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Secret Evidence Isn't Just for Gitmo Anymore

Slate 's Lithwick says combatant turn is trouble for us all

By Jonas Oransky,  Newser Staff

Posted Oct 17, 2007 3:45 PM CDT

(Newser) – The Department of Justice's stated reason for a major evidence no-show is that it can’t “be reasonably recompiled," Slate’s Dahlia Lithwick writes, a potentially dangerous precedent. Justice is thinking about redoing some military tribunals rather than present “not readily available” evidence used to brand enemy combatants—and Lithwick says illegally obtained ammo on citizens “might just disappear” too.

She’s not buying the government’s claims about scattered documents, and finds significant irony in an organization “secretly and illegally collecting” information—and then claiming untidiness. Meanwhile, new evidence on the domestic front confirms that surveillance rules are being trampled, and little stands in the way of the “flimsy claims” used at Guantanamo Bay being re-purposed against any of us.

A plywood guard tower is pictured at the closed Camp X-Ray, now...
A plywood guard tower is pictured at the closed Camp X-Ray, now...   (Getty Images)
(FILES) Leg restraints await detaintees in a interview room at...
(FILES) Leg restraints await detaintees in a interview room at...   (Getty Images)
A US military guard stands his post at the Camp Delta 4-Medium...
A US military guard stands his post at the Camp Delta 4-Medium...   (Getty Images)
In this Dec. 6, 2006 file photo reviewed by a US Dept. of Defense official, a shackled detainee is escorted while being transported inside the detention center at Guantanamo Bay U.S. Naval Base, Cuba.  An Army officer who played a key role in the enemy combatant hearings at Guantanamo...
In this Dec. 6, 2006 file photo reviewed by a US Dept. of Defense official, a shackled detainee is escorted while being transported inside the detention center at Guantanamo Bay U.S. Naval Base, Cuba....   (Associated Press)
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