Military tribunals on the horizon. (Insider Report).The June 2nd Los Angeles Times Los Angeles Times Morning daily newspaper. Established in 1881, it was purchased and incorporated in 1884 by Harrison Gray Otis (1837–1917) under The Times-Mirror Co. (the hyphen was later dropped from the name). reported that military authorities at the U.S. Naval Base A naval base primarily for support of the forces afloat, contiguous to a port or anchorage, consisting of activities or facilities for which the Navy has operating responsibilities, together with interior lines of communications and the minimum surrounding area necessary for local in Guantanamo Bay Noun 1. Guantanamo Bay - an inlet of the Caribbean Sea; a United States naval station was established on the bay in 1903 bay, embayment - an indentation of a shoreline larger than a cove but smaller than a gulf , Cuba, "have begun renovating several old office buildings to serve as courtrooms" for military tribunals. "Officials in Cuba also are informally discussing plans for building a Death Row and an execution chamber should any of the military trials result in death sentences in the U.S. war on terror This article is about U.S. actions, and those of other states, after September 11, 2001. For other conflicts, see Terrorism. The War on Terror (also known as the War on Terrorism ," continues the report. The Pentagon's Office of Military Commissions is selecting defendants from among the 680 detainees in Cuba's Camp X-Ray Camp X-Ray was a temporary detention facility located at the Joint Task Force Guantanamo on the U.S. Naval Base in Guantánamo Bay, Cuba. It was named Camp X-Ray because various temporary camps in the station were named sequentially from the beginning and then from the end , and President Bush is expected to sign an executive order authorizing military trials sometime later this summer. A somewhat sensationalized view of this story appeared on May 26th on the website of Australia's News.com.au wire service, which described the planned arrangement as "a death camp, with its own death row and execution chamber. Prisoners would be tried, convicted and executed without leaving its boundaries, without a jury and without right of appeal." This summary is sensationalistic sen·sa·tion·al·ism n. 1. a. The use of sensational matter or methods, especially in writing, journalism, or politics. b. Sensational subject matter. c. Interest in or the effect of such subject matter. in that the term "death camp" connotes a facility akin to what the Nazis and Soviets used to liquidate en masse innocent people arbitrarily designated "enemies of the state." Camp X-Ray is not that type of facility. However, the envisioned military tribunals would create tremendous potential for abuse, and that abuse could quickly multiply as federal power continues its unrestrained growth because of the open-ended war on terrorism Terrorist acts and the threat of Terrorism have occupied the various law enforcement agencies in the U.S. government for many years. The Anti-Terrorism and Effective Death Penalty Act of 1996, as amended by the usa patriot act . Legal scholar Jacob Hornberger of the Future of Freedom Foundation points out that it is chillingly appropriate that Camp X-Ray is located in Cuba, "where military tribunals are also a central part of Fidel Castro's 'war on terrorism.'" "In fact, when I visited Cuba a few years ago, I witnessed on Cuban national television a trial by military tribunal of a suspected terrorist with alleged CIA CIA: see Central Intelligence Agency. (1) (Confidentiality Integrity Authentication) The three important concerns with regards to information security. Encryption is used to provide confidentiality (privacy, secrecy). connections," continued Hornberger. "I have to say it was quite eerie seeing everybody in the courtroom, including the defense attorneys, dressed in military garb." The same would be true of the envisioned military tribunals, in which prosecutors, counsels for defense, trial judges, and appeals judges would all be military officers. "Ask yourself an important question: Why is the U.S. government holding the trials in Cuba rather than the United States?" writes Hornberger. "There's one -- and only one -- reason: to avoid the constraints of our Constitution -- the document that U.S. officials purportedly take an oath to support and defend. Unfortunately when it comes to waging the 'war on terrorism,' all too many U.S. officials hold our Constitution ... in contempt and instead have much more enthusiasm for how Fidel Castro wages his 'war on terrorism' than they would care to admit." |
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