] The military tribunals which will try the "alien
] combatants" held by the US military at Guantanamo Bay in
] Cuba form one such legal black hole. In November a senior
] British judge, Lord Steyn, of the House of Lords,
] referred to the trial arrangements for the detainees at
] Guantanamo Bay as a "kangaroo court" and a "black hole".
]
] The phrase also was used at the end of last year by a
] federal appeals court in the United States which found
] that the holding and trial of aliens by the military
] without charge in an offshore location amounted to a
] legal "black hole" and as such was unconstitutional.
]
] And there were the words again, just this week, in the
] mouths of the Pentagon's own lawyers who have been
] appointed as defence counsel for the alien combatants.
] They said that it amounts to a "legal black hole" if
] there is no possibility of a civilian court review of the
] determinations of the US military commissions which will
] try David Hicks and others.

] What is fascinating is that before filing the defence
] brief, the prosecutor, that is the general counsel's
] office at the US Defence Department, approved it. As they
] are employees of the military, the department would have
] had to approve the press conference held on Wednesday by
] Mori and the others.

The DOD is trying to be a nice guy now that it is about a month or two from getting its ass handed to it in the Supreme Court.