No subject

[John F. McMullen]

<USAtalk at yahoogroups.com>, Dewayne Hendricks <dewayne at warpspeed.com>
Subject: White House Proposal Would Expand Authority of Military Courts

(johnmac --I find the following to be extremely troubling -- The
plan .. would also allow the secretary of defense to add crimes at
will to those under the military court's jurisdiction." What
"crimes"? Burning the flag? Spitting on the Sidewalk? This is,
IMNSHO, a subversion of the cConstitution)

>From the Washington Post -- http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/
content/article/2006/08/01/AR2006080101334.html?nav=hcmodule

White House Proposal Would Expand Authority of Military Courts
By R. Jeffrey Smith

A draft Bush administration plan for special military courts seeks to
expand the reach and authority of such "commissions" to include
trials, for the first time, of people who are not members of al-Qaeda
or the Taliban and are not directly involved in acts of international
terrorism, according to officials familiar with the proposal.

The plan, which would replace a military trial system ruled illegal
by the Supreme Court in June, would also allow the secretary of
defense to add crimes at will to those under the military court's
jurisdiction. The two provisions would be likely to put more
individuals than previously expected before military juries,
officials and independent experts said.

The draft proposed legislation, set to be discussed at two Senate
hearings today, is controversial inside and outside the
administration because defendants would be denied many protections
guaranteed by the civilian and traditional military criminal justice
systems.

Under the proposed procedures, defendants would lack rights to
confront accusers, exclude hearsay accusations, or bar evidence
obtained through rough or coercive interrogations. They would not be
guaranteed a public or speedy trial and would lack the right to
choose their military counsel, who in turn would not be guaranteed
equal access to evidence held by prosecutors.

Detainees would also not be guaranteed the right to be present at
their own trials, if their absence is deemed necessary to protect
national security or individuals.

An early draft of the new measure prepared by civilian political
appointees and leaked to the media last week has been modified in
response to criticism from uniformed military lawyers. But the
provisions allowing a future expansion of the courts to cover new
crimes and more prisoners were retained, according to government
officials familiar with the deliberations.

...

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