Ahmed Khalfan Ghailani, the first Guantanamo detainee tried in a civilian court, was convicted of conspiracy to damage or destroy U.S. property but was acquitted of the remaining 281 ¹counts in the indictment related to the bombing of the United States embassies in Tanzania and Kenya in 1998. He was accused of procuring the truck and the gasoline tanks used in the attacks. He has said that he did not know what they were going to be use to attack the embassies. He is facing a minimum of twenty years in prison and a maximum of life without parole at his January sentencing.

The trial showed that the Guantanamo detainees charged with terrorist offenses can receive fair trials in civilian courts in New York. The jury was capable of looking at the evidence and picking which offense Ghailani was guilty of and finding him not guilty of the other offenses. The trial, unlike a military tribunal, met minimum due process requirements. The judge excluded a major witness whose testimony had been coerced by torture. In a military trial the coerced testimony would have been admissible and while not reliable would have been used. It would have raised doubts about the validity of the trial and may have resulted in further terrorist attacks against this country in response to what would have been a questionable conviction. But at the same time the judge made a number of decisions favorable to the prosecution which will probably be tested during an appeal. For example he refused to dismiss the charges even though Ghailani was tortured while in government custody. He ruled that even though the bombings occurred in 1998 and Mr. Ghailani was arrested in 2004 in Pakistan the trial met speedy trial standards.

We must remember that the test of the court system is not whether the defendant is convicted or of how many counts he/she is found guilty of but rather whether a fair trial under the Constitution is received. While the ideal is never reached the court showed that a reasonable trial could be conducted. The trial was the first and more tests will come. Certainly the appellate courts will have their say but the court certainly showed that the civilian court can do at least as good of a job as the military tribunals.

While the United States does everything in its power to prevent civil suits against those involved in extraordinary renditions, the practice of the CIA of kidnapping alleged terrorists abroad and shipping them to third countries, Italy is criminally prosecuting CIA agents involved in the renditions.

Twenty-three Americans were convicted of kidnapping a Muslim cleric, Osama Moustafa Hassan Nasr, off the streets of Milan and transporting him to Egypt where he was allegedly tortured. Robert Seldon Lady, the former CIA base chief in Milan was sentenced to eight years and 22 other CIA employees were sentence to five years each. Lady is quoted as saying, “I’m not guilty. I’m only responsible for carrying out orders that I received from my superiors,” Since they were prosecuted in absentia it is unlikely that any of the agents will serve their time.

NSA wiretaps exceeded the law, according to New York times story. After 9/11 Congress gave the NSA enlarged power to wiretap individuals but the targets of the wiretaps had to be “reasonably believed” to be outside the United States. Apparently a significant number of people wiretapped under the law were in the United States.

To prosecute any of the NSA personnel it would have to be proved that they knew that it was not reasonable to believe that the target was in the United States. It may well have been done accidentally in which case they should not be prosecuted.

But don’t worry even if they knew the targets were in the United States they will not be prosecuted. Let’s look at the case of the CIA agents who tortured Abu Zubaydah and Khalid Sheikh Mohammed. The Justice Department released four memo detailing their torture. Among the approved techniques were waterboarding, placing them in a box with insects, sleep deprivation, the use of water hoses, holding back food, and throwing them against imaginary walls. (It should be noted that the government claims to no longer used these techniques.)

But according to a letters from President Obama and Attorney General Holder, not only will they not be prosecuted but if they are sued in this country or abroad the government will provide free lawyers and will cover any damages awarded. This is true despite the fact that according to Lucas Tanglen writing in Jurist points out that international law requires the United States to investigate and prosecute the imposition of torture. Perhaps this is why the United States needs to be a member of the International Criminal Court.

THE NSA agents have nothing to worry about.