07-08-2009, 02:38 PM
There are significant differences among the prisoners. There are a large number of prisoners who were picked up on suspicions that turned out not to be justified. A lot of money was offered by the CIA for turning over Al Qaeda operatives and a lot of people turned over people just for the reward. Most of these people have been returned to the country where they came from. The problem is that some countries, particularly China and Uzbekistan will probably kill these poor souls if they are returned to them. So, Uncle Sam needs a safe place to send them, or it will be guilty of adding and abetting the murder of people it knows to be innocent. A few European countries have taken some, the Bahamas and Marshall Islands have taken a few. Their really is not reason these guys could not settle in Hawaii, they are not dangerous, but there would be nothing to forgive them for. Indeed, Uncle Sam owes them something for wrongly imprisoning them.
The next set is prisoners who really are guilty of committing crimes already. These crimes can be prosecuted, even if they occurred overseas. With many of them, the evidence against them was obtained with torture. So, it would be thrown out by a US court. A military tribunal might be able to use the evidence, after considering the probability that confessions under torture are not very reliable. (People will say what they think their torturers want to hear to stop the torture. Ironically, the methods, including water boarding, that were used by the CIA were developed from the Navy Seal training which in turn was developed from the methods used by the North Koreans and Chinese in the Korean war to get FALSE confessions to use in the propaganda war. Torture is really useless, but the CIA won't admit it.) So, these guys can be tried and convicted, just not under our system. They belong in prison.
The third category is prisoners who do not seem to have committed a crime yet, but who are clearly members of Al Qaeda or related groups and would love to commit a crime against the US if they could. They can't be convicted, because they haven't done anything. They are the classic prisoners of war, who Uncle Sam is entitled to hold until the end of hostilities. (It does not matter that they didn't fight for a recognized nation, they are combatants and covered by the Geneva Convention as such.)
So, there is nothing wrong with letting the first catagory settle on the Big Island, might be a good thing. The rest will not be out of prison for a while.
Aloha,
Rob L
The next set is prisoners who really are guilty of committing crimes already. These crimes can be prosecuted, even if they occurred overseas. With many of them, the evidence against them was obtained with torture. So, it would be thrown out by a US court. A military tribunal might be able to use the evidence, after considering the probability that confessions under torture are not very reliable. (People will say what they think their torturers want to hear to stop the torture. Ironically, the methods, including water boarding, that were used by the CIA were developed from the Navy Seal training which in turn was developed from the methods used by the North Koreans and Chinese in the Korean war to get FALSE confessions to use in the propaganda war. Torture is really useless, but the CIA won't admit it.) So, these guys can be tried and convicted, just not under our system. They belong in prison.
The third category is prisoners who do not seem to have committed a crime yet, but who are clearly members of Al Qaeda or related groups and would love to commit a crime against the US if they could. They can't be convicted, because they haven't done anything. They are the classic prisoners of war, who Uncle Sam is entitled to hold until the end of hostilities. (It does not matter that they didn't fight for a recognized nation, they are combatants and covered by the Geneva Convention as such.)
So, there is nothing wrong with letting the first catagory settle on the Big Island, might be a good thing. The rest will not be out of prison for a while.
Aloha,
Rob L
Aloha,
Rob L
Rob L