August 7, 2008
The U.S. military commission’s split guilty verdict on Ahmed Hamdan, a former driver for Osama bin Laden, has drawn praise from the Bush administration and criticism from civil rights groups, but what has been overlooked is the chilling message that “the Hamdan principle” sends about future prosecutions in the “war on terror.”
This new principle holds that anyone – regardless of how tangential a connection to actual acts of terrorism – can be prosecuted through the kangaroo court of the military commissions and be sentenced to a long prison term (or even death). Though Hamdan is a Yemeni, the principle would seem to apply to U.S citizens, too.
2 comments:
Hamdam conviction is sad, but how is this different than convicting a driver for a bank robbery?
Unfortunately people in power such as the US government and the Israeli government these days make the law to suit their own agendas. Hamdan drove the car for Saddam (someone had to do it) and the poor man is now an enemy combatant?
The Israeli government believes that there is no occupation as the land was theirs to begin with so international law is simply ignored just to suit their aims.
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