George Orwell Would Be Proud Appalled

The 4 most knowledgeable journalists at Guantanamo Bay have been banned for "revealing" the identity of one of the witnesses, "Interrogator #1".

The reason that I put "revealing" in quotes is because the individual in question's name has been public knowledge for years:

Now the military has taken another great step toward enhancing the credibility of the proceedings by booting four reporters for violating a judge’s secrecy order. Their violation? Publishing the name of a former military interrogator who was a witness at the hearing. The Pentagon has now barred Miami Herald reporter Carol Rosenberg, Toronto Star reporter Michelle Shephard, Globe and Mail reporter Paul Koring and CanWest news service reporter Steven Edwards from covering future military commissions at Gitmo.

And here’s the kicker: The identity of the interrogator had been widely reported before the trial. The name of the individual — known as “Interrogator No. 1″ in the courtroom at Gitmo — had been published during a 2005 court-martial in which he pleaded guilty to prisoner abuse in Afghanistan. And he had also allowed the use of his name in an interview with Shepard (!) in 2008.

BTW, it should be recalled that in the case in question the military is trying a child soldier.

Omar Khadr was 15 when the events in question took place.

Seriously, we have the gang that can't shoot straight, or more accurately, the gang that is so concerned about managing the message that it's making the "military tribunals" about as meaningful as Stalin's show trials.

Welcome to our Gulag in the Caribbean.