(Untitled)

[danaoshee]

I don't normally post political things, but I think this needs to get publicized.
http://elections.foxnews.com/2008/06/13/mccain-guantanamo-ruling-one-of-the-worst-decisions-in-history/

Whatever you think of Obama, I'

Comments

[djinnaya]

Wow! That constitution that those commie forefathers wrote sure is a damned inconvenience, ain't it?

But they were captured on a battlefield

[notmy_realname]

(where it seems to me that military, not civilian, law should apply), they were captured outside US territory (where in my opinion US civilian law shouldn't apply), charged with doing things in violation of the Geneva Conventions on War (not in violation of US civilian law), and are currently being held in a different location outside US territory (where I still think US civilian law shouldn't apply

Re: But they were captured on a battlefield

[danaoshee]

Well, the problem with the decision as I read it earlier is that the reason they were addressing the case in the first place is that enemy combatants are still entitled to an equal hearing, which they weren't getting - and rather then attempt to change the different not-good-enough rights they were getting to "equal enough" hearing rights, the supreme court decided fuck this, we're getting them rights immediately rather then screw around with improving the alternate trial method.

Re: But they were captured on a battlefield

[notmy_realname]

But it's not an "alternate trial method", it's the specific trial method called for in the Geneva Convention as ratified into law by the US Congress; they shouldn't have any choice but to work within it, because the Convention doesn't offer any other option. The Supreme Court shouldn't have the authority to make up new rights or laws completely out of thin air; in this case, the supposed right of civilian court review of military status. And I say that COMPLETELY REGARDLESS of what's being done to the detainees; if they're not getting some right that they think they are supposed to be getting, the US civilian court system is STILL NOT the appropriate venue for redress of grievances of foreign fighters captured on foreign soil being held on foreign soil for activities that are illegal under military rather than civilian law; that jurisdiction lies with the military tribunals of the detaining nation, or perhaps ultimately the UN International Court of Justice, but certainly not any civilian court. Basically, the US Supreme Court

[helionaut]

Wow. That is really terrifying. It's also notable that it's being reported by Fox news, basically a vehicle of right propaganda. Four years of someone worse than Bush is already hard to imagine, but holy crap.