Posted on 11/15/2005 3:22:43 PM PST by Valin
The United States suspended its controversial military trials for 'war on terror' detainees after a ruling by a federal judge. Following the judge's action on Monday, the Defense Department said it had postponed the first trial hearing of accused "Australian Taliban" David Hicks, which was scheduled to start Friday at the Guantanamo Bay naval base in Cuba. "The courts have intervened, as I understand it, and things are off for a period until the courts sort through things," US Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld said.
Bryan Whitman, a Pentagon spokesman, said the government has not decided whether to appeal the ruling by US District Judge Colleen Kollar Kotelly. "This is something that happened last night. The government will obviously review the rulings of the court and make its decision from there," he said.
Kotelly ruled that the Hicks trial be suspended ahead of an anticipated ruling by the US Supreme Court on the legality of the special military tribunals set up after the September 11, 2001 attacks. Whitman stressed that the ruling applied only to Hicks, but no dates have been set for any other trials to start. Kotelly said the suspension would remain in effect "pending the issuance of a final and ultimate decision by the Supreme Court in that case." The Supreme Court has said it would give a ruling in 2006 on the military trials, which have faced criticism at home and abroad.
Hicks, 30, was the first of nine detainees to face trial by the special military commissions, which have been condemned by civil legal groups and even many of the military lawyers defending the detainees. A convert to Islam who was captured in Afghanistan in late 2001, Hicks faces charges of conspiracy to commit war crimes, attempted murder by an unprivileged belligerent and aiding the enemy. He has denied the charges.
Despite the Supreme Court intervention, the Pentagon had wanted Hicks' trial to proceed, while officials said they were aware that a court could order a suspension. The Supreme Court said last week it would rule next year on the legality of the military commissions in response to a challenge by lawyers for another detainee, Saleh Ahmed Hamdan, a Yemeni. There have been a series of court challenges to the tribunals.
A federal appeals court in July reaffirmed President George W. Bush's authority to order trials of "war on terror" detainees by the commissions in Hamdan's case. Hicks' lawyers filed a petition in federal court last week seeking a stay of his trial pending the Supreme Court ruling. The Pentagon brought war crimes charges against five more detainees a week ago, bringing to nine the number who face trial by military commission, on the same day that the Supreme Court said it would rule on the legality of the process.
Nearly 500 other detainees are being held without charge at the military-run prison at the Guantanamo Bay Naval Base in Cuba. Most of the inmates were captured in Afghanistan and Pakistan after a US-led offensive toppled the Taliban government in Kabul in late 2001. The United States has declared the detainees illegal enemy combatants who are not protected by the Geneva Conventions.
Huh?
Amen, friend!
Another Judge interjecting her emotional whimsy into her decisions.
"Huh??? Guess all those trials of the Nazi's for war crimes wouldn't happen in today's world?? An I missing something or is this BS like I think it is?"
The Nazis had lawyers, proper charges and public trials. Better than they deserved but it wasn't about them but about the rule of law and human rights.
These "detainees", IMO, have zero legal standing in our courts. The military can and should adjudicate these cases...not the court system.
How about we do what the Geneva Convention allows for in these cases? Hold a summary court martial in the area where they were captured. Either release there, or carry out the penalty prescribed the the G.C.
http://www.google.com/search?q=Kotelly+%2Bsite%3Afreerepublic.com
Betcha Kotelly's on the Hillary's SCOTUS short list.
The Supreme Court said last week it would rule next year on the legality of the military commissions in response to a challenge by lawyers for another detainee, Saleh Ahmed Hamdan, a Yemeni.
The latest I heard, Alito's confirmation hearings will begin next January.
Kollar Kotelly ruled purely to postpone justice. How thrilling that power must be. Especially when delays usually favor the defense.
Sorry - reading thru the antihistamine induced fog -- I don't think I'm getting your point.
Just scanned a few of those. Jodge Kotelly sounds like a criminally insane leftist posing as a judge.
"OK, so is Justice-pending Alito going to be seated in time to rule on this?"
He would have been but the Meirs debacle put the SC replacement schedule back by four weeks...and into the Holidays.
"Sorry - reading thru the antihistamine induced fog -- I don't think I'm getting your point."
First, I'm sorry if you are not feeling well.... I have to take alritan every day.
But my point was that that the trials are really going to be blocked - it's just that they don't reflect well on the U.S. done this way. The trials need to be more like the Nuremburg trials and less like a secret tribunal.
Please don't confuse this for sympathy with traitors - if he fought with the enemy against his country then he should hang.. but first he should have a fair trial with proper charges, a good lawyer and and a public hearing.
Don't get me wrong, I have no sympathy for the Nazis, and am happy most of them were punished, just never thought those trials were anything but legalized lynchings.
In the end, it really didn't make any difference since they could have been tried by post war German governments and executed for such things as murder instead of made up charges like "waging aggressive war".
Ok - I didn't think what I read was what you meant! LOL Thanks for the clarification. I just do NOT what activist judges trying to apply foreign law (read: Breyer) to screw this up. If (HA!) guilty, these traitors should hang. In the public square. On national television. IMHO. ;o)
Put them on a barge in cages.
Tow the barge out into the Gulf of Mexico.
Scuttle the barge.
No more detainee problem.
Questions?
Nailed it.
IIRC, some of the so-called "innocents" we've released from Gitmo have turned up fighting again afterwards. This is a war, not a criminal act/conspiracy. Treating these people as criminals instead of as enemy warriors is short-sighted at best.
The terrorist detainees should be held at the judge's house since he seems so interested in their well-being.
"The Nazis had lawyers, proper charges and public trials. Better than they deserved but it wasn't about them but about the rule of law and human rights."
Um, not so much. The TOP Nazis had trials. The vast majority of Nazis were not tried. And particularly nasty Nazis of lower rank were often taken from British POW camps and executed. Without, I might note, benefit of a trial at all.
Indeed they were.
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