Any self respecting trekkie knows that the most efficient trials in the alpha quadrant are those conducted by the Cardassians. A Cardassian Court starts out with a verdict, and then conducts the trial to show that their sentence is correct. Before the person goes before the court, they are tortured, and often subjected to memory probes, “just to be sure.” Of course, the absence of evidence is not proof that nothing happened; even if no information is obtained from the “interrogation,” that is just proof that the person has been trained in lying and tricking memory probes.

I am reminded of Star Trek: DS9, Season 2 Episode 25 entitled “Tribunal,” where Chief Engineer Miles O’Brien is secretly arrested by the Cardassians, and is not allowed to know exactly what he is charged with, even his “Public Conservator” Kovat refuses to tell him what he is charged with. Eventually, Odo, the security officer for DS9 who worked with the Cardassians under the occupation is able to find out what he is charged with (Ironically, it’s providing material support to Terrorists) and they are, after long difficult investigation able to prove that the evidence against him was indeed fabricated, and that he was innocent of all charges.

The Cardassians are an interesting race, however they are definitely portrayed in DS9 as a totalitarian, militaristic society; while they are occasionally allies with the Federation, they are generally kept out of transporter range (unless there is a boarding party involved) because they have a pretty poor record for civil liberties, and a tendency to kill or disappear innocent people when it’s politically convenient.

So, at this point, any responsible reader would be wondering if this post is anything more than a play by play of one of the best episodes, of one of the best television shows to ever grace the prime-time airwaves, the answer is yes. A court order, brought about by an AP lawsuit forced the Pentagon to release the names of the detainees and the proceedings of their tribunals which according to many shows that “the Bush administration has cast a wide net in its war on terror.”

Among the people who were detained at Guantanamo Bay was an apple seller who claimed to have been conscripted to be a cook for the Taliban, a man who was caught wearing a Casio watch that was similar to one that was used by Terrorists to make timers for bombs, as well as other low level people who were either fighting against the US’s proxy soldiers, the northern alliance long before we got involved, or were conscripted to fight at gun point. There was certainly the occasional high value target, and other true believers, however there are clearly many there that from this information appear to have been low level peons who were locked up and interrogated (or tortured depending on whose definition you use) who were screwed first by the Taliban/Al Qaeda (when they were conscripted), and then a second time by us. In short, many of these people were tantamount to slaves when they were with the Taliban/Al Qaeda, and rather than freeing slaves, we put them into a prison that was a legal black whole (temporarily) and did horrible things to them.

One thing that I find really shocking is that most of the people there haven’t even been accused of a crime. They have been designated enemy combatants based on the opinion of people who have been told that they are terrorists, given no reasonable chance to mount a proper defense as they aren’t allowed to know what evidence is against them, and finally, they are presumed guilty until they can show that they are innocent. The fundamental fallacy of the presumption of guilt is that there is no way to prove without a doubt that nothing happened – you can show that it is highly improbable, however you can never truly show that it didn’t happen with 100% accuracy. If the burden of proof is on the individual who is facing the trial, they are basically screwed.

I don’t have a law degree, however I know a Cardassian Trial when I see one, and while the people conducting these hearings (as with their Cardassian counterparts) no doubt believe what they are doing is right, they are part of a system that is designed to make it nearly impossible to defend oneself. Like Miles O’Brien, these people are being set up to be sentenced in a court that has already found them guilty, and like the Cardassian courts, these tribunals exist solely to make the American people feel like we are giving them a chance. It was clearly wrong when Miles O’Brien was going to be executed without receiving a fair trial; I fail to see how this is different.

End Transmission.

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