Justice . . . R.I.P.

In a dramatic confluence of events today, two kangaroo courts announced their pre-determined guilty verdicts.

In the first, 6 "military jurors" hand-picked by the Pentagon for their loyalty to the U.S. government and its views, convicted Bin Laden's alleged driver, Salim Hamdan, even though the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that it was unconstitutional to try Gitmo detainees before a military tribunal, the former chief Gitmo prosecutor said the trials were unfair and rigged, and even though Hamdan was unlawfully tortured.

The entire case for the "war on terror" has fallen apart, with a top advisor to the U.S. military confirming that the war on terror is a hoax because there is no battlefield solution to terrorism" and the case for the Iraq war being laid bare as a forgery and a sham (and the government's whitewash of 9/11 being understood by many Americans). The government needed a conviction against someone in Arab clothing so that it could pretend that the multi-trillion dollar, economy-busting, war crime-based war in the Middle East was justified.

In the second, Dr. Bruce Ivins has been convicted by the FBI as being the anthrax killer without any persuasive evidence. After falsely accusing 2 other scientists as being the anthrax killer, and only weeks after being forced to pay $6 million dollars to one of the scientists for such false accusations, the FBI decided that it had to pin it on somebody.

So they launched a campaign of intimidation against Ivins and his family, offering Ivins' son $2.5 million plus the sports car of his choice if he would turn over evidence implicating his father, and confronted Ivins' daughter with photos of anthrax victims and told her, "This is what your father did". Ivins then either killed himself because of the harassment (or was murdered), and since dead men can't defend themselves, the FBI had their perfect fall guy.

The FBI's leaked allegations against Dr. Ivins were superficially implausible the FBI was forced to apologize for "improper disclosures of partial information mixed with inaccurate information and then drawn into unfounded conclusions".

But later today, the FBI will publicly announce its "evidence" against Ivins, including - undoubtedly - a bunch of new, absurd allegations (see this for a preview).

Kangaroo courts, show trials, and pre-determined verdicts are the order of the day . . . justice is dead in America.

As important as the Hamdan and Ivins' verdicts is the failure of Bush, Cheney and the other criminals in the White House and elsewhere to be held accountable for their crimes. As Congressman Waxman and others have impotently whined, "they got away with it". The high and mighty are simply not held accountable for their crimes anymore, even though the Constiution demands that they be impeached, removed and prosecuted.

Note: I don't know if Hamdan or Ivins are guilty of the crimes for which they were charged.

What I do know is that the Constitution and the rule of the law were wholly ignored in reaching guilty verdicts . . . the process was not followed.

Arguably, the most important phrase in the Constitution is "liberty and justice for all". The current rulers have ripped up this guarantee enshrined in our founding document, and turned America into a banana republic.