That's the title of an OpEd in today's Chicago Tribune by Thomas Sullivan. It's a bit off our normal topics, but Tom is a friend whose name has appeared before. LINK
What an irony, what a contradiction! Although the trial may have been flawed and the execution precipitous, the Iraqi government afforded a mass murderer, Saddam Hussein, basic rights before judgment was pronounced. Hussein was presented with written charges, provided the assistance of lawyers, the government was required to introduce proof to support its charges through competent witnesses, whom his lawyers were permitted to cross-examine, and he was allowed to produce evidence in his own defense.
Compare this to the way our government has handled the cases of more than 400 men, most of whom have been held almost five years in a prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. Not a single one has been given a hearing at which the government has been required to produce evidence explaining why he is being held, or had the assistance of a lawyer, or an opportunity to produce evidence in his own defense. No so-called classified evidence has been revealed. No independent judges have presided.
Tom has come to Texas several times to present at Continuing Legal Education programs sponsored by the Individual Rights and Responsibilities Section of the State Bar. Tom is advocating the use of electronic recording of custodial interrogations and improved eyewitness identification procedures as ways to reduce wrongful convictions. He was co-chair of the Illinois Governor's Commission on Capital Punishment and a former U.S. attorney for the Northern District of Illinois.
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