Guantanamo Eyes Possible Execution Chamber

Yahoo! News ^ | Jun 10, 2003 | PAISLEY DODDS, Associated Press Writer

[yonif]

SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico - Guantanamo officials are ready to provide a courtroom, a prison and an execution chamber if the order comes to try terror suspects at the base in Cuba, the mission commander said.

Although no new directive has been given and no plans have been approved, a handful of experts are looking at what it will take to try, imprison and, if need be, execute detainees accused of links to Afghanistan (news - web sites)'s fallen Taliban regime or to the al-Qaida terror network.

"We have a number of plans that we work for short-term and long-term strategies but that's all they are — plans," Army Maj. Gen. Geoffrey Miller said in a telephone interview Monday.

Isolated on Cuba's eastern tip and out of the jurisdiction of U.S. civilian courts, Guantanamo is a likely location for U.S. military trials.

Last month, officials named Army Col. Frederic Borch III the chief prosecutor and Air Force Col. Will Gunn as chief defense lawyer for the proposed trials. The Pentagon (news - web sites) has listed 18 war crimes and eight other offenses that could be tried, including terrorist acts, and has issued rules for the tribunals.

Borch said he was looking at prosecuting at least 10 possible cases before a tribunal.

Some 680 detainees from 42 countries are in Guantanamo, categorized as unlawful combatants by the U.S. government. It has refused demands from human rights organizations to recognize them as prisoners of war. They have no constitutional rights as non-U.S. citizens being held outside U.S. territory, and none have been formally charged or allowed access to attorneys.

The cases would be decided by a panel of three to seven military officers who act as both judge and jury. Convictions could be handed down by a majority vote; a decision to sentence a defendant to death would have to be unanimous.

Some civil liberties advocates have criticized the process.

"Any further movement in the direction of trying these men in commissions that could have the power to carry out death sentences is cause for great concern," Vienna Colucci of Amnesty International's Washington D.C. office said Monday.

Miller said renovations on a building being considered as a courtroom began in March and likely will be completed next month. The building is being rewired and could be used as a courthouse with facilities for media and military officers.

There also are plans to build a permanent modular detention facility, to imprison detainees who might be sentenced to indefinite terms, and an execution chamber should any be sentenced to death, he said.

"We're getting ready so we won't be starting from scratch," Miller said, speaking while on a visit to Washington D.C.

About five people have been drafting several plans for the last six months, he said. It was unclear how much money it would take to sustain such a permanent mission.

After the detention center opened in January 2002, Secretary of Defense Donald H. Rumsfeld called the detainees "among the most dangerous, best trained, vicious killers on the face of the Earth." But, after lengthy interrogation, many are thought to be low-level former Taliban fighters and unlikely prospects for commission trials.

[ContentiousObjector]

terrorists should never be executed, killing people who dream of being martyred is like letting a shoplifted keep what they stole.

If you imprison a terrorist they are soon forgotten for good and left to rot. If you execute a terrorist in a way they become immortal, and in the eyes of their supporters a martyr.

Letting them become martyrs plays into their hands, terrorists should be kept alive as long as possible using any and all means available. If that means Osama Bin Laden is left on life support in prison forever, well that is what it will take.

A forgotten terrorist is a pathetic figure and harmless, a martyr is more dangerous than they were alive, that is why Israel doesn't have the death penalty

[yonif]

I would want to see a terrorist rot in jail the rest of his life.

[yonif]

When sentenced by a court of course. But when arrest is not possible in the war on terrorism, I have no problem with the terrorist being killed during a counter-terrorist operation, like the IDF does many times.

[drlevy88]

Why do they need a chamber. What's wrong with 12 rifles and a low wall?

[ContentiousObjector]

that is a little differant, once the guy is locked up he can't hurt anyone further.

[Hugin]

I think these guys want to go out in a blaze of glory taking a lot of infidels with them, not executed like criminals. After all, if they wanted to die, they could have died fighting instead of surrendering in the first place. Then there are the leaders who have no intention of dying themselves, but just send out others to sacrifice themselves for the cause.

I say hang them till they rot and feed them to pigs.

[Pistolshot]

terrorists should never be executed, killing people who dream of being martyred is like letting a shoplifted keep what they stole.
If you imprison a terrorist they are soon forgotten for good and left to rot. If you execute a terrorist in a way they become immortal, and in the eyes of their supporters a martyr.
Letting them become martyrs plays into their hands, terrorists should be kept alive as long as possible using any and all means available. If that means Osama Bin Laden is left on life support in prison forever, well that is what it will take.
A forgotten terrorist is a pathetic figure and harmless, a martyr is more dangerous than they were alive, that is why Israel doesn't have the death penalty

Actually, beheading or hanging will not allow them into Paradise. Keeping them alive only serves to inspire wave after wave of mobile-crater-makers.
If wrapped in pig-skin for burial and handled by women(considered unclean) they will also not be allowed into Paradise.

Let see how long they hold to their beliefs and start singing like canaries if they know this will happen to them.

There is a US precedent for this type of action.

[MetalHeadConservative35]

Why do they need a chamber. What's wrong with 12 rifles and a low wall?

Agreed.just shootem or hangem...and both with extreme prejudice

[American in Israel]

It all depends on how you kill him, for vampires a wooden stake, for terrorists, a firing squad in a pig pen will do.

I look forward to Arafat in Gitmo.

[dwilli]

There is absolutely no way in this geopolitical world GWB
will ever allow executions to take place on Gitmo.

[gridlock]

What's wrong with 12 rifles and a low wall?

Too much fighting amongst the troops over who gets to volunteer for that particular duty.

[LibKill]

Hanging is more suitible for the bootless and unhorsed.

[Happy2BMe]

This is a good thing - a really, really good development for the security of America.

Terrorists need to know "special" preparations have been made and facilities are awaiting their arrival if they should go the way of the jihad.

[SpinyNorman]

Actually, beheading or hanging will not allow them into Paradise. Keeping them alive only serves to inspire wave after wave of mobile-crater-makers.

If wrapped in pig-skin for burial and handled by women(considered unclean) they will also not be allowed into Paradise.

Let see how long they hold to their beliefs and start singing like canaries if they know this will happen to them.

I agree absolutely!! The only way to stop a self appointed "martyr" is to take away his/her presumed reward, or at least ensure that future homicide bombers know that their trip to Paradise will be derailed.

[drlevy88]

And if they complain, well tell them if their Allah is so weak that he can't save their soul from infidel indignities to their dead body, well they should go looking for someone else to worship.

[playball0]

We don't need an execution chamber. A simple gallows is good enough. I'd consider an execution chamber only if it were used in conjunction with wrapping each prisoner in bacon before execution. Other alternatives is use a guillotine and bury the heads separate from the bodies.

The general principle should be, "No 72 virgins for you; you have dishonored yourself, your family, your cause, and your religion."

[Publius6961]

Firing squads have always been efficacious, cheap and portable.
So what's the problem?

And it will be necessary.
I recall last week one of the prisoners, who was ill and injured and weighed 80 pounds initially, had recovered and told his American doctor: "Thank you for halping me; Nothing personal, but first opportunity I get I must kill you"

[AngryJawa]

IMHO, these dirtbags should have been disposed of 18 months ago in Afghanistan. I don't know if we've gleaned enough useable info out of these animals to make up for the tax dollars and bad press involved in transferring them to Gitmo. Any info that they had upon capture could have been extracted in-country and then they could have very easily "turned them over" to certain Northern Alliance generals for final disposition.

I can't wait for the great human cry from the Amnesty International and the rest of the left upon the first tribunal and execution. It will be truly entertaining.