Out-Smarted. Bush/Cheney Lies Corrupt Court Cases

Guest Post by Bill Arnett

Well, the chicken(hawks) have come home to roost and provided proof positive that the terrorists are smarter than our American Leaders.

Khaild Sheikh Mohammed (KSM), after four years of relentless torture has confessed to practically every terrorist attack or plot for the last thirty years. The consequences of this sheer stupidity will be felt immediately, as every person previously convicted for any of the acts of terror to which KSM has confessed will appeal their conviction, citing KSM's confessions as proof of their non-involvement. There will be convictions overturned around the world and those suspected terrorists released based upon the confessions obtained by Americans, used as evidence against KSM, and now a matter of un-retractible public record.

An appeal has already been filed for three of the four men in Pakistan found guilty of killing Daniel Pearl. KSM has admitted he personally beheaded Pearl, the three men had been found guilty on the skimpiest of evidence, and now a confession from the "admitted" killer may well result in the release of these three men.

What will American authorities say? Uh…you…uh…you can't use that confession as it was…uh… obtained through the use of torture? No, no, it is a matter of record that KSM confessed and any court which chooses may treat that as valid evidence that those prosecuted for a crime could not possibly be guilty and must be set free.

Talk of being hoisted on your own petard! I strongly suspect that every important, real terrorist, would be trained to do exactly what has been done: Hold out while being tortured long enough to make what you say seem legitimately obtained as a result of the torture, and then confess to every single terrorist attack they can think of in order to corrupt any/all prosecutions possible, to provide alibis for those in custody and not yet tried, and to give those already convicted a basis for appealing their convictions.

And it is happening as you read this. See this article from CBS News:

A defense lawyer appealed Wednesday to a Pakistani court on behalf of three of the four Islamic militants convicted of the kidnap-slaying of Wall Street Journal correspondent Daniel Pearl.…The journalist was killed by British-born Islamic militant Ahmed Omar Saeed Sheikh and three others. Saeed was sentenced to death by hanging and the three other men received life prison terms.…Calling the prosecution's case "false and baseless," attorney Rai Bashir asked the Sindh High Court to overturn the conviction handed down Monday against Salman Saqib, Fahad Naseem and Shaikh Adil. They received life sentences, which in Pakistan means 25 years in prison.…There is not even a single piece of evidence against the appellants to prove the offenses in which they have been convicted, hence the judgment should be set aside," Bashir said.

It can already be difficult enough to obtain convictions in a terrorism case, but the fouling of the water by the confessions of American held suspects will make it more difficult still, and opens the door for appeals by any suspect previously convicted.

This is precisely why – aside the total amorality and the immorality of the act – that torture is a lousy tool for obtaining information. People under torture will confess to anything the interrogator wants regardless of whatever the real facts might be.

So it is once again clear that the "terrorists" are much smarter than our leaders and have found an easy way to call into question every terrorism conviction obtained for the last 25-30 years.

Way to go, bush, corrupt the country with your lies, destroy our integrity with torture, make America the third worst country in the world on human rights and the number one threat to world peace, and for what? To create more terrorists, increase terror attacks world-wide, and now introduce confessions obtained by torture that may result in more terrorists being released from custody.

We lost this GWOT the minute we sacrificed our values and terrorist organizations know it, will take advantage of it, and will tie courts in knots with possibly untrue confessions admitted under American law.

Guest Post by Bill Arnett