U.S. Wary of Example Set by Tribunal Case

[Francesca9]

Source: NY Times

After working for a year to redeem the international reputation of military commissions, Obama administration officials are alarmed by the first case to go to trial under revamped rules: the prosecution of a former child soldier whom an American interrogator implicitly threatened with gang rape.

The defendant, Omar Khadr, was 15 when he was captured in Afghanistan and accused of throwing a grenade that killed an American soldier. Senior officials say his trial is undermining their broader effort to showcase reforms that they say have made military commissions fair and just.

“Optically, this has been a terrible case to begin the commissions with,” said Matthew Waxman, who was the Pentagon’s top detainee affairs official during the Bush administration.

Read more: http://www.nytimes.com/2010/08/28/us/28gitmo.html?_r=1&ref=todayspaper

---

Meet the new boss
Same as the old boss


We'll be fighting in the streets
With our children at our feet
And the morals that they worship will be gone
And the men who spurred us on
Sit in judgement of all wrong
They decide and the shotgun sings the song

I'll tip my hat to the new constitution
Take a bow for the new revolution
Smile and grin at the change all around
Pick up my guitar and play
Just like yesterday
Then I'll get on my knees and pray
We don't get fooled again

The change, it had to come
We knew it all along
We were liberated from the fold, that's all
And the world looks just the same
And history ain't changed
'Cause the banners, they are flown in the next war

I'll tip my hat to the new constitution
Take a bow for the new revolution
Smile and grin at the change all around
Pick up my guitar and play
Just like yesterday
Then I'll get on my knees and pray
We don't get fooled again
No, no!

I'll move myself and my family aside
If we happen to be left half alive
I'll get all my papers and smile at the sky
Though I know that the hypnotized never lie
Do ya?

There's nothing in the streets
Looks any different to me
And the slogans are replaced, by-the-bye
And the parting on the left
Are now parting on the right
And the beards have all grown longer overnight

I'll tip my hat to the new constitution
Take a bow for the new revolution
Smile and grin at the change all around
Pick up my guitar and play
Just like yesterday
Then I'll get on my knees and pray
We don't get fooled again
Don't get fooled again
No, no!

Yeaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah!

Meet the new boss
Same as the old boss

Who, The
Who's Next (1971)
Won't Get Fooled Again

[Xipe Totec]

1. Talk about a cluster fuck

Earlier this summer, prosecutors and retired Vice Adm. Bruce MacDonald, the commissions’ convening authority who must approve any sentence, apparently raised the possibility of a deal that would allow Mr. Khadr to serve only a few years, rather than a potential life sentence, if he pleaded guilty.

But Mr. Khadr, now 23, reacted by firing two defense lawyers. He told the court he was offended by what he saw as an attempt to "legitimize the sham process" by dangling "the least sentence possible" to coerce a confession.

[Wilber_Stool]

2. Optically, this has been a terrible case to begin the commissions with

Optically? What the hell kind of word choice is that?

[Nihil]

8. "= if it had been kept in the dark and no-one noticed, that would have been fine"

Apparently that spokesman has no problem with child rape (threatened or
otherwise) as his only concern was for the image that was projected.

:grr:

(Edited to remove possibly inflammatory comment.)

[GOTV]

3. What could possibly be fairer than the traditional American court system ...

... you use an alternate court system when fairness and justice is not the goal.

And therefore, clearly, fairness and justice is not the goal of the Obama administration.

[Francesca9]

7. Why did Obama keep the military tribunals?

[Downwinder]

4. Worst of the worst. A fifteen year old. n/t

[Solly Mack]

5. k/r

[OnyxCollie]

6. K&R. nt

[CBGLuthier]

9. I keep thinking of all those movies where nazis lined up partisans and shot them

Hey, at least we will give him a trial before we murder him for defending HIS country from FOREIGN invaders.