Obama revives military tribunals

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hongi
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Obama revives military tribunals

Post by hongi »

AP:
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Barack Obama will restart Bush-era military tribunals for a small number of Guantanamo detainees, reviving a fiercely disputed trial system he once denounced but with new legal protections for terror suspects, U.S. officials said Thursday.

Obama suspended the tribunals within hours of taking office in January, ordering a review but stopping short of abandoning President George W. Bush's strategy of prosecuting suspected terrorists.

The military trials will remain frozen for another four months as the administration adjusts the legal system that is expected to try fewer than 20 of the 241 detainees currently at the U.S. naval detention center at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. Thirteen detainees — including five charged with helping orchestrate the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks — are already in the tribunal system.

The changes to the system were to be announced Friday. Two senior administration officials outlined several of the rules changes, which will be carried out by executive authority, to The Associated Press on Thursday night. They include:

_Restrictions on hearsay evidence that can be used in court against the detainees.

_A ban on all evidence obtained through cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment. This would include statements given from detainees who were subjected to waterboarding.


_Giving detainees greater leeway in choosing their own military counsel.

_Protecting detainees who refuse to testify from legal sanctions or other court prejudices.
An administration official familiar with Obama's decision said between 10 and 20 of the 241 detainees currently at the detention center in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, would be tried by military commissions. Thirteen other detainees — including five charged with helping orchestrate the Sept. 11 attacks — already have been moved into the system and are expected to be tried there.

The rest of the detainees would either be released, transferred to other nations or tried by civilian prosecutors in U.S. federal courts, an official said. It's also possible that some could continue to be held indefinitely as prisoners of war with full Geneva Conventions protections, according to another senior U.S. official.
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Re: Obama revives military tribunals

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Less than I hoped for, more than I expected. The restrictions on evidence is good news.
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Re: Obama revives military tribunals

Post by MKSheppard »

So........tell me.....what was the difference between Obama and McCain again?

Other than one being young and sexy, and the other being old and unsexy?
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Re: Obama revives military tribunals

Post by ray245 »

MKSheppard wrote:So........tell me.....what was the difference between Obama and McCain again?

Other than one being young and sexy, and the other being old and unsexy?
One doesn't really care much about healthcare, nor really likes to talk about the economy in general? After all, one major reason why McCain lost is due to the economic crash.
Humans are such funny creatures. We are selfish about selflessness, yet we can love something so much that we can hate something.
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Re: Obama revives military tribunals

Post by Tanasinn »

One had a maniac Jesus freak with an IQ of 10 for his VP candidate?
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Patrick Degan
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Re: Obama revives military tribunals

Post by Patrick Degan »

MKSheppard wrote:So........tell me.....what was the difference between Obama and McCain again?

Other than one being young and sexy, and the other being old and unsexy?
McCain would have simply kept the Bush military tribunal structure in place, incorporating evidence obtained through torture as well as hearsay. It also appears that Obama is employing military tribunals for only a small number of Gitmo detainees and not the lot.
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Re: Obama revives military tribunals

Post by MKSheppard »

And the whining Begins.

First link above is a Glenn Greenwald column. Unlike Dominos Atheos; I won't repost it in it's entiriety, with it's 14,128 hyperlinks.

Second link is Amnesty International.

Link

Obama Breaks Major Campaign Promise as Military Commissions Resume, Says Amnesty International
Human Rights Organization Reiterates Call for Detainees to be Tried in US Federal Courts

WASHINGTON - May 15 - In response to President Barack Obama restarting the military commissions at the U.S.-controlled detention facility in Guantanamo Bay, Amnesty International's executive director Larry Cox issued the following statement:

"President Obama is reinstating the same deeply-flawed military commissions that in June 2008 he called an 'enormous failure.' In one swift move, Obama both backtracks on a major campaign promise to change the way the United States fights terrorism and undermines the nation's core respect for the rule of law by sacrificing due process for political expediency.

"Whatever revisions the Obama administration has made to the commissions do not change the fact that the commissions do not provide an adequate standard of justice for the detainees nor the victims of terrorism--they merely mock the U.S. Constitution, international laws and undermine fundamental human rights standards.

"What happened to President Obama's confidence in the U.S. justice system's ability to try detainees? He himself said that 'we need not throw away 200 years of American jurisprudence while we fight terrorism.'

"U.S. federal courts are a perfectly sound system to try any and all detainees. They have brought other terror suspects to justice, and there is no reason why these courts cannot continue to do the same."
"If scientists and inventors who develop disease cures and useful technologies don't get lifetime royalties, I'd like to know what fucking rationale you have for some guy getting lifetime royalties for writing an episode of Full House." - Mike Wong

"The present air situation in the Pacific is entirely the result of fighting a fifth rate air power." - U.S. Navy Memo - 24 July 1944
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Re: Obama revives military tribunals

Post by Knife »

I'm happy enough as long as they stick to rule of established law. I was all for running these fucks through tribunals years ago, lots better than legal limbo.
They say, "the tree of liberty must be watered with the blood of tyrants and patriots." I suppose it never occurred to them that they are the tyrants, not the patriots. Those weapons are not being used to fight some kind of tyranny; they are bringing them to an event where people are getting together to talk. -Mike Wong

But as far as board culture in general, I do think that young male overaggression is a contributing factor to the general atmosphere of hostility. It's not SOS and the Mess throwing hand grenades all over the forum- Red
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Re: Obama revives military tribunals

Post by MKSheppard »

And there is precedence for it; e.g. the World War II trials of Nazi Saboteurs.
"If scientists and inventors who develop disease cures and useful technologies don't get lifetime royalties, I'd like to know what fucking rationale you have for some guy getting lifetime royalties for writing an episode of Full House." - Mike Wong

"The present air situation in the Pacific is entirely the result of fighting a fifth rate air power." - U.S. Navy Memo - 24 July 1944
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