Wednesday 25 June 2008

by: Marjorie Cohn, t r u t h o u t | Perspective


To bolster his argument that the Guantanamo detainees should be denied the right to prove their innocence in federal courts, Justice Antonin Scalia wrote in his dissent in Boumediene v. Bush: "At least 30 of those prisoners hitherto released from Guantanamo have returned to the battlefield." It turns out that statement is false.

According to a new report by Seton Hall Law Center for Policy and Research, "The statistic was endorsed by a Senate Minority Report issued June 26, 2007, which cites a media outlet, CNN. CNN, in turn, named the DoD [Department of Defense] as its source. The '30' number, however, was corrected in a DoD press release issued in July 2007, and a DoD document submitted to the House Foreign Relations Committee on May 20, 2008, abandons the claim entirely."

The largest possible number of detainees who could have "returned to the fight" is 12; however, the Department of Defense has no system for tracking the whereabouts of released detainees. The only one who has undisputedly taken up arms against the United States or its allies, "ISN 220," was released by political officers of the DoD against the recommendations of military officers.

Scalia bolstered his hysterical claim that the Boumediene decision "will almost certainly cause more Americans to be killed" with stale information that was proven to be false one year ago. Professor Mark Denbeaux, director of the Seton Hall Center, said, Scalia "was relying uncritically on information that originated with a party in the case before him."

The Supreme Court decided in a 5-4 decision that the Guantanamo detainees were entitled to file petitions for writ of habeas corpus to challenge their detention. More than 200 men who have been held for up to six years and have never been charged with a crime will now have their day in court. Many were snatched from their homes, picked up off the street or in airports, or sold to the US military by warlords for bounty.

Scalia, who sits on the highest court in the land, has acted as a loyal foot soldier for the executive branch of government.

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Marjorie Cohn is president of the National Lawyers Guild and a professor at Thomas Jefferson School of Law. She is the author of "Cowboy Republic: Six Ways the Bush Gang Has Defied the Law." Her articles are archived at www.marjoriecohn.com.

This Marjorie Chon can hardly be considered an impartial. The words she uses are so twisted in favor of these terrorists. How does she know they were snatched off the street from, their farms the classroom? their is n way she can know . It is only the hatred of bush because he won two Presidential elections. This is what drives virtually all liberals esp the ones here . Liberal democrats are not intended to lose elections.
Now how does she or anyone else for that matter know where those individuals went what they did when they were released. Did she have daily phone sessions with them? No when they were released they went right back doing what they did before. I read of one who did that in afghanistan the only way it became know that he was once agian a terrorist was that he was idenified after he was killed attcking afghan or americans.
The U S constition its bill of rights are not meant for every person on this planet. It is meant for citizens legal residents. the liberals would give terrorists the right to kill any and all americans in the name of being politically right. In their view terrorists have more rights than americans.

Duane I guess you never read her book

Marjorie Cohn, a law professor from San Diego and the head of the National Lawyers Guild, lays out the evidence in a scathing indictment of the current president and his administration.

Professor Cohn explains step by step so that anyone, with or without a legal background can understand just exactly what is happening to our country. She explains how the president and his minions lied to the American people to "sell" the war in Iraq, how the executive sanctions torture and murder, how our civil liberties are being threatened and actually taken away and most importantly, in my mind, how the president refuses to enforce the laws he disagrees with and sets himself up as a constitutional scholar interpreting the law to decide which laws are constitutional and which are not.

This is a usurpation of power that is unprecedented in this country and is startling in the fact that Congress has become complicit in this "crime." The president has refused to enforce more than 750 laws acording to one article cited by Professor Cohn, by using signing statements in approving laws he objects to rather than simply vetoing them. These statements have been used by other Presidents to explain how the law in question will benefit the American people but in Bush's hands they are used interpret Congress's intent, a violation of the separation of powers, among other problems.

Please read this book. Nothing could be more important, regardless of your political affiliation.

Mike Ivy i know you nor any democrat liberal like this to be said. This woman Marjorie Cohn states that americns have had their civil libertys taken from them. How many of her civil liberties have been removed ? Has she lost her free speech rights and if so how was she able to say what she did and to have it published. Has she been murdered by George Bush for saying what she said? How manyof your civil rights have you lost? How much time have you spent in jail for voicing your opinions were you denied the right of habeous corpus? Can you answer those questions or more importantly will you? You liberal democrats expect no one to question you.
I believe you people honestly believe no one has the right and shouldnt have the right to question anyting you say. This is what barackHUSSIENobama believes. No one shall question him on anything because he has said so . that is he way all liberal democrats believe.

Mike, Duane is too stupid to recognize that free speech is not the only important right that we have in America. He lacks any understanding of the concept of Habeas Corpus or how important a right it has been. He fails to see that without it, we become very much on the level of the Banana Republics where governments can, and do, round up citizens and "disappear" them.

He is also so stupid that he thinks that the fact that he has not personally been arrested and hauled off to a secret prison and denied rights to defend himself in court or to have legal representation or to have his family notified about his whereabouts, etc., means that it has not ever happened to anyone.

And he totally lacks the imagination to see that if you give the government this kind of dictatorial power, sooner or later it will be used in ways that the fools that insisted on its creation could not imagine.

Despite claiming to believe that when they come to power Democrats will kill or imprison huge numbers of Americans, Duane is so stupid that he thinks that it is a good idea for the current government to give the next one the power to pretty much do exactly that if they choose to do it.

jacque boy You speak of people being taken off the streets of this country taken to secret prisons murdered. Just who were these people? Where are these secret prisons? If you know these places exist you must know there locations. Are they located in the Land of Oz perhaps? Or more likely in what is left of your fevered brain. You like most liberal democrats like Hillary Hussien and the rest of them never answer questions. Because you dems honsetly assume you are above questions. Like a congressman democrat named Delahunt from Mass. who today stated that he was glad steven addington (Chenys Chief of staff) was a target of al queda along with addingtons children , wife. No doubt because this delahunt is a friend of Al queda and he doesnt want terrorist , who will kill every american they can get their hands close to. Questioned in any way other than to be given the key to the city. No doubt you agree with that that terorists killers are the finest people on the earth.
But go ahead enumerate all the americans who have been denied any and or all of their constitutional rights. Their names dates. You say all these things happened . Disclose all of the details. Oh and also while you are at it tell about how the Supreme Court gave the right of habeous corpus to non citizens at quantonomo. You can change the U S consttution to includeanyone and everyone in the world. You have that power or at least will in about a year when Hussien makes you his security chief with one of those Arab headdreses on, behind thousands of islamic terrorists. They are the ones who will do the actual killing you will just point out the americans.