Aussie Editorial: Chimp_junta too mean by half

Guantanamo: America's shame - Editorial - Opinion - smh.com.au: "Rigged military tribunals which ensure a guilty verdict, not a fair trial, are the blunt political instruments of authoritarian regimes - not healthy democracies. The US State Department reports annually on the progress or otherwise of human rights around the globe, citing the promotion of freedom and the rule of law as a central goal of American foreign policy. In its latest critique of China, for example, the politicised Chinese legal system is appropriately condemned over the judiciary's lack of independence, the routine lack of due legal process, the violation of prisoners' legal protections and undue political pressure on defence lawyers. Yet the US is in breach of its own fine standards in its treatment of the so-called enemy combatants detained at Guantanamo Bay. New claims that US military tribunals set up to process the accused are stacked to prevent acquittals are a serious stain on the proud American tradition of liberty and the rule of law. For Australia, the only Western nation to allow one of its citizens to go before a US military tribunal, this should be very alarming news."

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