Letter to the Editor

To be frank, I was shocked that “How many ticking time bombs are out there” appeared in a legal newspaper [August’s  Exhibit A].

Dan Dreibelbis, a professor and retired FBI agent, condemns the recent Supreme Court decision which granted habeas corpus rights to the Gitmo detainees. How can anyone in the United States be opposed to our Bill of Rights? Possibly the most important right of all is due process. Without due process, we have no justice system.

The professor lamely argues that the detainees might be dangerous, and when released wreak havoc on U.S. property and/or citizens. He was involved in interrogation of some of the detainees being held on Cuban soil. Of course, these detainees had no access to lawyers during the interrogations. Many detainees were tortured.

Dreibelbis expresses concern that the detainees are hard-core terrorists and ready to engage in jihad when released.  He ignores the fact that many, if not most, detainees were taken into custody because warlords and others could collect a bounty by turning them over to U.S. forces. It is obvious the Bush administration has been hesitant to put the detainees on trial because there is little if any evidence to convict or the evidence was gleaned through torture.

As a member of Witness Against Torture, I will continue to risk arrest while calling for the closure of the prison at Guantanamo Bay. No Bush administration behavior can shock me anymore, but one of the worst examples of a degenerate policy was to snatch alleged terrorists and deny them basic legal protections. There is little doubt that historians will condemn this distasteful policy and compare it to the odious decision to round-up Japanese-Americans citizens during World War II.

Max Obuszewski
Baltimore