Two prisoners, Abd al Rahim al-Nashiri and Jeff Mizanskey are making the news, and are they ever embarrassing American justice.
You should be especially vexed with the case of al-Nashiri. While imprisoned, we interrogated him naked, handcuffed and with a hood over his head. We waterboarded him. We threatened to kill him with a powerdrill and a handgun. We threatened to rape his mother. All while we held him in secret CIA prisons.
Now, America is, as much as anything, justice for the unjust. So, when you hear about al-Nashiri, you might be inclined to say, Let him loose. This is a miscarriage of justice. We never treat prisoners that way. And, if we do, we free them.
But, you might just swallow those words when you learn what al-Nashiri is accused of. He was a mastermind behind the bombing of the USS Cole in 2000, an attack off the coast of Yemen that cost us the blood of 17 sailors.
Then, there is the case of Jeff Mizanskey, who is serving a life sentence for marijuana in Missouri. Although Missouri's three strikes and you're out law makes the sentence legal, Mizanskey is the only person serving such a sentence. He has been imprisoned 20 years. He is 61. He has no chance of parole. He has been a model prisoner. His son notes he is a good man, one who taught the children a good work ethic.
Rotting in jail for marijuana seems a little much. The punishment should fit the crime. Mizanskey's punishment doesn't.
If you do not feel some sense of horror over these two cases, consider. Consider that the Founding Fathers placed more measures in the Bill of Rights to protect those accused of crimes than protections for any other group. No less than 14 protections for the accused are in the Bill of Rights. Amendments Four through Eight deal with their rights.
I don't know what we should do about al-Nashiri, but we should let Mizanskey loose.
http://www.stripes.com/news/us/guantanamo-court-holds-secret-hearing-on-cia-black-sites-1.269520
http://blogs.riverfronttimes.com/dailyrft/2013/12/video_jeff_mizanskey_interview_life_for_pot.php
https://www.change.org/petitions/my-dad-is-serving-life-without-parole-for-marijuana#
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