XDA

The Pentagon today has announced that 6 Guantanamo detainees will be tried for war crimes, and will face the death penalty. This makes some sense. The 6 are all associated with the 9/11 attacks. The are:

• Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, regarded as the mastermind of the 9/11 operation;
• Mohammed al-Qahtani, the man officials have labeled the 20th hijacker;
• Ramzi Binalshibh, said to have been the main intermediary between the hijackers and leaders of al Qaida;
• Ali Abd al-Aziz Ali, known as Ammar al-Baluchi, a nephew of Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, who has been identified as Mohammed’s lieutenant for the 9/11 operation;
• Mustafa Ahmad al-Hawsawi, al-Baluchi’s assistant; and,
• Waleed bin Attash, a detainee known as Khallad, who investigators say selected and trained some of the hijackers.

Here's what bugs me, the rights afforded to the accused, which are:

In the military commissions process, every defendant has the following rights: The right to remain silent and to have no adverse inference drawn from it; the right to be represented by detailed military counsel, as well as civilian counsel of his own selection and at no expense to the government; the right to examine all evidence used against him by the prosecution; the right to obtain evidence and to call witnesses on his own behalf including expert witnesses; the right to cross-examine every witness called by the prosecution; the right to be present during the presentation of evidence; the right to have a military commission panel of at least five military members determine his guilt by a 2/3 majority, or in the case of a capital offense, a unanimous decision of a military commission composed of at least 12 members; and the right to an appeal to the Court of Military Commission Review, then through the District of Columbia Circuit Court of Appeals to the United States Supreme Court. (Emphasis added).

What? We're giving them the ability to understand and assess our counter-terrorism abilities? We're burning our spy sources? Other than the trier of fact, how is this different from the rights of a defendant in federal court? (Which hasn't worked out that well). I'm at a loss here.

And why is attacking the Pentagon a war crime, other than the fact that the guys doing it were not in military uniforms? This is a question which stumped me regarding the earlier batch of detainees facing war crime tribunals.

Labels: Guantanamo Bay Detention; Military Tribunals