Gitmo prosecutor finds Moscow Show Trials defendants guilty

When a person still in custody recants his allegations of torture as part of deal to go free, that doesn’t really show that the original charges were false, now does it?

After all, they confessed, didn’t they? And their confessions were all “free and voluntary.” The confessions themselves recited those facts very clearly.

Col. Morris Davis, chief prosecutor at Guantanamo:

In order to foster public outrage and build sufficient political pressure to secure his release, for several years David Hicks, his family, and his supporters waged an aggressive media campaign alleging that he was mistreated while in detention. When his case came to trial before a military commission in March 2007, however, he and his defense counsel stipulated that he was not mistreated, and in the sentencing proceedings Mr. Hicks expressed his thanks to the men and women of the U.S. armed forces for the way he was treated. This suggests that a measure of skepticism is in order when assessing the truth of exaggerated claims of abuse made by detainees and their supporters.

No, really. That’s what he wrote and the Yale Law Journal’s Pocket Part published.

Of course, Hicks’s recantation of his charges of torture was part of his plea bargain, negotiated with … you guessed it … Col. Morris Davis.

Author: Mark Kleiman

Professor of Public Policy at the NYU Marron Institute for Urban Management and editor of the Journal of Drug Policy Analysis. Teaches about the methods of policy analysis about drug abuse control and crime control policy, working out the implications of two principles: that swift and certain sanctions don't have to be severe to be effective, and that well-designed threats usually don't have to be carried out. Books: Drugs and Drug Policy: What Everyone Needs to Know (with Jonathan Caulkins and Angela Hawken) When Brute Force Fails: How to Have Less Crime and Less Punishment (Princeton, 2009; named one of the "books of the year" by The Economist Against Excess: Drug Policy for Results (Basic, 1993) Marijuana: Costs of Abuse, Costs of Control (Greenwood, 1989) UCLA Homepage Curriculum Vitae Contact: Markarkleiman-at-gmail.com