Hamdan Trial at Guantanamo

The prosecution wanted the instructions to the jury changed, but withdrew the request when it was clear that this would result in a mistrial. Furthermore, the judge said that they had waited too long.

The judge instructed the jury that, in order to find him guilty on the charge of transporting the missiles, "they must find the missiles were intended for use against protected people -- civilians not involved in hostilities, soldiers removed from combat by illness or capture, or religious or medical personnel."

Since at the time of his capture, the only aircraft flying in Afghanistan were US and coalition aircraft, it seems to me that this is innocent.

The prosecution objected to this instruction, they wanted the judge to, "Tell jurors that any attempt by an 'unlawful enemy combatant' to kill a U.S. soldier in combat is a war crime," which is a novel definition of a war crime, and, as the defense put it, "Then the United States committed a war crime by providing missiles to mujahideen forces who used them against the Soviet military in Afghanistan in the 1990s." (date wrong in the article. It was the 1980s.)

These really are Kangaroo courts, and I think that the prosecutors may very well be committing a war crime, or a crime against humanity, by working under these rules.

Finally, the military managed to create this homage to Kafka:

Hamdan was allowed an hour-long phone call with his wife in Yemen on Monday evening, a Guantanamo official said. Defense attorneys said they tried to get permission for her to attend the trial but were refused on grounds that she is married to a terrorism suspect.

(emphasis mine)

We really need to prosecute the entire chain of war crimes from top to bottom when Bush and His Evil Minions^™ are out of power, from the lowliest officer (the enlisted men have been prosecuted) to the very highest authority.