RE: Protect due process!

Dear Representative ,

I strongly urge you to oppose the draft White House proposal regarding the criminal trials of federal detainees being held indefinitely at Guantanamo Bay and in secret prisons and torture cells around the world. This proposed legislation would violate the Geneva Conventions and the Uniform Code of Military Justice and would deny detainees being held indefinitely the most basic due process protections valued by all Americans.

The Supreme Court recently ruled in Hamdan v. Rumsfeld that President Bush had no authority to create his military commissions to try detainees held indefinitely at Guantanamo. The White House draft legislation would essentially ratify these illegal military commissions and take away the due process protections prescribed by the Supreme Court.

Specifically, the White House proposal would:

Gut the enforceability of important Geneva Convention protections.
Allow the use of evidence obtained through cruel, inhumane, and degrading treatment during interrogations.
Take the unprecedented step of allowing the federal government to convict a defendant based on secret evidence.
Bar a defendant from being present at his own trial.
Allow the use of hearsay evidence banned from every military and civilian court in America.

This proposal will undoubtedly be rejected by the Supreme Court and only delay convictions of those who committed crimes against the United States, sending these important cases back to square one. Even the top Judge Advocates General from the four military services have come out in opposition to these provisions in the White House proposal.

Please reject this blatant attempt to thwart the American value of justice and please insist that that any legislation include the most basic due process protections valued by all Americans. We must not abandon some of the most important values found in our Constitution and federal laws.

Most Sincerely,

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