"9/11 Trials For Six Guantanamo Prisoners Are Rigged"
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"Wait a minute, we can't have acquittals. If we've been holding these guys for so long, how can we explain letting them get off? We can't have acquittals, we've got to have convictions."
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February 20, 2008
EXCLUSIVE: Rigged Trials At Guantanamo
The Nation Magazine reveals the former chief prosecutor for the prison’s military commissions says the Pentagon has foreclosed the possibility of acquittals. We speak with Nation reporter Russ Tuttle and law professor Scott Horton.
The 9/11 trials for the six Guantanamo prisoners charged by the Pentagon last week with conspiracy to commit war crimes might have been rigged from the start to rule out the possibility of any acquittals. This according to the latest statements to the Nation magazine from Col. Morris Davis, the former chief prosecutor for Guantanamo"s military commissions.
Col. Davis recounted a 2005 meeting with the Bush administration-appointed Pentagon General Counsel William Haynes, who now oversees the prosecutions and the defense for the tribunal process. Haynes said “We can”t have acquittals. If we’ve been holding these guys for so long, how can we explain letting them get off? We can’t have acquittals, we’ve got to have convictions.”
Col. Davis resigned from the military commissions in October 2007 saying the system had become “politicized” and he could no longer be effective. His latest statements to the Nation magazine offer the most pointed evidence of the military commission"s bias and undermine the Bush administration"s claims of ensuring fair trials for the accused.
The article is up on the Nation’s website at TheNation.com and its called ‘Gitmo Trials Rigged.’ Documentary filmmaker and journalist Ross Tuttle broke this story and he joins me now from Los Angeles, California for a Democracy Now! exclusive.
We"re also joined here in the firehouse studio by international law expert and Harper"s Magazine legal affairs contributor Scott Horton.
Ross Tuttle, Documentary filmmaker and journalist who wrote the story
‘Gitmo Trials Rigged.’
Scott Horton, international law expert and Harper"s Magazine legal affairs contributor. He writes the blog No Comment"
"9/11 NEWS: FBI Says Barbara Olsen Did Not Call Ted Olsen. Bush Solicitor General Lied"
"Tuesday February 19, 2008
Charles Goyette, recently honored as "Best Phoenix Talk Show Host", talks to David Ray Griffin about his new book 9/11 CONTRADICTIONS: An Open Letter to Congress and the Press. (Full interview sans breaks 12 Meg 43 Minutes)"
