Rumsfeld 'messed up' Guantanamo trials: lawyers

[kpete]

Rumsfeld 'messed up' Guantanamo trials: lawyers
Fri Apr 7, 2006 1:28 PM ET

By Jane Sutton
GUANTANAMO BAY U.S. NAVAL BASE, Cuba (Reuters) - Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld and his appointees set rules that violate President George W. Bush's order to hold fair trials for prisoners charged with terrorism in the Guantanamo tribunals, a military defense lawyer said on Friday.

"We can't help it that the secretary of defense and his delegees (sic) have messed this thing up, but they have," military lawyer Army Maj. Tom Fleener told the presiding officer at one of the hearings.

"If the rules don't provide for a full and fair trial, then they violate the president's order."

Fleener was trying to persuade the presiding officer, Col. Peter Brownback, to let a Yemeni defendant act as his own attorney on charges of conspiring to attack civilians and destroy property.

Tribunal rules set by the Pentagon require the defendants to have U.S. military lawyers who are authorized to see secret evidence that the accused may not be allowed to view. Pentagon officials have refused defense requests to allow self-representation, which Fleener called a fundamental right in nearly every court on Earth.

http://today.reuters.com/News/newsArticle.aspx?type=topNews&storyID=2006-04-07T172759Z_01_N056244_RTRUKOC_0_US-SECURITY-GUANTANAMO.xml

[bryant69]

1. Yeah, that's the problem.

Yeah all the cows escaped but the real problem is that this barn door is still slightly askew.

Bryant
Check it out --> http://politicalcomment.blogspot.com

[Trevelyan]

2. K&R We MUST NOT ignore this. Remember the KBR contracts for Gitmos on the

mainland for US citizens who are Quakers, Vegans, Protestors or the parents of children they do not want fed into the maw of endless war.


http://www.cageprisoners.com

[enough]

3. It's very heartening that military lawyers are speaking up

about the process.

[Thorandmjolnir]

4. The military lawyers assigned as defense counsel

in Gitmo are true heros.

They are doing everything they can to defned these individuals in accordance with the notion of Justice.