Jane Mayer for Democracy Journal: Dark Matters:
Bravin explains that the small cadre of Bush Administration officials who designed the legal process for Al Qaeda suspects and other detainees were ideological radicals intent upon proving that, as commander in chief, President Bush had absolute executive authority to disregard international law and other legal norms in accordance with the executive branch’s interpretation of “military necessity.” Under this “new paradigm,” suspects would have virtually no legal rights. Instead, as stated in the draft copy for the new military commission system these officials were designing, it was “not practicable” for military commissions to follow “the principles of law and the rules of evidence” that defined American justice. Instead of customary notions of due process, detainees would have no presumption of innocence, no right to proof beyond reasonable doubt, no right to confront or cross-examine their accusers—whose hearsay testimony could be admitted against them—and no right to remain silent. Their own statements, coerced under torture, could be used against them too. The only standard was that evidence must have some “probative value.”