Scott Horton’s piece on the Hamdan verdict is one of the better ones I’ve read so far. Do read the whole thing. Here are the standout passages:

So was the Hamdan case a “success,” a feather in the cap of the Bush Administration’s guardians of justice? Hardly. As Matt Waxman , who as a senior official in the Rumsfeld Pentagon helped craft this system, has acknowledged, there was another defendant in that courtroom standing alongside Salim Hamdan: it was the American justice system. Judgment will be taken by history, and the case was played to a global audience. The first returns are in, and they are not positive. Worse, the perceptions are likely to get harsher and more negative over time. Even before the verdict came in, observers around the world were focused on the Bush Administration’s own contempt for the military commissions process. It had announced that it was indifferent to the judgment of the commission—if Hamdan were acquitted, he could continue to be held for life, a Pentagon briefer acknowledged. The Hamdan prosecution reveals more about the Bush Administration and its fear and loathing of justice than it reveals about Hamdan.

After six and a half years in which the name “Guantánamo” has become badge of shame and humiliation, there has at last been a prosecution–of an individual whose role was at best completely peripheral. The former chief Guantánamo prosecutor has now openly acknowledged that an independent, objective prosecutor never would have charged Salim Hamdan, because he was an absolute nobody. This is not to say that Hamdan is an innocent, of course.
(more…)

“We put our hopes in the law and in the courts and…” they’ve failed us too. So, welcome to the club.

McClatchy:

Haditha victims’ kin outraged as Marines go free

HADITHA, Iraq — Khadija Hassan still shrouds her body in black, nearly three years after the deaths of her four sons. They were killed on Nov. 19, 2005, along with 20 other people in the deadliest documented case of U.S. troops killing civilians since the Vietnam War.

Eight Marines were charged in the case, but in the intervening years, criminal charges have been dismissed against six. A seventh Marine was acquitted. The residents of Haditha, after being told they could depend on U.S. justice, feel betrayed.

“We put our hopes in the law and in the courts and one after another they are found innocent,” said Yousef Aid Ahmed, the lone surviving brother in the family. “This is an organized crime.”

Welcome to our country’s brand’spanking-new low point.

If our government truly didn’t think they were doing something wrong in their choice of interrogation techniques, they wouldn’t be destroying evidence. They KNOW what they’ve been doing is wrong and illegal!

Lawyer: Gitmo interrogators told to trash notes

SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico (AP) — The Pentagon urged interrogators at Guantanamo Bay to destroy handwritten notes in case they were called to testify about potentially harsh treatment of detainees, a military defense lawyer said Sunday.

The lawyer for Toronto-born Omar Khadr, Lt. Cmdr. William Kuebler, said the instructions were included in an operations manual shown to him by prosecutors and suggest the U.S. deliberately thwarted evidence that could help terror suspects defend themselves at trial.

Kuebler said the apparent destruction of evidence prevents him from challenging the reliability of any alleged confessions. He said he will use the document to seek a dismissal of charges against Khadr.

A Pentagon spokesman, Navy Cmdr. Jeffrey Gordon, said he was reviewing the matter Sunday evening.

AL.com commenter, mayleneman, says:

I wonder how Mayleneman feels about the treasonous Scooter Libbey getting a free pass from serving any prison time?

Yes, two wrongs don’t make a right. But Scooter Libbey WAS GUILTY. In Don Siegelman’s case, there’s a high probability of “possible political influence over his prosecution.” And because of that, the man should be given a real trial.

Siegelman to be released from prison

Former Gov. Don Siegelman will be released from prison, after the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals granted him an appeal bond, the lead prosecutor in the case said.

Acting U.S. Attorney Louis Franklin said he received a courtesy call from the court today. “He’s going to be released,” Franklin said.

He said he was disappointed but added, “The 11th Circuit has the discretion to do that, and I respect that.”

WH on Pelosi’s Request: “Truly Contemptible.” “A partisan political stunt” and “a complete waste of time,” according to the top House Republican.

And I have to agree. Justice will never be brought to bear on the Bush administration. Welcome to the United States of Crapland.

Pelosi Wants Bush Aides Investigated

WASHINGTON (AP) — House Speaker Nancy Pelosi asked the Justice Department on Thursday to open a grand jury investigation into whether President Bush’s chief of staff and former counsel should be prosecuted for contempt of Congress.

Pelosi, D-Calif., demanded that the department pursue misdemeanor charges against former White House counsel Harriet Miers for refusing to testify to Congress about the firings of federal prosecutors in 2006 and against chief of staff Josh Bolten for failing to turn over White House documents related to the dismissals.

She gave Attorney General Michael Mukasey one week to respond and said refusal to take the matter to a grand jury will result in the House’s filing a civil lawsuit against the Bush administration.

You put a handful of people on a bench, most of whom clearly partial, influenced, biased towards big money and big business, and JUSTICE takes a big fucking leap right out the damn window!

At the High Court, Damage Control

Exxon Mobil, the giant oil corporation appearing before the Supreme Court yesterday, had earned a profit of nearly $40 billion in 2006, the largest ever reported by a U.S. company — but that’s not what bothered Roberts. What bothered the chief justice was that Exxon was being ordered to pay $2.5 billion — roughly three weeks’ worth of profits — for destroying a long swath of the Alaska coastline in the largest oil spill in American history.

“So what can a corporation do to protect itself against punitive-damages awards such as this?” Roberts asked in court.

The lawyer arguing for the Alaska fishermen affected by the spill, Jeffrey Fisher, had an idea. “Well,” he said, “it can hire fit and competent people.”

The rare sound of laughter rippled through the august chamber. The chief justice did not look amused.

Of course Roberts was upset by the comment. Fisher took a well deserved swipe at some of his buddies. Maybe not actual buddies, but buddies none the less.

The people of Alaska, those affected by the 1989 tragedy, haven’t gotten justice from the oil giant. And seeing as how the United States Supreme Court is now made up of mainly conservative, pro-business, golf course buddies to America’s elite, they never will.

I’ve been watching a case down here in Florida. Martin Lee Anderson was a 14 year old youth who was struggling. His parents were strugging, also, to straighten him out. Martin was sent to a boot camp because of a probation violation, and his parents thought the people there were going to help them with their son. Instead, their son ended up dead at the hands of the guards at the boot camp.

The reason this case has been of special interest to me is because I have a son. He’s 26 now, but at the age of 14 he was having some emotional problems. We struggled so. I took him to therapy and put him on anti-depressants (which he hated me for). I made an appointment with the school psychologist. I asked for any help he might be able to give me. Any suggestions. His suggestion was to send my son to a boot camp. He had never had any discipline problems. None. But this was the psychologists answer. Needless to say, I walked out of the guy’s office never to return. I think there’s alot of kids in so called “boot camps” who don’t belong there, but in their struggle to find help for their children, parents go along with this idea. Because they are desperate.

Back to Martin. When Martin Lee Anderson ended up dead, the medical examiner claimed he died from internal bleeding caused by sickle cell anemia. The problem was, there was a videotape of Martin being beaten…….a 30 minute beating. A second autopsy determined Martin’s death was not caused by sickle cell, nor was it from natural causes.

There were calls to shut down the Florida Juvenile Justice systems boot camps but then governor Jeb Bush said no. Eventually the Florida legislature called for the closing of the camps.

Eight of the boot camp guards and a nurse were eventually charged with aggravated manslaughter, and it was a good day for Martin’s parents. They thought justice would be served. They were wrong.

This month, it took an all white jury in Panama City, Florida (redneck riviera) 90 minutes to decide to acquit all those charged. The day I heard that verdict I about died. I can’t imagine in my wildest dreams the anger, disappointment and sadness Martin’s parents must have felt that day.

The state has awarded Martin’s parents $5 million for wrongful death. But this is not the ultimate justice they were seeking.

Yesterday, the NAACP lead about 700 protesters at the federal courthouse in Tallahassee, demanding justice. I watched the protest on the television and all I could think of is ……..where are the white people? Why are there only black people protesting this injustice? There’s something very very wrong with this picture. While I do believe it is a black/white issue as far as the jury and acquittal are concerned (the panhandle of Florida is filled with redneck morons), I also believe people of all races should be screaming about this case. It’s just soooooooooooo wrong.

The Department of Justice in Washington and the U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Florida are going to review the state’s prosecution of this case. Let’s hope they do the right thing and these murderers go to jail.

Anyone who thinks race is not an issue in America is sadly mistaken. Read the comments in the local newspapers down here and you can see racism is alive and well. It just seems to me that we’re moving backwards. And with everything else that is wrong in this country right now, we should be united, not divided. People should unite and let the justice system know we’re not going to put up with this kind of injustice, no matter what color the victim!

C’mon people!!!

Which reminds me, has anyone heard from Fredo lately? I wonder how he’s getting along…

Former Attorney General Raps White House

WASHINGTON (AP) — A Republican U.S. attorney general from the first Bush administration told a House panel Tuesday he thinks the Justice Department had political aims in prosecuting a high-profile Democratic coroner from Pennsylvania.

Dick Thornburgh, whose law firm is representing coroner Cyril Wecht in the pending trial and who acknowledged speaking as an advocate for Wecht, said the outspoken Democrat was “an ideal target for a Republican U.S. attorney trying to curry favor with a (Justice) Department which demonstrated that if you play by its rules, you will advance.”
[...]

Republicans shot back that Thornburgh was simply trying to help his client in a public forum where he knows the Justice Department cannot discuss the case, which is still awaiting trial.

“Your testimony to be blunt is the most pathetic example of … hearsay and innuendo that I’ve heard in my seven years on this committee,” said Rep. Ric Keller, R-Fla. “It’s so far fetched that I’m almost embarrassed being an attorney listening to it.”

BEN EVANS, Associated Press

Source: AP

If you can believe it, Maher made his statements via video from Canada… for he remains on a U.S. government watch list.

Lawmakers apologize to man wrongly held

Canadian says he was tortured, forced to confess he trained at terror camp

WASHINGTON - Members of Congress apologized Thursday to a Canadian engineer seized by U.S. officials and taken to Syria, where he and the Canadian government say he was tortured.
[...]

“Let me personally give you what our government has not: an apology,” Democratic Rep. Bill Delahunt said as he opened the hearing. “Let me apologize to you and the Canadian people for our government’s role in a mistake.”

Arar said he was grateful for the lawmakers’ apologies, but hoped the U.S. government eventually will apologize to him officially.

Associated Press

As if being slighted by Bush, (you know, the guy directly responsible for the grief brought on to Mr. Arar), was not enough, Dana Rohrabacher was all too glad to get in one more jab for “the party of moral values.”

Started off sounding like an apology from DANA… but then it banked to the right and nose-dived into a steamy pile of republican “I-don’t-really-give-a-frig”.

MSNBC.com

Innocent of the actual offenses… Guilty of talking about it. And black is white. Up is down.

I know being labeled a republican meant “full and complete pardon and automatic forgiveness for any and all offenses.” I guess the army has the same ideology. Both have the “do as I say, not as I do” mentality.

Split verdict for Abu Ghraib interrogation chief

He’s found guilty of disobeying an order, could get up to 5 years

FORT MEADE, Md. - A military court Tuesday acquitted an Army officer of charges that he failed to control U.S. soldiers at Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq, but it found him guilty of disobeying an order.
[...]

It acquitted [Army Lt. Col. Steven J.] Jordan of three counts: cruelty and maltreatment for subjecting detainees to forced nudity and intimidation by dogs; dereliction of a duty to properly train and supervise soldiers in humane interrogation rules; and failing to obey a lawful general order by ordering dogs used for interrogations without higher approval.

Jordan was found guilty of one: disobeying a general’s order not to talk to others about the investigation into the abuse.

Associated Press

Source: MSNBC.com