Perhaps it's time to consider outsourcing information-gathering for defense of detainees to
British journalists:
Guardian finds Afghan witnesses US couldn't
Declan Walsh in Gardez
The US government said it could not find the men that Guantánamo detainee Abdullah Mujahid believes could help set him free. The Guardian found them in three days.
Two years ago the US military invited Mr Mujahid, a former Afghan police commander accused of plotting against the United States, to prove his innocence before a special military tribunal. As was his right, Mr Mujahid called four witnesses from Afghanistan.
But months later the tribunal president returned with bad news: the witnesses could not be found. Mr Mujahid's hopes sank and he was returned to the wire-mesh cell where he remains today.
The Guardian searched for Mr Mujahid's witnesses and found them within three days. One was working for President Hamid Karzai. Another was teaching at a leading American college. The third was living in Kabul. The fourth, it turned out, was dead. Each witness said he had never been approached by the Americans to testify in Mr Mujahid's hearing.
Republican leaders in Congress already are scrambling to give the president some legal cover in light of yesterday's Supreme Court ruling declaring the military tribunals illegal:
Congress' options include everything from legalizing the administration's proposed military tribunals to using the U.S. court system or enacting laws that, as Justice John Paul Stevens recommended, use military courts-martial as a template.
... Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist, R-Tenn., said he would introduce legislation after the July 4 recess that would authorize military commissions and appropriate due process procedures. Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Arlen Specter, R-Pa., introduced a bill Thursday that did essentially that.
Whether Congress in the end officially authorizes the military tribunals, directs the cases into the U.S. justice system or uses the court-martial template, the kind of shoddy and quarter-hearted attempts to locate witnesses and evidence on display in the Guardian story make a mockery of the ideal of justice. Perhaps while Congressional Republicans are busy coming up with CYA options for the Bush administration, they could also legislate a requirement to supply a vigorous and thorough defense.
Otherwise, like so many things the Bush administration tackles, no matter what the venue or rules decided upon by legislators, it's all only window dressing.
Update: Thanks to several commenters below, it’s been pointed out that the Boston Globe found these witnesses a couple of weeks ago and ran a story on June 18.
