Associated Press:
President Barack Obama will restart military tribunals for a small number of Guantanamo detainees, reviving a Bush-era trial system he once assailed as flawed but with new legal protections for terror suspects, U.S. officials said.
The changes to the system, which will affect a small number of detainees, will be announced Friday.
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 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.
According to AP, the new protections will be:
-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, a form of simulated drowning.
-Giving detainees greater leeway in choosing their own military counsel.
-Protecting detainees who refuse to testify from legal sanctions or other court prejudices.
That second one's a little redundant, since that evidence would've been thrown out in any case. While I'm not extremely happy with this, it's still a long way from the kangaroo courts that Bush set up.
"The White House may seek additional changes to the military commissions law over the next 120 days," AP reports.
2 comments:
2 shockers in about as many days. First the refusal to release the terror photos and now this.
Extreme individuals need to be brought to justice by any means necessary. The freedom which is afforded to all law-abiding citizens is a product of doing what might not be popular but what is right for the U.S. and its interests. If the ACLU attorneys always had their way we would live in anarchy. A nation of people with their own individually-decreed laws.
Congrats Mr. President. You went 2 for 2 this week :)
Ryan
The freedom which is afforded to all law-abiding citizens is a product of doing what might not be popular but what is right for the U.S. and its interests.I don't suppose you see how self-contradictory that statement is. Basically, you're saying that freedom is the product of oppression.
If the ACLU attorneys always had their way we would live in anarchy. A nation of people with their own individually-decreed laws.How does demanding that govt. abide by the Constitution result in anarchy? Again, you've got it bass-ackward; the Constitution is the law, ignoring it would be anarchistic.
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