Gitmo Trial To Put Gitmo Trials On Trial At Gitmo

Sometimes, the reporting on issues related to our Global War On Terror just amazes me. Consider this AP story, reported by Mike Melia, on the upcoming trial of Gitmo detainee Salim Hamdan:

A last-minute plea deal could halt the first war crimes trial at Guantanamo Bay on Monday, but military lawyers and observers say that appears extremely unlikely at this late stage.

The Pentagon already has brought witnesses to the U.S. Navy base in Cuba and assembled a jury pool of American military officers, preparations that had not been made before a plea deal that ended the case against Australian David Hicks in March 2007.

So, the legal reasoning for denying this "last-minute plea deal" was based solely on the fact that preparations for the trial had been made? Sorry, but the show must go on?

The fact is, no one reporting on this case seems to even understand, or be willing to report on, the rationale for why the "last-minute plea deal" could have, but ultimately didn't, halt the case. Julia Feasting at the London Times repeats the AP's "we have to have the trial since we've made preparations for it" lede:

Military prosecutors are keen to use the case of Mr Hamdan to showcase a tribunal system that has seen several legal obstacles. The Australian David Hicks was to face a military trial in March 2007 but his case was halted after he pleaded guilty in a pre-trial hearing.

The US Government has already flown witnesses to Guantanamo and gathered a pool of American military officers, 12 of whom will sit on Mr Hamdan's jury. Such preparations were not made in the case of Mr Hicks.

Actually, the rationale seems to have been couched not in jurisprudence, but in the wide acknowledgment that officials involved in these trials are just making it up as they go along:

Military prosecutors are also eager to use the case of Salim Hamdan, a former driver and alleged bodyguard for Osama bin Laden, to showcase a tribunal system that has seen repeated legal setbacks.

"We're looking at it in two veins, primarily as bringing Mr. Hamdan to justice but also we're well aware that in doing that at the individual level it provides the first opportunity to test and validate this process," said Army Col. Lawrence Morris, the tribunals' chief prosecutor.

The only thing more extraordinary than being forced to contemplate being a defendant in a trial in which the legal underpinnings of some haven't yet been shown to be valid is being forced to contemplate the fact that this line of reasoning didn't seem to concern many reporters at all.

Comments

[PixieLeeInOC]

GITMO is yesterday's news; please, let's try to focus on issues a little more current instead of continually re-hashing old, perpetual subject matter.

[raker]

"War crime trial??" I don't think so. An alleged criminal swept off the streets of Kabul may be put on trial for being Osama's umpteenth "second in command" or whatever, but not for a war crime. War crimes are such things as torture and mistreatment of prisoners. You know, what the US does. Even if this Gitmo prisoner is a bad guy, he is a war crimes victim, not a perpetrator. How can someone imprisoned from day one of the occupation possibly be guilty of a war crime?

This is what comes of everyone swallowing the Republican rhetoric that we are "at war," that the "war on terror" is a real thing, that Bush must have unbridled powers "at this time of war." Pay attention to the words they use, and reject all that is not true.

[kassandrasduplex]

Anyone notice that Osama bin Forgotten-Until-Election-Time is all over the media placed by news outlets such as NPR's alongside stories of Obama?
Osama Obama...
I hate to sound really paranoid but it would appear that the timing of Hamdan's trial and the ubiquitous references to Osama (rarely mentioned over the entire last year of primary news) are centrally timed by the news executive staff for the Obama general election campaign.
If you've seen the BBC documentary The Power of Nightmares, you know how the media can create a reality out of nothing.

[GiggidyGeshmoygen]

six years into this fiasco and all the bushie freedom fighters can come up with is a guy accused of driving OBL's car?

can they prove that OBL was actually in the alleged car when it was actually being allegedly driven?

beware of phony show trials, America --- the nexy one could beYOURS ...

[guntotinganglion]

I wonder if they can torture "witnesses" if they don't remember details "properly". An electrode here, an electrode there, voila...correct memory of the "facts". A little strappado never hurts to clear up any memory problems. And if all else fails...just boil em in oil, like our "allies" in Uzbekhistan do when we send extreme rendition "prisoners" to them. God only knows what other sick torture techniques they use to get what they want out of whoever they decide is "guilty". No way they could be torturing though...just applying buckets and buckets of tough love (poured over their faces to drown them...and of course, safely and effectively "save" them).

This country is deeply sick.

[doug108]

The US Government has already flown witnesses to Guantanamo and gathered a pool of American military officers, 12 of whom will sit on Mr Hamdan's jury. Such preparations were not made in the case of Mr Hicks.


Who doesn't like the idea of being tried by a jury of one's peers, now?

[Bobrobert]

Pathetic.

Trial by torture.

Remember to vote all.

:-)

Pray for our troops.

[Scarabus]

That what the administration is doing at Gitmo is clearly immoral and unjust. It is clearly at odds with what our nation is supposed to be about.

I guess because of the "military commissions [i.e. kangaroo courts]" law, those who participate will be free from prosecution by the U.S. legal system. But what about the international legal system?

Remember, the men prosecuted at Nüremburg had broken no German laws. But they had broken the borderless laws of justice and civilization. Same will be said of those pushing the Gitmo trials for purely political reasons.

Dare we hope that the consequences will be the same? Dare we hope they will be subject to arrest anywhere in the western world apart from the territory of the U.S. and its lackeys or sycophants? Dare we hope to see them in the dock at the Hague?

[StillAmused]

"... just making it up as they go along."

Inscription for the lobby of the GWB Department Of Justice.

[Durango]

How could you reach a plea bargain in a Show Trial?

That would defeat the entire purpose of the exercise.

[wildflowermaven]

Jason--you're priceless--sorry to hear that reporters don't seem to have learned that we want real information, not just parroting of the official line.

[PuppaX]

Jason, what are you talking about?

This article doesn't say that a plea was unlikely because they had already bothered assembling their case. It says that observers, seeing the prosecution gearing up for trial, don't believe it's headed for a plea.

It's not

[PhantomAviator]

..

Let Freedom reign.

.

[bacaja]

Trials are BAD things, they may expose FACTS, facts are BAD things, they may expose truths.

[sherrzinpa]

Look at who they're putting on trial though. Osama's bodyguard surely has some truths to share with us...... In cases like this, I PRAY for trial.

[larry278]

If civilian spectator are allowed at Gitmo trials, are they allowed to wear Kangol caps outside the court rooms? Somebody could say that the Kangol logo is a smart assed liberal comment on the trials at Gitmo.