Kangaroo courts
at Guantanamo to continue
By Kenneth J. Theisen
The Obama administration announced on Monday, March 7th
that it will resume kangaroo trials at the prison camp at Guantanamo Bay,
Cuba. This ends a two-year ban
imposed by President Obama the day after he took office. Back then he also
announced that he was ordering the closure of Gitmo which in the eyes of the
world had come to symbolize torture and the abuse of due process for the
prisoners held in the U.S. war of terror. Of course Gitmo is still open and the
atrocities it came to represent continue there and at other U.S.-run hellholes
such as the expanded prison at Bagram, Afghanistan.
The change that Obama promised during his election campaign has
not occurred. Instead the criminal policies begun under the Bush regime are now
the policies of the Obama administration [allowing John Yoo to gloat over fancied exoneration]. In making the announcement the Obama
administration issued a written statement about these new military commission
trials.
In the written statement, Obama said he has also issued a new code
for treatment of prisoners and that he reserves the right to try some accused
terrorists in American federal courts. Obama wrote that the new policies will
"broaden our ability to bring terrorists to justice, provide oversight for our
actions, and ensure the humane treatment of detainees." But they will do
nothing of the sort. Trying
prisoners at Gitmo will reduce oversight and strip prisoners of essential due
process rights.
The kangaroo proceedings under the military commissions virtually
guarantee convictions for the U.S. government. The judges are U.S. military judges. The "evidence" consists of hearsay,
secret evidence, statements obtained under torture, and just about anything
else the government wants to use. The ability to cross-examine witnesses is
greatly reduced. Due process is
virtually non-existent. But this
is what the U.S. government wants.Â
They want convictions and these kangaroo proceedings will deliver
convictions. They will also ensure that the abusive treatment of the prisoners
remains concealed from the public.
Despite Obama's Orwellian statement, the world will not be
fooled. Even U.S.-allied
governments have condemned the "justice" provided by these military
commissions. We must expose the
"justice" provided by these courts as what it really is - no justice at all. Kangaroo courts began under the Bush
regime and are being continued under Obama.Â
Obama has also continued the Bush policy of trying to restrict the
access of prisoners to any real due process. While the order issued by Obama today impacts prisoners now
held at Gitmo it does not affect those held at places such as Bagram. There the Obama administration does not
even bother with kangaroo trials.Â
In Bagram and other hellholes run by the Pentagon due process consists
of "reviews" where the U.S. military decides whether to continue to hold
prisoners or not. There are no
hearings or lawyers for the defendants. Obama lawyers maintain that those held
at Bagram and other prisons overseas have no right to habeas corpus or other
due process rights under the Constitution. They also maintain that prisoners of
the U.S. war of terror can be held indefinitely. Most of what happens at Bagram and other U.S.-run prisons
overseas also receives very little, if any media attention.
The "justice" rendered by the U.S. is in fact a crime and we need
to expose and condemn it. World Can't Wait will continue to do so.
