Army judges weigh military trials for civilians

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Mark Sherman
Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) — Three Army judges are weighing a question that hasn't cropped up in decades: whether a civilian contractor working for the U.S. military can be tried in a military court. The issue eventually could end up at the Supreme Court.

The case of Alaa "Alex" Mohammad Ali, a former Army translator in Iraq, challenges the notion that courts-martial only have authority over members of the armed forces. But it also runs up against complaints that using U.S. civilian courts to prosecute contractors working with U.S. forces in Afghanistan and Iraq has been largely ineffective, and trying them in local courts often has not been possible.

Ali, an Iraqi-Canadian, was prosecuted by the military after an altercation in Iraq during which he allegedly stole a U.S. soldier's knife and used it to stab another translator. He pleaded guilty to lesser charges.

Ali's appeal is before the Army Court of Criminal Appeals. He was convicted under rules issued after Congress amended the Uniform Code of Military Justice in 2006 to allow courts-martial of civilians in Iraq and Afghanistan.

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Obama hurt fair trial chances: Manning backers

© AFP/Getty Images/File Chip Somodevilla

AFP

WASHINGTON (AFP) - Supporters of alleged Wikileaks leaker Bradley Manning on Tuesday accused President Barack Obama of interfering the future trial, after the president said the army private broke the law.

The White House however disputed the stance of the Bradley Manning Support Network, which arose after an encounter between Obama and a group member following a political fundraiser in San Francisco last week.

Obama told activist Logan Price in an exchange caught on camera that Manning, 23, had acted irresponsibly and risked the lives of US service members by allegedly sending secret military and diplomatic documents to the website.

State Department Grilled About Bradley Manning's Treatment (Video)

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Judge Napolitano on Obama's EO to Hold Detainees Indefinitely (Video)

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Obama Approves Indefinite Detention Without Trial

Restart of Military Tribunal System Announced

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Jason Ditz
AntiWar

President Obama today signed an executive order that will formalize the indefinite extralegal detention of terror suspects without charges as a permanent aspect of American life, while announcing that he intends to use this on detainees “who continue to pose a significant threat to national security” but against whom there is insufficient evidence to actually charge them with any crime.

The move came as the administration also ended a two year halt on new military tribunals at Guantanamo Bay, allowing the administration to avoid actual real courts and instead use stacked military tribunals in those cases where they have at least some evidence and feel comfortable with proceding to something resembling a trial.

But this will likely be the exception rather than the rule, and the administration seems likely to pursue even tribunals unless it is confident of success, and the executive order will allow them to be selective in even attempting to charge detainees, in that it is no longer at all essential to keeping them in prison for the rest of their lives.

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Obama to Lift Freeze on Guantanamo Trials

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Obama to lift freeze on new Guantanamo trials

Guantanamo Bay prison at Camp Delta in Cuba
© AFP/File Paul J. Richards

AFP

WASHINGTON (AFP) - US President Barack Obama said Monday he would lift the two-year freeze on new military trials for Guantanamo Bay terror suspects and issued new guidelines on the treatment of those held indefinitely.

Obama, who has been thwarted in his desire to close the camp in Cuba which he calls a recruiting tool for Al-Qaeda, issued the long-awaited decision after a sweeping review of administration policy.

The White House made clear that despite permitting new trials at the camp, it remained committed to using federal courts to try some suitable suspects and vowed to complete the "difficult challenge" of closing Guantanamo Bay.

"I am announcing several steps that broaden our ability to bring terrorists to justice, provide oversight for our actions and ensure the humane treatment of detainees," Obama said in a statement.


The White House said Defense Secretary Robert Gates would soon issue an order "rescinding his prior suspension on the swearing and referring of new charges in the military commissions."

New military trials at the camp -- which contains top suspects from the September 11 attacks and other strikes against the United States, as well as prisoners from the battlefields of Afghanistan -- have been suspended since January 2009.

Obama also issued guidelines on the treatment of inmates who US authorities deem cannot be tried due to concerns about the admissibility of evidence obtained under duress, or who are are deemed too dangerous to free.

In an executive order, he ruled that among other requirements, detainees would have the right to a periodic review of the reasons for their continued incarceration.

But Obama also reserved the right to try some detainees in federal courts, a process in which he has been blocked by members of Congress opposed to bringing terror suspects to the US mainland for legal proceedings.

Monday's actions represented the Obama administration's latest bid to navigate the thicket of legal problems left over from the previous Bush administration's "war on terror" policies.

In one of his first acts as president in 2009, Obama halted trials at Guantanamo Bay and announced he planned to close the controversial camp within a year.

 

But he has been thwarted in his ambition by the task of finding a new structure to deal with suspects deemed to be at war with the United States and opposition from friends and foes on Capitol Hill.

The White House said it was allowing the special trials to resume after enacting key reforms, such as a ban on the use of statements taken under "cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment."

It said it has also adopted a better system for handling classified information that made military commissions an "available and important tool in combating international terrorists."

The executive order was designed to ensure that those inmates detained indefinitely without trial are only kept behind bars when it was "lawful and necessary" to do so, the White House said.

Detainees will be given notice of a pending periodic review on their case and receive information on the factors under consideration to determine their fate.

Should it be decided that a detainee no longer poses a threat to the United States, US government agencies will seek to identify a suitable transfer location -- but no detainees will be released on US soil.

In the White House fact sheet, the administration also thanked those countries that have agreed to take inmates at Guantanamo Bay.

"Our friends and allies should know that we remain determined in our efforts and that, with their continued assistance, we intend to complete the difficult challenge of closing Guantanamo," it said.

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Republicans seek tougher Guantanamo rules

© AFP/File Paul J. Richards

AFP

WASHINGTON (AFP) - US President Barack Obama's Republican foes unveiled legislation  to toughen rules on the detention and trials of suspected extremists held at the notorious Guantanamo Bay prison.

The move came one day after Obama by presidential order lifted a ban on new military trials for detainees held at the US naval base in Cuba, apparently conceding the facility he has vowed to close will not be emptied anytime soon.

House Armed Services Committee Chairman Buck McKeon, who led the effort, cited "serious concerns" about Obama's decree that detainees would have the right to a periodic review of the reasons for their continued detention.


The Republican bill would deny detainees access to legal counsel for such reviews, and stipulates that a decision on whether to transfer or release a detainee must be tied to the threat individual is seen to pose to US interests as well as the particular country to which they could be sent.

The measure also permanently forbids the transfer to US soil of all individuals held now or in the future based on the 2001 congressional authorization to use military force against Al-Qaeda and the Taliban.

And it prohibits the transfer or release of those held at Guantanamo Bay or Bagram Air Base in Afghanistan unless the US defense secretary certifies that the host country meets certain security criteria.

It also would bar the transfer or release of detainees to any country where there has been a confirmed case of detainee recidivism unless the defense secretary certifies that the transfer is in the US national security interest.

The Republican plan puts the defense secretary, rather than the US attorney general, in charge of deciding whether to keep a detainee in military custody.

"America needs and deserves a careful and comprehensive plan dealing with law of war detention for terrorists," McKeon said in a statement outlining the legislation.

The proposal would also forbid relatives of detainees from visiting them at Guantanamo, and would block funding for building any facilities on US soil to house Guantanamo detainees.

And where military jurors had to accept a plea of guilty to a capital offense, a judge will now do so, while the jury members will only vote to approve the death sentence at the end of the sentencing phase, officials said.

Veteran US Senator John McCain, the top Republican on the Senate Armed Services Committee, was to unveil companion legislation on Thursday, joined by four fellow Republicans and independent Senator Joe Lieberman.

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Guantánamo detainee Ahmed Khalfan Ghailani cleared of 284 terror charges

Setback for Obama as first former Guantánamo detainee to be tried in civilian court is convicted on just one of 285 charges

Chris McGreal
Guardian

Barack Obama's plans to try accused terrorists in civilian courts experienced a major setback last night when the first former Guantánamo detainee to be tried in one was convicted on just one of 285 charges over the 1998 attack on US embassies in East Africa which killed 224 people.

Ahmed Khalfan Ghailani, a 36-year-old Tanzanian, was found guilty of conspiracy to destroy US government buildings and property for helping an al-Qaida cell to buy a lorry and bomb parts in the attacks on the American embassies in Kenya and Dar-es-Salaam. But a US federal jury acquitted him of all the more serious charges of murder and conspiracy.


Ghailani faces 20 years to life in prison when he is sentenced in January. He had already been told that even if he was acquitted on all counts he would not be freed so long as America remains "at war" with al-Qaida.

However, the verdict is an embarrassment for US prosecutors who maintained that Ghailani played an important logistical role in the attacks but were unable to persuade a jury which showed signs of serious disagreement during deliberations, with one juror asking to be excused because of differences with other jurors. The judge, Lewis Kaplan, refused.

The failure to convict Ghailani on the more serious charges is also a blow to Obama's attempts to persuade a sceptical Congress and security establishment that civilian trials are better than the widely condemned military tribunals held at the Guantánamo detention centre. The trial was considered a test run.

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Iran needs stern lessons in freedom

Glenn Greenwald
Salon

Here is the latest Outrage of Evil from the Persian Hitlers:

Iran's intelligence minister confirmed on Wednesday that two U.S. citizens detained for more than a year will face trial, news reports said.

"The two Americans will be tried," Intelligence Minister Heidar Moslehi was quoted as saying by ISNA news agency. "We will hand any evidence we have to the judiciary."

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton told reporters on Tuesday that she had heard Shane Bauer and Josh Fattal would be tried on November 6 but she still hoped they would be released.

It's high time that we teach those Iranians about democracy and freedom.  All civilized people know that this is how a Free and Democratic Nation treats foreign detainees:

The Obama administration has decided to continue to imprison without trials nearly 50 detainees at the Guantánamo Bay military prison in Cuba because a high-level task force has concluded that they are too difficult to prosecute but too dangerous to release, an administration official said on Thursday.

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Hey Hillary, Which 'Intolerant Governments' Are You Referring to?
Is Iran Playing Geopolitical Chess with 9-11, and Winning?

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Injustice in the age of Obama

Barack Obama, a former law professor, should have a healthy respect for civil liberties, but his actions suggest not.

Cindy Sheehan
AlJazeera

Since being the defendant in about six trials after I was arrested for protesting the Iraq and Afghanistan occupations, it’s my experience that the police lie. Period.

However the lies don’t stop at street law enforcement level. From lies about WMD and connections to "al Qaeda," almost every institution of so-called authority - the Pentagon, State Department, CIA, FBI, all the way up to the Oval Office and back down - lie. Not white lies, but big, Mother of all BS (MOAB) lies that lead to the destruction of innocent lives. I.F Stone was most definitely on the ball when he proclaimed, "Governments lie".

Having clarified that, I would now like to examine a case that should be enshrined in the travesty of the US Justice Hall of Shame.

In February of this year, Aafia Siddiqui, a Pakistani mother of three, was convicted in US Federal (kangaroo) Court of seven counts, including two counts of "attempted murder of an American." On September 23, Judge Berman, who displayed an open bias against Dr. Siddiqui, sentenced her to 86 years in prison.

The tapestry of lies about Dr. Siddiqui - a cognitive neuroscientist, schooled at MIT and Brandeis - was woven during the Bush regime but fully maintained during her trial and sentencing this year by the Obama (in)Justice Department.

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