No, make that - the fallen giant

Gitmo tribunals are staffed with people who have no legal background.

This week’s hearings at Guantanamo Bay highlighted serious deficiencies in the U.S. military commission members’ understanding of the laws of war and principles of criminal justice, Human Rights Watch said today. Human Rights Watch, which has an observer at the hearings, once again called on the United States to end the use of ad hoc military commissions and instead to bring prosecutions before federal courts or courts-martial.

...“It’s astonishing that the United States would try a case of historic importance with officials who are struggling to grasp basic legal concepts,” said James Ross, senior legal advisor for Human Rights Watch, who observed the hearings. “Real courts with real judges should be trying these complex cases, not tribunals started from scratch.”

...For three days, the commission’s three members grappled with the laws of war and international criminal justice. While resolving these issues would have been a difficult task even for veteran judges, it has been an impossible exercise for the commission given that two of the three members who are supposed to rule on matters of law have no legal training or experience. Unsurprisingly, the two members without legal training had difficulty understanding introductory principles of the law of war or criminal justice.

Human Rights Watch article