Military Court Holds Session so Secret Defendant Can’t Attend

[The Straight Story]

The U.S. military commission trials at Guantánamo recently held a pretrial hearing for the man accused of masterminding the October 12, 2000, bombing of the U.S.S. Cole in Yemen. What made this legal event noteworthy was the fact that the defendant wasn’t even allowed to attend because prosecutors insisted the information being revealed was so secret that the hearing had to be completely closed.

After concluding the hearing, the military revealed only one thing to the media: that it lasted 78 minutes.

Army Colonel James Pohl, the presiding judge, agreed to close the session because Pentagon prosecutors demonstrated a “compelling governmental interest that public disclosure could result in grave damage to national security,” and that disclosure of material at the hearing “could reasonably be expected to damage national security, including intelligence sources and methods,” according to the Miami Herald.

Brigadier General Mark Martins, the chief prosecutor, said the hearing was the first closed session under the 2009 Military Commission Act, which President Barack Obama supported to reform the military tribunals that began under President George W. Bush.

http://www.allgov.com/news/top-stories/military-court-holds-session-so-secret-defendant-cant-attend-130628?news=850420

[dkf]

1. There is something wrong with this crew.

Their secretiveness is almost a pathology.

[Scuba]

2. Not even the judges were allowed to hear the case. No attorneys. Only Alan West.

[Journeyman]

3. Twinkle, twinkle, many Stars, up above the Chamber tall. . .

Is there justice in this Hall?

Wish we knew, wish it true, sad to say but the Minutes hold no sway. . .

They tell only Time, and tick away the Moments and Memory of Glory.

[dixiegrrrrl]

4. Remember when we used to mock other countries for their "secret tribunals"?

Esp. E. European countries during the Cold War..I remember the disparaging news stories.

[Tierra_y_Libertad]

6. Too true.

[SamKnause]

5. Court

Land of the Free ???

Transparency; NO: Pursuing whistleblowers with a vengeance, meetings behind closed doors, ridiculously redacted documents, the practice of classifying documents top secret, or a threat to U.S. security, purposefully to hide the facts from the people of the United States and around the globe, allowing a minority of Senators and Congresspersons access to meetings, and on and on and on.

Justice; NO: 2.3 million in prison, persecution of Bradley Manning, Julian Assange, Edward Snowden, Glenn Greenwald, Occupy Wall Street, and on and on and on.

Fairness; NO: Ex Enron Corporation CEO buying his way out of prison, no prison time for banks laundering drug money, no prison time for contractors ripping off the taxpayers, and on and on and on.

Secret Courts; YES: Black sights, rendition, torture, indefinite detention, assassinations, drone attacks.

Behind closed door meetings; YES: Corporations, lobbyists and CEO's have access to our politicians and the lawmaking process. Citizens and independent news agencies do not.

Oversight; NO: What agency has been held accountable for aiding and abetting the global collapse of the economy? None

No incarceration for the guilty who are powerful and wealthy; CORRECT: Not one CEO has been jailed for collapsing the global.

People held with no charges; YES: Guantanamo, secret prisons, black sights, rendition.

Torture rules rewritten; YES: Bush administration and John Woo

No prosecutions for illegal invasions and occupations; CORRECT: The United States refused to prosecute the Bush administration. The Obama administration interfered with the countries that wanted the Bush administration held accountable.

No prosecutions for the killing of U.S. citizens; CORRECT: No charges, no trial, no rights to a defence; Correct: 4 United States citizens have been killed by drones. Killed based on assumptions, unproven accusations, gender, age and location.


The Blind Lady's Scales of Justice are terribly out of kilter. !!!

[Nevernose]

8. But if we say we're mad about this stuff on DU

Some people will call us racists or claim that we're Paulbots or that we just hate Obama.

[SamKnause]

11. Snowden 2

It does not bother me.

I don't fit into any of the molds.

I side with truth, justice, transparency, openness, fairness, liberty, and equality.

I disagree with all those who do not support these basic rights, regardless of their party affiliations.

Have a great weekend.

[struggle4progress]

7. Guantanamo prisoner seeks to attend pre-trial talks on secret evidence

By Jane Sutton
GUANTANAMO BAY U.S. NAVAL BASE, Cuba
Wed Jun 12, 2013 5:00pm EDT

... Most of that classified material involves Nashiri's treatment in secret CIA prisons before he was sent to the Guantanamo Bay U.S. Naval Base in Cuba, where he is charged with sending suicide bombers to ram a boat full of explosives into the side of the USS Cole off Yemen in 2000 ...

"The evidence at issue is the torture inflicted on Mr. Nashiri," said defense attorney Rick Kammen, who will argue that abusive treatment is a mitigating factor that should spare Nashiri from execution.

Prosecutors have previously objected when Nashiri wanted to skip pretrial sessions, said another of Nashiri's lawyers, Air Force Major Allison Danels.

The judge, Army Colonel James Pohl, did not formally rule on the matter. But he said as the issues arise he would meet privately with the lawyers to determine whether the classified material in question involves something Nashiri has already been exposed to ...

http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/06/12/us-usa-guantanamo-idUSBRE95B12W20130612

[cliffordu]

9. Well, fuck me. My heart is officially broken.

Once upon a time I believed this shit to the point that I VOLUNTEERED to go to war:

Cue smug 'I told ya so'

-*****************

O beautiful for spacious skies,
For amber waves of grain,
For purple mountain majesties
Above the fruited plain!
America! America!
God shed his grace on thee
And crown thy good with brotherhood
From sea to shining sea!

O beautiful for pilgrim feet
Whose stern impassioned stress
A thoroughfare of freedom beat
Across the wilderness!
America! America!
God mend thine every flaw,
Confirm thy soul in self-control,
Thy liberty in law!

O beautiful for heroes proved
In liberating strife.
Who more than self their country loved
And mercy more than life!
America! America!
May God thy gold refine
Till all success be nobleness
And every gain divine!

O beautiful for patriot dream
That sees beyond the years
Thine alabaster cities gleam
Undimmed by human tears!
America! America!
God shed his grace on thee
And crown thy good with brotherhood
From sea to shining sea!

O beautiful for halcyon skies,
For amber waves of grain,
For purple mountain majesties
Above the enameled plain!
America! America!
God shed his grace on thee
Till souls wax fair as earth and air
And music-hearted sea!

O beautiful for pilgrims feet,
Whose stem impassioned stress
A thoroughfare for freedom beat
Across the wilderness!
America! America!
God shed his grace on thee
Till paths be wrought through
wilds of thought
By pilgrim foot and knee!

O beautiful for glory-tale
Of liberating strife
When once and twice,
for man's avail
Men lavished precious life!
America! America!
God shed his grace on thee
Till selfish gain no longer stain
The banner of the free!

O beautiful for patriot dream
That sees beyond the years
Thine alabaster cities gleam
Undimmed by human tears!
America! America!
God shed his grace on thee
Till nobler men keep once again
Thy whiter jubilee!

[whatchamacallit]

10. The (continuing) coup of 2000 killed American Justice

Just look at the democrats on this board who love government secrecy, power and control. My things have changed...

[RC]

12. “could reasonably be expected to damage national security, ..."

Translation: Embarrassing or damaging to certain law breakers and war criminals, high up in the hierarchies of one or more of the secretly run shadow governments that control the visible US government.