As Guantanamo trials near, Pentagon limits what can be reported

[laststeamtrain]

Source: Miami Herald

As Guantanamo trials near, Pentagon limits what can be reported
Carol Rosenberg | Miami Herald

last updated: April 03, 2008 08:16:24 AM

GUANTANAMO BAY NAVY BASE, Cuba — A defense lawyer lets slip at the war court convening here that a battlefield commander changed an Afghanistan firefight report in a way that seemed to help a U.S. government murder case. Reporters hear the field commander's name but are forbidden to report it.

In another case, a judge approves the release of a captive's interrogation video showing the blurred face of an American agent. But a federal prosecutor on loan to the Pentagon withholds it ``out of an abundance of caution.''

Even as the U.S. government edges toward full-blown, war-crimes trials by military commission here, with more hearings next week, all sides are grappling with what information can be made public and what must be kept secret.

Consider: A new courtroom here sequesters Pentagon-approved spectators behind a soundproofed window. If a terror suspect tries to shout about his treatment in U.S. custody, a military censor can mute the audio feed that observers hear.

Read more: http://www.mcclatchydc.com/iraq/story/32532.html

[Solly Mack]

1. DeMOCKracy in action.

[PSPS]

2. Why not just make a movie with actors and play it for the "reporters?"

The domestic corporate media won't mind. They can report that, according to the "wonderfully done and accurate re-enactmant," the person was truly guilty of the most horrible crimes and deserved to be executed the week before the election! All hail herr bush! They can even promote the upcoming coronation of king McSame, in the same senate office where they crowned Moon the "King of America."

It's pretty much assumed that bush will see to it that none of his victims survive. Maybe some day, mass graves full of women and children will be unearthed at Guantanamo.

[damntexdem]

3. Oh, no need for that. Computer animation would suffice.

Virtual justice for virtual detainees -- followed by all-too-real continuing punishment.

[HuffleClaw]

4. this is TRAVISHAMOCKERY !

really

[otherlander]

5. They better get the trails over with

pretty early in the morning, because by noon it'll be too dark to see.

[PSPS]

6. Indeed

Sheriff Charlie Koch, on the morning of an execution. As a matter of fact, it's 7:30 in the morning. Logic and natural laws dictate that at this hour there should be daylight. It is a simple rule of physical science that the sun should rise at a certain moment and supersede the darkness. But at this given moment Sheriff Charlie Koch, a deputy named Pierce, a condemned man named Jagger, and a small, inconsequential village will shortly find out that there are causes and effects that have no precedent. Such is usually the case... in the Twilight Zone.

A sickness known as hate; not a virus, not a microbe, not a germ, but a sickness nonetheless; highly contagious, deadly in its effects. Don't look for it in the Twilight Zone. Look for it in a mirror. Look for it before the light goes out altogether.

[Supersedeas]

7. not speedy, not public, and no right to confront much of the testimony against -- Neo 'Merican way?