Quote:
Originally Posted by PaulS
The problem was not the choice of a court. The problem with this case was Bush’s authorizing the illegal detention, abuse and torture of detainees. Ghailani was held for five years in outlaw C.I.A. prisons and at Guantánamo and was abused and tortured..
What "illegal" detention affected this case? Judge Kaplan said that he could be detained even if he was found not guilty. Unlawful enemy combantants can be held until combat has ended. How was Ghailani abused? How was he tortured? He may have been coerced through "enhanced" interogation, but has torture been proven? Which C.I.A. agents have the Obama administration convicted for "outlaw" prisons or torture?
The prosecution could not use his interrogation b/c of that and couldn't introduce testimony by another witness because interrogators learned his name from Ghailani’s coerced testimony. That tainted evidence would have been excluded in a military trial. The military tribunals act bars coerced evidence. He had a fair trial and now will prob. never see the outside of the prison.
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It was judge Kaplan that decided the Ghailani confession was coerced, I don't know if a military tribunal would have concluded the same, but the judges decision barred the evidence from the civilian trial as well, so how does that make the point that "tainted" evidence would have excluded a military trial? The over 280 counts for which Ghailani was found not guilty didn't depend on that "tainted" evidence. Ghailani was indicted before the government even knew about the "key witness" that was excluded because of the so-called "tainted" evidence. Eric Holder felt he had enough evidence on those counts to slam dunk guilty verdicts. The military tribunal could also try Ghailani on other counts than that which depended on "tainted" evidence. And it would not have to depend on jurors of uncertain persuasion to find a verdict.
As far as blaming Bush for the civilian verdict, his choice of Attorney General, and his choice of which court to try, were not in play. Neither you nor I can know what the outcome would have been under Bush. This is Obama's game now. It's his team and his decisions.