Jim Kouri
ACLU uses 9/11 victims' families to challenge legitimacy of military commissions
By Jim Kouri
The shysters at the American Civil Liberties Union yesterday released a statement from 25 9/11 victims' family members challenging the legitimacy of the Guantanamo military commissions and their ability to achieve justice. Personally, if I had my way, I'd release these terrorist killers into their custody and hold the ACLU legally liable for any acts including murder that they commit.
Imagine the psychological makeup of these ACLU clowns who support the killing of innocent unborn children, while fretting over the well-being of murderers, bombers and other violent criminals and enemy combatants.
Out of thousands of 9/11 victims' family members, it's amazing that the ACLU believes the rantings of 25 of them would carry much weight with anyone but left-wing nutjobs.
Below is the full text of the ACLU statement:
9/11 FAMILY MEMBERS CHALLENGE LEGITIMACY OF GUANTANAMO MILITARY COMMISSIONS
As family members who lost loved ones on 9/11, we feel compelled to speak out about this week's proceedings at Guantanamo. Recently, the Guantanamo military commissions office announced that victims' family members would be permitted, on a lottery basis, to attend the Guantanamo legal hearings of those accused of planning the 9/11 attacks. The lottery system inherently results in the granting of media attention to the select few who are chosen, and whose views are not necessarily representative of all victims' families. The media coverage of Monday's commission hearings included statements attributed to attending family members that the tribunals provided a fair hearing for these prosecutions and that family members "were struck by the extensive rights accorded the accused men."
While we support everyone's right to their individual opinions about these proceedings, including, of course, other family members who have suffered the devastation we have, we also feel obliged to make clear that many of us do not believe these military commissions to be fair, in accordance with American values, or capable of achieving the justice that 9/11 family members and all Americans deserve.
We believe that the secretive and unconstitutional nature of these proceedings deprive us of the right to know the full truth about what happened on 9/11. These prosecutions have been politically motivated from the start, are designed to ensure quick convictions at the expense of due process and transparency, and are structured to prevent the revelation of abusive interrogations and torture engaged in by the US government. Unfortunately, any verdict borne of these proceedings will lack legitimacy and leave us wondering if true justice has been served. No comfort or closure can come from military commissions that ignore the rule of law and stain America's reputation at home and abroad.
We are strongly encouraged by the incoming administration's promise to end this shameful system, and we are hopeful for a fresh start for these and all other Guantanamo prosecutions in US courts worthy of American justice. It is time for our nation to stop betraying its own values — and the values of so many who died on 9/11.
© Jim Kouri
December 11, 2008
The shysters at the American Civil Liberties Union yesterday released a statement from 25 9/11 victims' family members challenging the legitimacy of the Guantanamo military commissions and their ability to achieve justice. Personally, if I had my way, I'd release these terrorist killers into their custody and hold the ACLU legally liable for any acts including murder that they commit.
Imagine the psychological makeup of these ACLU clowns who support the killing of innocent unborn children, while fretting over the well-being of murderers, bombers and other violent criminals and enemy combatants.
Out of thousands of 9/11 victims' family members, it's amazing that the ACLU believes the rantings of 25 of them would carry much weight with anyone but left-wing nutjobs.
Below is the full text of the ACLU statement:
9/11 FAMILY MEMBERS CHALLENGE LEGITIMACY OF GUANTANAMO MILITARY COMMISSIONS
As family members who lost loved ones on 9/11, we feel compelled to speak out about this week's proceedings at Guantanamo. Recently, the Guantanamo military commissions office announced that victims' family members would be permitted, on a lottery basis, to attend the Guantanamo legal hearings of those accused of planning the 9/11 attacks. The lottery system inherently results in the granting of media attention to the select few who are chosen, and whose views are not necessarily representative of all victims' families. The media coverage of Monday's commission hearings included statements attributed to attending family members that the tribunals provided a fair hearing for these prosecutions and that family members "were struck by the extensive rights accorded the accused men."
While we support everyone's right to their individual opinions about these proceedings, including, of course, other family members who have suffered the devastation we have, we also feel obliged to make clear that many of us do not believe these military commissions to be fair, in accordance with American values, or capable of achieving the justice that 9/11 family members and all Americans deserve.
We believe that the secretive and unconstitutional nature of these proceedings deprive us of the right to know the full truth about what happened on 9/11. These prosecutions have been politically motivated from the start, are designed to ensure quick convictions at the expense of due process and transparency, and are structured to prevent the revelation of abusive interrogations and torture engaged in by the US government. Unfortunately, any verdict borne of these proceedings will lack legitimacy and leave us wondering if true justice has been served. No comfort or closure can come from military commissions that ignore the rule of law and stain America's reputation at home and abroad.
We are strongly encouraged by the incoming administration's promise to end this shameful system, and we are hopeful for a fresh start for these and all other Guantanamo prosecutions in US courts worthy of American justice. It is time for our nation to stop betraying its own values — and the values of so many who died on 9/11.
© Jim Kouri
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