S3930 - Detainee bill

[TheMercenary]

Originally Posted by Happy Monkey

Wrong. A foreign national in a US court gets full protections.

Wrong. They are not in a US court. A military tribual has a different set of rules.

[TheMercenary]

MILITARY COMMISSION

CRIMES: Defined by the Defense Department

PRESIDING OFFICIAL: A military lawyer, called a judge advocate, who is appointed and acts as a member the panel.

DELIBERATORS: A panel of three to seven military officers.

DEFENSE : Appointed by the defense secretary or someone he names as the appointing authority.

RULES OF EVIDENCE: A military lawyer is assigned to represent the accused, who can hire a civilian lawyer as well. The civilian lawyer could be barred from sensitive proceedings and evidence. The presiding officer decides whether admit or exclude evidence. There are rules governing suppression of evidence.

SECRECY: The presiding officer has broad discretion to close the proceedings.

DECISIONS: Conviction and sentencing require a two thirds vote.

DEATH SENTENCE: Only by unanimous vote of a commission of seven members.

RIGHT OF APPEAL: The accused cannot appeal to a civilian court. A review panel of three military officers or commissioned civilians, including judge, can recommend new proceedings.

FEDERAL CRIMINAL COURT

CRIMES: Defined by Congress and state legislatures

PRESIDING OFFICIAL: A federal judge, nominated by the president, confirmed by the Senate and appointed for life.

DELIBERATORS: A jury of 12 civilians, randomly drawn from voter lists, sometimes combined with driver lists. The lawyer for the accused can eliminate potential jurors.

DEFENSE: The Constitution requires that the judge appoint a defense attorney if the accused cannot afford one.

RULES OF EVIDENCE: Federal rules and case law exclude certain types of evidence, such as hearsay and illegally obtained statements.

SECRECY: The Constitution guarantees a public trial, except in certain cases, normally involving children.

DECISIONS: Must be unanimous in conviction and sentencing.

DEATH SENTENCE: As in all sentencing, the jury must be unanimous.

RIGHT OF APPEAL: The accused has the right to appeal the conviction or sentence to a higher (appellate) court.

Sources: U.S. Department of Defense, National Institute of Military Justice, FindLaw, Cornell Law School

[tw]

Originally Posted by TheMercenary

What felonies? Who has belittles? Please you must try to be more clear in your arguments.

Torture is not a crime? International kidnapping (extraordinary rendition) is not a crime? Imprisoning people for years without judicial review is acceptable? Of course it is - to TheMercenary. Supreme Court keeps ruling these are crimes. But these crimes are so contemptible and so anti-American as to not even require the Supreme Court to remind us.

Scary is that TheMercenary considers these only a mistake using the same phrases by defendant in Nuremburg.

Remember - only people who can be trusted to judge what is good and evil are the extremists. And nobody expected a Spanish Inquisition - a specific reference that what TheMercenary calls only a mistake. For two years they did not realize it was only a mistake? Actions justified by political agendas are that dangerous. The entire "Mission Accomplished" is a perfect example human perversion justified by a 'political agenda'. Worse, we who are not anointed as righteous extremists cannot be trusted to know what is right.

Clearly we are so untrustworthy as to not see Guantanamo for what it really is. And we condemned the Soviets for their gulags.

[TheMercenary]

Originally Posted by tw

Torture is not a crime?

Why yes it is, where did I say it was not?

International kidnapping (extraordinary rendition) is not a crime?

Well sorry I do support that.

Imprisoning people for years without judicial review is acceptable?

No, probably not. I think they are working on that one. If you are an EC or POW then bad luck for you.

[Happy Monkey]

Originally Posted by TheMercenary

Wrong. They are not in a US court. A military tribual has a different set of rules.

Exactly. And the US court abdicated responsibility to the tribunal based on the idea that Guantanimo was not US territory.

[xoxoxoBruce]

If the Cubans threw a couple bombs over the fence I bet they'd be singing a different tune.

[TheMercenary]

Originally Posted by xoxoxoBruce

If the Cubans threw a couple bombs over the fence I bet they'd be singing a different tune.

True dat. It would make for some interesting news. I would love to see Cuba become another protectorate like Guam and PR.

[xoxoxoBruce]

Hell no....we don't need another money pit for corporations to hide out.