( – promoted by buhdydharma )
The Washington Post reports Lawyers fear for detainee’s sanity. The Bush administration says five years of solitary confinement without trial is A-OK.
Ali Saleh Kahlah al-Marri is obsessed with the noise variations in an industrial fan, the buzzing of fluorescent lights overhead and the preparation of his dinners. He has stuffed his air vents with food to prevent what he believes are noxious fumes from streaming into his cell, and he worries at times that his lawyers are part of a government conspiracy against him.
Hrmmm. Let’s see. The man has been held without a trial for 6½ years by a government that has lied about Iraq’s WMDs, has secret prisions, has used noise and loud music as torture… What part of “government conspiracy” is in question? The noxious fumes part?
So who is this vent-obsessed person?
The only person currently held as an “enemy combatant” on U.S. soil, Marri has been accused of being a sleeper agent for al-Qaeda, but he is not charged with any crime. After 6 1/2 years of confinement — the past five in a U.S. Navy brig in Charleston, S.C. — Marri’s lawyers argue that his isolation has degraded his mental state and that years of being held incommunicado have left him unable to help in his own defense.
My own view is the people associated with al-Qaeda were already borderline insane. So, is it any wonder that inhumane treatment by the Bush junta jailers would push a person over the edge? But, I’m sure its all just an act to escape “justice”. Here’s what al-Marri allegedly did to land himself in trouble with the Feds.
It is clear that the government thinks Marri is a dangerous man with ties to Osama bin Laden’s terrorist network. He was arrested after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks and accused of posing as a graduate student in Illinois while acting as a “sleeper agent” and preparing for follow-up attacks. He had returned to the United States on Sept. 10, 2001.
Initially charged with federal crimes, Marri was moved into military custody in 2003 after President Bush determined him to be an enemy combatant and an immediate threat to U.S. security. Of particular interest to U.S. authorities were Marri’s alleged contacts with Mustafa Ahmed al-Hawsawi, who is accused of being a paymaster and travel facilitator for al-Qaeda and is scheduled for arraignment before a military commission at Guantanamo Bay this week.
Marri also had allegedly stored on his computer speeches by bin Laden and information on chemicals that could be used as weapons.
Ouch. I’ve quoted some bin Laden speeches on blogs. Could I be next? I have no problem with trials for bad people and sending them to prison if convicted, but to be held for over six years with no trial is not justice. This should not be happening in America. I agree with al-Marri’s lawyers:
“If the United States believes Mr. al-Marri did something wrong, the real question is why the government hasn’t tried him and proven it in a court of law,” said Jonathan Hafetz, a lawyer who represents Marri. “The government’s conduct speaks volumes about the weakness of its case and its position generally.”
Why is al-Marri still being held by the Bush administration without trial? Here’s my guess:
His lawyers also said Marri has never confessed to wrongdoing — unlike Zacarias Moussaoui, another prominent terrorism detainee in the United States, whose admissions of guilt contributed to his 2006 conviction in civilian court…
If, by some chance, al-Marri is innocent, then to what would he have to confess? Not liking the “noise variations in an industrial fan” and “the buzzing of fluorescent lights”?
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try it for a day. It is appalling.
at some of the analysis here at DD. the nose for what’s really important.
you are amazing. so is ek. and tahoe is emerging as another with an eye for what’s underneath all the spin.
just wanted to tell you that.
amassing quantities of dangerous chemicals that either separately or when combined could be used as weapons, Magnifico, not only could you be next but the jack-booted thugs are probably on their way right now!
(BTW, in case you’ve forgotten where you left them, those chemicals are under the sink, in the laundry room and in the garage).
Might as well turn your bad self in and confess to everything you’ve ever done and some you haven’t. Good luck with the torture and stuff.
“Resistance is useless.” -The Vogons
that they paid for all these “detainees” and that Al-CIA-duh was only the Arabic name for “the database”, a list of Mujahadeen enlisted to fight the Russians in Afghanistan.
Must be some kind of alternate universe at work here.