Military Commissions

Barack Obama, detainees, Guantanamo, guest authors, Keep Gitmo Open, Military Commissions, September 11, War on Terror

I am a proud American and I oppose the closing of Guantanamo Bay

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Today I had the honor and privilege of joining other family members and victims of terrorism in meeting with members of the Guantanamo Review Task Force and the Detention Policy Task Force at the Department of Justice. I learned a lot about what our new President is doing and what he has the members of the task forces working on. After doing my own research and listening to the others present today I do not believe that there is a valid reason to close Guantanamo Bay. We are at WAR with TERRORISTS. OUR CONGRESS enacted the Military Commissions Act of 2006 to deal with the issues at hand, including the prosecution or release of detainees who were captured during the current war.

Do you really want these terrorists to face trial within the US along with the rights afforded to US citizens with the strong possibility that they will get off on a technicality? Do you want these dangerous terrorists to be held within the U.S.? The President ordered Guantanamo Bay closed within a year and he has made statements to the effect that this base is a black eye on our country. I heard from many family members today who have visited the base and can attest to the conditions. These prisoners are treated better than ordinary U.S. citizens who have committed crimes! They have access to laptops, get to meet frequently, and can pray whenever they want-they are NOT being tortured! (see Inside Gitmo) And why should our military be made to feel for even a second that they have not served our country bravely and that we are anything but grateful for all of their sacrifices? I am nothing but proud of our military and their selfless efforts all around the world.

Why should the United States or its citizens feel that they have to apologize to the world for being attacked or go on a PR campaign to improve its image? We do not! I feel that our President puts us at shame when he recently said in a trip overseas that he will restore America to its greatness. WE ARE A GREAT NATION, WE ALWAYS HAVE BEEN A GREAT NATION, AND I AM PROUD TO BE AN AMERICAN. I don’t need to apologize and the President should not be apologizing to the world for me or for the U.S. for actions that are necessary to bring justice to the over 3000 victims and their families and to prevent further terrorist attacks on our nation.

Did you know that there is talk of reading terrorists their rights and excluding statements made by detainees who are not read their rights? Are we forgetting that we are at war? Are we forgetting all of the people [who] have died over the last 10 years for our country? Are we doing all we can to prevent the next terrorist attack?

Please know that if we do not begin to speak up now that we will lose our chance. Forward this email, write your own, call or write your politicians and demand that justice be served (and swiftly). The current actions of our President will make our country a mockery of the world when we can’t even effectively deal with known terrorists, some of which have already tried to plead guilty but were denied the chance to do so when President Obama stopped the Military Commissions.

We are wasting time and energy that could very well be spent on preventing future attacks or aiding all of the survivors of the attacks that have already occurred. Let the intelligence community do their job that they were assigned to do and stop getting in their way. Don’t bring known terrorists to U.S. soil when there is an effective way to deal with them already set up. Stop listening to the liberal media who are trying to fill our heads and headlines with exaggerations, lies, and one-sided arguments. As a family member said today, “Closing Guantanamo is the easy and lazy thing to do.” Stop this travesty of justice!

In honor of all of those who serve our country and all of the victims of terrorism and their families,

God bless America!

Melissa Long
June 17, 2009
Voices of September 11

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Editor:

Melissa Long’s fiancé was murdered during the 9/11 attacks upon our nation.

For those family members of the victims of terrorism unable to attend the Department of Justice’s meetings, but still interested in expressing views, the DOJ “welcome[s] written submissions.” Please send your written comments via email (nsd.ovt@usdoj.gov) or fax (202-514-4275) to the Office of Justice for Victims of Overseas Terrorism (OVT) no later than June 19, 2009. * Click here for a few questions to consider when writing them.

* The deadline for submitting comments has been extended to June 26, 2009.

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Update, 3:45 PM EDT: We thank Michelle Malkin for linking over and Military Families United for cross-posting Melissa’s letter.

9/11, al Qaeda, detainees, embassy bombings, Gitmo, Guantanamo, Military Commissions, USS Cole

Comparison of Procedures and Rights Military Commissions Act of 2006, Courts-Martial, U.S. District Courts, and Other International Courts

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Defense lawyers and others who advocate on behalf of the detainees at Guantanamo allege Military Commissions would deny their clients a meaningful opportunity to defend themselves in a court of law. They are deceiving you, as the four-page comparison chart below clearly shows. (Click each page to enlarge it. You may also download it and send it to everyone you know.)

As you read the chart, think of 9/11, the bombing of the U.S.S. Cole and our embassies in Africa, Daniel Pearl and al Qaeda’s mutilation and maiming of tens of thousands of people worldwide. The detainees at Gitmo are war criminals who acted outside the laws of war and protections of the Geneva Conventions; Military Commissions would afford them far more human rights than those they gave the people they slaughtered.

Notes:

1) Download chart here: Word doc or pdf file.

2) President Obama recently administratively changed some Military Commission rules. He granted detainees more rights to choose their counsel, prohibited “the use of statements obtained by cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment, regardless of when the statements were obtained,” and placed the burden on the prosecution to show why hearsay should be admitted into evidence by “demonstrating that a reasonable commission member could find the evidence sufficiently reliable under the totality of the circumstances to have probative value.” The latter comports with international standards.