Pruning Shears

The tribunals established by the Military Commissions Act are turning out to be as messy in practice as they looked on paper.  Five of the accused appeared in court and according to Reuters

[t]he judge, Marine Col. Ralph Kohlmann, tried to persuade the men to accept their military lawyers, but all refused.

Aziz Ali said he had barely been allowed to meet with his lawyer anyway and described him as “a signboard” hung up so the government could say, ‘Hey, we give these people lawyers.’”

“All this is just a stage play,” he said.

Khalid Sheikh Mohammed was one of them.  He is an accused 9/11 mastermind and most likely the kind of scumbag it would be awesome to see rotting in jail for the rest of his life.  Here were his thoughts about the kangaroo court:

“They mistranslated my words and put many words in my mouth,” he said in broken English learned as an engineering student in North Carolina.

He called the trial “an inquisition” and added, “All of this has been taken under torturing. You know that very well.”

Ladies and gentlemen, there in a nutshell is the problem with extra-judicial proceedings and torture:  Even if they arrive at a proper decision and are justified (according to your morality) their irregularity taints all outcomes.  Everything about them is suspect to the civilized world.  They will not ever be considered legitimate, and they actually reduce the likelihood that the Khalid Sheikh Mohammeds of the world will come to ultimate justice.  Instead we are turning them into martyrs.

I’ve previously complimented John McCain for positive indications on executive power.  All bets are off now, though.  He basically reversed his previous positions.  God bless Charlie Savage for getting him on the record in the first place and Glenn Greenwald for emphatically noting its significance.

I missed this (via) last week:

Twenty former U.S. attorneys, both Republicans and Democrats, urged a federal judge Thursday to intervene in a constitutional battle over whether two White House officials should be forced to testify before Congress about the firings of nine U.S. attorneys.

I hope this has an effect, but I am not optimistic.  Even if it helps persuade the judge I don’t see the President allowing the testimony.  And yes, even if a federal judge rules against him it will not happen without his permission.