One of the cornerstones of our great American experiment is that all persons are presumed innocent until proven guilty, and each person is entitled to representation by a competent attorney when accused of a crime.

I guess the Deputy Secretary of Defense hates the Constitution and the very principles upon which this country was founded. Why else would he threaten lawyers representing Gitmo detainees? Read on intrepid progressives, because one more nail in the coffin of this great experiment just got pounded on Friday.

[cross-posted at And, yes, I DO take it personally]

the stories about the u.s. treatment of detainees worsen by the day...

   While an international debate rages over the future of the American detention center at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba, the military has quietly expanded another, less-visible prison in Afghanistan, where it now holds some 500 terror suspects in more primitive conditions, indefinitely and without charges.

NB: "expanded," "less visible," "more primitive," and "indefinitely" - quite a damning list for a single paragraph.

[cross-posted at And, yes, I DO take it personally]

first we have condi doing some fast talking...

European foreign ministers said Thursday that Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice had assured the NATO allies that the United States does not allow torture of terrorist suspects and respects principles of the Geneva Conventions on the treatment of prisoners of war.

[...]

Rice "addressed the principles that guide United States policy with regards to respect for international law," Belgian Foreign Minister Karel de Gucht said.

Rice assured the U.S. allies "that at no time did the United States agree to inhumane acts or torture, that they have always respected the sovereignty of the states concerned and even if terrorists are not covered by the Geneva Conventions, they have still applied the principles governing those Geneva Conventions," de Gucht told Belgian RTBf radio network.