Guaranteed Screwed If You Are Canadian

[CHIMO]

Holder defends plan to try 9/11 terrorists in NYC

WASHINGTON - WASHINGTON - Accused 9/11 mastermind Khalid Sheik Mohammed and four others must be, and will be, convicted, Attorney General Eric Holder said Wednesday in defense of his controversial recent decision to try the five alleged terrorists in a federal court in Manhattan.

Rebuffing sharp criticism by Republicans, Holder accused critics of "ignorance" of the evidence and the law that he has reviewed and that led him to decide on a civilian court for a trial seeking the death penalty.

"Failure is not an option," Holder said in a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing. "These are cases that have to be won. I don't expect that we will have a contrary result."

Holder also indicated that even if acquitted by a jury or released by a judge on a technicality, the terror suspects would not be freed - and possibly held under the laws of war - raising questions by some about the fairness of the trial.

http://www.newsday.com/news/new-york/holder-defends-plan-to-try-9-11-terrorists-in-nyc-1.1601873


US: ”New” Military Courts Still Lack Basic Safeguards

NEW YORK, Nov 18 (IPS) - While conservatives complain about Khalid Sheik Mohammed and four other terror suspects from Guantanamo coming to New York for trial, many legal experts and human rights groups are being equally outspoken in their criticism of the ”new and improved” military commissions designated to try five other detainees.

And some are particularly incensed that Omar Khadr, Guantanamo's ”child soldier” û a Canadian captured in Afghanistan seven years ago when he was only 15 and imprisoned at Guantanamo ever since û is slated to be one of the five others to be tried before military commissions.

The ”new and improved” military commissions were part of the 2010 National Defence Authorisation Act, which President Barack Obama signed last month. It included some changes in the rules governing military commission proceedings and is intended to replace - and improve upon - the George W. Bush-era Military Commissions Act of 2006, which the Supreme Court found unconstitutional last year.

Human rights groups and many legal experts are charging that, while the new regulations improve the commissions to come extent, they remain not only unnecessary but dangerous because they establish a parallel system of second-class justice.
http://www.australia.to/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=16464:us-new-military-courts-still-lack-basic-safeguards&catid=116:breaking-news&Itemid=298