Hicks pleads guilty at Guitmo - Why is an Australian being tried in the USA? Is this justified internationally

Question

Or for that matter the citizen of any country apart from the USA? British soldiers capture creates alarm while innocent civilians of various countries are locked up in Guatanamo for reasons unknown? How do we know they are not tortured into submission through violent/emabarrassing force used in Iraq by the many military trained officials? Is this where all hard -earned money of American labor & sweat goes to through taxes? Are so-called civilized first world Americans funding this injustice?

Answer 1

Just goes to show you can bend the Geneva convention to suit you I would love to have seen an American locked up for 5yrs without trial and we would hear all the whinging about human rights back in Australia.Yes if he is guilty should be punished but if you don't charge someone they cant defend themselves its called basic human rights obviously something only Americans caught fighting on the wrong side are entitled to like John Walker that is hypocritical no matter which way you look at it.

Answer 2

The David Hicks situation is driven by Australian and US domestic politics. I'll only state how Australian domestic politics affects the situation, since I know more about this.

When David Hicks was captured in 2001, most of the Australian public and media presumed that he was guilty (or at the very least were apathetic to his situation).

The Howard government took advantage of this and did not immediately call for the return of this Australian citizen. This policy was aimed at sending the implicit message that the Australian government was tough on national security.

Prime Minister Howard could easily have brought Hicks home earlier (he has acknowledged so himself). The Bush Administration would have allowed it. This can be recognised by the fact that:
(1) British detainees were released when the Blair government intervened.
(2) Australia is one of the four countries that sent combat troops during the invasion of Iraq, and so the Bush Administration would have given special consideration to an Australian request.

Since there was no political pressure on the Australian government, nothing substantial was done for many years. However, a few months ago, public opinion started turning, as the media finally started highlighting injustices in the Hicks situation.

Yet, for the Australian government to ask for Hicks' return would be an admission that an Australian was abandoned and incarcerated by a foreign country whose military tribunal is plainly dubious.

Some other points are that:
-David Hicks is not being tried under US civil law; he is being tried under the US military law.
-The US government does not claim that Hicks has engaged in acts of terrorism or killed any US or coalition soldier.
-In June 2006 the US Supreme Court ruled that the Guantanamo military commission violated US law and the Geneva conventions.
-David Hicks was incarcerated for five years without being formally charged.

Finally, is David Hicks really guilty?

Given the allegations of abuse, a questionable judicial system and the widespread belief in America that Hicks is guilty, it almost doesn’t matter.

Before today, it was widely known that the Australian government was pushing for a plea bargaining arrangement as a way of bringing David Hicks to Australia.

In the end, David Hicks may have pled guilty just to get home.

Answer 3

The situation at Gitmo is that the prisoner are not in the United States and not given the protection of a citizen or even an alien resident. The United States Government says that the Prisoners are protected by the Cuban Government which is just a few wried words from a nut house explanation.
The point is that the Bush Administration has the prisoners in limbo where they have no rights to speak of in reality.
This is America isn't it, or does Bush's Texas friends see the law in this same way? They can break the law at will if they want to because they are above the law. It is a strange situation that Mr. Bush has America in at this moment.

Answer 4

You really don't make any sense but any one who commits a crime against the USA can and will be tried here.

The people in Gitmo aren't there for reasons unknown, they were captured in Afghanistan fighting against us. They are being held as terrorists. Read the news once in a while.

BTW, The Red Cross has an office at Gitmo and have reported no torture or abuse. They are treated like kings, there own special menu, air conditioning, etc. They are treated much better than any of our POWs were.

I guess you never heard of our troops dragged through the streets in Iraq by terrorists? How about the four they hung from a bridge? You must be a terrorist sympathizer

Answer 5

Why?

Because John Howard has proven too stubborn to request Hicks be returned to Australia. The British soldiers in Guantanamo bay have already been returned to England because they're government demanded it.

Hick's imprisonment is a violation of international law because he endured 5 years of incarceration without being charged with any offence.

And yes, the prisoners are enduring horrific torture and abuse. The man who recently confessed to the september 11 and bali attacks was tortured extensively before he confessed. That is why he will not be tried in american courts - becuase his confession will not constitute proper evidence.

Its disgusting.

Answer 6

you try to sound as if you are an intellectual but you are not! The Australian was a terrorist and captured in battle. The USA has every right to try him. There is no harassment at Guitmo. The terrorists who are locked up there have a better life than they ever had on the outside. I'd shoot all of them with a piece of pork in their mouths so they don't go to heaven.

Answer 7

He is incarcerated by the U.S. because he committed a crime against the U.S. Why would he be shipped home? Citizens from other countries are tried in foreign nations all the time, because they break the laws, etc in that country. Hicks was caught conspiring with the enemy in a combat zone. This is hardly something new.

Answer 8

Any want-to-be terrorist, regardless of nationality, deserves to be locked up if they even conspire to do harm against American interests at home or abroad. I would rather pay hard-earned tax money stopping terrorists before they conduct a terrorist act.

Answer 9

as some distance because of the fact the Roman Catholic Church attempting to administration politics in the country, I desire the respond given by way of John F Kennedy, while he replaced into working for president, on the undertaking of his being Catholic. seem it up.

Answer 10

You're right we don't know what is going on in Guantanamo. For all we know they could be fed lemon chicken, have daily prayer five times a day and enjoy the sweet Caribbean weather compared to having sand blowing in their face all day.