Straw-Grasping

What we couldn't do, what we wouldn't do,
It's a crime, but does it matter?
Does it matter much, does it matter much to you?
--Living on a Thin Line, The Kinks

They'll stone you and then say they're all brave
They'll stone you when you're sent down in your grave
But I would not feel so all alone
Everybody must get stoned
--Everybody Must Get Stoned, Bob Dylan
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Salim Ahmed Hamdan, one of Osama bin Laden's seven chauffeurs, is the subject of the first American war crimes trial since World War II, and like Jose Padilla, he doesn't have a snowball's chance in hell. The decks are stacked; the judge has already barred evidence obtained by interrogaters following his capture in 2002.

The title of a USA Today article calls Hamdan "bin Laden's aide," promoting him up the chain of command in the public's eye. Do George Bush's drivers qualify as aides? Were the drivers of Hitler, Mussolini, Tojo, the Emperor, Goering, Himmler, Goebbels, et. al., tried at Nuremburg? No.

Are we so desperate in our Phony War on Terror (PWOT ©) that drivers are now high-value targets or prisoners? America has become trapped within the confines of our faulty rhetoric and turned the world into a real-life video game that is the PWOT. Why, the PWOT outsells its nearest competitor -- Grand Theft Auto -- by hundreds of billions of dollars.

These Gitmo cases violate every tenet of American jurisprudence and the principles of the civilized world. After being denied habeas corpus and access to prosecution materials, having nine military members wearing WOT medals on their chests as judge, prosecutor, defense and jury is actually a joke. The world is laughing while alternately cringing.

These phony tribunals and phony wars are infinitely more detrimental to the integrity of the republic than any terrorist attack could ever hope to be. You could say the U.S. has functioned as [unwitting] accomplice to the goals of the 9-11 attackers, if you dared risk being called a heretic.

Hamdan's case features two distinct components, which should yield different results: 1) Actions prior to 9-11, and 2) Actions post 9-11.

If it can be proven that pre 9-11 Hamdan knew about or participated in criminal conspiracy in the 9-11 attack, then he is in fact a criminal and should be tried as such -- in a U.S. federal court.

Post 9-11 Hamdan was captured (not arrested) with 2 SA 7 SAM missiles in his vehicle. An SF Captain attested to this fact, but couldn't verify that Hamdan was the driver.

Assuming that Hamdan was the driver transporting these missiles that would be used against U.S. air assets, does this fact make him a terrorist? How about Enemy combatant?

In our lexicon, The U.S. CPT is a "warrior," while personnel captured opposing the U.S. invasion are deemed terrorists or war criminals. According to international law, everybody has the right and responsibility to defend their homeland. If U.S. soldiers are warriors, those fighting them are also warriors. If warriors, then POW's upon capture, not criminals.

Hamdan post 9-11 is not terrorist, he is UW/GW, a designation clearly covered by the Rules of War. Either way you cut it, a military tribunal is the wrong venue for driver Hamdan.

Going back to basics, a war crime violates the customs or laws of war. Both war crimes and crimes vs. humanity necessitate the actuality of a state of war. 9-11 was not an act of war, it was an act of terror, which is a legal concept. None of the charges against Hamdan fit the definition of war crimes.

If Hamdan was so bad, then why didn't loyal Special Forces troops just shoot his ass back in the wilds of Afghanistan? After all, it worked with Che.

Phony charges in a phony war turn America's legal system into a phony semblance of justice. The Hamdan's will come and go, but the erosion of America's legitimacy is indelible.

Unfortunately, the U.S. is on the short end of the morality stick here. Its invasion of Afghanistan because Saudi Arabians attacked the U.S. is not defensible, as Afghanistan's Taliban were not al-Qaeda, which was in fact the threat. Is America safer because we have destroyed our credibility in the civilized world?

U.S. actions fit the definition of war crimes much more clearly than do those of Hamdan.

Human Touch

There are not enough jails, not enough policemen,
not enough courts to enforce a law not supported by the people
--Hubert H. Humphrey

My occupation now, I suppose, is jail inmate
--Ted Kaczynski
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In another big-time coup for the George Bush Roadshow, Saddam's chauffeur Salim Ahmed Hamdan is scheduled next month to be the first Guantanamo Bay inmate tried for war crimes.

Problem is, he has gone loony as a jay bird living as he has the last five years in an 8 x 12 confinement cell (Detainees' Mental Health is Latest Legal Battle.)

Mr. Hamdan spends at least 22 hours each day in the cell, which according to the picture above shows a vault-like tightness reminiscent of a safety deposit room in a bank. His lawyers say he has become delusional.

But in the obfuscation that is military-ese, Hamdan has not been subjected to a long run of solitary confinement. According to a military spokeswoman, rather, he is inhabiting a "single-occupancy cell." Conjures up images of a Microtel, or perhaps a Japanese capsule motel. Cramped, but not impossible.

The argument that these prisoners are so dangerous they must be confined in maximum security isolation does not wash with Hamdan; he drove a car. Since he is the first "war criminal" out of the gate, it is looking peaked for the U.S. side of things.

U.S. Prisoners of War in Hanoi were all dangerous men. They dropped big bombs on little people. However, this did not give the North Vietnamese the right to resort to cruel and inhumane methods of incarceration in violation of the Geneva Conventions. Likewise, the events of 9-11 do not give the U.S. license to act barbarously, in contravention of the GC.

Solitary confinement is only legal as a limited punishment (usually 3o days maximum) for actions performed by the prisoners while in custody. Solitary confinement as a matter of course was illegal in Hanoi, and it is illegal in Gitmo.