Some friends of mine brought my attention to the new book Honor Bound: Inside the Guantanamo Trials, which explains military law and the inside story of these military commissions. The author, Kyndra Rotunda, is a former JAG lawyer who served on the prosecution team in Guantanamo Bay and as a legal advisor to an elite team of war crimes investigators. Through a series of entertaining first-hand accounts, Rotunda discusses and analyzes the laws governing the War on Terror, the Geneva Conventions, and the laws related to detainees held in Cuba.
Now I am fortunate enough to have books sent to me all the time, and while almost all are worth reading, there’s only so much time in the day. So I’m perusing it right now, but here are some highlights. Remember, this is coming from a first hand source involved in the legal affairs of these detainees. Now, why isn’t this reported? I encourage you all to join me in reading Honor Bound – after all, it’s books like these that help arm us with information as we argue with the liberals who care more about terrorist’s rights than those of Americans. And that includes our own Supreme Court.
Highlights after the jump…
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The detainee who didn't want to leave…
"Not surprisingly, the army reviews detainee mail. The detainee's letter included poetic verses about the nice weather, and the beautiful sunsets over Guantanamo Bay. He closed the letter by saying something like, 'Wish you were here!'....Later I heard about a detainee who the army offered to release. But, when it informed the detainee, he said, 'No thanks. The weather will be nicer in my country next spring. I'll wait until then.'" Page 50
The Australian Taliban who demanded – and received– an $800 Brooks Brothers suit to wear to court – paid by the U.S. taxpayers.
"[David] Hicks' defense team filed a lengthy motion to prohibit the prosecutors from forcing the defendant to wear prison clothes at his trial. The motion was unnecessary because the accused was never required to wear a prison uniform to hearings. In fact, he wore an $800.00 Brooks Brothers suit – paid for by the U.S. government." Page 198
How terrorist detainees at Gitmo are treated better than United States citizens in American prisons.
"Detainees live in open bays, [they] eat their meals outside together around picnic tables and serve themselves in home-style fashion from large, communal pots. Camp Four offers both soccer fields and basketball courts. The U.S. government offers a selection of basketball shoes for detainees upon request....[I]n 2005, the U.S. Supreme Court unanimously...approved harsher prison conditions in an Ohio super-max prison, where prisoners remain in complete isolation twenty-four hours a day, with virtually no contact with the outside world, and sleep on floor mats under a light that is on all of the time....Ohio treats its prisoners more harshly than the military treats detainees in Guantanamo." Pages 54 and 55
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