The Soviet Republic of America

A nation where there are rigged show trials, trials where the outcome is never in doubt.

[Air Force Col. Morris Davis] said that Defense Department general counsel William J. Haynes II, who announced his retirement in February, once bristled at the suggestion that some defendants could be acquitted, an outcome that Davis said would give the process added legitimacy.

"He said, 'We can't have acquittals,' " Davis said under questioning from Navy Lt. Cmdr. Brian Mizer, the military counsel who represents Hamdan. " 'We've been holding these guys for years. How can we explain acquittals? We have to have convictions.' "

The process, from Bush's first executive order to the present day, has been nothing but a travesty. It has been a farce of justice. It has been a mockery of due process. It has been as illegitimate and as much a falsehood as George Bush's entire career.

Every lawyer who was involved in setting up this system should be disbarred. Every elected official, every political appointee and every military officer involved in designing this affront to the rule of law should be prosecuted for violations of international law.