Why does Moussaoui get a trial, jury all the rights - but all the GITMO

[BR_Parkway]

people are classified as enemy combatants and aren't entitled to any of the same stuff?

If the US actually does turn over Iraq security to the Shi'ites as they demanded earlier today, is it officially Mission Accomplished? If we're no longer at war, can the US still have "enemy" combatants?

[MadMaddie]

1. Good Point!!

[beyurslf]

2. The War on Terror is never ending. We are always at war. The

infidels will never stop until they have eliminated us all so we must eliminate them first.

or so the "logic" goes...

[northzax]

3. he was arrested in the US, for one

for plotting a crime to be committed in the US. makes a difference, just as Jose Padilla.

[BR_Parkway]

8. But Padilla was handled as an enemy combatant (and he was

born in Brooklyn)

It just seems weird that they have the one trial going on with all the coverage - and all the negatives coming out about the FBI not following up - when they could have taken the 'enemy combatant' path and kept all that stuff that looks bad on the gov't from ever seeing the light of day.

Plus the really oddball way a gov't lawyer went directly against the most basic of legal rules and the judge's specific instructions and almost got the whole case thrown out. It's almost like they were in such a hurry to get someone for 9/11 and they had already started down this public road, then realized they needed to backtrack and get it out from in front of the limelight, but they couldn't just pull him from jail and ship him to Gitmo without inviting alot more questions.

[northzax]

9. that is a good point

(and Padilla was actually arrested in the US as well, Chicago, if I recall correctly) I am tempted to think that the government sabotaged the death penalty phase of the Moussouai case intentionally, or some part of it was intentional. It was just so, pardon the expression, bush league, that it is hard to take seriously.

Also, remember that they actually have some sort of evidence against Moussouai, (he was in the US, learning to fly planes with people who then flew planes into buildings) I think the only thing they have against Padilla is espionage-based evidence, which is a: usually not admissable in court, and B: might be sensitive with sources and what not. I think it was a political mistake to publicize Padilla at all, and I think they regret it. the powers that be thought they could get anything they wanted then (And they were pretty close to it) but underestimated the whole Padilla thing. They wanted a quick score, but the politicos didn't talk to the legal folks. it was another bushco fuckup.

[Hobarticus]

4. Because Gitmo detainees will NEVER make it to trial...

They treated Moussaoui as any other criminal, because they needed a high-visibility trial and intended to take him to trial from the get-go.

They have zero intention of those men in Gitmo ever seeing the inside of a courtroom. They've never bothered to go through the motions, it's obvious what their intent is.

[TechBear_Seattle]

5. Isn't Moussaoui an American citizen?

That, and the administration needs someone they can trot out for a show trial, someone against whom the Junta can make an actual, substancial case.

Which raises another point. I was always told that the protections of the Constitution apply to anyone and everyone who is subject to US law; that is why we cannot just round up non-citizens and "disappear" them. How sad that the Junta seems to have missed out on elementary school civics.

[BR_Parkway]

7. If I recall correctly, he isn't a citizen and was here illegally - but I

also learned it the same way you did. If you read the relative parts of the Constitution, it very clearly says any person as opposed to any citizen

[meegbear]

6. Because he has a name and a face

GITMO people do not.