'War on terror' trials could allow evidence obtained through torture (AFP)

[Starfury]

GUANTANAMO BAY US NAVAL BASE, Cuba (AFP) - US military officers, breaking with domestic and international legal precedent, said that "war on terror" military tribunals at the Guantanamo naval base could allow evidence obtained through torture.
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The US military officer presiding over the trial of an alleged aide to
Osama bin Laden said he was not ready to rule out such evidence.

The officer, who wields power similar to a judge, was asked by the defense lawyer representing Ali Hamza Ahmad al-Bahlul, a Yemeni accused of plotting terror attacks for bin Laden's Al-Qaeda network, if he was ready to exclude all evidence secured through torture.

After a long pause, Colonel Peter Brownback declined to commit to a blanket ban on evidence obtained as a result of torture.

"What you and I mean by torture could be different," Brownback told defense lawyer Major Tom Fleener.

(...)

http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20060302/pl_afp/usattacksrightstrialguantanamo_060302072952

:argh:

[saigon68]

1. Colonel Peter Brownback is a sub-human tool of WAR CRIMINALS

It goes back to the Spanish Inquisition

The use of torture evidence in what amounts to a HERESY trial

What a CRIMINAL

WHAT AN ASS-CLOWN </RANT>

[Eugene]

2. It's only a short slide down a slippery slope for

evidence obtained by torture or hearsay to be used against citizens
on U.S. soil. Don't forget that Jose Padilla was implicated
in the "dirty bomb" plot and arrested in the U.S. based
on information allegedly extracted by torture.

Col. Brownback's hair splitting on what constitutes torture
made my skin crawl.
:scared:

[Cronus Protagonist]

3. Now we sit back and watch the freepers whine

Betcha they support it and complain that only a traitor would be against it.


Educate Your Local Freepers Today!
Buttons, Stickers, Magnets for brainy people
http://brainbuttons.com/home.asp?stashid=13

[ConcernedCanuk]

4. I have a very low pain threshold

.
.
.

and would admit/say ANYTHING that my pain-ravaged brain would think could possibly end the pain.

In effect, I would lie my ass off to the people torturing me and say whatever I thought they wanted to hear

Besides being inhumane and cruel, torture in my opinion is a useless method to extract the "truth"

But the PNACers have no interest in the truth,

Just *facts* they can use for their own evil ambitions.

(sigh)

[tecelote]

10. Why does Bush support torture?

"Torture doesn’t work because people will simply say what you want them to say instead of telling the truth. Hmm. Wait a minute. Yeah, I get it! KKKarl, you’re a genius."

And they say that the truth hurts!

This is a crime by our entire nation! We are the evil empire in this world and this is the proof.

Forget about the NSA, the Ports, and everything else. The entire Administration should be impeached for this one point alone.

Americans should be better than this. We have been for over two centuries. Look how fast we can degrade to sub-human level!

[magellan]

5. "What you and I mean by torture could be different," bin Laden tells US

Wrap your heads around that, freeps.

[HuffleClaw]

6. of course they'd say that the dirty scum

but they routinely refuse to extradite americans on the grounds they might face torture in some far off land.

[salin]

7. I have read over and over again that info obtained via torture

is reliably... unreliable. That to make the torture end subjects will begin to make things up that seem to be what the torturers are wanting to hear.

I would think that any case that relies upon "evidence" gathered via torture - is a very weak case.

[truthisfreedom]

8. torture=anarchy.

c h o o s e .

[annabanana]

9. torture is as torture does...

This is unacceptable. This is the signing statement's fruit. How can anyone believe that there is anything useful to be gained here? (I'm just waiting to cinematic justification on "24" or "The Unit"..)

[enough]

11. kick

[High Plains]

12. These Nazis need to be Nurembergered.

How far down does the rot go?