Hicks dilemma: plead guilty or stay at Guantanamo Bay indefinitely

[rooboy]

David Hicks will be under intense pressure to make a plea bargain or risk being detained in Guantanamo Bay indefinitely, his Australian lawyer believes.

After spending five days with Mr Hicks at the US military prison, Stephen Kenny concluded: "If a deal is struck that is reasonable and acceptable, then I presume we will go to a military commission. , if no arrangement is reached, David Hicks will be simply moved back down the list, and he may or may not come before a military commission some time in the future."

US and Australian lawyers say Mr Hicks may be offered a deal early next year if he is willing to plead guilty to charges that may include conspiring to train with others to carry out a terrorist act in breach of the laws of war.

Mr Kenny and Mr Hicks's Pentagon-appointed lawyer, Major Michael Mori, are the first defence lawyers to meet any Guantanamo Bay prisoner since the US detained more than 600 men and boys and took them to the base from Afghanistan two years ago. All are suspected Taliban and al-Qaeda fighters.

Mr Kenny said Mr Hicks had not killed or injured any US soldier or civilian in Afghanistan. He denied reports that Mr Hicks had threatened to kill a US guard and tried to slip his handcuffs when first detained.

http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2003/12/18/1071337099609.html

[pfitz59]

1. Damned if he does........damned if he doesn't.......

Not much justice in Gitmo!

[lumpy]

2. The fact that the Gitmo prisoners

have been kept in captivity for over 2 years without benefit of basic civil rights is equivalent to the incarceration of American-Japanese during WW2. Just one more big black mark against this adminisration and the US military.

[Jack Rabbit]

3. Bush cannot be trusted with the administration of justice

This is exactly why Bush cannot be trusted with the administration of justice. The prisoner is being presented with a choice of admitting his guilt or being denied freedom. The Bushies will either punish Mr. Hicks because he admits that he's guilty or punish him because he won't confess.

Any real system of justice provides the accused the opportunity to face his accusers and win his freedom by preventing the prosecution from proving their case against him in a trial open to public scrutiny.

Have we stooped to this that we will tolerate a justice system designed with catch 22s? It isn't just Americans who should be making a stink about this, but the entire world.

Mr. Bush should be reminded that this country is party to the Third Geneva Convention concerning the treatment of prisioners of war and others taken into custody in the course of combat. He should be held to these standards.

[underpants]

4. Ding ding nail on head

Jack Rabbit you are right on the mark there.

A coice to admit to something that you haven't actually been charged with or at best are just finding out what you are being charged with

OR

Being sent back to the back of the line and waiting for your turn to come back up.

Disgraceful. I don't care if they really are involved to the extent W&Co. are portraying there are still basic rights and by our ratification of said Geneva Convention are the law of the land under Article 6 clause 2.

[rooboy]

5. FWIW...

Hicks' uncle called in to a C-SPAN style show here a few weeks ago. He claimed that David Hicks wasn't armed when he was arrested, and was actually captured by the Northern Alliance, not US troops. He said that he Northern Alliance were specifically looking for westerners to detain. Makes me wonder whether the US offered bounties for whites...

[Beetwasher]

6. She's A Witch!

This is like the choices that witches faced during the dark ages. If you don't confess, then you must be a witch and you're lying to cover it up. If you confess, then obviously you're a witch. Either way, you're fucked. Incredible.

[underpants]

7. Do you mean the "water test "(maybe "drowning test")?

They threw them in a lake, I think in a bag, if they drown they weren't a witch if they don't drown they are a witch and obviously need to be burned at the stake.