Gitmo whistleblower is Bush nightmare (NYT)

[kpete]

Gitmo whistleblower is Bush nightmare (NYT)
by: Sam
Mon Jul 23, 2007 at 05:51:10 AM EDT

Lieutenant Colonel Stephen Abraham is a potential p.r. nightmare for the Bush adminstration and its apologists, one whose message the Democrats should work hard to amplify. So, who is Abraham?

* A decorated intelligence officer;

* A lifelong Army reservist;

* A conservative who "cried when Nixon resigned";

* A very sharp lawyer;

* The son of a Holocaust survivor;

* Their own choice of who should manage and handle evidence on detainees at Guantanamo.

In short, Abraham has a resumé that's tough for even the most loyal Dittohead to dismiss. And he's blowing the whistle on the Guantanamo tribunals.

In a devastating New York Times profile by William Glaberson, this paragon of the Right is saying that the tribunals used to try the anonymous detainees are "deeply flawed," "rubber stamp" affairs. He is saying the evidence against them is mostly "superficial," based on "generalizations," with accusations made on bare circumstantial clues and guilt by association.

Gitmo whistleblower is Bush nightmare (NYT)

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/07/23/us/23gitmo.html?ex=1342843200&en=9d8d2de1668fdb84&ei=5090&partner=rssuserland&emc=rss

Just days after detainees' lawyers submitted an affidavit containing his criticisms, the United States Supreme Court reversed itself and agreed to hear an appeal arguing that the hearings are unjust and that detainees have a right to contest their detentions in federal court.

Some lawyers say Colonel Abraham's account -- of a hearing procedure that he described as deeply flawed and largely a tool for commanders to rubber-stamp decisions they had already made -- may have played an important role in the justices' highly unusual reversal. That decision once again brought the administration face to face with the vexing legal, political and diplomatic questions about the fate of Guantánamo and the roughly 360 men still held there.

......................

In short, there is more reason than ever to believe that most of these political prisoners are being kept incommunicado to prevent the world from finding out they're innocent, rather than to protect us from the guilty.

more at:
http://www.openleft.com/showDiary.do;jsessionid=73B23A8947A3C8181F47298B9FD69A4E?diaryId=327

[malaise]

1. K & R

Expose the war criminals

[SalmonChantedEvening]

4. K&R for kpete!

:kick:

[G_j]

2. kept incommunicado to prevent the world from finding out they're innocent

:-(

[C_U_L8R]

6. Kafkaesque

our leaders are monsters

[formercia]

3. Most of the GITMO detainees are just chum for the warmongers.

IMHO.

[Solly Mack]

5. No justice no peace...and so few understand that

the future will demand payment for what America has done...

and it won't do any good to cry "it wasn't me"

[Usrename]

13. Still, I have to say it...

NOT IN MY NAME

there will be justice for what has been done

[hisownpetard]

7. Kpete - what would we do without you?

Thanks for keeping us so well informed!
I appreciate your time.

[Drum]

8. Kick & recommend!

:kick:

[Summer93]

9. IMHO

Important information - Thanks

[AwakeAtLast]

10. Welcome to DU!

This is a great site. Enjoy your time here! :hi:

[gratuitous]

11. Another voice to ignore

So what? Abrahams isn't the first to come out and say this, and won't be the last. And the next time you see someone in the popular media saying this on one of the talking chucklehead shows (without some paid shill mouthing -- or more likely shouting -- an opposing viewpoint) will be the first time. As Rush Limbaugh says, it doesn't personally affect Timmy or Chrissy or Larry-ey or any of the other media elites, so why get all excited about it?

The look of shock and surprise on their vapid little faces when the crowd wielding torches and staves shows up (at last) at their doors will be cold solace to a suffering world.

[Richard Steele]

12. K&R

[DemReadingDU]

14. morning kick