Friday, June 30, 2006

JUSTICE DELAYED IS JUSTICE DENIED


John Winston Howard has done a Rupert Murdoch. He has mutated into a BLOODY AMERICAN!. Howard is damaged goods as an Australian politician. He has to go. AND HICKS HAS TO COME HOME!


HOWARD DOESN'T WANT HICKS BACK
From: AAP

THE Federal Government today rejected calls for David Hicks to be returned home after The United States' highest court found the military commissions set to try the Australian terror suspect were unlawful.
Prime Minister John Howard urged US authorities to find another forum to try Hicks, saying he had no sympathy for the Adelaide-born man accused of training as a terrorist with al-Qaeda.
Hicks' father, lawyers and politicians demanded Hicks be brought home after the US Supreme Court ruled overnight that the military commissions set up to try Guantanamo Bay detainees were unlawful.
.................. READ THE FULL STORY http://www.news.com.au/story/0,10117,19637221-2,00.html


and further... REACTIONS to the ruling.
MIXED REACTION TO GUANTANAMO RULING
From: Reuters
June 30, 2006

A US Supreme Court ruling invalidating US military tribunals for Guantanamo Bay prisoners has rocked the Bush administration and attracted comment around the world.Here's what key players are saying:
PRESIDENT GEORGE W BUSH:"As I understand it - now, please don't hold me to this - ... there is a way forward with military tribunals in working with the United States Congress. As I understand, certain senators have already been out expressing their desire to address what the Supreme Court found. And we will work with the Congress.
"And one thing I'm not going to do, though, is I'm not going to jeopardise the safety of the American people. People got to understand that. I understand we're in a war on terror, that these people were picked up off of a battlefield, and I will protect the people and at the same time conform with the findings of the Supreme Court.
LT. CMDR. CHARLES SWIFT, a lawyer for Salim Ahmed Hamdan, defendant in the case before the US Supreme Court:"All we wanted was a fair trial and we thank the Supreme Court. Yes it is a rebuke for the process. ... It means we can't be scared out of who we are."
AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL:"Today's Supreme Court ruling blocking the military commissions set up by President George W. Bush is a victory for the rule of law and human rights. The US administration should ensure that those held in Guantanamo should be either released or brought before civilian courts on the US mainland."
ZACHARY KATZNELSON, lawyer for 36 Guantanamo inmates including Ethiopian Binyam Muhammad, one of 10 who faced charges before the military commission:"I think its a fantastic victory for us. It's a strong rebuke from the Supreme Court to President Bush. They clearly have said he is not above the law and that the men at Guantanamo absolutely have rights, and the military commissions are just blatantly illegal."
NICHOLAS HOWEN, secretary-general of the International Commission of Jurists in Geneva:"Now is the time for the Bush administration to move ahead swiftly to release all prisoners in Guantanamo against whom there is insufficient evidence of criminal acts having been committed, abolish the military commissions, and if there is anyone who is suspected of a criminal offence, they must be tried under normal US criminal law in normal US criminal courts."
JOSE-LUIS DIAZ, spokesman for UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Louise Arbour:"On the merits, it would seem to be a vindication of the need for vigilance in the protection of all human rights, including those of persons suspected of terrorism."
US SENATOR PATRICK LEAHY, Vermont Democrat on Judiciary Committee:"For five years, the Bush-Cheney administration has violated fundamental American values, tarnished our standing in the world and hindered the partnerships we need with our allies. This arrogance and incompetence have delayed and weakened the handling of the war on terror, not because of any coherent strategic view it had, but because of its stubborn unilateralism and dangerous theory of unfettered power.
SENATORS LINDSEY GRAHAM AND JON KYL, Republicans of South Carolina and Arizona:"We are disappointed with the Supreme Court's decision. ... It is inappropriate to try terrorists in civilian courts. ... We intend to pursue legislation in the Senate granting the Executive Branch the authority to ensure that terrorists can be tried by competent military commissions.
SENATOR EDWARD M. KENNEDY, Massachusetts Democrat:"This decision is a stunning repudiation of the Bush administration's lawless behaviour at Guantanamo. As we approach the Fourth of July, it is entirely appropriate that the Supreme Court has reminded the president and Secretary Rumsfeld that there is no excuse for ignoring the rule of law, even when our country is at war."
SENATOR JOHN WARNER, Senate Armed Services Committee chairman and Virginia Republican:"I don't regard it as a blow, it's an interpretation of the law."
MICHAEL MORI, a military lawyer appointed to defend Australian prisoner David Hicks before the tribunals:"It doesn't come as a shock to me. The military lawyers who have been defending the defendants at Guantanamo have been saying this all along. Any real lawyer who isn't part of the administration knows this violates the Geneva Conventions."
MUNEER AHMAD, civilian lawyer for Canadian defendant Omar Ahmed Khadr:"We are very happy. ... It's clearly a decisive blow to the administration's view of what its powers are."
ARMY SGT 1ST CLASS LAYNE MORRIS, who helped capture Omar Khadr:"I'm disappointed because I think it's justice delayed. I think in the long run it's going to end up having the effect of all those people spending more time in Guantanamo, which I have absolutely no problem with."- Sgt Morris was blinded in the right eye by shrapnel during the firefight and agreed to testify against Khadr.
FARHAT PARACHA, whose husband was sent to Guantanamo in 2004 after 15 months at a detention centre in Afghanistan:"There is no justice. They have no rights, even don't have status of prisoners of war. It reminds me of the medieval era. ... Really, it is not serving any purpose but triggering more and more hatred."

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