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Nathan Whitling and Dennis Edney, who are representing Omar Khadr, a 16-year old Canadian being held at Guantánamo Bay, released 10-minutes of snippets from videotaped interrogations by Canadian Security Intelligence Services agents “with hopes that public reaction to the footage will prompt Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper to lobby for his repatriation” reports The New York Times. “The video was made public under Canadian court orders … after intelligence reports made public last week showed Khadr was abused in detention at the U.S. naval base.” Abused? Puhleeze! The Stiletto has watched more brutal questioning on “Homicide: Life on the Street.”...

WASHINGTON, June 17, 2008 – Despite the Supreme Court decision last week, the military is still moving ahead with military commissions at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, Pentagon press secretary Geoff Morrell said today. During a news conference, Morrell said Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates will be briefed on the issue by the Pentagon’s undersecretary of defense for policy and the DoD general counsel. “He is scheduled to get that brief, I believe, later this week,” Morrell said. “But in light of that, and while we wait for that, I can tell you we continue to go forward with our military commissions...

GUANTANAMO BAY NAVAL BASE, Cuba—The confusion of combat during an intense firefight in Afghanistan five years ago has led to conflicting testimony that is complicating the first U.S. war-crime tribunals since the World War II era. A Canadian terror suspect, Omar Khadr, was 15 when he was captured after the 2002 firefight, in which he is accused of throwing a grenade that killed an American soldier at an al-Qaida compound. Khadr is accused of the murder of Army Sgt. 1st Class Christopher Speer, a Special Forces commando. But the emergence this week of an unidentified witness, who said Khadr was...

In the latest edition of the Roger Williams University Law Review, state Supreme Court Chief Justice Frank J. Williams defends military tribunals and the detention of suspected terrorists at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, drawing parallels to Abraham Lincoln’s actions during the Civil War. Williams is a Lincoln expert and collector who, in 2003, was appointed by then-Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld to a military panel established to hear appeals from those detained at Guantanamo Bay. Williams and two law clerks, Nicole J. Dulude and Kimberly A. Tracey, are listed as authors of the 74-page law review article. “Criticism surrounding the Bush...

Tribunals' critics will pay in next election By ZELL MILLER -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- The howls of protest over the administration's efforts to treat terrorists like the war criminals they are is mind-boggling. The critics are crying foul at the mere mention of bringing suspected terrorists to justice in military tribunals. This obsession with protecting the rights of terrorists is naive and wrongheaded. And if you don't want to take my word for it, just wait -- voters will say it loud and clear in next year's elections. The critics forget a key fact: We are at war. Thousands of innocent citizens were ...

A TOP-RANKING US judge has stunned a conference of Australian judges and barristers in Chicago by advocating secret trials for terrorists, more surveillance of Muslim populations across North America and an end to counter-terrorism efforts being "hog-tied" by the US constitution. Judge Richard Posner, a supposedly liberal-leaning jurist regarded by many as a future US Supreme Court candidate, said traditional concepts of criminal justice were inadequate to deal with the terrorist threat and the US had "over-invested" in them. His proposed "big brother" solutions flabbergasted delegates at the Australian Bar Association's biennial conference, where David Hicks's lawyer, Major Michael Mori,...

For Immediate Release Office of the Press Secretary February 14, 2007 Executive Order Trial of Alien Unlawful Enemy Combatants by Military Commission By the authority vested in me as President by the Constitution and the laws of the United States of America, including the Military Commissions Act of 2006 (Public Law 109‑366), the Authorization for Use of Military Force (Public Law 107-40), and section 948b(b) of title 10, United States Code, it is hereby ordered as follows: Section 1. Establishment of Military Commissions. There are hereby established military commissions to try alien unlawful enemy combatants for offenses triable by...

"Those who would give up essential Liberty, to purchase a little temporary Safety, deserve neither Liberty nor Safety" - Benjamin FranklinThe response was predictable. After sending our alert last Thursday regarding the passing of the Military Commissions Act, we received a flood of email. Many were supportive, but others took exception: "Don't you care that terrorists want to kill us?" "Olbermann's obviously a left-wing nut who wants conservatives out of power." "The act isn't that bad..." It is bemusing to watch certain conservatives -- conservatives who once screamed that Bill Clinton was going to suspend the Constitution, establish martial law,...

The Democrats claim they want to treat terrorism as a criminal law problem, but when we give them an American citizen convicted of aiding terrorists – as happened this week – a Democrat judge gives her a slap on the wrist. Or he was going to give her a wrist slap until someone told him that wrist slapping was banned under the Geneva Conventions, so he let the wrist off with a warning. Last year, a New York jury found Lynne Stewart guilty of helping her former client, Sheik Omar Abdel Rahman, communicate with his Egyptian-based group of murderous terrorists,...

McCain Eyes Torture Rules Compromise Senator: 'Making Progress' On Rules For Interrogating Terror Suspects DANBURY, Conn., Sept. 18, 2006 Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., says he is confident a compromise can be reached with the White House on proposed rules for interrogating terror suspects. (CBS) Legal experts say that under international law, the provisions banning "humiliating and degrading treatment" and "outrages upon personal dignity" would likely bar the CIA's more aggressive tactics. (AP) Sen. John McCain said Monday that he is confident a compromise can be reached with the White House on proposed rules for interrogating terror suspects. "We are certainly...

As the Left continues to push for the legal rights of enemy combatants captured in the War on islamo-fascist terror, we get another glaring example of why military tribunals are necessary. The Judge presiding over the trial of Saddam Hussein said yesterday that he did not believe the deposed leader of Iraq was a dictator. This comes despite a preponderance of evidence of his genocide, corruption at the expense of his people, and overall oppression of the people of Iraq. If this is an indication of the Left's idea of a fair trial, they have succeeded in revealing to the...

President Bush: We’re now approaching the five-year anniversary of the 9/11 attacks — and the families of those murdered that day have waited patiently for justice. Some of the families are with us today — they should have to wait no longer. While we are glad to see that KSM and the other killers will (hopefully) now pay for their roles in 9/11, more than anything we wanted President Bush to first take the fight to the enemy and do whatever was necessary to prevent another attack. He has not faltered and he has not failed.Despite the ridiculous interference by...

BARKSDALE AIR FORCE BASE, La. -- Twenty-five illegal immigrants employed as contract workers at this Air Force base were arrested by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents. The arrests of the construction and landscape workers were made Friday. The workers were "foreign nationals," according to a news release from the 2nd Bomb Wing that did not specify countries of origin. Most had obtained fraudulent Social Security and alien registration numbers to complete forms, the release said. The workers did not have access to secure information, 2nd Bomb Wing spokesman Lt. Frank Hartnett said. He would not say how the workers...

House Republicans signaled a coming clash with the Senate over the future of military tribunals yesterday when Armed Service Committee members indicated they were inclined to give the Bush administration largely what it wants in the conduct of terrorism trials. The tone at the first House hearing since the Supreme Court tossed out President Bush's tribunals last month was markedly different from Tuesday's Senate hearing, where lawmakers from both parties said they wanted to make significant changes to the White House's plans. "This could be easy," said Rep. Candice S. Miller (R-Mich.), who proudly announced she has neither a law...

July 2, 2006 — Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., predicted Congress will act swiftly to reverse the Supreme Court's declaration that President Bush exceeded his authority by ordering military tribunals for the approximately 400 detainees held in Guantanamo Bay. "We're gonna have hearings, we're going to examine the court decision very carefully," McCain said in an exclusive appearance on "This Week with George Stephanopoulos." "I am confident that we can make sure that bad guys … are not released … and those that deserve to be released will be." The Supreme Court ruled 5-3 that the Bush administration overstepped their bounds,...

WASHINGTON, July 1, 2006 (RFE/RL) -- The Supreme Court has temporarily halted U.S. President George W. Bush's plans to convene special military courts to try the Guantanamo Bay detainees. RFE/RL Washington correspondent Heather Maher talked to a U.S. defense expert who believes this ruling was wrong, and that the special courts are essential to winning the war on terror. Frank Gaffney heads the Washington-based Center for Security Policy and was assistant secretary of defense for international security policy in the Reagan administration. He says a new kind of "totalitarian ideology" -- what he calls "Islamofacism" -- is "bent on our...

Supreme Court Drops the Ball While many people are very upset by the Supreme Court decision on the President "overstepping his authority" on the issue of military tribunals; I take a somewhat more optimistic view. First this decision has opened the door for Congress to grant the President the Authority. This could very well backfire in the Left's face. The conservative base will be watching intently as this issue moves forward. The Congressional voting record on this issue will be weighed very carefully by the voters in November and in 2008. Secondly, this decision amounts to a "shoot to kill"...

Bush refuses to abandon tribunals Many Guantanamo detainees have been held for years US President George Bush has refused to rule out military tribunals for inmates at Guantanamo Bay detention centre.His administration was dealt a blow on Thursday when the Supreme Court ruled it had overstepped its authority in setting up the tribunals. But Republican senators immediately began planning how to win congressional approval for new tribunals. The ruling came in response to a case brought by Osama Bin Laden's ex-driver, Salim Ahmed Hamdan. He is one of 10 Guantanamo inmates facing a military tribunal, but demanding to be...

The Supreme Court has agreed to decide whether our laws and Constitution require President Bush to try Al Qaida terrorists in a more permissive venue than the military tribunals George Washington used for British spies. The answer is no. In 1780, a Continental patrol intercepted British Maj. John Andre, dressed in civilian clothes, sneaking back toward British lines after visiting Gen. Benedict Arnold at West Point. Andre was carrying secret papers from the traitorous Arnold hidden in his boot.

During World War II, six German saboteurs who secretly entered the United States on a mission to attack its civil infrastructure are executed by the United States for spying. Two other saboteurs who disclosed the plot to the FBI and aided U.S. authorities in their manhunt for their collaborators were imprisoned. In 1942, under Nazi leader Adolf Hitler's orders, the defense branch of the German Military Intelligence Corps initiated a program to infiltrate the United States and destroy industrial plants, bridges, railroads, waterworks, and Jewish-owned department stores. The Nazis hoped that sabotage teams would be able to slip into America...

Detainees first were flown to the U.S. Naval base at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, from the U.S.-led war in Afghanistan in January 2002. The Bush administration considered them enemy fighters with no recourse to the U.S. legal system because they were foreigners held on foreign soil. In July 2004, the U.S. government hastily began holding "combatant status review tribunals" to determine whether hundreds of detainees should be classified as "enemy combatants." The move came a month after the U.S. Supreme Court ruled the detainees could challenge their detentions without charge or trial in U.S. courts. Dozens of cases are pending. Tribunals...

The US is coming under increasing pressure to abandon the military commission it has set up to try alleged terrorists, including Australian David Hicks. US officials privately acknowledge that the process is in turmoil and say substantial changes will be made to restore its credibility, Melbourne's The Age newspaper reports. The newspaper said some of the commission members were likely to be changed as an inadequate translation system improved. A spokesman for Attorney-General Philip Ruddock told the newspaper Australia had raised concerns with the US authorities and expected changes would be made to meet American assurances that the process would...

This month, several individuals detained as "enemy combatants" will make their appeals for freedom to the highest court in the land. Perhaps now, more than any other time in recent memory, the eyes of the world are intensely focused on the United States Supreme Court. In making their decisions, they must walk a fine line between protecting the civil liberties we all hold so dear and guarding the safety of our country's citizens. These nine Justices, with their decisions in these cases, will shape the course of history and, no doubt, further fuel debate surrounding the indefinite detention of...

<p>Lt. Cmdr. Charles Swift is a Navy lawyer assigned to defend Salim Ahmed Hamdan before a military tribunal. After 15 meetings with his client, Cmdr. Swift says he's shed any misgivings he harbored about Mr. Hamdan, a 34-year-old Yemeni who has been in detention since being captured in Afghanistan in late 2001.</p>

Human rights organizations will closely monitor every step they take. Judicial activists will analyze everything that takes place in the courtroom. And both U.S. and international news organizations will report the day-to-day proceedings they will be a part of. In short, the eyes of the world will be upon two retired generals working with the military commissions formed to try detainees being held at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. Yet despite this scrutiny – despite the very controversial nature of their assignments – neither Air Force Brig. Gen. Thomas L. Hemingway nor retired Army Maj. Gen. John D. Altenburg Jr. are a...

Five uniformed military lawyers assigned to defend detainees at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba, have filed a brief with the Supreme Court, challenging the basis of President Bush's plan to use military tribunals without civilian court review to try some of the detainees there. In their 30-page brief, filed late Wednesday, the lawyers assert that President Bush worked to "create a legal black hole" and overstepped his constitutional authority as commander in chief in the way he set up the program for military tribunals. The administration has argued that the 660 detainees at Guantánamo are not only illegal enemy combatants who are...

<p>A retired Army general will oversee military tribunals for terrorism suspects held at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, including approving charges, the Pentagon said yesterday.</p> <p>John D. Altenburg Jr., who retired as a two-star general last year, was chosen for the job. His last military assignment was assistant judge advocate general for the Department of the Army.</p>

<p>The Bush administration moved to stanch criticism that its planned military tribunals won't provide fair proceedings for suspected terrorists, removing Deputy Defense Secretary Paul Wolfowitz as head of the system and appointing four prominent civilian lawyers to hear appeals.</p> <p>Aiming to distance the tribunals from the administration's political face, Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld put in charge retired Maj. Gen. John Altenburg, a 28-year Army veteran who retired in 2002 as its No. 2 military lawyer. A tribunals spokesman said Mr. Wolfowitz had provided "senior leadership" but that it was time for a full-time administrator as the U.S. readies prosecutions of the first detainees ruled eligible for the tribunals.</p>

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld has named a retired Army major general to supervise U.S. military trials of foreign terrorism suspects, and picked two former presidential Cabinet members and two sitting judges to hear appeals of convictions or sentences. Defense officials, briefing reporters on condition of anonymity, said on Tuesday these are the last major steps envisioned before the Pentagon brings criminal charges against suspects to be tried at the U.S. naval base at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, but refused to reveal a timetable for the trials. Defendants are expected to be among the 660 non-U.S. citizens, most captured...

Ex-General to Oversee Guantanamo Trials Dec 30, 3:02 PM (ET) By ROBERT BURNS WASHINGTON (AP) - A retired Army general will oversee military tribunals for suspected terrorists held at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, including approving charges, the Pentagon said Tuesday. Chosen for the job was John D. Altenburg, Jr., who retired as a two-star general in 2002. His last military assignment was assistant judge advocate general for the Department of the Army. None of the 660 suspected terrorists held at Guantanamo Bay has been charged, and although the Pentagon has not said when it expects to begin military trials, the first...

President Bush and Donald Rumsfeld, the US Defence Secretary, have been unfairly maligned in this country for their decision to put terrorist suspects on trial in Guantanamo Bay. Paradoxically, their difficulties stem not so much from their alleged illiberalism as from a desire to maintain some measure of due process in a time of a new and horrific kind of asymmetric warfare. The Bush Administration has been wrestling with the problem - not dissimilar to that faced by Whitehall during the early years of the Troubles in Northern Ireland - about whether to treat suspects as prisoners of war or...

<p>WASHINGTON -- Two Britons and an Australian slated to be tried in U.S. military tribunals are expected to plead guilty to war crimes, officials said, and to renounce terrorism and assist investigators in exchange for a firm release date. Two other tribunal defendants, officials said, are allegedly former bodyguards to Osama bin Laden who belonged to the al Qaeda leader's inner circle and are likely to face the first adversarial trials.</p>

SAN FRANCISCO - Defense lawyers want guarantees from the Bush administration that outside attorneys will not be hamstrung by the Pentagon if they represent terrorism suspects before military tribunals. The American Bar Association may object to restrictions the administration placed on civilian lawyers who defend accused terrorists. One point of contention is the government's ability to listen to conversations between suspects and their lawyers. In a vote expected next week, the lawyers' group probably will ask the administration and Congress to loosen some rules and agree to new conditions before civilian defense lawyers join military lawyers in any military tribunal....

Don't harm prisoners, US toldBy Diana Elias in Kuwait August 4, 2003US plans to bring terror suspects before military tribunals have angered al-Qaeda, judging from a new tape attributed to a top leader in the network accused in the September 11, 2001 attacks. US Attorney-General John Ashcroft / AP The purported al-Qaeda audiotape aired today on the Arab satellite station Al-Arabiya says: "America has announced it will start putting Muslim prisoners in Guantanamo on trial before military courts that could sentence them to death." It adds the US will "pay dearly" if it harms the detainees. US Attorney-General John Ashcroft,...

President Bush, on his sole authority, has already designated two American citizens (Yaser Esam Hamdi and Jose Padilla) as military combatants -- without charges and without access to lawyers -- and placed them indefinitely in military brigs here. Meanwhile, with military tribunals forthcoming at our naval base in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, in of the two cases involving foreign nationals, the president is asserting additional unilateral authority. By himself, the president will accuse noncitizens allegedly involved in terrorism and put them on trial by military tribunal. The defendants will have no right to appeal to civilian courts, including the U.S. Supreme...

Tony Blair indicated yesterday that two of the British men being detained at Guantanamo Bay in Cuba will still stand trial before a US military court because national security would be at risk if they were returned to Britain. With the attorney general, Lord Goldsmith, expected to start talks today in Washington about the fate of the two men, Mr Blair hinted that their best hope would be a slight loosening of the military tribunal's rules. Meanwhile, Clive Stafford Smith, a lawyer who has represented the British inmates at American hearings, said he had been told by US government sources...

Tony Blair signalled yesterday that the two Britons held by America in Guantanamo Bay would be tried by an American military tribunal. Although campaigners claim the tribunal will not offer suspects a fair trial, the Prime Minister said the proceedings would be conducted according to judicial rules "regarded as reasonably strict by anybody". Lord Goldsmith, the Attorney General, will fly to the United States this week for talks about the fate of the detainees after US authorities "suspended" proceedings against them in a deal agreed by Mr Blair during talks with President George W Bush in Washington on Thursday. In...

<p>The United States has agreed to suspend legal proceedings against British terrorist suspects at Guantanamo Bay until U.S. and British officials have discussed their case, Prime Minister Tony Blair's official spokesman said Friday.</p> <p>The spokesman, briefing reporters accompanying Blair on a flight from Washington to Tokyo, said that the White House was due to make a formal statement on the issue later Friday.</p>

Confess or die, US tells jailed Britons Outrage over plight of Guantanamo detainees Martin Bright, Kamal Ahmed and Peter Beaumont Sunday July 6, 2003The Observer The two British terrorist suspects facing a secret US military tribunal in Guantanamo Bay will be given a choice: plead guilty and accept a 20-year prison sentence, or be executed if found guilty. American legal sources close to the process said that the prisoners' dilemma was intended to encourage maximum 'co-operation'. The news comes as Jack Straw, the Foreign Secretary, prepares to urge US Secretary of State Colin Powell to repatriate the two Britons. He...

42 minutes ago Add Top Stories - Reuters to My Yahoo! TOKYO/LONDON (Reuters) - Britain said Friday it had persuaded Washington to suspend military court proceedings against two British terror suspects held at Guantanamo Bay, pending talks with London legal officials. A White House statement issued from President Bush's ranch in Crawford, Texas, said Washington had suspended proceedings against the two Britons and that no proceedings would be started against any Australian nationals before consultations with Canberra. British Prime Minister Tony Blair's spokesman told reporters traveling with Blair to Tokyo that in Washington talks on Thursday: "The president listened to...

<p>The Justice Department fumbled the case. Let the Pentagon handle it.</p> <p>By now it's clear that President Bush made a mistake when he decided to assign Zacarias Moussaoui, the alleged "20th hijacker," to trial in a federal civilian court. The Justice Department announced this week that it would defy a court order and refuse to make a captured member of al Qaeda available to speak to Moussaoui. The judge is now expected to dismiss the case.</p>

<p>July 15, 2003 -- In a move that may signal U.S. plans to shift the trial of terror suspect Zacarias Moussaoui from a civilian court to a military tribunal, the government yesterday said it would not let the cused 9/11 conspirator question a captured al Qaeda operative.</p>

OUR VIEWSecret military tribunals worthy of condemnation Related: • Equal time: Military commissions will provide detainees fair trialForum: • Has the U.S. compromised civil liberties in its prosecution of terrorists? In 1770, a young Boston attorney put aside his law practice to defend British soldiers accused of killing five people when a mob attacked them. He took the unpopular case because he believed in justice. And he won.That lawyer was John Adams, who became the nation's second president.How truncated our sense of justice has become more than 200 years later.This month, President Bush authorized the Pentagon to convene military commissions...

United States: UN rights expert expresses alarm over military trial of detainees 7 July – A senior United Nations rights expert today expressed alarm over reports that six detainees may be brought to trial before a military commission by the United States Government, saying such "drastic measures to counter terrorism" are in defiance of the world body's resolutions. The detainees were last week declared liable for a military tribunal as suspected members of Al-Qaeda or "otherwise involved in terrorism directed against the United States." "In proceeding to apply these drastic measures to counter terrorism, the United States Government is seen...

Outrage over plight of Guantanamo detaineesThe two British terrorist suspects facing a secret US military tribunal in Guantanamo Bay will be given a choice: plead guilty and accept a 20-year prison sentence, or be executed if found guilty. American legal sources close to the process said that the prisoners' dilemma was intended to encourage maximum 'co-operation'. The news comes as Jack Straw, the Foreign Secretary, prepares to urge US Secretary of State Colin Powell to repatriate the two Britons. He will say that they should face a fair trial here under English law. Backed by Home Secretary David Blunkett, Straw...

THE father of one of the two Britons facing trial by a military tribunal over his alleged links to al-Qaeda clutched one of his son’s letters as he spoke of the family’s fear that they may never see him again. Moazzam Begg, who has his 36th birthday today as a prisoner in Guantanamo Bay, will be one of the first six prisoners to go before the secretive courts. His father, Azmat, 64, a retired bank manager, said that the tribunal announcement had hit the family “like a dagger to the heart”. Mr Begg expressed contempt for President Bush’s “strange concept...

BreakingNo names released yet...Pentagon is briefing reporters now..

ROBERT BURNS, AP Military Writer WASHINGTON - Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld on Thursday delegated to his top deputy, Paul Wolfowitz, the final word on which terrorism suspects are to be tried by a military tribunal. Wolfowitz also was given the authority to decide who will serve on the tribunals, which the Pentagon (news - web sites) calls commissions. After President Bush (news - web sites) determines which terrorism suspects in U.S. custody are subject to be tried under his Nov. 13, 2001 military order, a chief prosecutor would draft charges against any or all of those suspects. It would...

WASHINGTON (AP)--In a strongly worded letter, Secretary of State Colin Powell has urged Pentagon officials to move faster in determining which prisoners held at Guantanamo Bay can be released, defense officials said Saturday. Powell's April 14 letter to Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld questioned the continued detention of some 660 prisoners from 42 countries who were captured during the war against al-Qaida and other terrorist organizations. A Pentagon official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the ``strongly worded'' letter made it clear that the secretary of state wanted the Defense Department to quickly determine which prisoners could be released. Human...

WASHINGTON - In a strongly worded letter, Secretary of State Colin Powell has urged Pentagon officials to move faster in determining which prisoners held at Guantanamo Bay can be released, defense officials said Saturday. Powell's April 14 letter to Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld questioned the continued detention of some 660 prisoners from 42 countries who were captured during the war against al-Qaida and other terrorist organizations. A Pentagon official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the "strongly worded" letter made it clear that the secretary of state wanted the Defense Department to quickly determine which prisoners could be released....