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Thanks To Obama's Order, Military Drops Charges In Gitmo Trial
In one of his first acts as president, Barack Obama issued an executive order instructing prosecutors in military commissions to seek delays in the proceedings, in order to allow his administration to review the comissions process as a whole.
All but one judge complied with the prosecutors' requests. That one, Army Colonel Jame Pohl, declined to do so.
But now, the Associated Press reports, Susan Crawford, the top legal authority for Guantanamo's proceedings, has decided to drop the charges in the case over which Pohl is presiding, thereby bringing the case into compliance with Obama's order.
The case being prosecuted is that of Abd al Rahim al-Nashiri, a Saudi citizen of Yemeni descent accused of planning the October 2000 Al Qaeda attack on the USS Cole warship, which killed 17 service members.
The Pentagon says that Nashiri will remain in prison, and new charges can be filed. But
prosecutors will have to start from square one.
A group representing family members of victims of terrorist attacks has been vocally opposed to Obama's order, and isn't happy about Crawford's move.
According to the AP:
Retired Navy Cmdr. Kirk S. Lippold, the commanding officer of the Cole when it was bombed in Yemen in October 2000, said he will be among family members of Cole and 9/11 victims who are meeting with Obama at the White House on Friday afternoon.Groups representing victims' families were angered by Obama's order, charging they had waited too long already to see the alleged attackers brought to court.
"I was certainly disappointed with the decision to delay the military commissions process," Lippold, now a defense adviser to Military Families United, said in an interview Thursday night. "We have already waited eight years. Justice delayed is justice denied. We must allow the military commission process to go forward."
Josh
Zachary
FYI, though the families of victims are entitled to whatever opinions they want, the group that claims to "represent" them, Military Families United, appears to be yet another Orwellian conservative group. They were just formed in the summer of 2008 (apparently military families didn't need to be "represented" before then), and their statements since the election have included to Obama's national security team on the importance of "nothing less than victory" in Iraq to our national security, a call for congress members to sign a pledge that they will fight to keep "the terrorists at GTMO" "off American soil and out of your community," echoing standard wingnut claptrap.
I'd take any statement from this group that purports to represent the families with a big grain of salt.
Funny, these bozos didn't seem to think "justice delayed was justice denied" when the Bush Administration kangaroo courts were causing the eight years of delays, only now that the Obama administration is proposing to fix them and have real justice. Sometimes justice denied is just justice denied.
February 6, 2009 2:31 PM | Reply | Permalink
"We have already waited eight years. Justice delayed is justice denied."
The other side of this coin is that "Justice delayed is justice denied" for the detainees also.
If there is any credible proof that any detainee was actually a "terrorist", and that proof is documented, then a trial is in order and the detainees should have their day in court. If credible proof existed, why did the Bush Administration need a special "Military Commissions" court where the detainees couldn't even hear the charges against them?
If there is no credible proof, why were they detained and why are they still being detained? Is it because the torture they experienced in the hands of the US and at Gitmo has made them into "terrorists"? If that is true, isn't the US Government guilty of actually creating "terrorists"?
How does this help the "War on Terra"?
February 6, 2009 3:49 PM | Reply | Permalink
Note that the judge and the prosecutors both report straight up the line to the same military commander.
This process was never going to be right - it is all contained inside one branch of government.
The previous president preferred the military to perform all the functions of government, so they would just obey orders.
Dismantling this process turns us back to a constitutional government.
February 7, 2009 11:59 AM | Reply | Permalink
I wouldn't be so quick to start pointing fingers at Obama [Thanks To Obama's Order] for speedy trial denial. Good grief! Most of the prisoners at Gitmo have been there as long as they have because there isn't enough evidence to convict them. I see Obama's order as a time out in one of the biggest debacles in our history. A monkey and a football come to mind. Sorting this out is going to be monumental, and ugly.
Although victims of the attacks deserve some closure, they should't expect it at the expense of true justice. If they have the goods on this guy, it shouldn't take long to sort it out and bring him to trial.
If we are to start hanging people on his watch, I would do exactly what Obama has done, and ensure the procedures used are just. It sounds exactly like what a former Harvard Law Review president should do.
February 7, 2009 8:16 PM | Reply | Permalink