Military Tribunal

The Bush regime is determined to try six Guantanamo detainees in a military tribunal. Thereby, violating our proud traditions of due process for criminal suspects.

This regime has subjected the accused to torture and to six years of pretrial detention without charges being filed. The accused will not be tried before a regular criminal court, but before a tribunal specially created to curtail their rights and impose the death penalty.

Bush has demonstrated contempt for world opinion and our Constitution. The detainees are accused of mass murder, but there is no reason why guilt and punishment cannot be determined in accordance with our established laws and processes. A trial in a civilian court would affirm that we are a nation governed by the rule of law and demonstrate to the world, that we only impose criminal sanctions in accordance with our law.

The Bush regime has created a system, which may allow testimony extracted by torture, and which will deny them the right to a public trial and to have the case determined by a jury.

These are rights we have customarily afforded even the most notorious criminals. Hijackers, terrorists and even Panama’s Noriega, have been tried in our civilian courts. Accused international criminal Slobodan Milosevic was tried in an international tribunal.

Although the death penalty is legal in this country, the Bush regime is proposing to seek it in a proceeding which lacks the protections that the U.S. Supreme Court has held apply to capital cases.

The crimes committed on 9/11 need to be addressed through a process that confirms the greatness of our justice system and the validity of the punishments meted out to the guilty, not by a secret trial.