Chris Dodd for President

Senator candidate Chris Dodd, son of Senator Thomas Dodd, a lead prosecutor at the Nuremberg Trials, today commemorated the anniversary of the trials, pointing to the United States' commitment to justice 62 years ago at the trials, and stressing the need for the country to recommit today.

"Sixty two years ago today, the United States demonstrated its unparalleled commitment to justice by participating in one of the most important tests of the 20th century, the Nuremberg Trials. Following the unspeakable horror of World War II it would have been easy to punish the leaders of Nazi Germany immediately without a trial. But the United States held itself to a higher moral standard, one which was rooted in fairness and justice. We provided our enemies with rights they never gave their victims and the opportunity to defend themselves in a fair and free trial.

As Justice Robert Jackson said in his opening statement, "That four great nations, flushed with victory and stung with injury stay the hand of vengeance and voluntarily submit their captive enemies to the judgment of the law is one of the most significant tributes that power has ever paid to reason." On this anniversary, we must remember the lessons of Nuremberg. We must remember a time when the Unites States didn't start wars, but ended them, a time when we didn't commit torture but condoned it and a time where we didn't turn away from the world but embraced it. As President, I will apply the lessons of Nuremberg to our foreign and domestic policy and return our country to the position of moral authority it once had."

More calls to close Guantanamo Bay from people who understand the importance of rule of law and America's moral authority in the world. Via Cliff Schecter's blog:

The U.S. war crimes tribunals at Guantanamo have betrayed the principles of fairness that made the Nazi war crimes trials at Nuremberg a judicial landmark, one of the U.S. Nuremberg prosecutors said on Monday. "I think Robert Jackson, who's the architect of Nuremberg, would turn over in his grave if he knew what was going on at Guantanamo," Nuremberg prosecutor Henry King Jr. told Reuters in a telephone interview. "It violates the Nuremberg principles, what they're doing, as well as the spirit of the Geneva Conventions of 1949." King, 88, served under Jackson, the U.S. Supreme Court justice who was the chief prosecutor at the trials created by the Allied powers to try Nazi military and political leaders after World War Two in Nuremberg, Germany. "The concept of a fair trial is part of our tradition, our heritage," King said from Ohio, where he lives. "That's what made Nuremberg so immortal -- fairness, a presumption of innocence, adequate defense counsel, opportunities to see the documents that they're being tried with."

Senator Dodd has called for the closure of the Guantanamo Bay prisons, as mentioned below. Senator Dodd's father, Thomas Dodd, was one of the lead prosecutors during the Nuremberg Nazi war crimes tribunals that set the standard for America’s moral authority.