'Nuff said

(Taking context-optional note of thought-provoking quotes)

I found it odd that Welner felt the need to emphasize repeatedly alleged crimes for which family members hadn’t been convicted and ones totally unrelated to terrorism. When you have a family with an al Qaeda connection, is it really necessary to list every black mark?

-- One of many trenchant queries by our colleague Michelle McCluer (prior IntLawGrrls posts), Executive Director of the National Institute of Military Justice, in her eyewitness posts on the plea hearing and subsequent sentencing proceedings against Omar Khadr, which she's been attending at a courthouse at Guantánamo (above right).

Well worth a read.

'Nuff said

(Taking context-optional note of thought-provoking quotes)

Raised in small-town Oklahoma, I continue to live its values. I am fiercely patriotic, making national security of paramount importance to me. I served in the military for more than a decade, and my friends still deploy in harm’s way. I am also the mother of young children. What mother doesn’t want a safe world for her kids?
Perhaps because of my love of history, I have been more than a little surprised at the vociferous opposition of my fellow conservatives to treating these foreign terrorists as we have treated their counterparts for decades. No one suggested trying the Panamanian dictator Manuel Noriega, the Lockerbie conspirators or the original World Trade Center bombers in military tribunals. In fact, we usually clamor for other countries to extradite terror suspects to the United States for trial.

-- Our colleague Michelle McCluer (below left), Executive Director of the National Institute of Military Justice, in an op-ed entitled "Civilian court best spot for terror trials," published in The Oklahoman newspaper on Monday, the 15th anniversary of the bombing of the federal building in Oklahoma City. (credit for above-right photo of Daniel Patrick Moynihan U.S. Courthouse, Manhattan) Michelle, who's observed GTMO military commissions proceedings along with other NIMJ'ers (including IntLawGrrl Beth Hillman and yours truly), ended her excellent commentary on this succinct note:

Trying detainees in a system that has yielded proven results doesn’t show a lack of understanding of our national security interests; rather, it is a recognition that terrorists are not above the Constitution for which our military members fight. Conservative values demand that terrorists be tried in civilian court, saving taxpayer dollars and providing justice to the victims.

Go On! Women in the military

(Go On! is an occasional item on symposia and other events of interest)

"Women in the Military: Fighting For Their Rights" is the title of a program to be presented from 12 noon to 2 p.m. this Thursday, March 25, at the American University Washington College of Law, 4801 Massachusetts Avenue, Washington, D.C. Sponsors are the National Institute of Military Justice, on whose boards IntLawGrrls Elizabeth Lutes Hillman, Beth Van Schaack, and I proudly serve, as well as the law school's Women’s Law Association and Veterans Law Student Association.

Featured panels:
► Current Issues Affecting Women In The Military. Speaking will be Captain Lory Manning, Director of the Women in the Military Project for the Women's Research and Education Institute; Commander Carol Stundtner, Gender Policy Advisor, U.S. Coast Guard; and Captain Kari Crawford, Attorney, Criminal Law Division, U.S. Army JAG Corps. Michelle M. Lindo McCluer, NIMJ Executive Director, will moderate.
► Addressing Sexual Assault In The Military. Brigadier General (ret.) Thomas R. Cuthbert, Senior Technical Advisor for the Defense Task Force on Sexual Assault in Military Services; and Janet Mansfield, Attorney, Criminal Law Policy Division, Office of the Judge Advocate General, U.S. Army, and Legal Advisor to U.S. Army Sexual Harassment/Sexual Assault Response and Prevention Program.

The event is free. Details and registration here.

Go On! Civilians & courts-martial

(Go On! is an occasional item on symposia of interest) The National Institute of Military Justice will host "Public Trials? Lifting the Veil on Military Courts-Martial," from 12 noon-1:30 p.m. April 14, 2009, at American University Washington College of Law, 4801 Massachusetts Avenue N.W., Washington, D.C.
Speaking on the panel will be: Lucy Dalglish, Executive Director of the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press; Nayna Malayang, the NIMJ Dean's Fellow and an LL.M. candidate at American University Washington College of Law; and Commander Stephen McCleary, Chief, Office of Military Justice, U.S. Coast Guard. Moderator will be NIMJ Executive Director Michelle M. Lindo McCluer.
The program will analyze the theoretical openness of military courts-martial versus the reality that most courts-martial have few, if any, civilian spectators. Panelists then will suggest ways of remedying shortcomings.
Registration for the free program is here.