Five'll Get You Ten

-- Pavel Constantin, Romania

Why she's neither fish nor flesh
--Henry IV (III, iii), Shakespeare

Baby, even the losers get lucky sometimes
Even the losers keep a little bit of pride
They get lucky sometimes
--Even the Losers, Tom Petty
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Federal District Court is hearing the habeas corpus case of six-year Guantanamo detainee, Mohammed Jawad, who was a teenager when captured.

Jawad was accused of throwing a granade, though the judge in the case, Ellen Segal Huvelle, said that 90 percent of the case had been based on his confessions, which were extracted under torture and followed death threats by Afghan officials. Huvelle said, “There is no evidence otherwise” (U.S. Judge Challenges Evidence on a Detainee.)

The New York Times reports troublingly, "Of about 200 habeas cases in the federal court in Washington, judges have so far ruled that five Guantanamo detainees are properly held and that 26 are not." Only 5 of 31 were adjudicated as being properly held -- about 15% of detainees can be justified legally.

Interesting is that though 26 of these defendents are deemed improperly held, they are not being released, either. So, why did they even get their day in court? If they are still in prison, then they did not win. They are losers, and nobody cares.

Where is America storing its collective conscious?