Lawyer: Gitmo trials pegged to '08 campaign

[Nitrogenica]

Source: Miami Herald

The Navy lawyer for Osama bin Laden's driver argues in a Guantánamo military commissions motion that senior Pentagon officials are orchestrating war crimes prosecutions for the 2008 campaign.

The brief filed Thursday by Navy Lt. Cmdr. Brian Mizer directly challenged the integrity of President Bush's war court.

Notably, it describes a Sept. 29, 2006, meeting at the Pentagon in which Deputy Defense Secretary Gordon England, a veteran White House appointee, asked lawyers to consider Sept. 11, 2001, prosecutions in light of the campaign.

''We need to think about charging some of the high-value detainees because there could be strategic political value to charging some of these detainees before the election,'' England is quoted as saying.



Read more: http://www.miamiherald.com/guantanamo/story/474196.html

[SpiralHawk]

1. "Challenge our integrity? Bwaaa ha ha ha ha." - BushCo Appointees

"What integrity? Have you forgotten, we are republicons. We don't do integrity. Bwaaa ha ha ha ha."

- BushCo Appointee

[tanyev]

2. The Bush administration manipulating events that affect the entire nation solely for political gain?

Inconceivable.

[kath]

14. Surely the BFEE hasn't been doing such things for at least 27 years -- such as delaying the release

of hostages??
Inconceivable.

[Joanne98]

3. Of course. K&R

[tom_paine]

4. More confirmation of the obvious: Bushies lie and manipulate like Nazis

JUST like Nazis. Everything except the violence and overt racism.

Of COURSE the Bushies are doing this, they always planned to do this. Just like they plan everything possible to be in keeping with their Gestalt-Based Propaganda program which has been the most wildly successful of any attempt by any dictator or tyrants to get people to accept their own enslavement and remove every trace of actual reality from their lives.

It always amazes me that this shit, which has now been caught for the hundredth time and performed for the thousandth, is always reported with astonishment, when it is Standard Operating Policy.

Bushies use politics to drive 100% of policies and actions. Nazis say bad things about the Jews.

Same level of certainty.

[ExPatLeftist]

9. Spot On

The Nazis mastered the art of propaganda. The Bush admin perfected it.

Somewhere in his own corner of hell, Goebbels is in awe.

[tavalon]

5. Well, of course they are

How much longer do we have to deal with these jackasses who are supposedly running our country. Why is everything a fucking political ploy with them?

[pleah]

34. jGood for your asking these questions!

[DeepModem Mom]

6. These people must go! My Bush Countdown Clock reads 296 days today. nt

[AzDar]

7. So close....and yet, so far.

:nuke:

[Sarah Ibarruri]

8. Can we inundate the Pentagon and the Congress with mail and let the press know about it? nt

[singilarpoint]

10. Outrage!!!!

Also they r playing right into McInsane's wheelhouse. He will wander around telling people what a great success the trails were in the "War on Terror", and how nothing can stop us now, all we have to do is turn the corner. These people will stop at nothing to continue their vile assault on all that is decent with America. What they do is madness, but I think the thing that bothers me the most about these creatures, is the fact that they make up about 33% of the population.How ANYONE can fall for their wickedness is well beyond my comprehension.

[Bolo Boffin]

11. Which is why one of the human rights enshrined in the Bill of Rights

is the right to a fair and speedy trial.

[ladywnch]

12. well, we know this attorney isn't long for his position. He'll "retire"

very soon I'm sure but not before a reduction in rank

[peacetalksforall]

13. Emulating Nazis is the most appropriate accusation for these people. The

parallels are mind boggling. It's as if they have picked up the Nazi playbook and set out to adopt it all. It's as if the Nazi's laid it all out for someone to pick up on. Including the news (from approx a year ago) about the CIA counterfeiting dollars. What happened to that news.

Is there a list anywhere of the news and accusations that the Corporate Propagand Networks have not investigated?

[Sam Ervin jret]

15. List? It could be an encyclopedia. Shit BuchCo's have got away with VOL I : look and a wink crimes

Vol II: Not even looked at crimes

[noel adamson]

17. BushCo and Nazis both derive their propaganda and strategy from Wall St.

It is not so much one following the other's play book but if it were it might be more appropriate to say that Hitler used the Bush family play book considering the prominent role Prescott Bush and his father in law George Herbert Walker played in propelling the Nazis into power.

[rcsl1998]

30. ...And The Murdoch Wall Street Journal... nt

[Baby Snooks]

18. And Republicans and Democrats go nuts at the comparison..

The Republicans go nuts because they're guilty. The Democrats go nuts because they're complicit. In reality, there is one party in this country and part of that party is fascist and supports policies that once were called "neo-con philosophy" which is very apt since the "neo-cons" are "neo-con artists." Including the Clintons.

On top of this is the very scary possibility that the Federal Reserve will be given total control of our entire economic system. That is nothing but oligarchy. Putting everything in the hands of a few.

That Barney Frank would support it is appalling. But then quite a few Democrats seem to be supporting the agenda so to speak. Republicrats.

It is "by the people, for the people," Mr. Frank, not "by the corporation, for the corporation."

Everyone should be prepared for a real nasty campaign season with this administration playing the "are you a patriot or a traitor" card again to ensure the agenda continues. And the Democrats will tremble in their boots again and probably lose the last chance to take back this country.

And don't think for one minute that the Empress will not aid and abet.

Of all the people who need to be removed from office in November, Nancy Pelosi is at the top of the list.

[MetaTrope]

16. While Steven Green, rapist/murderer of 14 yr old Iraqi girl and her family in 2006

isn't going to trial until mid-2009...and now it's going to be a civilian trial, rather than a military court.

[Baby Snooks]

19. This administration should do what it did with Saddam Hussein

Let the Iraqis try him and the others. It has been very difficult for me to "support the military" because of this incident. They murdered this girl's parents and younger sister in front of her and then raped her and then murdered her. And the military we are told to support did nothing.

We need a president with the courage to turn them all, including Bush and Cheney, over to the International Court. And if you think Hillary Clinton will do so you are sadly mistaken. John McCain would be more likely to. There is no difference between a Clinton administration and a Bush administration. As those who really look at the first Clinton administration realize. Particularly when they look at the source of the Clintons' wealth since he left office. And most particularly when they look at the photos of Bill Clinton and George HW Bush. Always smiling. Bill no doubt is smiling over his latest deal in the Persian Gulf.

Sorry but the only hope for this country is Barack Obama but the Democrats themselves will most likely allow the racism which permeates our entire society to prevail along with the religious xenophobia.

We will fall. The way Nazi Germany did.

[laststeamtrain]

20. Is Pentagon using Guantanamo trials to influence election?

Source: Miami Herald

Is Pentagon using Guantanamo trials to influence election?
Carol Rosenberg | Miami Herald

last updated: March 28, 2008 08:26:16 PM

The Navy lawyer for Osama bin Laden's driver has accused senior Pentagon officials of orchestrating war crimes prosecutions of detainees held at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, to influence the outcome of the 2008 presidential campaign.

In a brief filed Thursday, Navy Lt. Cmdr. Brian Mizer describes a Sept. 29, 2006, meeting at the Pentagon in which Deputy Defense Secretary Gordon England, a veteran White House appointee, asked lawyers to consider Sept. 11, 2001, prosecutions in light of the campaign.

''We need to think about charging some of the high-value detainees because there could be strategic political value to charging some of these detainees before the election,'' England is quoted as saying. Former chief Guantanamo prosecutor, Air Force Col. Morris Davis, recounted the England remark after he resigned, claiming political interference.

The Defense Department has steadfastly maintained that its war-time prosecution policy is fair and affords accused terrorists extraordinary rights. Bryan Whitman, a Pentagon spokesman, declined to discuss specifics. "I can tell you emphatically that leadership has always been extraordinarily careful to guard against any unlawful command influence,'' he said.

Read more: http://www.mcclatchydc.com/homepage/story/31929.html

[annabanana]

21. There is significant possibility of blow-back if they are.

Isn't some basic info regarding Miller, Carbone, Rumsfeld & the use of torture about to break?

[merwin]

25. It worked well for them in 2004.

What's to say it won't work well in 2008? Americans on the whole seem to have Alzheimer's disease. Some days they remember how evil this administration is... Then other days they go back to the days of fear right after 9/11.

[tom_paine]

29. Exactly. It WILL work again.

You can make book on it.

[MidwestTransplant]

22. I would be shocked.

[defendandprotect]

23. Can't wait 'til they explain the guilty pleas are based on TORTURE of the prisoners --- !!!

Does anyone not know that ---

[defendandprotect]

24. Btw, BAKER, Colin Powell, Albright and . .. ? anyway 4 called for closing Guantanamo . ..

Hope the article is up somewhere at DU --- !!

[Newsjock]

26. Does a bear shit in the woods?

.

[darue]

27. we know he's bin Laden's driver because we tortured him into saying so right? n/t

[The Stranger]

28. K&R

[intheflow]

31. If anyone should go on trial for war crimes before the upcoming election,

it's the Cheney-Bush junta. But instead they'll wrap this in the flag and conservative sheeple/voters will line up hoping to vote McCain in. :grr:

[bluesmail]

32. sadly I K&R this.

[Turner Ashby]

33. Kudos to the Military Attorney

who was very courageous in putting his career on the line this way. It takes courage to make such allegations. The oath says zealous representation, well, this is zealous.

BTW, Stephen Green was a civilian so he had to be tried in civilian court. There will be no defense before its time is the civilian motto.

[zonmoy]

35. timing the kangaroo court to manipulate the election.

how republican of them.

[L. Coyote]

36. Scott Horton: Gitmo and the G.O.P. Election Effort

Gitmo and the G.O.P. Election Effort
Scott Horton - March 29 - http://harpers.org/archive/2008/03/hbc-90002751


In Karl Rove’s playbook, no turf is free from politics. The more sacred and by tradition the more beyond the political fray, the better suited for partisan grist. National security, for instance. The military. Foreign conflicts. So why not stage-manage the prosecution of terrorists as a media spectacle to serve as a thematic backdrop for the upcoming presidential campaign? The Romans, after all, entertained the Plebian masses with spectacles in the arena. Throwing assorted barbarians and the occasional Christian to the lions was good for business, it seems.

Absurd, you say? Well, we can now move this out of the column marked “speculation” and into the column of “factual contention backed by sworn testimony.” In fact, backed by unrebutted testimony–given that the Pentagon bigwigs involved have decided, thus far at least, not to dispute the heavy accusations which have been levelled at them.

Indeed, yesterday’s Miami Herald put the question very pointedly: “Are the prosecutions now pending before Military Commissions in Guantánamo part and parcel of a media strategy for the Republican Party’s fall election effort?” The question rests on solid premises.

In pleadings filed by military lawyers in Guantánamo on Thursday afternoon, the allegations of political manipulation of the proceedings by the Bush Administration—charges first leveled by the Guantánamo chief prosecutor, and now reinforced by the military defense counsel—continue to mount.

Here are some of the new allegations .... Perhaps you thought the worst Gitmo embarrassments were now past. Brace yourself: the worst is yet to come.

[xxqqqzme]

37. sounds like a 'worst person'nomination is in their future.

[NM Independent]

38. How looow can they goooo?

Seriously...

:wtf: ?