Guantanamo Bay Detainees Finally Charged

Photo from source, Guardian

For the entirety of the "War on Terror" we've held detainees at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba with no charges. Civil libertarians have been complaining for years that these people deserved due process. The Bush Administration (and their supporters) have maintained that these prisoners of war were terrorists, and so the rules were different. Of course with no charges, no due process, there was no proof that all of the detainees even were terrorisrs to begin with.

Now, all these years later, six of the detainees are finally being charged. You have to wonder what the delay was, and why they're being charged now. And what may have been lost by waiting for years to even get the process started. And, of course, we will not get to see everything (or much of anything) that goes on.

[Excerpt]

US charges Guantánamo detainees with 9/11 murders

The US today charged six Guantánamo Bay detainees with murder and war crimes in connection with the September 11 attacks and said it would seek the death penalty if they were convicted.

The men are set to be the first detainees brought before a military tribunal in Guantánamo Bay over the attacks on New York and Washington in 2001. . .

Read more at: Guardian

Fraud Whistleblowers in Iraq Being Punished

This is just. . .wow. I don't know what to say. This is just one source, I'm going to see if I can find others, and if I do, I'll post updates to this post. If this story is on the up-and-up, it's just shocking. [Ed.: Update at bottom of post]

[Excerpt]

Those who blow whistle on contractor fraud in Iraq face penalties

One after another, the men and women who have stepped forward to report corruption in the massive effort to rebuild Iraq have been vilified, fired and demoted.

Or worse.

For daring to report illegal arms sales, Navy veteran Donald Vance says he was imprisoned by the American military in a security compound outside Baghdad and subjected to harsh interrogation methods.

There were times, huddled on the floor in solitary confinement with that head-banging music blaring dawn to dusk and interrogators yelling the same questions over and over, that Vance began to wish he had just kept his mouth shut.

He had thought he was doing a good and noble thing when he started telling the FBI about the guns and the land mines and the rocket-launchers - all of them being sold for cash, no receipts necessary, he said. [snip]

For his trouble, he says, he got 97 days in Camp Cropper, an American military prison outside Baghdad that once held Saddam Hussein, and he was classified a security detainee. . .

Much more at: NewsPress.com

UPDATE: When I originally linked to the story, I hadn't noticed that it was from the AP. It has also been covered at Forbes.com, ThinkProgress.org, and an editorial responding to the story at DecaturDaily.com. Looks like it's a real story. And it's from August 24th, so I wonder why it hasn't been big news? Or did I just miss it?