The Guardian wrote:
The United States government said it could not find the men that Guantánamo detainee Abdullah Mujahid believes could help set him free. The Guardian found them in three days.
Two years ago the American military invited Mr Mujahid, a former Afghan police commander accused of plotting against the US, to prove his innocence before a special military tribunal.
As was his right, Mr Mujahid called four witnesses from Afghanistan.
But months later the tribunal president returned with bad news: the witnesses could not be found. Mr Mujahid's hopes sank and he was returned to the wire-mesh cell where he remains today.
The Guardian's search for Mr Mujahid's witnesses proved successful within three days. One was working for President Hamid Karzai, another was teaching at a leading American college and the third was living in Kabul. The fourth was dead. Each witness said he had never been approached by the Americans to testify in Mr Mujahid's hearing.
Two years ago the American military invited Mr Mujahid, a former Afghan police commander accused of plotting against the US, to prove his innocence before a special military tribunal.
As was his right, Mr Mujahid called four witnesses from Afghanistan.
But months later the tribunal president returned with bad news: the witnesses could not be found. Mr Mujahid's hopes sank and he was returned to the wire-mesh cell where he remains today.
The Guardian's search for Mr Mujahid's witnesses proved successful within three days. One was working for President Hamid Karzai, another was teaching at a leading American college and the third was living in Kabul. The fourth was dead. Each witness said he had never been approached by the Americans to testify in Mr Mujahid's hearing.
I've no idea if Mujahid is guilty or innocent. But if we're trying to pretend that that tribunals there (and the ones Bush and the Republicans are trying to restore in the face of the SCOTUS ruling) are anything other than a kangaroo court to do away with random Muslims, it may behoove us to look at least slightly competant.
Either the tribunal investigators were unaquainted with things such as "the phone book" and "internet search engines" or else they simply didn't give a rat's *** about providing Mujahid with the witnesses he was entitled to in order to defend his innocence. Neither reflects well on us.
