Blog
Published on October 30, 2009
A Washington Independent article discussing the consequences of the Defense Authorization Act passed Wednesday, and the continued use of military commissions. It rightly compares the track record of our federal courts vs. military commissions, in prosecuting terrorism cases, citing Human Rights First In Pursuit of Justice reports:
A study conducted by former prosecutors for Human Rights First, for example, found that civilian federal courts had successfully prosecuted more than 214 terrorism cases since September 11, 2001. Prosecutors won 195 convictions, and successfully handled the challenges of unavailable witnesses, classified evidence, undercover informants and other complexities that arise in terrorism cases, the report found. By contrast, the military commissions created by President Bush after the 9/11 attacks and subsequently authorized by Congress tried only three cases.
We should use our federal courts. Join our Guantanamo campaign to get more involved.
