David
Nevin is a criminal defense attorney who was in
Guantánamo Bay last week
for the arraignment of Khalid Sheikh Mohammed. Nevin is the first civilian attorney to speak to Mohammed. (The first attorney to ever speak with Mohammed is
Prescott
Prince, Mohammed’s military-appointed JAG lawyer.) In this video,
recorded at the
ACLU
Membership Conference, Nevin gives his thoughts on the circumstances of
Mohammed’s refusal of legal representation, and the system of “justice” being meted out by the
Military Commissions Act.
We’ll have more video and podcasts from the Membership Conference in the coming days.
June 21st, 2008 at 11:43 am
I am so ashamed of this administration and the Congress that allowed this to happen. Enough, let us move forward to a better time and end this nightmare.
June 21st, 2008 at 11:57 am
This is no longer the United States I was born into. Before Bush, it didn’t seem possible that this could take place.
June 21st, 2008 at 2:00 pm
truly appalling. what really disgusts me is that people, at least the 2nd time around, voted for the team that cares not one iota about human rights, the human condition or anything other than their own pockets and prejudices. i simply do not understand how this happened, and if i start to then i am repelled by the ignorance.
my only hope is that this yr we’ll see a change.
June 21st, 2008 at 2:24 pm
From all I have seen and heard from this Administration, I can see no difference between how the Japanese during WWII, the North Korean’s in the Korea Police Action or the North Viet Namise during the Viet Nam war treated and tortured American servicemen any different than the way we are now treating so-called terrorists. I say so-called because none have ever actually been proven terrorists, instead of being an innocent person in the wrong place at the wrong time or a neighbor getting revenge on an old argument.
Members of the Japanese military were found at trial to be guilty of torture and sentenced, for using the exact same procedures America has been and still are practicing regularly.
All Americans that really believe in what America has stood for all these years should hang their heads with absolute shame because our country has become no better then the hated infamous Nazi regime we fought so hard to defeat!
June 21st, 2008 at 2:53 pm
I couldn’t get the video to run
June 21st, 2008 at 2:56 pm
Clearly the American Legal System had been ill prepared for the contingencies that arose with the detention of many alleged suspects in the aftermath of the September 11 , 2001 attacks in the United States and also those detained as a result of military activity in Iraq and Afghanistan. This lack of procedural preparation had led to practises and procedures that have been and continue to be criticized as being beneath the standards that we as a society would like to adhere to. The lesson here is that ‘lack of appropriate preparation’ may be something one might comprehend ONCE. However, now that we have become aware of the implications of such ‘vagueness’ in the law governing these legal proceedings and proceedures the opportunity has arisen by which we can better the legislation that governs these procedures so that shortcomings that have come to light in this instance are not revisited in the future should similar circumstances arise.
June 21st, 2008 at 3:35 pm
Edward Abdo
In view of the hearings on C-span,
and reading the articles above, its so
very obvious that the truth involved is
lost in the bad memories of the people
who were present. Then too, it is obvious that we only thought that we
had a Constitution, and a Democratic
Government. I don’t know what we would
call our government today, but it stinks
June 21st, 2008 at 3:41 pm
The video is not captioned. Many of us who care cannot hear.
June 21st, 2008 at 4:05 pm
Why did the attacks of 911 happen? In the aftermath…the focus of today, Americans suffer from a President falling prey to the the calculated perception of response. Dignity, respect, legitimacy and the lives of citizens and foreign nationals has fallen along with respect for the U.S. judical system. At least some judges with authority haven’t been sucked in to the further shock and awwwh campaign. Torture is not a way of life for Americans, there is no reason for a single individual, president bush, to change this for the military and drain our country of a trillion plus dollars in direct and indirect loss.
ACLU challenges are critical to restoring dignity and legitimacy to a failure of policy opening a civil dialog .
June 21st, 2008 at 5:58 pm
The Supreme Court decision should be followed if the US constitution has any validity at all
June 21st, 2008 at 7:28 pm
What disturbs me the most is that there STILL is little or no outcry. No surge of indignation that the principles that this country once had have been thrown away and not much if any remorse or shame is being expressed. I am more than ashamed of the actions of this country. We are complicit in true evil.
June 21st, 2008 at 10:02 pm
The Germans were defeated by the Russians in WWII because the Germans used torture on the Russian POWs. Word got to the Russian soldiers and they opted to fight to the death rather than be captured and tortured. To torture prisoners only magnifies their resolve to fight.
June 22nd, 2008 at 4:24 pm
everyone should be given a fair chance in court
June 24th, 2008 at 2:09 pm
We use to have war crime tribunals and charge peope who did what we now do with “war crimes”. Are we not as guilty now as they were and should not the guilty party be tried?
June 27th, 2008 at 4:13 pm
This is not how we uphold the dignity of human life.
July 9th, 2008 at 2:10 am
fuck bush that asshole mutherfucker he is a shithead
July 9th, 2008 at 2:12 am
IMPEACH BUSH HE IS A MURDERER!!!!!!!!!
July 9th, 2008 at 2:14 am
The Bush administration belongs in prison in cuba and to be tortured like they have done to their prisoners and to the american people they are a disgrace to America
August 18th, 2008 at 10:48 am
You people are idiots.
September 9th, 2008 at 8:46 pm
The USA government has now reached the early stages of Nazi like behavior.I shudder at the thought of what is to come.
September 17th, 2008 at 9:05 am
It sounds like all of you assholes have foregotten 911 and what them assholes did to this U.S.A. I dont fill sorry for not one dam person that thinks like they do. And as for Bush we need more people with back bone like him. What do you want Bush to sit back and let them take overand kill you, Because that is just what they will do, they dont give a shit about you, you dam fools. This country was built on GOD and Backbone and we need more of all of it.