The Center for Constitutional Rights (CCR) issued a statement concerning the hearing before the United States Court of Military Commission Review in United States v. Al Bahlul, before its scheduled date of March 17, 2011. Al Bahlul is the first appeal of a Guantanamo military commission conviction to proceed before the Court of Military Commission Review. The case is notable because, in essence, it is a conviction in desperate search of supporting war crimes. But it's also notable for the ahistorical and racist rhetoric in the government briefs that suggest equivalency between Native Americans resisting US takeover of their homelands and al-Qaeda. If you were to ask the Seminoles, I suspect they would say that the greatest threat to their homeland security during the 1800s was in fact the US government. It's appalling that the Obama administration has abandoned its pledge to close Guantanamo. But it's intolerable that it would invoke and distort one of the darkest moments in American history to justify its failure. Here's the CCR statement:
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the Smithsonian magazine recently did an article on the Cherokee nation and the Trail of Tears. The U.S. government wrote treaty after treaty, broke them all, killed (slaughtered is the more appropriate term) those who didn't like it, and even today, continues to steal MILLIONS of dollars from Indian tribes. The "sovereign nation" within a nation concept? Its good until the U.S. government doesn't agree with the "sovereign nation's" actions. Then, then fine and imprison the Indians who have the audacity to act like they are "sovereign". The more things change, the more they stay the same....
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