Obama To Continue Military Tribunals [View All]

Source: LA Times

By Julian E. Barnes
4:05 PM PDT, May 14, 2009
Reporting from Washington -- The Obama administration will announce Friday that it will continue to use military commissions to prosecute some terrorism suspects, current and former officials said -- reversing a campaign promise to abolish the controversial tribunals started under President George W. Bush.

Human rights groups reacted with anger Thursday, arguing that any trials under the commissions would be widely viewed as tainted and that the Obama administration was duplicating Bush's mistakes.

The administration intends to try some of the detainees being held at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, in federal courts, as President Obama has pledged. But officials have concluded that some detainees can only be tried in military tribunals, said a U.S. official familiar with the changes.

Gabor Rona, the international legal director of Human Rights First, said the international community was unlikely to view the tribunals as legitimate.

"Everyone knows the military commissions have been a dismal failure," Rona said. "The results of the cases will be suspect around the globe."

Read more: http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-military-tribunal15-2009may15,0,4322036.story