Yonatan Zunger (zunger) wrote,
Yonatan Zunger
zunger

The Military Commissions Act in action

Read this.
The Central Intelligence Agency and the Justice Department have told a federal court that permitting lawyers access to high-level Qaeda suspects without tighter secrecy procedures could damage national security by revealing harsh “alternative interrogation methods” used in secret C.I.A. prisons overseas. ... “Nobody is trying to keep Khan from speaking with his attorney,” [Justice Department spokesman] Blomquist said. “Rather, the government is asking that the protective order governing the information the detainee shares with his counsel be appropriately tailored to accommodate a higher security level.”
Which is to say: Not only can high-value suspects (or other suspects? Who decides again?) be tortured, but the simple fact that they are tortured is secret, and cannot be examined either in court or even be considered by their attorneys to determine whether there is a matter which can be challenged in court.
In case you were still wondering about the legitimacy of this "Military Commissions Act," here is your case in point. A person was held by CIA, by implicit admission tortured, and not only can they not raise this in court as an argument against the validity of any confessions thereby extracted, but they may not even discuss the matter with counsel. The government is claiming the unilateral right to tell the suspect that he may not discuss a wide range of issues with his own lawyer, much less with a judge or the military commission which this act describes as a fair trial.
Every procedural safeguard is removed, with torture being effectively permitted without restriction (since any restriction on it may not, by law, ever be actually pressed!) and suspects - which, as we have seen, are falsely accused as often as not - are left to the tender mercies of the CIA and their "agents." This is the legacy of our president, ימח שמו.
Tags: us politics
  • Post a new comment

    Error

    switch
    default userpic

    Your reply will be screened

    Your IP address will be recorded 

    Help
  • 3 comments

merovingian

November 6 2006, 18:15:26 UTC 9 years ago

Boy sarcastic howdy, I sure feel safer.

cheif

November 7 2006, 17:56:42 UTC 9 years ago

What kind of legislature will need to get passed in our current government to fix all of this constitutional rape? How synergistically will the entire administration, Congress, Supreme Court, and President, have to work to undo what has been done?

Can the house and senate just repeal the patriot act, and associated acts, with signature from the president, and a silent acquiesce from the Supreme Court, or will every line have to be fought for?

zunger

November 7 2006, 17:59:11 UTC 9 years ago

In practice, I think it's more than just overturning of some legislative acts that's needed -- there are a lot of unofficial directives and policies that need to be changed as well. (e.g., sending people off to secret prisons) But a lot of that is "culture change" which would follow from having different people in at the top; the right leader can really set the right behavioral standards for an organization simply by example.

Unfortunately, so can the wrong one...