Military Attorney Imprisoned For Upholding Constitution and Rule of Law at Guantanamo

http://democracyrising.us/content/view/938/164/

Military Attorney Imprisoned For Upholding Constitution and Rule of Law at Guantanamo
Written by Courage to Resist
Thursday, 31 May 2007


On May 18, Lieutenant Commander Matthew Diaz was sentenced to six months in a Navel brig and removal from the Navy for courageously upholding the constitution of the United States. Apparently this is a very serious crime in America today. Lt. Cmdr. Diaz is actually counting himself lucky, as the 41-year-old officer with 19-years of service to the U.S. Navy faced a possible 14 years in prison.

Diaz was a military attorney assigned to investigate abuses of prisoners at Guantánamo, the legal black hole dungeon that operates outside of domestic and international law according to the Bush administration. Taking this assignment seriously not only some-what predictably ended his military career; it might have landed himself in prison until the year 2021.

On orders from Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, the U.S. had refused to release the names of the prisoners that were being held at Guantánamo. The U.S. continued to stonewall all requests for this information even after a federal court ruled that the names must be turned over.

Diaz took action to uphold the law, knowing the risks involved. Concerned about this abuse of human rights, Diaz sent a Valentine’s Day card to the Center for Constitutional Rights in February 2005. The year earlier, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in support of C.C.R.’s right to represent these prisoners. Included with Diaz’s card, printed in very small type, was a list of about 550 names of prisoners held at Guantánamo.

“My oath as a commissioned officer is to the Constitution of the United States,’’ Diaz told the Dallas Morning News. “I’m not a criminal. I had observed the stonewalling, the obstacles we continued to place in the way of the attorneys,’’ Diaz told the media before his sentencing. “I knew my time was limited. ... I had to do something.’’

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But, I'm afraid there aren't. It takes huge gonads to stand up for what is truly right the way he did. With all the hormones in the meat and irradiated veggies/milk, most peoples nads seem to be shrinking.

:shrug: Would anything surprise anyone anymore?

This makes me feel better. Hang on, soldier.

So the next time you see your local news with a head shot of some local boy done in by a roadside bomb in Iraq with the legend "Fallen Hero" below it, remember that there is Matthew Diaz. I'm not saying that the 20-year-old killed while riding in a troop transport didn't die tragically or sadly, but just that he died while riding in a troop transport in a country thousands of miles away that never did us any harm and whose citizens, now dying by the uncounted thousands, never meant us any harm. Mr. Diaz gets to go to prison and loses his 19-year career for deliberately and forthrightly defending the constitution against its enemies, both foreign and domestic.

When we hail a man who is doing what he is supposed to do anyway as a hero - And that's not putting him down, just a commentary on the state of our world now :(