>ESSAY: Waging War, Deciding Guilt: Trying the Military Tribunals
>
>[...]
>
>This substantive difficulty is exacerbated by the fact that
>noncitizens can protect their right to a civilian trial (and the
>right to be free of detention pending trial by military tribunal)
>only by disproving the merits of the underlying allegation of
>criminal activity.
Interesting. So if they first prove themselves innocent, non-citizens may be entitled to a fair trial. Otherwise, their fate is in the hands of a secret kangaroo court. Contrast this with the rights of US citizens to be let off scot-free, after they prove themselves innocent.
This is supposedly why these "terrorists" hate Americans so much, they just hate their freedoms. ;-)
In fact, even a kangaroo court might seem a utopian dream to those held captive at Guantanomo Bay. But they should be grateful they haven't been fed to the lions. Though the initial media circus with captives being led, chained together and blindfolded, to their cages - was more than a little reminiscent.
One thing for sure, this isn't a good time to be expressing support for terrorist organisations like Amnesty International.