Holder was right
First because he was just, well , right. We have disgraced ourselves for year after year by abandoning any pretence of compliance with our own traditions not just of fairness but of decency. And we've finally stopped. Just in time.
And also because at this last moment he has justified those, all over the world, who sympathized with us on 9/ll. Remember? .. Over the intervening 8 years we have shamed them, casually thrown away most of that reservoir of good will. Rather than being a "City on the Hill", we've been just another run of the mill country which jettisons its principles precisely when it is time for them to come into play.
A process which we would have completed if we had tried these 9/ll accused in a military forum.
Why is it I'm reminded of the first words of my first OCS class on the military legal system?
The first thing you must understand gentlemen, is that this is not a class in military justice , It's a class in military law.
Thank God.And Eric Holder, we're finally going to do this right.
I agree most whole heartedly.
November 13, 2009 10:03 PM | Reply | Permalink
Thanks. I'm sick of today's blather about the tactics or the political consequences.For a change we've done something right. It's nice to be proud of my country.
November 13, 2009 10:16 PM | Reply | Permalink
Yeah, Oleeb just pointed out to me/us on another blog that little attention was paid to the announcement that many more prisoners will be tried by military tribunal. (Sigh.)
November 14, 2009 12:32 PM | Reply | Permalink
And just why should we be thanking Holder. What? For perverting justice?
For establishing a system of show trials and running rough shod over the rule of law that calls for equal protection, as follows:
Establishing a three tiered system in which 1) if a guilty verdict is assured, defendant gets a criminal trial in the federal district court, 2) if not assured of conviction, defendant gets a military tribunal, and 3) if a not guilty is the likely outcome of a trial or military hearing, the defendant gets no trial, civilian or military, and unlimited incarceration.
What's the difference between this system and that of Nazi Germany, Stalinist Russia, or North Korea, today?
November 14, 2009 9:44 AM | Reply | Permalink
I agree with you about (2). If you turn out to be right about (3) I'll concede that when that becomes clear.
Meanwhile I thank Holder for (1)
November 14, 2009 9:58 AM | Reply | Permalink
You make a good point here, Ellen. There's definitely a lesson to be learned here by all the chest-thumpers who were so brave in support of Cheney's rush to adjudicate these crimes on his own: It's pretty difficult to find our way back to civilization once we have turned our back on the Rule of Law.
These supposed patriots have such a love for Liberty and Justice, of that we can be sure. After all, you can see it in their faces, no? It's just that they have so little faith in any of it.
Pinch-faced little cowards, all of them. It's sickening.
November 14, 2009 10:27 AM | Reply | Permalink