Friday, January 19, 2007

Pentagon Unveils New Rules

Yesterday, the Pentagon announced some changes in the way that detainee tribunals would proceed under the provisions of the Military Commissions Act. See, with the MCAct, they secured the right to torture detainees who are being held indefinitely, many without specific charges, as well as the right to designate any person "Enemy Combatant" at the sheer whim of the Executive Branch, and strip them of all Constitutional protections. But the problem is, they forgot to redefine what is admissible as evidence in court. Oops! Well, the way they are trying to fix that little problem is to undo centuries of legal tradition and law concerning what is admissible as evidence, by a mere declaration. One of the things critics of the Military Commissions Act pointed out was that evidence obtained through torture or coercion is not admissible in court. The effect of this could be that people who ARE really dangerous could be set free because the CIA corrupted evidence by torturing them. Well, hindsight is 20/20, isn't it? No problem. Because now, you can torture someone, and use what they say against them.

Just because the Pentagon says so.

PS: Hearsay evidence is also admitted now.

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