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Bush admin. admits to torture at Gitmo


tvashtarkatena

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She added: “He’s a very dangerous man. What do you do with him now if you don’t charge him and try him? I would be hesitant to say, ‘Let him go.’ ”

 

 

The legal dilemma of how to detain an obviously dangerous individual reminds me of the legality of "committing" a mentally ill individual. There may be no hard evidense of a crime having been committed so far, but the individuals stated beliefs indicate it is likely in the future. Perhaps "known terrorists" should be detained on the same legality of forcefully hospitalizing an individual who "states a desire to harm himself or others".

 

Of course then we'd have to keep them in hospitals with the intent to treat their illness, and not torture bins located on foreign territory.

 

The ultimate problem might be trying to differentiate the only vaguely discernable constructs of "mental illness = not being in touch with reality" and "religious faith = beliefs in un-observable events which are also shared by others". Like, you're not crazy if you think the Earth is visited by Martians because other people think so too (this has also happened).

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There is no dilemna. Stating that you're going to do harm is a crime. Being involved in a conspiracy to do harm is a crime.

 

The government believes this individual is dangerous, so presumably it has presentable evidence to that effect. Observing basic human rights requires that this evidence be vetted by due process, or, if it doesn't exist, the prisoner be granted his/her freedom.

 

The government may have yet again shot itself in the foot, as it has done many times regarding Gitmo already, by hastily detaining, then torturing these people. It's likely the bulk of evidence gathered against them will be inadmissable because it was gained by illegal means (torture, for example), or that the evidence gained by such means is so mixed up with all forms of evidence that the entire case against them is to tainted to obtain a conviction.

 

Add to this that the bulk of Americans no longer believe the Administration's original story that Gitmo is full of dangerous people. It's well known now that over half the detainees were innocent and have been released, only a handful have ever been charged with a crime, and that the Administration seems to have a certain 'credibility' problem. We may well wind up in a situation where dangerous individuals are eventually set free as a direct result of the Bush admininstration's Constitutional and human rights violations. Add to this how effective Gitmo has been as a recruitment tool and you've got a pretty interesting national security policy result.

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I heard a rumor that Bush is requesting a full pardon for himself and his entire staff. If obama pardons them all….I will lose all my faith in him. Bush needs to be behind bars…..along with Cheney. Just imagine….. A former president behind bars…..that would be awesome. It would show the world that NO ONE is above the law. But we all know this will never happen. We still don’t know who killed JFK. We know it was not Oswald.

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I heard a rumor that Bush is requesting a full pardon for himself and his entire staff. If obama pardons them all….I will loose all my faith in him. Bush needs to be behind bars…..along with Cheney. Just imagine….. A former president behind bars…..that would be awesome. It would show the world that NO ONE is above the law. But we all know this will never happen. We still don’t know who killed JFK. We know it was not Oswald.

 

I heard a rumor that pardons were only for people who'd been convicted of crimes.

 

 

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There is no dilemna. Stating that you're going to do harm is a crime. Being involved in a conspiracy to do harm is a crime.

 

The government believes this individual is dangerous, so presumably it has presentable evidence to that effect. Observing basic human rights requires that this evidence be vetted by due process, or, if it doesn't exist, the prisoner be granted his/her freedom.

 

The government may have yet again shot itself in the foot, as it has done many times regarding Gitmo already, by hastily detaining, then torturing these people. It's likely the bulk of evidence gathered against them will be inadmissable because it was gained by illegal means (torture, for example), or that the evidence gained by such means is so mixed up with all forms of evidence that the entire case against them is to tainted to obtain a conviction.

 

Add to this that the bulk of Americans no longer believe the Administration's original story that Gitmo is full of dangerous people. It's well known now that over half the detainees were innocent and have been released, only a handful have ever been charged with a crime, and that the Administration seems to have a certain 'credibility' problem. We may well wind up in a situation where dangerous individuals are eventually set free as a direct result of the Bush admininstration's Constitutional and human rights violations. Add to this how effective Gitmo has been as a recruitment tool and you've got a pretty interesting national security policy result.

 

 

Exactly ……and the biggest problem is the 7 low ranking reservists who are sitting in prison because no one had the balls to go after who gave them the order to torture. What kind of side show is this? Why did we have the Nuremberg trails?

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We've lost the ability to prosecute one Gitmo detainee because we tortured him. There will likely be many others:

 

The blowback of torture (NYT)

 

It should be noted that while several terrorists have been convicted and sentenced in criminal courts, none, not one, of the Gitmo detainees has ever been convicted of anything over the past seven years.

 

It's tough to live under the rule of law. It's tyranny not to.

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