rig Their Trials
By Joshua Frank
09 August, 2005
Countercurrents.org
The
Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) obtained two leaked emails
from former military prosecutors at Guantanamo Bay over the weekend
of July 30. The emails both claim that the military committees set up
to try detainees at Guantanamo Bay in Cuba are "rigged, fraudulent,
and thin on
evidence against the accused."
In the first email
obtained by the Australian news organization, Gitmo prosecutor, Major
Robert Preston, wrote to his supervisor that the trial process at Guantanamo
was perpetrating a fraud on the American public. Preston also wrote
that the cases being tried were insignificant at best.
"I consider
the insistence on pressing ahead with cases that would be marginal even
if properly prepared to be a severe threat to the reputation of the
military justice system and even a fraud on the American people,"
Preston wrote. "Surely they don't expect that this fairly half-assed
effort is all that we have been able to put together after all this
time ... I lie awake worrying about this every night," he wrote.
"I find it
almost impossible to focus on my part of mission ... After all, writing
a motion saying that the process will be full and fair when you don't
really believe it is kind of hard, particularly when you want to call
yourself an officer and lawyer."
Shortly after Preston
sent these emails to his superior he was transferred from his post.
In the second email
obtained by the ABC, Captain John Carr, who also left his position after
his email claimed that the commissions at the prison appeared to be
rigged, wrote, "When I volunteered to assist with this process
and was assigned to this office, I expected there would at least be
a minimal effort to establish a fair process and diligently prepare
cases against significant accused. Instead, I find a half-hearted and
disorganized effort by a skeleton group of relatively inexperienced
attorneys to
prosecute fairly low-level accused in a process that appears to be rigged."
Carr also wrote
that Gitmo prosecutors were continually told by the chief prosecutor
that the panel set up to try detainees was specially selected in order
to guarantee convictions.
"You have repeatedly
said to the office that the military panel will be handpicked and will
not acquit these detainees and that we only needed to worry about building
a record for the review panel," Carr wrote.
I'm sure most that
are already skeptical of the Bush's administration's motives in Iraq
are not the least bit surprised by these two former military prosecutors
allegations. As we already know, justice isn't being dished out at Gitmo.
It's being choked out. The actions of the US military in Guantanamo's
court are in defiance of the Supreme Court's order in the Hamdi v Rumsfeld
case in which Justice O'Connor, writing the majority opinion, argued
that Guantanamo detainees must be given "a meaningful opportunity
to contest the factual basis for that detention before a neutral decision
maker."
Alas, fairness isn't
the issue here. As the aforementioned case guaranteed, despite the detainees
"meaningful opportunity to contest" their detentions, they
are still not allowed any meaningful legal retaliatory rights.
Writing for CounterPunch
on June 29 of 2003, Elaine Cassel explained, "On this one (the
Hamdi case), a 6-3 majority ruled that those poor guys in Guantanamo,
those men that have been there for going on three years and, we now
presume, subject to all kinds of physical torture and mental and sexual
abuse, can file a petition for writ of habeas corpus challenging their
detention, but, so what? The court was silent on what trial courts will
do with the petitions. Presumably, let them file their papers then promptly
toss them out."
So there you have
it: first the trials at Gitmo are rigged, then the unjustly convicted
are not allowed to challenge their incarcerations. All ethical considerations
aside - what we have here is a Constitutional crisis of epic proportions.
Joshua Frank
is the author of the brand new book, Left Out! How Liberals Helped Reelect
George W. Bush, just published by Common Courage Press. To contact Frank
and purchase an inexpensive copy of Left Out!, please visit www.brickburner.org