Who Abandoned The Moral High Ground?

Regaining The Moral High Ground For United States.

Charity, that is to say, LOVE, begins at home and spreads abroad. Mr. Sulmasy would do well to start at home before he tries to export his recipe for regaining the moral high ground. If a man cannot be trusted to manage his own home, how can he be trusted to manage someone elses? If an organization does not live up to its own ideals, how can it tell someone else how to live up to theirs?
Would you take real estate advice from a homeless man? Would you take financial advice from a man on skid row? The Coast Guard Academy legal factory is morally bankrupt.

And I will tell you something else. Barack Obama knows Webster Smith. His lawyers are personnally acquainted with the President-elect. So, you can very well assume that President-elect Obama is well aware of what happened to the first cadet in Coast Guard history to be court-martialed. Moreover, it is highly probable that someone on his staff has read the analysis in this blog.

The Coast Guard Academy has an albatross around its neck. The Coast Guard Academy and its legal staff abandoned the moral high ground when it railroaded Cadet Webster Smith. The errors and the shortcomings of the Webster Smith court-martial have been highlighted and chronicled in this blog from the beginning. Some were even forecasted before they occurred. Yet, the Coast Guard Academy went right on ahead and commited moral seppuku. I said it then and I say it now. Until the Coast Guard atones for the sins she has committed against Webster Smith, the moral albatross will not leave its neck. It is a curse. The shedding of innocent blood can never be justified, and its stain can never be washed away.

To take the moral high ground on the Webster Smith case gives me no feelings of moral superiority. I simply refuse to sit idly by and let a few racist opportunists in the Coast Guard think that this repugnant act will not carry permanent negative consequences for the reputation of the Coast Guard.

When the news broke of a Black cadet being court-martialed, I was not afraid to follow where logic and common sense and and an impartial examination of the available facts would lead. Some of the major perpetrators have gone back into the woodwork; Admiral Van Sice accepted forced retirement in lieu of court-martial; Doug Wisniewski is sitting in San Francisco; and, Chief Judge Lane I. McClelland and the Coast Guard Appeals Court refused to avail themself and the Coast Guard of the last clear chance to remedy this injustice. However, this plantation policy of court-martialing a Black cadet because he thought he could get away with the same acts as the white cadets, is an insult to every officer of color in the corps. It will never be forgotten.

No one associated with the Coast Guard or the Coast Guard Academy should have he audacity to give advice to the President of the United States or to the President-elect until he has gone on record and stated his position with respect to the General Court-martial of Webster Smith. Mr Sulmasy should first publish his analysis of the trial and conviction of Webster Smith, then he will begin to have credibility in the area where he has asserted expertise.

All Coast Guard lawyers have blood on their hands. The blood of former cadet Webster Smith cries out for justice. Day in and day out his cries have not been heeded.

Moreover, if you knew as much about the interrogation techniques at Gitmo as I do, I think it would take some of the wind out of your sails. Some of those people are living better than they ever have before in their entire lives. Additionally, they are treated better than a sizeable portion of the United States population when it comes to medical treatment, dental treatment, nutritional health, reading material, freedom to worship, leisure time to excercise and recreate. They can do almost anything they want to do except leave the base, or perhaps, kill more Americans.

I was priviledged earlier this year to hear Lt.Col. (ret.) "GC", a high level consultant on International Terrorism, talk at the Los Angeles Adventurers Club. He took us into the daily life of our soldiers in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. Besides talking about what our soldiers did as part of their daily routine and duty, he gave us the background, geography, climatology, and economy of the area. By the end of the Question and Answer Session we had a much keener understanding and appreciation of what life is like for our young soldiers there. Much has been said politically about "Gitmo", much of it wildly inaccurate. "GC" has toured Gitmo five times and so he has great first hand experience. We were honored and proud to have a man of his caliber clearup so many rumors and misinformation that is rampant in the news media today about Gitmo.

Webster Smith was held on sketchy evidence, gathered through an intelligence service, which often would not pass the evidence standards in federal criminal courts. He was held in isolated confinement, forced to work at hard labor for months before a charge sheet was drafted alleging any charges against him. He deserves fairness, speedy justice and closure.The Associated Press characterized the trial as follows: “What began as a trial against an accused sexual predator ended looking more like a series of murky encounters between college students, with consent often clouded by alcohol. But the case also offered a rare and often unflattering glimpse at cadet life.” (Moment of change' following Coast Guard Academy court-martial By MATT APUZZO Associated Press Writer, July 3, 2006)

The court-martial of Webster Smith was a defining moment in the history of the Coast Guard. It was one of those events that changed the Coast Guard forever, its history and the nature of the cadet corps. Nothing will ever be the same again. It was like the USA was on 12 September 2001, the day after 9/11. No amount of rationalizing or trying to put it into perspective can alter the tragic effects.

The racially motivated court-martial of Cadet Webster Smith will not be swept into the dustbin of history.

Monday, December 15, 2008
A Coast Guard Academy Professor's ideas for a Gitmo (Guantanamo Bay, Cuba) solution should be taken under consideration by President-elect Barack Hussein Obama.

Published by The Day newspaper's editorial staff on 12/14/2008.

Soon after he takes office next month, President-elect Barack Obama should start the process of closing the prison camp for suspected terrorists at the Guantanamo Bay military base in Cuba, issue an executive order outlawing the use of torture in the gathering of evidence and explore a new judicial approach to deal with the detainees.

Perhaps to Americans concerned about jobs, paying bills and shrinking retirement funds, how to deal with a group of foreign prisoners may not appear terribly important, but it is. Dealing with this complex and difficult situation is a matter of national security.

One of the key elements in reducing anti-American vehemence around the world is to maintain the moral high ground. By failing to be true to its ideals, the United States (Coast Guard Academy) has ceded that position. Holding captives for years without charge or trial, torturing some, locking them in secret prisons and not allowing prisoners to see the evidence against them are all morally wrong and violate this nation's fundamental tenet of rule of law.

With the election of Mr. Obama, the world is looking for a change, a signal that America will once again be true to its ideals. Such a change in direction would undermine the efforts of those who now ferment hatred by pointing to the gap between U.S. human rights rhetoric and its deeds.

Will solving the dilemma of what to do with these post-9/11 prisoners immediately generate good will among the Islamic fanatics that seek to destroy the United States? Of course not. But it will make it tougher for the zealots to find new recruits and to generate the support of the masses.

Solutions will not come easy. There are an estimated 250 prisoners now held at Guantanamo Bay. Many are held on sketchy evidence, gathered through intelligence services, which often would not pass the evidence standards in federal criminal courts.

In a commentary that appears on the front of today's Perspective section, Glenn Sulmasy, a member of the law faculty of the U.S. Coast Academy in New London, again presents his argument for a “national security court.” Mr. Sulmasy makes a strong case that a special judicial process is needed for a special prisoner. The modern global terrorist is not a traditional prisoner of war, because he fights for an ideology, not a country, and his conduct is not bound by the rules of war. Yet terrorists are not common criminals, but warriors, who operate on a global stage through surreptitious channels.

The hybrid court envisioned by Mr. Sulmasy would wisely move the handling of these special cases from the Department of Defense to the Department of Justice. Created by Congress, these national security courts would operate using rules of evidence designed for the special cases they handle and sensitive to the need to protect national security information. But if designed correctly, they would also guarantee fairness, speedy justice and assure closure for the prisoners.

Once in office, President-elect Obama should appoint a special commission to consider this new legal path for the Guantanamo prisoners, recommend alternatives for their imprisonment when Guantanamo closes and what to do with them if any are acquitted or released for lack of evidence.

One appointee we'd recommend is Mr. Sulmasy, who has studied the issue for several years and become a leader in academic circles in the debate on how to handle this thorny problem.

{© 2006 The United States Coast Guard Academy Alumni Association
47 Mohegan Avenue, New London, CT 06320-8111
Phone: 860.442.2683 | Email: cgaalumni@cgaalumni.org}



(3/23/2009) Harold Hongju Koh, a national security law expert who is a well-known critic of the Bush administration's detention policies concerning suspected terrorists has been tapped by President Barack Obama to provide legal advice to the U.S. Department of State.

Harold Hongju Koh, who currently is dean of Yale Law School, will be nominated by the Obama administration as State Department legal advisor, reports the Caucus blog of the New York Times.

Koh has previously been mentioned as a possible nominee for any vacancy that may soon arise on the U.S. Supreme Court.

He apparently hasn't pulled any punches concerning his views on the previous administration's legal advice concerning the issues he is now himself expected to weigh in on: In June 2004, for instance, he described the U.S. Department of Justice memoranda on torture as “embarrassing” and “abominable,” the newspaper notes.



Harold Hongju Koh is a Korean-American native of Boston, he holds a B.A. degree from Harvard College and B.A. and M.A. degrees from Oxford University, where he was a Marshall Scholar. He earned his J.D. from Harvard Law School, where he was Developments Editor of the Harvard Law Review, and served as a law clerk for Justice Harry A. Blackmun of the United States Supreme Court and Judge Malcolm Richard Wilkey of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit.


Education
M.A., Oxford, 1996
J.D., Harvard, 1980
B.A., Oxford, 1977 (Marshall Scholar)
A.B., Harvard, 1975

Sunday ,11 Jan 2009, marked the seventh anniversary of the first prisoners arriving at Guantanamo, which was set up after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, in order to house suspected terrorists without putting them under the auspices of the American judicial system.

President-elect Barack Obama reiterated his promise to close the facility, although he could not promise it would be done quickly. "It is more difficult than I think a lot of people realize - and we are going to get it done - but part of the challenge that you have is that you have a bunch of folks that have been detained, many of whom
may be very dangerous who have not been put on trial or have not gone through some adjudication," he said. "It is possible for us to keep the American people safe while still adhering to our core values and ideals, and that's what I intend to carry forward in my administration."

"I think it's going to take some time. And, you know, our legal teams are working in consultation with our national security apparatus, as we speak, to help design exactly what we need to do.

It is possible for us to keep the American people safe while still
adhering to our core values and ideals, and that's what I intend to
carry forward in my administration.

President-elect Barack Obama further said, "But I don't want to be ambiguous about
this. We are going to close Guantanamo and we are going to make sure
that the procedures we set up are ones that abide by our Constitution.
That is not only the right thing to do but it actually has to be part
of our broader national security strategy, because we will send a
message to the world that we are serious about our values."

Obama said that Cheney continues to defend what he calls "extraordinary measures or procedures" when it comes to interrogations.

"From my view, waterboarding is torture," Obama said. "I have said that under my administration we will not torture."

However, Obama did not promise that his Justice Department would pursue any Bush administration officials who participated in or approved torture.

"We're still evaluating how we're going to approach the whole issue of interrogations, detentions, and so forth," Obama said. "And obviously
we're going to be looking at past practices, and I don't believe that
anybody is above the law.

"On the other hand I also have a belief that we need to look forward
as opposed to looking backwards. And part of my job is to make sure
that, for example at the CIA, you've got extraordinarily talented
people who are working very hard to keep Americans safe. I don't want
them to suddenly feel like they've got to spend all their time looking
over their shoulders and lawyering [up]."

18 Feb 2009. WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A federal appeals court today overturned a ruling that 17 Chinese Muslims who have been held for years at the U.S. military prison at Guantanamo Bay in Cuba must be freed in the United States.

The appeals court ruled that a federal judge did not have the authority to order the U.S. government to bring the members of the Uighur ethic group to the United States for their release. It said only the executive branch, and not the courts, could make such immigration decisions.

20 Feb 2009. WASHINGTON. The Pentagon says the Guantanamo Bay prison meets the standard for humane treatment laid out in the Geneva Conventions, according to a report for President Barack Obama, who has ordered the terrorist detention center closed within a year.

The report recommended some changes, including an increase in group recreation for some of the camp's more dangerous or less compliant prisoners, according to a government official familiar with the study. The report also suggested allowing those prisoners to gather in groups of three or more, said the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because the report has not officially been released.

Some of the hard-core prisoners are not currently allowed to meet with other prisoners for prayer or socialization and are kept in their cells for 23 hours a day. Alleged Sept. 11 mastermind Khalid Sheik Mohammed is among the prisoners who could be affected by the change. Prolonged social isolation has been known to harm mental health among prisoners.

The 85-page report by Adm. Patrick M. Walsh, the Navy's second in command, was written in response to Obama's Jan. 22 executive order to close the facility at the U.S. naval base in Cuba within a year.

Attorney General Eric Holder, meanwhile, named a top federal
prosecutor, Matthew Olsen, as executive director of Obama's Guantanamo Detainee Review Task Force, which will recommend where to send each detainee. Obama has ordered the task force to consider whether to transfer, release or prosecute the detainees, or figure out some other "lawful means for disposition" if none of those options is available.

As a presidential candidate, Obama criticized the detention center
that human rights groups and many in the international community
widely condemned for harsh treatment of prisoners during the Bush
administration. The military has defended its actions, saying
prisoners have been treated humanely since the center was set up after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.

The report found the camp to be in compliance with the Geneva
Conventions Common Article 3, the international rules that require the
humane treatment of prisoners taken in unconventional armed conflicts,
like the war on terrorism. The camp's controversial force-feeding of
prisoners on hunger strikes was also found to be compliant with the
Geneva guidelines, a second government official confirmed.

About 800 prisoners have been held there, many for years and nearly
all without criminal charges. There are now around 250, including 17
from China who the United States wants to set free but cannot return
to China for fear they will be tortured by the government.

Guantanamo was selected for legal reasons: As a military base, it is
sovereign U.S. territory but, according to Bush administration
lawyers, was outside the scope of the Constitution. That would allow
prisoners to be prosecuted for war crimes using evidence that would be
difficult to use in the U.S. civilian court system.