Obama’s National Security speech- May 21st

I found his speech lacking in a plan. I found myself comparing him to Bush43 in regard to how he skated around several of the issues, all of which are major issues for America. I was disappointed but will of course give him his kudo’s for another grand speechifying moment..it just lacked substance.

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Khadr military judge bars Brig. General from legal advisor role

Brigadier General Thomas Hartmann is one pissed off mutha today…which makes me happy. From Jurist:

The military judge presiding over the military commission trial of Guantanamo detainee Omar Khadr on Wednesday barred US Air Force Brig. Gen. Thomas Hartmann [official profile] from acting as a legal advisor to the commission in Khadr’s trial. In addition to his position as legal advisor to the Department of Defense authority in charge of the commissions, Hartmann is also the supervisor of the Office of Military Commissions-Prosecution (OMC-P). The ruling[PDF] by Colonel Patrick Parrish, the judge in Khadr’s commission trial, grants a motion by Khadr’s defense lawyers to exclude Hartmann from the commission because his “extremely active approach” to his role as supervisor of the OMC-P “raises an issue about his ability to remain neutral and impartial during his post trial duties” as legal advisor to the Convening Authority. Parrish’s ruling also denied a motion brought by Khadr’s defense lawyers to dismiss the charges in the case. The Miami Herald has more. The Canadian Press has additional coverage.

Hartmann has previously been accused of bias towards prosecutors. At a Wednesday hearing, US Army Gen. Gregory Zanetti, deputy commander at Guantanamo Bay, testified [JURIST report] that Hartmann routinely bullied his counterparts and was inappropriately aggressive in seeking indictments against detainees. In May, lawyers for detainee Khalid Sheikh Mohammed [BBC profile; JURIST news archive] unsuccessfully moved to have charges against their client dropped because of similar allegations against Hartmann. Earlier that month, Hartman wasdisqualified from participating in the military commission trial of detainee Salim Ahmed Hamdan, but he has refused to resign from his post.

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Gitmo doubling amount of lawyers.

From Jurist:

The Pentagon has said that an additional 108 military lawyers and paralegals will be assigned to work on the cases of prisoners detained at Guantanamo Bay, twice the current number. Air Force Brig. Gen. Thomas Hartmann, legal advisor to the Office of Military Commissions, made the announcement last Thursday, the same day as five men charged with plotting the Sept. 11 attacks were arraigned. Before a military commission at Guantanamo bay, a critical move in the legal proceedings against some of the 19 detainees awaiting trial.

Hartmann said that the additional lawyers will ensure fair trials, but critics argue that the allocation of additional resources is political, designed to finish the commissions before the November elections and to avoid the possible result of a Supreme Court ruling expected later this month on whether federal courts may consider the legality of Guantanamo detentions. Hartmann himself was recently disqualified by a US military judge from participating in the trial of Guantanamo detainee Salim Hamdan because he was deemed too closely associated with the prosecution. Reuters has more. American Forces Press Service has additional coverage.

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“We can’t have acquittals. We’ve got to have convictions.”

I have shuddered at the thought that most, if not all, of the individuals to be tried in BushCo’s kangaroo court known as the military tribunals would be found guilty. That they would be found guilty on shoddy or non-existing evidence coerced out of them by torture and certainly without any decent representation.

Great gnashing of teeth and wringing of hands has occurred on this topic for me. This might cause some folks to see me as a loony lefty, among other things. As if that matters to me what people think of me.

I want the guilty to be found guilty…but I doubt that even a third of the people still being held in Gitmo are guilty of anything, even though they are considered ‘high value’ detainees by the people in charge.

Recently, one of those high-value guys saw the case against him dismissed. The alleged 20th hijacker, Mohammed al-Qahtani’s case came to an abrupt end. The reason? He was tortured and tortured…and tortured some more. As Slate’s Dahlia Lithwick notes:

The decision not to try him comes from the convening authority for the commissions, Susan Crawford. She didn’t give an explanation for halting the prosecution, but, then, we don’t really need one.

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ACLU will defend Guantanamo inmates, and America’s honor

I received an e-mail update from the ACLU that describes their intentions, and why, to defend the 9/11 suspects. Very powerful stuff. I went to check some of the people who are backing the ACLU in their endeavor. One group was the September 11th Advocates, some the wives of those killed in the towers and the Pentagon. That these women, who lost the lives they had before that horrendous occasion, still demand that we give every consideration to those innocent until proven guilty, shows that America is still the greatest country in the world. Here’s their statement:

September 11th Advocates
Patty Casazza, Monica Gabrielle, Mindy Kleinberg, Lorie Van Auken
The September 11th Advocates are women whose spouses died on 9/11. The group was instrumental in the formation of the 9/11 Commissions and later called for a new, independent panel.

As women whose husbands were killed on September 11, 2001, we feel strongly that the perpetrators of that horrific crime should be brought to justice. But first it is imperative to prove that these six detainees are indeed the guilty parties.

Unfortunately, the Administration insists on trying the suspects in the broken military commissions system. Prosecuting these men within a system that is secretive in nature and lacking in due process, and which uses evidence tainted by questionable interrogation methods and possibly even torture, is a dangerous endeavor. All Americans, and indeed the entire international community, must have the opportunity to witness for themselves the body of evidence that ties these individuals to the 9/11 terrorists’ plot. Otherwise the credibility of any verdict will lack legitimacy. Moreover, unless these trials are above reproach, any convictions will bring the wrath of the international community, damaging what is left of America’s standing in the world. Considering that we continue to rely heavily on cooperation from other nations to provide us with intelligence information on would be terrorists, this course of action can only be detrimental to these crucial relationships, thereby jeopardizing our national security.

These trials, when they finally take place, will be scrutinized around the globe. Unless the victims’ families, the American public and the entire world can be convinced that we are trying and convicting the people who are truly responsible for the 9/11 crimes, these trials will be seen as a miserable failure, dimming our prospects of improved international relationships, and making us more vulnerable to terrorist attacks in the future.

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