Wednesday, March 7, 2007

Prisoner Without A Name, Cell Without A Number

There's something chillingly Kafka-esque about this from McClatchy:

The Defense Department said Tuesday that hearings for 14 "high-value detainees," including the alleged mastermind of the 9-11 terrorist attacks, will start Friday at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, but that reporters would be barred from the procedures.

The 14 were held in secret CIA prisons for up to four years, and none is known to have appeared before a hearing of any sort before the group was transferred to Guantanamo in September. Questions have repeatedly been raised about whether the 14 were tortured while in CIA detention.

Pentagon spokesman Bryan Whitman said at a news briefing that the hearings will be closed "based on national security concerns." He promised to release censored transcripts "as expeditiously as we can," but said officials had decided not to provide the names of the suspects, even after the transcripts have been released...

The hearings, which also exclude attorneys, are likely to be the prelude to a decision by President Bush to try the 14 men before military commissions that Congress established last year.

No reporters. No lawyers. No names. And, of course, no doubt as to the outcome. Really, if this is what it's finally come to, what's the point? Other than to intimidate and, yes, to terrorize, I mean. What purpose does this entire excercise serve anymore?

Posted by Judah in:  Global War On Terror   Human Rights   

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