Executions may be carried out at Gitmo

[Demeter]

Source: Associated Press

By MICHAEL MELIA and ANDREW O. SELSKY, Associated Press Writers
38 minutes ago



SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico - If six suspected terrorists are sentenced to death at Guantanamo Bay for the Sept. 11 attacks, U.S. Army regulations that were quietly amended two years ago open the possibility of execution by lethal injection at the military base in Cuba, experts said Tuesday...Conducting the executions on U.S. soil could open the way for the detainees' lawyers to go to U.S. courts to fight the death sentences. But the updated regulations make it possible for the executions to be carried out at Guantanamo. The condemned men could even be buried at Guantanamo. A Muslim section of the cemetery at Guantanamo has been dedicated by an Islamic cultural adviser, said Bruce Lloyd, spokesman for the Guantanamo Naval Station. Among those buried elsewhere at the cemetery are U.S. servicemen.

Up until recently, experts on military law said, it was understood that military regulations required executions to be carried out by lethal injection at Fort Leavenworth in Kansas. But in January 2006, the Army changed its procedures for military executions, allowing "other locations" to be used. The new regulations say that only the president can approve an execution and that the secretary of the Army will authorize the location...The last U.S. military execution was in 1961, when President Kennedy signed off on the hanging of Army Pfc. John A. Bennett for the rape and attempted murder of an 11-year-old Austrian girl...

The Bush administration has instructed U.S. diplomats abroad to defend its decision to seek the death penalty for the six men by recalling the executions of Nazi war criminals after World War II...A four-page cable sent to U.S. embassies and obtained Tuesday by The Associated Press says that execution as punishment for extreme violations of the laws of war is internationally accepted. The cable points to the 1945-46 Nuremberg war crimes trials in Germany. Twelve of Adolf Hitler's senior aides were sentenced to death at the trials, though not all were executed in the end...No death chamber is known to exist at Guantanamo, but Scott Silliman, a former Air Force lawyer and who is now a Duke University professor, said the military may decide to build one there. The 2006 Army regulations also call for a viewing room to the death chamber, where at least two news media representatives would be witnesses.

The trial for the six detainees is still months away. And given the slow pace of the military commissions at Guantanamo Bay, verdicts are unlikely before President Bush leaves office next January.






Read more: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080213/ap_on_re_us/guantanamo_executions_7

[greenvpi]

1. You misspelled...

"already have"

[Demeter]

2. Just Following Rules of Posting

Besides, these would be "official" executions, not those done in the "heat of the moment".

BushCo is the pandemic--makes the world sick.

[DrDan]

3. this probably was the case in the months following 9/11/01 . . .

"A four-page cable sent to U.S. embassies and obtained Tuesday by The Associated Press says that execution as punishment for extreme violations of the laws of war is internationally accepted"

I have a feeling junior has changed that completely. I really have my doubts that the rest of the world would support this now.

[salin]

4. um - to sell by comparing to nazi war criminals.... would suggest

international court/hearings - not secret tribunals that have been reportedly very one-sided railroad shows.

[Demeter]

5. Bush Is Trying to Make a Fig Leaf, Not a Sale

He's a dictator. He doesn't care what anyone thinks, because their opinions don't count. Just his.

So the fig leaf is to give fawning neocon historians quotes so they can proclaim his wisdom, justice, and patriotism as second to none.

[salin]

6. it is the line he is telling diplomats to use internationally

so the fig leaf isn't even for the US, or historians - it is somehow aimed at the international community from which there is likely to be some big blow back.

What is interesting is that the article states that given the "slow pace" of the tribunals that it isn't likely to be to the point of executions until after Bush leaves office. As I write that I revise my above thought - this isn't for the international community it *is* for us. Well not us, but the GOP "base" - the bush folks know that the next president (unless it is McCain which is unlikely) will not preside over such an international debacle. Perhaps this is really aimed at the current election - trying to give a "we are the party of strong national security" which is laughable, but about the only explanation that occurs to me for this move - at this time.

[TechBear_Seattle]

7. When did they rename the base in Cuba to something in German?

At the risk of proving Godwin's Law, I can't help but think that Junta has a "camp" full of people which is proving to be a "problem." Executing people whose crime is allegedly (because such crimes will never be actually proven in open court) opposing the US invasion of their country just might be the "solution" they are looking for.

[alfredo]

9. Camp X-Ray translated in German is Camp X-Ray

Republicans call it: Tropisches Paradies

[Xenotime]

8. we will have become the evil we said we were fighting when this happens.

[fascisthunter]

10. Hey Neo-Cons... Here's an actual DICTATOR

not Chavez but Bush.... hypocrites.

[Mnemosyne]

11. Anyone that does not believe there have already been secret trials and

executions is naive, imo.

Has anyone even seen those held in their secret camp there?

Fucking war criminals.

[Demeter]

12. Oh, I Doubt They Bothered With Trials!