The September 11 Surprise

It's glaringly obvious that the Bush Administration is trying to orchestrate these show trials at Guantanamo in the middle of the Presidential election, in the belief that any reminder of the attacks on 9-11 is automatically good for Republicans. They're trying to shift around the date to a mere ten days after John McCain accepts the Republican nomination. The prosecutors are openly dismissive of criticism over using evidence gained using torture. They're firing judges who dare to actually allow defense lawyers to see the evidence against them and act like these kangaroo courts are actually trials, and then when pressed about it they get all defensive about it:

Chief judge Marine Col. Ralph Kohlmann said he was making the rare public statement because last week's dismissal of Col. Peter Brownback raised questions about the independence of military officers presiding over tribunals at the Guantanamo Bay Navy base in Cuba.

"Any suggestion that my detailing of another military judge was driven by or prompted by any decisions or rulings made by Colonel Brownback is incorrect," Kohlmann said in the statement e-mailed to reporters.

Kohlmann said the Army decided by February to let Brownback's active-duty service orders expire.

But that struck many observers as odd, since Brownback had offered to remain on the case as long as needed and had received three annual extensions during the past few years.

This really is so obvious. Bush only has a few cards left to play, and these show trials are one of them. We're going to put these men who have been held without charges for up to 7 years on "trial" and prove how concerned with the rule of law we are. Only Omar Khadr, the defendant in the case where the judge was dismissed, is seen as a good kid by his minders in the US military.

Two new reports by the Canadian government have revealed new details about Omar Khadr, the Canadian citizen who has spent a quarter of his life held at Guantanamo. The US soldiers holding Khadr believe he is a “good kid” who is a “likeable, funny and intelligent young man.” The US soldiers holding Khadr believe he risks becoming a radical if he continues to be held at Guantanamo. Khadr was fifteen when he was captured in Afghanistan.

Isn't that the catch-22? We capture the innocent and turn them into radicals, and then we can't let them go because they've been so radicalized.

This little trick might just work, but when you see a kid captured at the age of 15, someone that young, who wasn't a threat to the United States until he reached the Guantanamo prison camp, paraded around like he's Eichmann, I think there'll be some disconnect.