By Kenneth J. Theisen, 4/3/07
The recent “hearing” at Guantanamo of alleged terrorist, David Hicks,
is very instructive about the workings of these new military tribunals authorized
under the Military Commissions Act (MCA) passed by Congress last year. Under
the MCA, detainees held by the U.S.
have been stripped of most due process rights and in effect the tribunals are
nothing more than kangaroo trials. It
was ironic that Hicks, a former Australian kangaroo skinner, was the first
detainee to be brought up on charges before these new tribunals.
The “court” made clear how “fair” these hearings would be
right at the outset. At the beginning of
the hearing on March 26th Hicks requested additional legal assistance, but
instead the presiding officer booted his two civilian attorneys from the
hearing. That left only his military
counsel. When that attorney asked for
more time to prepare the defense now that he was all alone, the judge denied
the request. Hicks who saw the writing
on the wall then entered a guilty plea to “material support of terrorism,” rather
than continue with the charade. On
Friday, March 30, 2007, the tribunal accepted his guilty plea. But the terms of his sentence are a
continuation of the “fairness” Hicks received at the actual hearing.
Hicks had previously alleged that he had been subjected to
repeated abusive treatment while incarcerated. But in his plea bargain, he was
forced to stipulate that he has “never been illegally treated by a person
or persons while in the custody of the U.S. government.” The deal also placed a “gag order” on Hicks,
banning him from speaking to the news media for at least one year. He was further forced to agree not to appeal
his conviction and is prevented from suing the U.S. government for his abuse. Finally the plea deal requires Hicks to give
any proceeds from selling the rights to his life story to the Australian
government. This is obviously meant to discourage him from selling the rights,
but more importantly to have the full story of his abuse publicized at all.
In addition to the above conditions, Hicks was sentenced to
serve an additional seven years in prison, on top of the more than five years
he has already served. But the judge
suspended all but nine months of the sentence.
The U.S. government
has repeatedly stated that those being held in Guantanamo and that those to be tried before
the tribunals were the “worst of the worst terrorists.” This has been the regime’s justification for
the lack of due process given to prisoners. And yet the first person to face these
kangaroo courts was given an effective sentence of nine months. As David Hicks father so aptly said, “Something’s
not right. It shows how weak the evidence is in this charade.”
I have previously written about the Bush regime’s use of
torture. It has used waterboarding,
sleep deprivation, stress positions, constant loud noise, physical abuse, and
other tortures to “soften up” prisoners for interrogation. It appears the government is also using
“softening up” procedures prior to tribunal hearings in order to get
confessions and/or guilty pleas from the defendants. For months prior to Mr. Hicks hearing, he was
kept in isolation in a small, solid-walled cell, where the lights were kept on
24 hours per day. Hicks grew his hair
long to cover his eyes to protect himself from the constant light. Before and after the hearing, his lawyers
described him as “deeply depressed” and eager to do anything to get out of Guantanamo.
His father also told the media that this is why his son
agreed to the plea bargain – to get out of prison and away from the abusive
conditions there. As part of the plea bargain, within 60 days he will be
transferred to Australia
to serve the remaining sentence. Altogether, Hicks was held five years and four
months in Guantanamo
before he ever saw the inside of the courtroom. His father stated that David Hicks was
sexually abused, and mentally and physically tortured. He said, “I’m not going
to let this lie just because David’s been forced into a situation where he has
to sign a waiver.”
The Bush regime has used this conviction to justify all of
it abusive tactics. It media
spokespeople claim that the military commission system of tribunals is a
“fair, legitimate and transparent forum” and that this hearing proved
this.
But if this is so, why is the Bush regime trying to silence David
Hicks and keep him from suing the government?
What are they trying to hide? Could
they be afraid that their systemic abuse of prisoners will be revealed in a
civil trial and do they fear further exposures of these abuses in the media? The only thing that is “transparent” is that
the regime fears the truth.
David McLeod, one of Hick’s attorneys stated Hick’s thoughts
about this entire procedure. “He
says that if he [Hicks] is the worst of the worst, and the person who should be
put before a military commission first, then the world really hasn’t got much
to worry about.” This may very well
be true about many of those held by the Bush Regime. But unfortunately we do have to continue to
worry about the danger posed to the world by the Bush regime itself. This regime is the worst of the worst and
until it is driven from power we should be very worried. We should be concerned about what it has and
is doing to these detainees in our name. This is just one of it many continuing crimes
against humanity.