(no subject)

[dreamer_easy]

It seems increasingly likely that the US has little or no case against David Hicks and is desperate to cover its national ass through any means necessary. Wholly innocent people have ended up in Guantanamo Bay by mistake. I have no idea whether Hicks has committed crimes... and I suspect the US has no idea either.

Comments

[redstarrobot.livejournal.com]

One of the best things I've heard said in the new defense secretary's favor is that he wanted to close Guantanamo, because the legal proceedings were irreparably tainted. He'll get a second chance once Gonzales is ousted, I think. I hope he manages it.

I think it's likely that much of Guantanamo is wholly innocent; offering bounties for nameless criminals turned in on someone's say-so is a witch hunt, not a legal action. Given the methods of capture, the methods of interrogation, and the methods of trial, all seriously flawed, it's unlikely we'll ever know whether anyone at Guantanamo has committed crimes - even if they really have.

[kateorman.livejournal.com]

Well said.

[mrteufel.livejournal.com]

The fact that they've already dropped one trumped up charge, and that plea-bargaining on the other seems so prominantly on the table, implies to me that they have little confidence that even in their own half-assed kangaroo court they are not confident in a conviction.

Which speaks volumes for the quality of 'evidence' they must have.

[murasaki-1966.livejournal.com]

Hicks has committed no crime under Australian law, and possibly none under USA law. He's been a bloody idiot, but no one should be held in the hell of Guantanamo just for that.

[murasaki-1966.livejournal.com]

Also, I'm amazed after all the treatment they have dished out to him, he still manages to make a small joke about "Australian English"

[stephanielake.livejournal.com]

So what happens to Hicks now - will Howard have him put in a Adelaide prison - or will they really let him go free?

[kateorman.livejournal.com]

With two of his lawyers gone, he's pleaded guilty, which I would too if it meant I'd get out of Gitmo. Apparently he could serve his time here in Australia. I really hope so, because then I think the truth about whatever he did, and whatever was done to him, will have a chance to come out.

[drhoz.livejournal.com]

it still makes me sick that the US pulled out of the International Court of Law "because Americans might be tried"


double-fucking-standards, this entire administration...