Reply #76: good article here

[Mandate My Ass]

Decommission The Commissions

On March 28, the Supreme Court will hear arguments on whether the "military commissions" created by President Bush in November 2001 to prosecute suspected Qaeda terrorists are a time-honored presidential prerogative or (as I have reluctantly come to believe) another unwise, unconstitutional Bush power-grab.

The difficulty of sorting out enemy combatants from innocent civilians calls for especially exacting procedural fairness.

The legal issues are complex and difficult, and the outcome is hard to predict. What's already clear beyond dispute, however, is that this supposedly speedy, streamlined system -- which took nearly three years to start its first trial -- has in practice been a fiasco and an international embarrassment.

Small-fry defendants. Weak evidence. Commission members apparently hand-picked for their likelihood to please their bosses.

Egregious errors by translators. And constantly changing rules, including the last-minute effort to dress up the commissions for their date with the Supreme Court by banning the previously approved use of statements obtained under torture.

http://nationaljournal.com/taylor.htm

And a superb resource here: http://www.hamdanvrumsfeld.com/briefs