They Came for the Chicken Farmer (NYT Edit) Gitmo OUTSIDE The Law!

[kpete]

Editorial
They Came for the Chicken Farmer


Published: March 8, 2006

This has been our nightmare since the Bush administration began stashing prisoners it did not want to account for in Guantánamo Bay: An ordinary man with a name something like a Taliban bigwig's is swept up in the dragnet and imprisoned without any hope of proving his innocence.

A case of mistaken identity's turning an innocent person into a prisoner-for-life was supposed to be impossible. President Bush told Americans to trust in his judgment after he arrogated the right to arrest anyone, anywhere in the world, and toss people into indefinite detention. Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld infamously proclaimed that the men at Guantánamo Bay were "the worst of the worst."

But it has long been evident that this was nonsense, and a lawsuit by The Associated Press has now demonstrated the truth in shameful detail. The suit compelled the release of records from hearings for some of the 760 or so men who have been imprisoned at Guantánamo Bay. (About 490 are still there.) Far too many show no signs of being a threat to American national security. Some, it appears, did nothing at all. And they have no way to get a fair hearing because Gitmo was created outside the law.

..................

Prisoners do not see the evidence against them and barely have access to legal counsel. Now, thanks to a horrible law sponsored by Senators Lindsey Graham, a Republican, and Carl Levin, a Democrat, they have virtually no right of appeal. The law even permits the use of evidence obtained by torture.

If the stories of the chicken farmer and the men with the wrong watches are new, the broad outlines of this disaster have long been visible. It is shocking in itself, and in the fact that average citizens have not risen up to demand that these abuses come to an end. The founding fathers knew that when you dispensed with the rule of law, the inevitable outcome was injustice. Now America is becoming the thing they sought to end.

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/03/08/opinion/08wed1.html?_r=1&hp&oref=slogin

[ChairmanAgnostic]

1. after 5 yrs, is NYT finally waking up to what these bastards are all about

Elizabeth Bumiller is still on staff.
There are a few other apologists for all things Bush.
Yet, seeing hints of real reporting like this does make me feel better.

[Is It Only Me]

2. Does it? I don't know if they can make up for what they've done

They have a long road back to redemption for me... I don't see an end to it in face.

[ChairmanAgnostic]

5. Oh, I have not renewed my subscription, won't until they redeem themselves

and they have a long way to go. A very long way to go.

But, remember that our moon landing started out with Robert Goddard being laughed at as he played with toy model rockets. A lot of little steps are required for measurable progress, and as a first step, small as it is, the NYT is inching slowly to the proper, rational and more honest direction.

[xchrom]

3. they came for the chicken farmer.

makes ya PROUD to be an american.

:patriot: :banghead: :patriot:

[annabanana]

4. sigh...He's a heathen raghead, right...

So what's the problem....?

[dogday]

6. I don't care if it is politically incorrect but these actions were

just like those of Hitler with those damn death/work camps... Halliburton is building more for the enslaved labor this country plans on using per EXECUTIVE ORDER 11000..

[Arkham House]

7. You know--this is remarkable--

Forget the Times' enabling of this regime over Iraq, for the moment. The fact is--the Times, our "newspaper of record"--has headlined an editorial with a clear reference to one of the most famous quotes of the Nazi era--"they came for the Jews"--and did it with reference to the criminal Bush regime. They are openly making a fascist reference to our "government". Think about that for awhile...