Another point goes to the rule of law

In the ongoing battle of bu$h v western civilization, western civilization scored another small victory today. In today's ruling, in the case of Parhat v Gates, the high court found that the petitioner, Huzaifa Parhat, was incorrectly classified as an enemy combatant and directed the United States to immediately release or transfer Parhat from detention at Guantanamo Bay, or expeditiously set up a new tribunal that meets the criteria set forth by the court. The court also stated that its disposition was without prejudice to Parhat's right to seek release immediately through a writ of habeas corpus in the district court, pursuant to the Supreme Court's decision in Boumediene v. Bush.

The text of the opinion contains classified information, and a redacted version is being prepared for public release. We will be watching for it.

We aren't in favor of letting terrorists walk free, but we are in favor of making damned sure we have the right people locked up, so we are always excited when the rule of law wins a round, especially after the beating it's taken for the last eight years.

~~BG

GItmo Judge Axed For Speaking Out

Military judge dismissed:

A judge hearing a war crimes case at Guantanamo Bay who publicly expressed frustration with military prosecutors' refusal to give evidence to the defense has been dismissed, tribunal officials confirmed Friday.

Army Col. Peter Brownback III was presiding over the case of Canadian detainee Omar Khadr. Marine Col. Ralph Kohlmann, in his role as chief judge at Guantanamo, ordered the dismissal without explanation and announced Brownback's replacement in an e-mail this week to lawyers in Khadr's case.

In another indication of the Pentagon's drive to step up the pace at Guantanamo, charges were drafted against three more terrorism suspects, bringing to 17 the number accused of war crimes.

[SNIP]

Brownback said during an April hearing that he had been "badgered and beaten and bruised by Maj. Groharing" to set a date but couldn't do so in good conscience when the prosecution was withholding evidence.

Brownback revealed in a November 2007 session that Pentagon officials had made clear they "didn't like" his decision the previous June to dismiss the Khadr case for lack of jurisdiction.

That ruling was overturned a few weeks later by a hastily assembled Court of Military Commission Review.

Asked about Brownback's removal, Air Force Capt. Andre Kok, a tribunal spokesman, said it was "a mutual decision between Col. Brownback and the Army that he revert to his retired status when his current active-duty orders expire in June."

We are ruled by a military junta, one that spits on the rule of law.

--WS

It really IS a law enforcement issue

Despite what the JAG officers are saying, despite what all of the evidence tells us, the Bush Administration still doesn't understand how to put terrorists on trial:

Two former U.S. federal prosecutors say that when it comes to handling accused terrorists, the best way is the old way: Put them on trial in civilian courts, not military tribunals.

In a report examining 123 terrorist cases from the past 15 years, the two principal authors say that the courts were able to produce just, reliable results while protecting national security.

The report comes at a time when the Bush administration's system of military commissions remains mired in delays.

Whether the case is the first attack on the World Trade Center in 1993 or the East African embassy bombings in 1998, judges, juries, defense attorneys and prosecutors are able to get the job done correctly, they say.

The study, commissioned by Human Rights Now, blows the lid off the age-old lie that the courts can't do the job when it comes to putting terrorists on trial:

Recently, some commentators have proposed an entirely new "national security court" to handle some or all international terrorism prosecutions. Although proposals vary, many offer novel features that would give the government more power and make it easier for the government to secure convictions. However, creating a brand new court system from scratch would be expensive, uncertain, and almost certainly controversial. Indeed, there is the risk that the very same issues now debated simply would be transferred to a new arena for resolution. In our view, before dramatic changes are imposed-such as the creation of an entirely new court or new detention scheme-it is important to take a step back and evaluate the capability of the existing federal courts and the existing body of federal law to handle criminal cases arising from international terrorism. Given the strength and vitality of our existing court system-and the fact that it reflects in many ways the best aspects of our legal and cultural traditions-there are obvious advantages to relying on the existing system, provided that it is up to the job.

Our analysis of the capability of the federal courts to handle criminal cases arising from international terrorism is based heavily on the actual experience of more than 100 international terrorism cases that have been prosecuted in federal courts over the past fifteen years. Based on our review of that data and our other research and analysis, we conclude that, contrary to the views of some critics, the court system is generally well-equipped to handle most terrorism cases.

Finally--someone stands up and says that the American belief in the rule of law actually means something.


Locking people up and torturing them has left us with nothing--nothing we can prosecute, nothing we can be proud of, nothing to stand on, and no claim whatsoever to be on the side of the rule of law. The following list should be understood, remembered, acknowledged, enacted and acted upon as soon as someone with a soul and an ounce of common decency takes responsibility for the people we're holding.

In the Pursuit of Justice finds:

--Prosecutors have invoked a host of specially tailored anti-terrorism laws and long-standing federal criminal statutes to obtain convictions in terrorism cases;

--Courts have consistently exercised jurisdiction over defendants brought before them, even those defendants apprehended by unconventional or forcible means;

--Existing criminal statutes and immigration laws provide an adequate basis to detain and monitor suspects in most cases;

--Applying statutes such as the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) and the Classified Information Procedures Act (CIPA), courts have successfully balanced the need to protect national security information, including the sources and means of intelligence gathering, with defendants' fair trial rights;

--Courts have devised creative approaches to balancing defendants' right to receive exculpatory information and other relevant discovery with the need to protect national security information;

--Miranda warnings are not required in battlefield and non-custodial interrogations or interrogations conducted purely for intelligence gathering purposes, and the Miranda issue does not have significant implications for criminal terrorism prosecutions;

--The Federal Rules of Evidence, including rules that govern the authentication of evidence collected abroad, provide a common-sense, flexible framework for guiding admissibility decisions;

--Terrorism trials have not presented novel speedy trial problems;

--The Federal Sentencing Guidelines and other applicable sentencing laws prescribe severe sentences for many terrorism offenses, and experience shows that terrorism defendants have generally been sentenced to lengthy periods of incarceration; and

--Courts are generally able to assure the safety and security of trial participants and observers.

And, finally, a little honest pushback against the wingnuts:

In the Pursuit of Justice recognizes that the civilian criminal justice system is not, by itself, "the answer" to the problem of terrorism. Intelligence gathering, diplomacy, interrupting the flow of terrorism financing, and military force are all part of the equation. But the White Paper demonstrates that the criminal justice system is capable of bringing terrorists to justice through procedures that are fair, and seen to be fair, while protecting vital national security interests.

Let the courts decide--and let the courts get to the bottom of that whole "domestic spying" thing, too.

Tuesday morning quick hits

Survivors pulled from wreckage in China after being trapped for a week 164 hours after the magnitude 7.9 (some reports say 8.0) quake rocked southwest China, a 56-year-old man was pulled from a manganese mine where he had been trapped, and almost simultaneously a 61 year old woman was being rescued from the rubble of a collapsed dormitory. The man was uninjured but suffering from dehydration, hypoxia and renal insufficiency, and the woman had a couple of broken bones, but both were expected to make full physical recoveries.

This is why you should never deign to rig justice Military lawyers representing Khalid Sheik Mohamed and four of his alleged co-conspirators are arguing that charges against their clients should be dropped because the case is now tainted, after the tribunals' legal adviser, Air Force Brigadier General Thomas Hartmann, meddled in the the case inappropriately. Hartmann was previously removed from the Hamdan case for not merely lacking neutrality but for actively interfering in the case. It sounds like it's time that Hartmann be "asked" to retire, or at least removed from the tribunals process. If he won't retire, let him finish out his career running the JAG office at Minot. And Congress? No more stars for this bastard, either.

As food prices climb, food stamp recipients feel the pinch The poor among us who rely on food stamps for their basic sustenance needs are struggling to make ends meet as food prices spiral up but the amount of monthly benefit does not track with food prices. The benefit amount adjusts once per year, in October, then remains static until the next year. People are feeling the pinch so acutely, and are so hungry by the end of the month that stores in low income areas that serve disadvantaged people have started opening at midnight on the first of the month, so people who haven't had a real meal in several days are able to buy food as soon as their Department of Agriculture cards reload automatically on the first of the month. Dennis Kladis, who owns One Stop Food & Liquors on Chicago's south side started opening his store at midnight once a month several months ago in order to give desperate families a chance to buy food as soon as possible. "I'm telling you, by the end of the month they're just dying to get back to the first," said Kladis. "Obviously, they are struggling to get through the month."

Fossella won't run for re-election Two people close to the beleaguered congressman who was arrested three weeks ago for driving under the influence say the only republican in New York Cities congressional delegation will announce on Tuesday that he has decided not to seek a seventh term. It's too bad Vito couldn't keep his Id in check, because the district he represents is solidly republican and pigs will be kosher before the NY 13 elects a Democrat, but then I said something similar about the LA 06 and MS 01, too, soooo... I say it's too bad he couldn't keep his fly zipped because he has been a very effective voice for the victims of the terrorist attacks of September 11, and when people started getting sick after working at the scene, he started pressing the congress to help them with medical care. Since the odds of a Democrat taking the seat are slim and none, I almost wish he wasn't going anywhere, because being an effective voice for the victims of that tragedy goes a long ways, no matter where on the political spectrum that voice falls.

As South Africa succumbs to xenophobia, immigrants become targets of violence for poor South Africans who take out their frustrations and insecurities on poor immigrants who migrate to the country seeking a better life. At least 22 people had been killed by Monday in the unrelenting mayhem, the police said, but the number of fatalities is only part of the story. Thousands of immigrants have been scattered from their tumbledown homes. They now crowd the police stations and community centers of Johannesburg, some with the few possessions they could carry before mobs ransacked their hovels, most with nothing but the clothes they wore as they escaped...“They came at night, trying to kill us, with people pointing out, ‘this one is a foreigner and this one is not,’ ” said Charles Mannyike, 28, an immigrant from Mozambique. “It was a very cruel and ugly hatred.”