Jesus, George W.! Even Nazis had lawyers!

If you read Australian newspapers (Ahem), you already know that George W. administration lawyers have filed a 26 page brief, contesting the right of accused "enemy combatants" to legal representation.

Detainees shouldn't have lawyers: US
August 11, 2004 - 7:24AM

The US government contested the right of detainees held at a naval base in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba to be represented by a lawyer before tribunals to determine whether they were really "enemy combatants" when they were captured.

The US Supreme Court ruled in June that the Defence Department had failed to give the inmates, most of whom were detained during the Afghanistan war in 2001, their full rights. In response, special tribunals began July 29 to determine whether the detainees really were "enemy combatants" when they were captured.

However, in a 26-page document, US federal prosecutors stated their opposition to a request by lawyers representing several dozen Guantanamo detainees for the right to talk to their clients.

The June Supreme Court ruling does not explicitly state whether the detainees could be represented by a lawyer.

The ruling "says nothing at all" to suggest that the inmates have "a right to counsel, much less a right to the type of unrestricted access to counsel they seek, in order to pursue their case," according to the brief released by the government.

No "principle of law or reason entitles alien enemy combatants detained on a military base outside the sovereign territory of the United States to define the terms of their access to counsel," the brief read. LINK

Hm.

Alien enemy combatants- non US citizens captured in wartime
Detained on a military base- in US custody
Outside the Sovereign territory of the US- in another country
To define the terms of their access to counsel- allowed to request legal representation Special tribunals- US Military court proceedings


GeorgeWleague legal eagles would have us believe that no one accused of fighting against the Good Ol' US of A should ever enjoy the right to counsel.

Oh, really?

The Major Participants In The Nüremberg War Crimes Trial

Rudolf Dix
Defense counsel for Hjalmar Schacht

Franz Exner
Defense counsel for Alfred Jodl

Hans Flachsner
Defense counsel for Albert Speer

Martin Horn
Second defense counsel for Joachim von Ribbentrop

Kurt Kauffmann
Defense counsel for Ernst Kaltenbrunner

Otto Kranzbuehler
German Navy judge, defense counsel for Karl Donitz

Otto Nelte
Defense counsel for Wilhelm Keitel

Gunther von Rohrscheidt
First defense counsel for Rudolf Hoess

Fritz Sauter
First defense counsel for Joachim von Ribbentrop,
also counsel for Walther Funk and Baldur von Schirach

Alfred Seidl
Second defense counsel for Rudolf Hoess,
also defense counsel for Hans Frank

Otto Stahmer
Defense counsel for Hermann Goering

Creation of the International Military Tribunal

During World War II, the Allies and representatives of the exiled governments of occupied Europe met several times to discuss post-war treatment of the Nazi leaders. Initially, most of the Allies considered their crimes to have been beyond the scope of human justice -- that their fate was a political, rather than a legal, question.

Winston Churchill, for example, said in 1944 that they should be "hunted down and shot." The French and Soviets also supported summary executions. The Americans, however, pushed for a trial. (A faction within the U.S. government led by Secretary of War Henry L. Stimson had won a domestic battle over the U.S. position on punishment of the Nazis. The other faction, led by Henry Morgenthau, the Jewish secretary of the Treasury, supported a harsh plan designed to prevent Germany from ever rising again as an industrial power.)

In August 1945, the British, French, Americans and Soviets, meeting in London, signed the agreement that created the Nüremberg court, officially the International Military Tribunal, and set ground rules for the trial.

• The defendants had a right to an attorney of their choice, although they could represent themselves if they wanted (none chose to do so). The four prosecuting nations paid the attorneys' fees.

• The defendants also had a right to present evidence in their own defense and to cross-examine any witnesses against them. LINK

I'm sure that George W. GoDeathPenalty moaned and groaned through those World History class lectures on the Nüremberg trial...

I'm sure that George W. Hardass believes that Henry L. Stimson was soft on crime...

And I'm sure that George W. Idiot has no idea (nor does he care) that trials give voice to both accused and accuser; trials bear witness to current events and provide precedence for future study and citation.

Assuming guilt and bypassing court proceedings is for Nazis, George W.!

The Nüremberg trial showed the world the best of America, George W.!

America is made of better stuff than you are!