Something Illegal
One of my favorite T.V. dramas is Law and Order. Usually the crime takes place within the first few minutes. The next half hour has the detectives eventually finding a suspect and bringing them in for questioning. I would say that 1 out of 3 episodes has the detectives drilling the suspect without his/her lawyer. The lawyer then barges into the room and says "my client doesn't have to answer any more your questions, gentlemen!" The law states that when arrested you are entitled to a lawyer. Imagine then how deep my jaw dropped when I read that a year after his capture Saddam Hussein is just now meeting with his lawyers. Look, I know the guy is pond scum, but what gives the United States the right to decide when to and when not to enforce international law? It's not just with Saddam either. Some inmates at the infamous Guantanamo Bay Prison have yet to be charged with a crime let alone been given access to a lawyer after spending more than a year in holding. I can't fathom how on earth "King Bushy" (nickname in Korea) was able to win another election. Check out this site: http://www.sorryeverybody.com/ .
posted by Mike Peacock @ 10:31 PM
2 comments
2 Comments:
Welcome to blogger-land! I don't know about Saddam, but the guys being held at Guantanimo Bay are being held as enemy combatants, and are therefore not subject to the same laws as regular offenders. It still stinks.
Still, most people around the world consider what they are doing illegal:
Top UK judge blasts U.S. for Guantanamo Bay
LONDON - One of Britain's most senior judges has criticized the U.S. for holding terror suspects at its military base at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, calling it a "monstrous failure of justice."
In a speech in London, Judge Johan Steyn, the third most senior judge, said the prisoners are being held illegally since their transfer from Afghanistan last year.
"By denying the prisoners the right to raise challenges in a court about their alleged status and treatment, the United States government is in breach of the minimum standards of customary international law," he said.
He said the suspects were being held in conditions of "utter lawlessness." Nine Britons are among 660 detainees at the base who are being held without charge as so-called enemy combatants.
British officials are trying to have the prisoners returned home to face trial rather than go before a U.S. military court.
Steyn said Washington's purpose for holding the prisoners was to put them beyond the rule of law, the protection of any courts and at the mercy of victors.
The naval base holds prisoners from the war in Afghanistan and others suspected of being involved with al-Qaeda.
"Trials of the type contemplated by the United States government would be a stain on United States justice. The only thing that could be worse is simply to leave the prisoners in their black hole indefinitely," he said.
Written by CBC News Online staff
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