WeAreTheKey

Huh, it looks like our justice system DOES occassionally function on principle and not just on whatever Bush tells it to do!
Bin Laden's "driver" is currently on trial, and a judge just ruled that a lot of his "testimony" is no good and won't be accepted, because it was obtained under "coercive" and "abusive" circumstances. Wow...
I'm not pro-terrorist by any means but this is a victory for the future of our justice system and for shaping the future tactics and methodologies of our military as they seek to imprison for life people who may or may not be guilty of anything.

MSNBC
GUANTANAMO BAY NAVAL BASE, Cuba - The judge in the first American war crimes trial since World War II barred evidence on Monday that interrogators obtained from Osama bin Laden's driver following his capture in Afghanistan.

Prosecutors are considering whether to appeal the judge's ruling — a development that could halt the trial of Salim Hamdan that began earlier Monday after years of delays and legal setbacks.

"We need to evaluate ... to what extent it has an impact on our ability to fully portray his criminality in this case, but also what it might set out for future cases," said Army Col. Lawrence Morris, the tribunals' chief prosecutor.

Hamdan, who was captured at a roadblock in Afghanistan in November 2001, pleaded not guilty at the start of a trial that will be closely watched as the first full test of the Pentagon's system for prosecuting alleged terrorists. He faces a maximum life sentence if convicted of conspiracy and aiding terrorism.

The judge, Navy Capt. Keith Allred, said the prosecution cannot use a series of interrogations at the Bagram air base and Panshir, Afghanistan, because of the "highly coercive environments and conditions under which they were made."

At Bagram, Hamdan says he was kept in isolation 24 hours a day with his hands and feet restrained, and armed soldiers prompted him to talk by kneeing him in the back. He says his captors at Panshir repeatedly tied him up, put a bag over his head and knocked him to the ground.

Defense had asked for more
The judge did leave the door open for the prosecution to use other statements Hamdan gave elsewhere in Afghanistan and at Guantanamo. Defense lawyers asked Allred to throw out all of his interrogations, arguing he incriminated himself under the effects of alleged abuse — including sleep deprivation and solitary confinement.

Michael Berrigan, the deputy chief defense counsel, described the ruling as a major blow to the tribunal system that allows hearsay and evidence obtained through coercion.

Article: www.msnbc.msn.com/id/25789074

It's about time. My only concerns are this:


So his trial is held in Cuba, where U.S. rights don't necessarily apply, and the jury is made up of all U.S. military personnel (certainly not his peers)... but all jurors stated they held no bias based on his race so it should be fair right? I'm certainly hoping so.

It's highly unlikely to be a fair trial, I mean, they flew these jurors in from all around the world? Why would that be necessary unless they were looking for very specific types of people?
Urghhh, well at least they somehow got a judge who wasn't totally corrupted. I hope this sets a precedent for future trials, so that the military tribunals (their 'version' of a fair trial) know that they can't just claim something to be true, you still have to actually prove it.

And I'm not sure about the exact legality of Guantanamo, but I believe it is actually considered "U.S. soil", so most if not all of the laws in the U.S. should still apply....
Hmm..

???...Your comment has me a bit confused...

1. If there's truly random officer selection involved, you would expect people from a wide area. It would be much more suspicious if they were all from the same bases.

2. Maybe I'm blind, but I don't see the "all over the world" quote in the article. This is the closest that I could find:

It was from Ko's quote above. I don't know exactly how their military juror selection usually works, but I wouldn't have guessed that they fly them in from all around the world. Maybe that's normal?
Just seemed strange to me.
Usually a jury in America is from one county or something, not from across the U.S. and certainly not from around the world, so... ?

Anyway, I'm not implying super conspiracy or anything, but surely the military has a lot invested in the outcome of this first major Guantanamo trial, so they'd probably try their best to get the "best" jurors they could find. It's not like there's a whole lot of oversight in terror-related military tribunals.
When they can put someone away in a hole somewhere for life based on a "take our word for it" approach to evidence, then things are already pretty sketchy to begin with.

That quote was actually from this Reuter's article

SURPRISE!! He has been convicted of "supporting terrorism", but acquitted of all the charges the Bush Admin. initially tried him for twice. Pfff....

MSNBC

...It was the Bush administration's third attempt to try Hamdan, who won a Supreme Court victory that scrapped the first version of the Guantanamo court system. The charges were twice dropped and refiled.

The charges he was cleared of on Wednesday — two of conspiring with al-Qaida to attack civilians, destroy property, commit murder in violation of the laws of war — were the only charges against him in the first prosecution attempt.

He was convicted of five counts of providing material support for terrorism, specifically that his personal services to al-Qaida included driving and acting as a bodyguard for a man he knew to be the leader of an international terrorist organization.

The 11-page verdict form was so complicated that the judge called for a yellow highlighter pen and marked the portions the jury president was to read. Jurors were allowed to strike some of the language in the charges, so some specifics of the verdict were not immediately clear.

Rules skewed, defense argues
Defense lawyers had feared a guilty verdict was inevitable.

The rules of the tribunal system at the U.S. Navy base appeared designed to achieve convictions, Navy Lt. Cmdr. Brian Mizer, Salim Hamdan's Pentagon-appointed attorney, said before the verdict.

"I don't know if the panel can render fair what has already happened," Mizer told reporters as the jury deliberated.

Hamdan's attorneys said the judge allowed evidence that would not have been admitted by any civilian or military U.S. court, and that interrogations at the center of the government's case were tainted by coercive tactics, including sleep deprivation and solitary confinement.

Full Article: www.msnbc.msn.com/id/26055301

Wow. There's a first time for everything indeed. A member of the Bush Administration has actually come forward and not allowed the prosecution of a supposed attempted 9/11 hijacker because she has concluded that he was tortured at Guantanamo. This is a pretty interesting article, especially if you've been following this Bush-torture fiasco that's been going on for years.. Check it out. I love Cheney's quote on page 2. It's just priceless.

www.msnbc.msn.com/id/28649218

Thank God somebody that's important in our government has some morals and the balls to stand up for them.

Oh, wait...

Hahah.... good one. Though I am so deeply suspicious of anything coming out of the Bush Admin. that I wonder if they were willing to take this 'hit' in their final days as a cover to ensure that this guy never takes the stand!?!?

9/11 is so full of holes and things that they never ever want to come to light, soooo....if this guy was really supposed to have been "part of the plot" he may know things that they would rather not come out in court. Disqualifying him from prosecution is a good way to do that. Even if they have to take the temporary media embarrassment from this woman's statements.....

I have no evidence of that, but I wouldn't be surprised at all if that was the case. Practically everything else the Bush Admin has done has worked just like that, so...ya know...it's plausible is all I'm saying.
Think about it!

Wow. Here is a really fascinating article, written by Colin Powell's Chief of Staff Lawrence Wilkerson...
It explains a lot about Guantanamo Bay, Cheney and Rumsfeld's philosophy behind detaining so many people there, and the truth about the underlying system behind the prison, how and why it exists...

It's amazingly rare to see someone involved in the Bush Admin. come out so forcefully against the scheming evils that ran it. He has a clear contempt for their aggressively uncaring and almost hateful attitudes about the world. Incredible. Read it!

www.thewashingtonnote.com/archives/2009 ... o/?ref=fp2