Ashcroft: 0 for 5,000

dahamsta

Just noticed this post on MemoryBlog:

September 22, 2004

Ashcroft: 0 for 5,000

From The Nation:

With the latest Detroit convictions overturned, Ashcroft has not convicted a single person of terrorism since 9/11. ...

Until that reversal, the Detroit case had marked the only terrorist conviction obtained from the Justice Department's detention of more than 5,000 foreign nationals in anti-terrorism sweeps since 9/11. So Ashcroft's record is 0 for 5,000. When the attorney general was locking these men up in the immediate wake of the attacks, he held almost daily press conferences to announce how many "suspected terrorists" had been detained. No press conference has been forthcoming to announce that exactly none of them have turned out to be actual terrorists.

Thanks to BM

Posted by russ at September 22, 2004 03:14 PM

Perhaps I'm overreacting, but that strikes me as a horrifying statistic. Not one person has been convicted? How can that be possible?

adam

Victor

Well there were the guilty plea / plea bargins in the Texas WMD case.

Hobbes

Not horrifying. It clearly shows that US Justice system is flawed, I am sure Ashcroft will change the justice system allowing him to just make those 5,000 disappear and improve his track record. That way everyone will be happy and the left wing loonie liberal press won't be able to cry anymore.

bonkey

dahamsta wrote:

Perhaps I'm overreacting, but that strikes me as a horrifying statistic. Not one person has been convicted? How can that be possible?

Clearly the US legal system is - as Hobbes says - at fault. The burden of proof that is demanded in such cases is simply unreaonable. It is probable that many - if not all - of the 5,000 are actually terrorists, but that legal loopholes etc. were used and abused by their sneaky lawyers in order to get them off.

What is needed is a change to the legal system, so that these people can be tried in Gitmo-style trials, where the burden of proof is lessended, and where the trial takes place behind closed doors so that sensitive information may be presented to prove guilt without compromising national security.

Its for everyone's safety, so clearly its the right thing to do.

jc

Hobbes

Well I was being sarcastic. I don't think a large number of those swept up are in fact terrorists. However I wouldn't put it past Ashcroft to change the law so he could just round up Americans off the street and ship them to Cuba.

mycroft

dahamsta wrote:

Perhaps I'm overreacting, but that strikes me as a horrifying statistic. Not one person has been convicted? How can that be possible?

Well he has imprisoned hundreds of people across the globe without trial for years.

They're kinda like convictions :rolleyes:

therecklessone

bonkey wrote:

Clearly the US legal system is - as Hobbes says - at fault. The burden of proof that is demanded in such cases is simply unreaonable. It is probable that many - if not all - of the 5,000 are actually terrorists, but that legal loopholes etc. were used and abused by their sneaky lawyers in order to get them off.

What is needed is a change to the legal system, so that these people can be tried in Gitmo-style trials, where the burden of proof is lessended, and where the trial takes place behind closed doors so that sensitive information may be presented to prove guilt without compromising national security.

Its for everyone's safety, so clearly its the right thing to do.

jc

The sarcasm is just dripping off that...