Sunday, January 15, 2012

Privileged

A word from William Shawcross | Power Line: "I agree with Obama that Nuremberg was a success and should not be dismissed as “victors’ justice.” But what he failed to acknowledge was that the defendants at Nuremberg had far fewer rights than those at Guantanamo under the Military Commissions created by President Bush. Indeed, were a Nazi transported by time machine from Nuremberg to Guantanamo he would be astonished by the privileges and safeguards which were suddenly available to him.

The most fundamental is this: at Nuremberg there was no right of appeal against the judgement of the Military Tribunal. By contrast anyone convicted at Guantanamo can appeal all the way to the Supreme Court. In other words he will have all the safeguards of anyone convicted in an Article III court. That is worth remembering in the months ahead as reformed military tribunals come under sustained attack from the left and from powerful human rights organisations."