Why Did We Ever Put Hamdan To A Trial?

I am still scratching my head wondering why we put bin Laden's driver, Hamdan, to a trial? This was a foolish move by our government.

Salim Hamdan was tried before a military tribunal on charges that he, one, conspired with al Qaeda to attack civilians, destroy property, and commit murder in violation of the laws of war. Two, he was charged with providing material support to terrorists. He was acquited of the former, convicted of the latter. The former carried a maximum sentence of life in prison, the latter a maximum of thirty years. He was given a five year sentence.

There are basically two types of prisoners in war time - those enemy combatants whom you want to keep in captivity until the end of hostilities for self protection and those that you want to punish on the gallows for war crimes. We have long known that Hamdan provided limo service for the bearded One. That itself does not make Hamdan a war criminal.

Even though the military charged Hamdan with being a war criminal, the government did not seek the death penalty - which should be an immediate clue that their case was hardly air tight and that whatever support Hamdan provided, it was not central to the crimes. That the case was weak was not surprising. We were charging a driver, not an operational officer for al Qaeda.

Besides being bin Laden's driver, Hamdan was caught at a border crossing carrying two RPG's. Given all this, clearly Hamdan is an enemy combatant and a threat to America. Thus, we are entitled to hold onto him until the end of hostilities - and there is no end in sight for that. That's too bad for Mr. Hamdan, but you makes your choices and you takes your chances. I'm not going to lose any sleep over the harshness that he might reasonably be looking at spending the rest of his natural life at Club Gitmo.

So why even hold a trial for this guy? It does several things, none of which in the balance seem like a positive for the U.S. One, giving Hamdan a sentence to a time certain now sets up the expectation in the court of public opinion that he will be released when his time is served. This is a self-inflicted public relations nightmare for our government.

Two, it sets a precedent that we will try our detainees, even for non-capital offenses. This just took us one step closer to turning the war on terror into the police investigation of terror.

Three, we have opened up a hornet's nest with this military tribunal for every socialist and communist in politics and the ABA to claim that this was an unfair tribunal. Tribunal's should be reserved for Khalid Sheik Mohammed and people of his ilk who will be given a propoer hearing before hanging. Let the far left complain about military tribunals in those instances and their shrill shreiks will gain no traction.

The only reason I can see to have sent Hamdan before a tribunal was to test the system itself. But this was a very poor decision on the part of our government. Nothing positive came out of this trial with the exception that it seems justice in terms of the verdicts was likely served. For anyone with a lot of prior military experience, that was hardly a surprise. Fairness, objectivity and personal honesty are the finest marks of our officer corps. But all that is meaningless to the far left for whom the military is evil and the tribunal system fatally flawed regardless of outcome. They expected a kangaroo court. The fact that it wasn't has made no impression on them.

Hamdan should never have been tried. He should have been left in his cell at Gitmo with the door securely fastened until he dies or hostilities clearly end. Save the tribunals for those deserving of being hanged. This was an unenforced error by the Bush Administration.

Read More...

Summary only...

Interesting Posts From Around The Web - 14 April 2008

The interesting posts of the day, below the fold.

________________________________________________________

Art: The Martyrdom of St. Livinus, Rubens, 1633

The most eloquent post of the day is at Belmont Club, with Wretchard discussing the significance of the Pope’s visit to ground zero. ". . . Bin Laden knows that Benedict will call to each of the hijackers by their name; not as an accuser but as shepherd looking for a long-long flock. He will bid them come forth into the light, for his staff is meant for wolves." (H/T Consul at Arms). Perhaps we just need more interfaith dialogue.

Democrats are attempting to sue John McCain out of the presidential race.

There is trouble ahead for transatlantic relations with our old NATO allies.

Bookworm Room has a superb essay asking whether we can try Jimmy Carter for treason, discussing all of the reasons distilled from history why engaging fanatics rather than challenging then – or killing them – is disasterous. Also a good post on this at JoshuaPundit. And as Seraphic Secret notes, Former President Jimmy Carter not only enables Jew-haters and terrorists, he props ups tyrannies that would murder every Jew on the face of the earth.

From the Barking Moonbat: Extremist ideas are being spread by Islamic study centers linked to British universities and backed by multi-million-pound donations from Saudi Arabia and Muslim organizations. And at Fulham Reactionary, dhimmi children taken on a propaganda tour of a Mosque are given a bit of reality: "A primary school in Amsterdam wished to provide its pupils with an understanding for other cultures. But during a visit to a mosque, the children were told they were dogs."

Religion, politics and our biased media at JammieWearing Fool.

From Investors Business Daily (H/T Right Truth), a truly damning indictment of Pelosi over her refusal to allow a vote on the Colombian Free Trade deal.

The New Mexico Human Rights Commission fine of a photographer for refusing to accept a job photographing a gay wedding is documented by Blonde Sagacity. This has got to be a First Amendment violation. I do hope it makes its way up the court system.

A superb post from Panday’s Gazette (H/T KG at A Western Heart) pointing out how the progressive members of our Supreme Court are ready to throw our nation’s sovereignty out and make our laws subservient to decisions of the UN’s World Court. More on this issue at No Oil For Pacifists.

From the Midnight Sun: The EU quietly reinstates the death penalty – for enemies of the state.

Mil-blogger Shield of Achilles on Iraq: Let’s get this thing done now.

Some real problems across the pond flagged by MK at Crusader Rabbit: One in every five murders or manslaughters in England and Wales is committed by a foreigner, police figures revealed. In one area of London, the figure is one in three. This is despite the fact that foreigners represent only around one in 16 of the general population. The UK is just so screwed. And from Dinah Lord: The Royal Navy, once the scourge of brigands on the high seas, has been told by the Foreign Office not to detain pirates because doing so may breach their human rights.

At the Liberty Corner, a black female prosecutor speaks out: "Race does not enter the equation for me. My question to these black people who believe me to be a traitor is, when will you connect the dots?"

Background on the nightmare that is Zimbabwe at the Transatlantic Conservative.

Tort reform, Islamic style at the Dhivehistan Report.

Philosophical pondering about rhetoric as magic at Soob.

The Whited Sephelcure captures the logic of the farm bill.

The Glittering Eye notes the Robot Hall of Fame.

Heh: A pint and a fag at the 13 mile mark keep the 101 year old marathon runner pumping.

Heh: TNOY has the latest Absolut ad campaign appealing to special interest groups for land grabs – or total world domination. Hillbilly White Trash has a more cautionary ad.

Heh: From Hillbilly Politics, an explanation of the pricing plan for calls to God.

An Obama Round-Up

Obama commits the mother of all gaffes: Letting on that you think rural Americans are straight out of Deliverance. As Discrminations calls it in an excellent post: What a load of Marxist rubbish.

Victor David Hanson at NRO deconstructs Obama’s attempt to explain away his comments.

And at This Ain’t Hell, its Obama versus Madison.

Soccer Dad, in an excellent post, notes the left’s attempts to deflect criticism as "painting" Obama’s remarks as elitist, suggesting it is an unfair assessment.

Classical Values points out that the dust has far from settled on Obama’s remarks, and that the remarks themselves sound far too redolent of Karl Marx’s infamous assertion that "religion is the opiate of the masses."

I personally find it hard to imagine a more obnoxious or elitist view than that Senator Obama espoused when he tied small town values, including religion, a belief in individual rights in gun ownership, and secure borders, to bitterness over a lack of economic opportunities in the hinterlands. As the Politico writes, there are 12 reasons "bitter is bad" for Obama. Obama is a tabula rosa no more, and I have yet to find a single thing filled in on that formerly blank slate that is either genuine or admirable.

Obama’s mainstream pastor of 20 years, the Rev. Wright – he who only gave outrageously racist sermons on days that Obama did not attend church with his family – has done it again. Gateway Pundit provides the information:

the Rev. Jeremiah Wright lashed out at the media, FOX News, America, O'Reilly, Hannity, Thomas Jefferson, Founding Fathers... This is what Wright said about the Founding Fathers of America, a group he sometimes refers to as the "Fondling Fathers", during his eulogy:

America’s founding fathers "planted slavery and white supremacy in the DNA of this republic," and adding that Thomas Jefferson wrote, " ‘God would punish America for the sin of slavery.’ I guess that makes Thomas Jefferson unpatriotic."

Obama's mentor Wright also said Thomas Jefferson, partook in "pedophilia."

And about Obama’s "grass roots" funding and his refusal to take money from PAC’s . . .

Read More...

Summary only...

Adam Smith & The EU's Global Warming Arrogance

The socialists at the EU really are an arrogant bunch. Knowing as they do what is best for Europe without need of consulting their electorate, they of course know what is best for the rest of the world also, including the U.S. For example, the EU partially fund the ABA to conduct its propaganda offensive against the death penalty in the U.S. Does that seem like a gross imposition into our internal affairs?

And indeed, just within the past year we have witnessed the unelected EU President send a letter to the popularly elected Texas governor instructing the governor that the it is a settled issue that the death penalty is not a deterrent and should be eradicated. It must be nice to go through life without having to examine any facts that challenge one’s deeply held belief. Such is the modern left.

The European socialists in Brussels see no problem with their attempt to make an end run around the electorate in Texas – the same people who could easily vote for a candidate who wishes to abolish the death penalty should they desire. But "democracy" has no worth as a concept in Brussels; its only use is as an Orwellian label. The EU is making sure that their own electorate have no say in the creation of the EU socialist super-state that, with the "Reform Treaty" of Lisbon, has just come into being. Indeed, to complain about the lack of democratic vote is to "show contempt for dignity of Parliament." This gives you some flavor of the incredible hubris of the EU.

But all of that pales in comparison to the damage the EU socialists, in their arrogance, are poised to inflict both internally and on the world.

The EU, which has taken global warming out of the realm of science and debate and made it a shibboleth of their constitutional law, is gearing "up to produce its much-heralded strategy on "climate change" – expected on 23 January." According to EU Referendum:

The core of this strategy will be the 20 percent reduction in emissions by 2020 and the 10 percent biofuel quota, the combination of which – with the other measures the commission is considering – will have a profound effect on our economy, our own personal lifestyles and global politics in general.

This is a program that will take billions out of the EU economy while making no contribution to efficiency, only adding to the cost of the production of goods and services. So as the EU shackles the economies of its member provinces with changes to combat global warming, how will the EU remain competitive in the global market?

It was completely predictable to anyone who watches the EU that their first thought would be to transfer their economic costs and use taxation as a type of global social policy to enforce EU beliefs on the global heretics. Thus it is no surprise at all that this today should appear in The Times:

A row has erupted in Brussels over proposals to introduce a carbon tax on goods entering the European Union from countries that fail to take measures to curb carbon dioxide emissions.

The tax would hit powerful emerging market exporters, such as China, which do not comply with the Kyoto treaty on climate change. The proposal is opposed by Peter Mandelson, the EU Trade Commissioner, who fears that it would fall foul of World Trade Organisation rules.

Sources at Mr Mandelson’s office said the proposal was "dead", while a spokesman for Stavros Dimas, the Environment Commissioner, said several drafts of the proposal were being discussed and debated. "It’s at the beginning of the process," he said.

The Trade Commissioner’s spokesman argued that the proposed tax was "too complicated" and would create problems with the United States, which has not signed the Kyoto treaty. . .

Do read the entire article. One does not need a PhD in economics to see that such taxes would have a depressive effect on the world economy and would, if imposed, likely set off a trade war. But such is the arrogance and the insanity to be found amongst our friendly, unelected socialist allies. It’s the Goracle versus Adam Smith. Smith will win in the end, but the Goracle and his EU acolytes can do incredible damage in the short run.

Read More...

Summary only...

Interesting News - 5 January 2008

A tribute to Major Andrew Olmsted, first American killed in Iraq in 2008, who wrote his last message to be published in the event of his demise.

Explaining the left: "It is inconceivable to paranoid persons that people actually exist who view the situation differently from them. It is inconceivable that they could be wrong about their perception of reality. Con men always think others are out to con them. In fact, most paranoids consider themselves the ONLY reality-based community, because they get to define what reality is and it is always what they happen to feel. And it is always about making sure they feel good and virtuous and self-righteous." It’s a good thing we have Dr. Sanity to give us a road map into the swamp that is the mind of the left. What set this off was an article in HuffPo that kind of ignores that Bobby Kennedy was not killed by the vast right wing conspiracy, but rather by a radical Islamist.

Crusader Rabbit in NZ ponders just how slender is the thread on which hang our individual rights, while Australia ponders drafting a Bill of Rights. There is concern that this might turn into a morass.

It’s a good thing Bush just signed an energy bill mandating the next generation of light bulbs. I wonder if the money we save will be less than the costs of medical treatment.

Hang ‘em. Hang ‘em high. The Supreme Court will review whether the death penalty can be constitutionally imposed for the rape of a child. Some interesting thoughts on this at Big Lizards.

Hear the howls and lamentations of a social conservative starting into the morass of a Huckabee candidacy. I think Rick is absolutely correct that a sorting out of the social and religious conservative strains of the Republican Party is inevitable and indeed, may be upon us.

There is wisdom at the bottom of truisms, one of which is never grab a tiger by the tail.

NRO on the possible appointment of disbarred attorney William Jefforson Clinton to the position of Justice on the Supreme Court: "Presumably the Supreme Court needs to do something about our draconian sexual harassment laws." (h/t Instapundit)

The Fall of the House of Clinton discussed at Powerline.

Dr. Helen wants a few questions answered by the tabula rosa that is Obama before casting her vote in November.

Approving of foreign investment on the theory of South Parkenomics.

What the hell is Arkin still doing at the Washington Post beyond providing Iraqpundit an opportunity to shoot idiots in an idiot-barrel.

Read More...

Summary only...