Saving Grace at Guantanamo Bay
A Memoir of a Citizen Warrior
Wednesday, October 6, 2010
Gitmo Detainees not entitled to habeas corpus
In the Civil War, President Abraham Lincoln suspended the writ of habeas corpus, as is provided for in the U.S. Constitution. Lincoln also established military commissions for civilians. Franklin Roosevelt suspended habeas corpus during WW II, and asked the Supreme Court what to do with German spies caught dry-foot on U.S. soil. The Supreme Court reminded the president that we were at war, and the rule of law dictated that enemy combatants be tried by military commission. The spies were tried by military commission, and most were executed for breaking the rules of war. The Obama administration has denied the existence of a war, but my military orders and military awards since 9/11/01 have always mentioned the Global War on Terror (GWOT). We have troops in over 70 countries world wide, CIA operatives in over 90 countries, and Diplomatic Security Service (DSS) agents in over 200 countries, including those we defeated in WW II (Germany, Japan, Italy, et. al.). Are we at war? Well I sure as heck wouldn't call it peace! All detainees can be held legally, by the Law of Land Warfare (Geneva Conventions), "until the end of hostilities," are NOT entitled to habeas corpus, and should be tried by military commission if infractions are suspected.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
Montgomery,I apologise if i have offended you.Unfortunately i can not make judgement on what David Hicks has said at Gitmo.Regardless of what i say or think or anyone else for that matter has to say or think, if you know your telling the truth then you can rest easy regardless what any other person thinks. I do not know you nor do i know David Hicks but if i really had to make a decision that was life or death affecting myself between you or David Hicks telling the truth, i would pick you for telling the truth. Yes, unfortunate things have happened by US and Australian service personnel that has put image of our defense forces in disrepute and we can only hope our defense force authorities disciplined those as needed.
ReplyDeleteI was in the Royal Australian Navy from 1996 to 2006, i loved serving my country and after 10 years wished to be a civilian again to make more money for my family in the private sector.The mining sector in Australia is booming.
I know we are at a state of war as such when many of our young men and women are making the ultimate sacrifice for the benefit of all us and it saddens myself everytime a dead Australian soldier is returned home and needless to say i think its very sad when our allied soldiers from the US and the UK are returned home to their countries deceased.
I am not for any argument with you Montgomery as i am certainly no expert on International laws,the Geneva convention nor the US constitution but as much i know its state of war our service personnel are fighting. But what sovereign states,terroritories are we actually fighting,we have the Afghan nationals on our side so to speak,the Taliban itself is not a nation or state so i am not 100% sure what laws actually did apply to the arsehole David Hicks.
Montgomery i just wished the commanders or authorities of the coaltion forces or the US or Australian governments had actually done something about this arsehole(David Hicks) before he got the wider attention,sympathy and support of a large amount of people in the Australian media and public that he did not deserve. I just wish some decision was made earlier on to lock him up and throw away the key.Gee, i wouldn't have lost sleep had your authorities or Australian authorities had him executed in the earlier days of his capture, before the shit storm that was to become the whole saga surrounding this arsehole(David Hicks). As i previously mentioned had i not been an Australian sailor and had i been an Australian soldier sent to Afghanistan instead and had i found this arsehole David Hicks with the taliban, i probably would have tried for one of those good and necessary cover ups and kept it amoungst my fellow Australian soldiers had we all agreed on what i was thinking should been done to Hicks, i would have had this unAustralian Australian sent home in a body bag or if i found you by a road side digging a hole to put this arsehole into, i would found a shovel and helped you by your side and would have shared my water with you afterwards.
I wish things can turn around for the coalition forces in Afghanistan and we completely crush the Taliban,then i hope democracy,peace and security thrives and spreads across the middle east region putting an end to the bloody conflicts of that region and an end to the threats of extremism and terrorism.
I would love to see all this happen and the war on terror eventually come to an end so service men and women like yourself can go back home to their countries to be with their families and loved ones. If from now and into the future that any life threatening danger comes your way, i pray that either you or your fellow soldiers around you kill your enemies and return to safety as soon as possible.
I pray for your safety .
Darren Johnson from Melbourne,Australia.
David, Thank you so very much for your sincere thoughts and expressed feelings. I thank you for your allied service and sacrifice for the benefit of the free world. If you study the Law of Land Warfare there are lots of rules, among them, the rules of who is a legal combatant and who is not. Legal combatants are given the status of Prisoner of War (POW) if captured. Illegal combatants are given the status of detainee, if caught, by signator nations (signers to the Geneva Conventions, which al Qaeda and the Taliban are not). For David Hicks to be captured and turned over to the U.S. was his lucky day, for regardless of a detainees status they are, by U.S. Army Regulation, to be treated with dignity and respect. The question I have for his aplogists is: Where would David Hicks be today, and what would he be doing were he not picked up on the battlefield in December 2001? Would he be in Australia, working at an honest job, and raising joeys? Or, would he be in Afghanistan, a terrorist leader, sitting at the right hand of Osama bin Laden, continuing his "adventure," and plotting the next 9/11?
ReplyDeleteThank you again for your honest contribution. I am grateful for your kind words. I am safe at home, retired after 22 years of honorable service as a Reservist. Be well!
Omar Khadr has just pleaded guilty to war crimes in a military court at the U.S. Naval Station at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. His admission to killing an Army medic by hand grenade, and to setting Improvised Explosive devices in Afghanistan after the invasion of Coalition Forces is refreshing. The fact that he was not given a civilian court appearance is also refreshing, considering he is an illegal combatant in the Global War on Terror. His apologists would have us believe he should be forgiven all transgressions because of his age when aprehended (15), and because, they allege, his father forced him to fight against the Coalition. Child soldier issues are difficult to sort out, but unfortunately for Khadr, we was not forced into a uniform by a know beligerant nation who was a signator to the Geneva Conventions. In fact, Omar Khadr is lucky to be alive. He is lucky to have been captured by Coalition Forces, and he is lucky to have been incarcerated by the United States of America (at Gitmo), who have the absolute best record for fair, treatment of detainees and POWs, whom we treat with dignity and respect. My question for Omar Khadr's supporter is this: If Omar Khadr were not picked up on the battlefield, where would he be today, and what would he be doing? Would he be in Afghanistan, working at an honest job, maybe raising a family? Or, would he be in a cave in Tora Bora, a terrorist leader, sitting at the right hand of Osama bin Laden, and plotting the next 9/11?
ReplyDeleteI pray to god there is never another 9/11 but unfortunately i think it is something that will happen and it might not be the US. It could be here in Australia or Europe. The Australian federal police and our version of the CIA (ASIO) arrested about 10 to 15 home grown Islamic extremists in western Sydney they planned on storming an Australia army base on a relentless suicidal killing spree. They got extremely light jail sentences which really pisses me off as i hate the pissweak Australian justice system.
ReplyDeletePersonally Montgomery i think the Bush administration got it wrong. If i was the US president in 2003 i would not have invaded Iraq, Saddam Hussein was sweet nothing. I would have invaded and forced regime change in IRAN. Those idiots with a nuclear weapons are a worry.
I hear you, BFC. We need to stay united in the Global War on Terror (GWOT). Today, the United States of America have Army troops in over 70 countries world wide,CIA in over 90 countries, and DSS (Diplomatic Security Service) agents in over 200 countries. The GWOT is REAL, and is a 24/7/365 war with no end in sight. We need to maintain the Law of Land Warfare http://onecent.us/bvj and not give any advantage to al Qaeda, the Taliban, or anyone else. Winning the GWOT is not an option, it must be an obsession.
ReplyDeleteKhadr and all like him should have to spend the rest of their lives in jail. I dont care if he was a kid of 15 when it happened. If he had murdered someone outside an arena of war in the same manner would his sentence have been any different. War is hell and we all know that. People do things that they most normally wouldn't but that doesnt give anyone a pass. Sorry, that doesnt cut it with me. I am Canadian, born and raised and I have read that once Khadr is out he will be offered free tuition at an institution in Edmonton Alberta. Hell, no one is paying my tutition and I have never killed anyone foreign or domestic.
ReplyDelete