A family feud over the fate of Guantanamo-The Pentagon gives a platform to family members of Sept 11

[kpete]

Source: Los Angeles Times

A family feud over the fate of Guantanamo
The Pentagon gives a platform to family members of Sept. 11 victims who support the prison and tribunal. Relatives who oppose them make their own statement.

By Carol J. Williams
December 11, 2008

Reporting from Guantanamo Bay, Cuba -- Foes and supporters of the Guantanamo prisons and tribunal have stepped up the debate over the fate of the controversial operations by enlisting relatives of Sept. 11 victims in an ideological duel.

Thirty-one family members of victims announced in a letter distributed Wednesday by the American Civil Liberties Union that they considered the Bush administration's prosecution of terrorism suspects here unconstitutional and politically motivated.

Their statement in support of President-elect Barack Obama's vow to close Guantanamo came after emotional appeals made Monday by nine relatives selected by the Pentagon and brought here to witness proceedings against Khalid Shaikh Mohammed and four other alleged Sept. 11 plotters.

Several of the family members who were whisked in and out of Guantanamo over a three-day period said they had been told Obama might be persuaded to continue the trials now that he was privy to intelligence about the national security value of the tribunal.


Read more: http://www.latimes.com/news/printedition/asection/la-na-guantanamo-families11-2008dec11,0,6184527.story

[Breathe]

1. Unbelievable!

So the Pentagon cherry picks nine uninformed people who have no idea about the true nature of things at Guantanamo or the people imprisoned there, no idea bout the constitution or the Geneva conventions, nine grieving people who are looking for someone to blame, and fly them to Guantanamo to make an emotional appeal based on nothing more than the faces of their suffering. It's shameful. The Pentagon official who said it "crossed his mind that family members could be influential in the debate" was only half heartedly honest. He should have said that "family members who agree with our position that this secret prison where we torture and deny people access to their lawyers, to a speedy and fair trial, and to their pursuit of happiness could be influential in achieving my political motivations." There was no reason to take those people there. None! It is an affront to our criminal justice system and to human decency. Shame on him.

[aquart]

2. Have we tied a single detainee to 9/11?

[classysassy]

3. The

mothers,wives,husbands and childrens of every soldier,sailor,airman and marine, killed in Iraq,should have a seat at the table.