BBC - US to Restart Guantanimo Trials

[JohnOfSheffield]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-12671777






Interesting that the President is backpedaling on such a key campaign promise. This is quite surprising to me.

I don't get why that would be surprising, the overwhelming majority has either died there or been set free by now, the ones remaining are in fact enemy combatants and can be prosecuted in a military tribunal according to international law.

The problem is that there have been hundreds that died from unknown reasons before they were charged, hundreds that have been subjected to treatment that is illegal under ANY law who have been set free and thousands that have been imprisoned which caused the entire delay of this process which should have started a LONG time ago.

The ones left are less than one tenth of those detained and these are enemy combatants.

I don't think Obama was even privvy to that infromation beforehand, i know for a fact that the US congressmen and senate did NOT have this information at the time of Obamas election.

Don't forget that a good leader HAS TO be able to change his mind once more facts are presented to him, and i'm not calling Obama a good leader by saying that.

 

[lothar]

Wait, you are basing "fair" on conviction rates? That doesn't even make sense. How do you figure that? Conviction rates has NOTHING to do with fairness. LOL, clueless.

How about addressing my points?

Hearsay testimony is in general not allowed in the US court system, but these kangaroo courts will allow it.

And what about the fact that if found innocent, the US will keep them locked up anyway?

Why don't you answer those questions and tell us how that makes it more "fair"? Doesn't sound fair to me.

Of the 20 cases that went to military tribunals, prove to me how many terrorists have been convicted by hearsay testimony. Go ahead and compare that to how many of the 20 have not been convicted by hearsay testimony so far.

Are you suggesting that if the US tried Osama Bin Laden or Khalid Sheikh Mohammed in Civilian court and they were found to be innocent, they still wouldn't be locked up anyway?

http://www.defense.gov/news/commissions.html

 

[werepossum]

I don't get why that would be surprising, the overwhelming majority has either died there or been set free by now, the ones remaining are in fact enemy combatants and can be prosecuted in a military tribunal according to international law.

The problem is that there have been hundreds that died from unknown reasons before they were charged, hundreds that have been subjected to treatment that is illegal under ANY law who have been set free and thousands that have been imprisoned which caused the entire delay of this process which should have started a LONG time ago.

The ones left are less than one tenth of those detained and these are enemy combatants.

I don't think Obama was even privvy to that infromation beforehand, i know for a fact that the US congressmen and senate did NOT have this information at the time of Obamas election.

Don't forget that a good leader HAS TO be able to change his mind once more facts are presented to him, and i'm not calling Obama a good leader by saying that.

I would not say hundreds have died there. Amnesty International as of January 2009 said: http://www.amnesty.org.au/guantanamo/comments/20054/

* Nearly 800 detainees have been held in Guantánamo, the vast majority without charge or trial.
* Approximately 250 detainees are still held in the military prison. Nearly 100 of them were Yemenis.
* 26 Guantánamo detainees have been charged for trial by military commission; three had been convicted and sentenced; charges against six had been dismissed (although they could be re-charged); six were facing the death penalty.
* Approximately 520 detainees have been released from Guantánamo to other countries since 2002, including Albania, Afghanistan, Australia, Bangladesh, Bahrain, Belgium, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Denmark, Egypt, France, Iran, Iraq, Jordan, Kuwait, Libya, Maldives, Mauritania, Morocco, Pakistan, Russia, Saudi Arabia, Spain, Sweden, Sudan, Tajikistan, Turkey, Uganda, United Kingdom and Yemen.
* A majority of those detained are believed to be held in isolation in Camp 5, Camp 6 or Camp 7.
* Camp 6 was built to house 178 detainees. Detainees are confined for a minimum of 22 hours a day in individual steel cells with no windows to the outside.
* At least 12 of those held at Guantánamo were under 18 years old when taken into custody. At least three were still there in December 2008.
* At least four men are reported to have died in Guantánamo as a result of suicide. Dozens more suicide attempts have been reported.
* Detainees have been taken into custody in more than 10 countries before being transferred to Guantánamo without any judicial process.
* An analysis of around 500 of the detainees concluded that only five per cent had been captured by US forces; 86 per cent had been arrested by Pakistani or Afghanistan-based Northern Alliance forces and turned over to US custody, often for a reward of thousands of US dollars.
* 14 detainees were transferred to Guantánamo in September 2006 after they had been held incommunicado in secret CIA custody for up to four and a half years; five other men have been transferred to Guantánamo since, at least two of them from secret CIA custody.
* An unknown number of people have been held in secret CIA custody. At least three dozen people believed to have been held in secret remain unaccounted for, their fate and whereabouts unknown.
* Hundreds of people remain detained without charge, trial or judicial review of their detentions at the US air base in Bagram, Afghanistan.

 

[JohnOfSheffield]

I would not say hundreds have died there. Amnesty International as of January 2009 said: http://www.amnesty.org.au/guantanamo/comments/20054/

I misspoke, i have no further comments on this.

 

[wirednuts]

Does Obama stand for anything anymore?

he basically gave up on healthcare, he gave up on reforming the credit industry, he doesnt back the unions, he gave up on this gitmo thing, he gave up on trying to ease the drug war out of our culture.... im being serious, i think youre totally right when you ask if he stands for anything anymore. he seems like all he cares about is pleasing enough republicans to get re-elected and it makes me sick.

especially so because obama is not bush. he is not an idiot. a VERY smart man has been suckered into the corruption of the us government. it completely sucks.

 

[IGBT]

Does Obama stand for anything anymore?

yes. your obama's actions clearly indicate he fully agrees with dick cheney.