Magazine says military lawyers may sue over tribunal rules (Vanity Fair)

[Khephra]

NEW YORK (AP) _ Some of the military lawyers assigned to represent alleged terrorists at Guantanamo Bay believe the rules governing pending tribunals violate their ethical obligations and make fair trials impossible, Vanity Fair magazine reported Monday.

The rules include allowing the prosecution to monitor lawyer-client conversations; using as evidence confessions obtained under duress; and permitting hearsay, the magazine reported. The right to appeal would be restricted.

The magazine, citing sources it did not identify, says the lawyers plan to submit the rules to their individual state bar associations, hoping for findings that the rules violate due process. The lawyers would then file a lawsuit in federal court, arguing that the conflict makes their orders unlawful.

The Vanity Fair article also quotes unidentified senior intelligence officials as saying they doubt the interrogation of more than 650 detainees at Guantanamo Bay has produced intelligence of significant value. The article quotes "multiple sources" as saying that no known al-Qaida leader has been held at the base in Cuba.

more............

http://www.newsday.com/news/local/wire/ny-bc-ny--guantanamo-vanity1201dec01,0,5583446.story?coll=ny-ap-regional-wire

[LittleApple81]

1. This crappy misadministration is a ghoulish minstrel show all on its own.

Did you see the report of the Samarra clashes today?
Now, after they say the are liberating 20% of the detainees in Guantanamo, they confess that many of these poor people were just accused by their neighbors who carried grudges or wanted to steal from them (or just needed the money offered by the USA for tips on Al-Qaida).
I AM DELIGHTED THESE LAWYERS ARE SEEING THE LIGHT. They will probably be prosecuted for treason and sent to Guantanamo themselves.

[ConcernedCanuk]

2. Gitmo is a blight on any decent American's sense of dignity

. . I do not understand how the American people can allow it to exist.

. . There are just TOO MANY AMERICANS that tend to look the other way

. . While their government perpetrates atrocities that will surely be in the History Books of the future

. . (NO - NOT in American History books, just every one elses)

Just My Humble Canuk Opinion

[BeFree]

3. A blight

It certainly ain't what we were taught 'American Justice' was supposed to mean.

Glad to see practitioners of Justice standing up for it.

[seekerofwisdom]

4. The Brits struck a deal

whereby they get the "release" of their nationals becasue they pleaded guilty to a charge of planning to use Anthrax in the house of Commons. Their "Confession" as a bargaining chip for them to receive REAL justice.

[Kinkistyle]

6. Its not shown on TV enough.

There needs to be hard-hitting investigative news reports on these type of things. Unfortunately, the media is either now on the government's pocket, or their balls in the government's grip. The regular American people never hear about Gitmo, and when they do, its some far-away place in a fantasyland called Cuba.

[northzax]

5. well this should twist some repug knickers

reflex: all lawyers bad.

reflex: military good.

argh, brain freeze, brain freeze!