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remembering the meaning of Nuremberg

‘Surely the most telling indictment of the lack of fair trial inherent in the proposed military commission process is that no US citizen can be subject to it because of the US constitutional guarantee of a right to a fair trial. John Walker Lindh was whisked out of Cuba to face trial before US civilian courts, as was his right. The Bush Administration consistently rails against the International Criminal Court because it allegedly fails to meet the necessary standards of fair trial guaranteed to all US citizens.  

 

No prizes for guessing which forum David Hicks would opt to be tried before. Can you imagine any US administration accepting so meekly the proposed trial by equivalent Australian military commission of a US national?’  

 

Nuremberg's Lessons For Guantanamo

 

freedom, justice & the amerikan way .....

‘The Padilla case was supposed to be an example of why the administration needs to suspend prisoners' rights when it comes to the war on terror. It turned out to be the opposite. If Mr. Padilla was seriously planning a "dirty bomb" attack, he can never be held accountable for it in court because the illegal conditions under which he has been held will make it impossible to do that. If he was only an inept fellow traveler in the terrorist community, he is excellent proof that the government is fallible and needs the normal checks of the judicial system. And, of course, if he is innocent, he was the victim of a terrible injustice.  

 

The same is true of the hundreds of other men held at Guantánamo Bay and in the C.I.A.'s secret prisons. This is hardly what Americans have had in mind hearing Mr. Bush's constant assurances since Sept. 11, 2001, that he will bring terrorists to justice.’  

 

Um, About That Dirty Bomb?

 

 

cheap theatrics .....

The Editor,

Sydney Morning Herald.                                                 November 24, 2005.

 

So, Alexander Downer claims that Mamdouh Habib’s decision not to fight for the return of his passport is evidence of his terrorist behaviour (‘Habib can’t fight ASIO evidence: Downer’, Herald, November 24). 

 

Apart from cheap theatrics, Downer’s comments reflect only his government’s complete disdain for the presumption of innocence, due process & the rule of law, in particular given that Habib has never been charged with any offence in any country. 

 

It doubtless wouldn’t occur to the Foreign Minister that the real reason for Habib’s decision could be that, like so many other Australians these days, he figures a passport is of little value, particularly given the government’s failure to secure & protect his human & legal rights, even when they were being abused by our so-called “friends

the law of presidential whim .....

‘Jose Padilla was arrested in June of 2002 at Chicago’s O’ Hare Airport and taken into custody. The Attorney General John Ashcroft made a dramatic appearance on national TV to announce the arrest, claiming that Padilla was a terrorist and was plotting to detonate a “dirty bomb