Comments on: How Judge Huvelle Humiliated The Government In Guantánamo Case

By: Guantánamo And The Courts (Part Three): Obama’s Continuing Shame by Andy Worthington « Dandelion Salad

Tue, 18 Aug 2009 15:27:01 +0000

[...] brought the proceedings to an abrupt halt, the government plunged on regardless, eventually facing a sustained and withering put-down by Judge Ellen Segan [...]

By: Bagram Isn’t The New Guantánamo, It’s The Old Guantánamo « freedetainees.org

Sun, 16 Aug 2009 18:21:41 +0000

[...] 2009), Obama And The Deadline For Closing Guantánamo: It’s Worse Than You Think (July 2009), How Judge Huvelle Humiliated The Government In Guantánamo Case (Mohamed Jawad, July 2009), As Judge Orders Release Of Tortured Guantánamo Prisoner, Government [...]

By: Andy Worthington

Andy Worthington — Sun, 02 Aug 2009 22:34:36 +0000

Hi Little Brother,
Just wanted to say thanks for the considered comments and insight. Much appreciated!

By: Little Brother

Little Brother — Sun, 02 Aug 2009 22:22:38 +0000

That’s as may be, Dwight. But I live by a city in which a judge recently gave a politician convicted of massive fraud a far lighter sentence than called for, well below the minimum recommended by federal guidelines.

And another judge blithely dismissed a rape case on the grounds that the defendant, a prostitute, could reasonably expect occasional rough trade in her line of business.

So I stand by my acclaim for Judge Huvelle, who could just as easily have winked back at the persecution– whoops, that should be “prosecution” team and told them to relax and take all the time they need.

She’s doubtless well aware that the post-constitutional Unitary Executive prefers to keep all the “exit” doors welded shut in the vast international high-tech US Bastille system– ESPECIALLY for the “easy” cases.

By: Dwight Van Winkle

Dwight Van Winkle — Sat, 01 Aug 2009 20:12:59 +0000

This “man bites dog” story is encouraging, but still, I am unimpressed. The judge is doing her job, in an easy case.

By: How Judge Huvelle Humiliated The Government In Guantánamo Case by Andy Worthington « Dandelion Salad

Sat, 01 Aug 2009 04:26:53 +0000

[...] by Andy Worthington Featured Writer Dandelion Salad http://www.andyworthington.co.uk 31 July 2009 [...]

By: As Judge Orders Release Of Tortured Guantánamo Prisoner, Government Refuses To Concede Defeat by Andy Worthington « Dandelion Salad

Sat, 01 Aug 2009 04:18:13 +0000

[...] so sustained, and so damning of the government’s inability to recognize that it had no case, that I’m reproducing detailed excerpts in a separate article, but to pick out a few highlights, she repeatedly stressed that the government did not have a [...]

By: Little Brother

Little Brother — Sat, 01 Aug 2009 01:39:01 +0000

That should read “kicking ass and taking names”, although I think this statement has commutative properties.

Feel free to correct the previous post, moderator! (The rest is OK.)

By: Little Brother

Little Brother — Sat, 01 Aug 2009 01:20:49 +0000

Though formally an atheistic freethinker, here I revert to childlike awe and admiration and cry, “God Bless Judge Huvelle!”

Notwithstanding the wretchedness of the circumstances, Judge Huvelle’s display of judicial displeasure is absolutely righteous and fully warranted.

It is disturbing and regrettable that the Obama administration has seen fit to condone, and enlarge upon, the mortal depredations to the US Constitution and the rule of law inflicted by his nefarious predecessor.

EQUALLY nefarious predecessor, I am regretfully obliged to note.

As a US citizen and lifelong resident, I am angered, outraged, and embarrassed at the spectacle of the highest levels of government acting in blatant bad faith, not least DOJ officials from Ashcroft forward countenancing prosecutions based on unprovable and demonstrably false assertions, contrived and specious arguments, and legal theories resembling Third Reich jurisprudence run through Babelfish.

Given this legal landscape resembling a Hieronymous Bosch triptych, this article is a much-welcomed and appreciated ray of sunshine. It’s a pleasure to even vicariously witness Judge Huvelle’s talent for what is colloquially termed “taking names and kicking ass”.

By: Andy Worthington

Andy Worthington — Fri, 31 Jul 2009 21:58:57 +0000

Hi TD,
Good to hear from you, and yes, Mohamed Jawad’s case is a far cry from what we were all been led to believe by Richard Bruce Cheney, isn’t it?
What’s been lost in all of this — and I haven’t had time to go into it — is Maj. David Frakt’s expert analysis of why it was so farcical to put Jawad forward for a trial by Military Commission in the first place, but that’s why I’m trying to bang on now about what really counts in clearing up the “enemy combatant” mess: put the real terrorist suspects in federal courts, get everyone else out of there (home, a third country, wherever), and never make these mistakes again.
But of course, that doesn’t provide an answer to what’s going on in Bagram, where the Geneva Conventions seem to have been permanently discarded, and interrogation is the name of the game. We still have such a long way to go …