Tim Sumner

Debra Burlingame, Guantanamo, Lawfare, War on Terror

Guantanamo detainees receive unprecedented rights under Military Commissions Act

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During a Senate Judiciary subcommittee hearing on legal rights for Guantanamo detainees, Code Pink was there holding up signs and at least one mock detainee, wearing a black hood and orange jumpsuit, was seen changing seats as the witnesses spoke. That was the visual background for this Washington Times report:

Nearly 100 foreign enemy combatants to be tried at Guantanamo Bay will have more rights than Nazi war criminals who faced the Nuremberg tribunal, a Senate panel was told yesterday.

Detainees in the war on terror will have the presumption of innocence and an automatic appeal, the latter not even afforded to U.S. citizens, said Brig. Gen. Thomas W. Hartmann, legal adviser to the Convening Authority for the Office of Military Commissions. “No such presumption existed,” said Gen. Hartmann in reference to Nuremberg while speaking to the Senate Judiciary subcommittee on terrorism, technology and homeland security. “There were no rules of evidence, and virtually any evidence was freely admitted. “That was painfully apparent to those who were found guilty and received the death penalty — they were hung within hours and days of the completion of the sentence announcement,” he said.

Steven A. Engel, Justice Department deputy assistant attorney general, said that extending the peacetime notion of habeas corpus to military prisoners would be “unprecedented.” “In the nearly 800 years of the writ’s existence, no English or American court has ever granted habeas relief to alien enemy soldiers captured and detained during wartime,” Mr. Engel said.

Sen. Benjamin L. Cardin, Maryland Democrat, disagreed with the federal officials and said “these individuals are basically criminals” and that criminals have the right to habeas corpus.

In his opening statement, Senator Jon Kyl (R-AZ) provided details about the (at least) 30 former detainees who have returned to the battlefield to continue their murderous ways:

Senator Kyl then asked BG Hartmann and Mr. Engel about the unprecedented trial rights under the MCA:

Senator Jeff Sessions (R-AL) questioned Debra Burlingame about the effects of the firms conducting public relations on behalf of alleged terrorists (you can read her prepared testimony here):

You can read Mr. Richard Levick’s own words about his firms’ public relations efforts on behalf of alleged terrorists.

Political wind, War on Terror

Code Pink to take aim at Democrats in 2008

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The Washington Times reports Code Pink will target Democrats in the 2008 elections they disagree with:

Medea Benjamin, founder of antiwar activist group Code Pink, addresses what kind of a regime change in Congress the group would like to see. Watch more clips of the meeting at the TWT Photo Report gallery. Ms. Benjamin, Code Pink co-founder Gael Murphy and retired Army Col. Ann Wright, an activist with the group, also participated in demonstrations during yesterday’s Senate hearing about the Guantanamo Bay Naval Base’s detention camp for terrorism suspects. “We are disgusted with all of them,” Ms. Benjamin said of the Democrat-led Congress. “We were in Congress today saying, ‘Close Gitmo,’ and I changed my sign to say, ‘Close Congress.’ “

“We felt betrayed by the very people we helped to put into office,” Ms. Benjamin told editors and reporters at The Washington Times. “We have a particular break with the leadership of the Democratic Party.”

The group also plans to take an active role in the presidential race, likely backing Sen. Barack Obama of Illinois or former Sen. John Edwards of North Carolina, both Democrats.

Code Pink activists have voiced dissatisfaction with Democratic front-runner Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton of New York and targeted her with demonstrations. Ms. Benjamin credited her group with influencing Mrs. Clinton’s opposition to the Iraq war and to possible military action against Iran.

…

The group has long criticized House Speaker Nancy Pelosi of California and other Democrats, including at least a dozen freshmen elected last year on antiwar platforms, for caving in to President Bush and approving $120 billion in war funds this year without a timetable for a U.S. troop-withdrawal from Iraq. But in a shift of strategy, Code Pink plans to rally its 180,000 members nationwide to make the war a campaign issue and challenge Democratic leaders, who Ms. Benjamin said lack the “fighting spirit” to stop the war.