Military Commission Reform Will Produce A Fair And Just System Say Military Officials

By Laura Woodhead – Talk Radio News Service

A proposed reform to the manner in which foreign detainees are tried will ensure that prisoners receive treatment more in line with the U.S. judicial system, said military officials during their testimony before the Senate Armed Services Committee Tuesday.

“We are willing to be judged by what we are putting together today. You ought to feel very comfortable sending anybody to this commission process with these changes because we have what we believe to be a fair and just system,” said Vice Admiral Bruce E MacDonald USN, Judge Advocate General of the United States Navy.

The hearing took place in response to the committee’s proposed amendments to the Military Commissions Act of 2006, which have been included in the National Defense Authorization Bill for the 2010 fiscal year. The proposed changes would alter “a long list of problems” with military commissions so that they “provided basic guarantees of fairness identified by the Supreme Court”, thereby eliminating the language that places the burden upon detainees to prove that ‘hearsay’ evidence against them is unreliable said Chairman Sen. Carl Levin (D- Mich.)

Sen. Joe Lieberman (I- Conn.) responded negatively to the proposed reform, warning that allowing detainees the right to a civilian trial would be affording them rights they simply do not deserve.

“We would be giving these terrorists greater protection in the federal courts than we given any other war criminal in our entire history…Yes it may be an act of murder that killed the people in the twin towers on 9/11, but it was [also] an act of war. The people that did that do not deserve constitutional protections of federal courts.”

Sen. Graham (R – S.C) disagreed with Sen. Lieberman, saying that creating a hybrid situation that involved civilian courts and military commissions is the key, considering there is no clear end to the war on terrorism.

“That’s not being soft on terrorism, that’s applying American values to this war” he said.

Sen. John McCain (R- Ariz.) took a different view, asserting that it was not just what type of trial took place but where it was held. Sen. McCain repeatedly questioned the officials as to whether there would be a difference in the rights awarded to detainees if they were tried at Guantanamo Bay or in the continental U.S.

“I think it is important for this Committee to know when writing this legislation, if detainees would have all kinds of additional rights if tried in America as opposed to Guantanamo. I think the Committee and the American people should know that.”

Chairman, Senator Carl Levin (D-Mich.) said that this new legislation would address the “shortcomings of the existing law” in relation to tribunals.

However, he added, that the Government “will have a long way to go to restore public confidence in military commissions and the justice they produce.”

Present at the hearing were Sen. Levin (D-Mich.), Sen. McCain (R-Ariz.), Sen. Lieberman (I – Conn.) , Sen. Reed (D- R.I.), Sen. Graham (R – Ga.), Sen. Ben Nelson (D-Neb.), Sen. Martinez (R-Fla.), Sen. Udall (D- Colo.) and Sen. Hagan (D- N.C.)