Ray Meier Wants Kangaroo Courts

Reason #15 to vote for Michael Arcuri: Ray Meier supports George W. Bush's plan to set up kangaroo courts for the prisoners of war held at Guantanamo Bay. He said so this morning on WRVO, Oswego's NPR station. He said he supports Bush's efforts to get military tribunals approved through Congress.

But what kind of military tribunals is Bush seeking, and Meier supporting? Republican Senator John Warner recently told reporters that he's astounded that, in spite of what Bush told Warner at a recent meeting, Bush now says that tribunals for the prisoners at Guantanamo Bay that meet the minimum standards of the Uniform Code of Military Justice would be "impossible".

Bush wants military tribunals that don't meet standards of military tribunals. He wants to throw out all the standards that the military itself has set for such circumstances, in order to make it nearly impossible for fair and open trials to be conducted.

Bush wants to set up kangaroo courts.

Even the Republicans in Congress say that Bush has gone too far. But Ray Meier? This morning, Ray Meier says he supports Bush. He supports the plan to institute kangaroo courts.

This is not a banana republic. This is the United States of America. When our government takes people prisoner, those prisoners have rights that must be respected.

Ray Meier doesn't understand that. Ray Meier wants to lower the American standard for liberty.

The people of New York's 24th congressional district deserve better than Ray Meier's low standards.