U.S. files terrorism charges against Australian citizen

[ffejtable]

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070301/ap_on_go_ca_st_pe/us_terrorism_trials

EvilSteve...... what is your real name, eh? :)

WASHINGTON - The Bush administration has filed charges against David Hicks, an Australian citizen suspected of aiding the Taliban in Afghanistan and the first terrorism-war era detainee to be charged by the Pentagon under new rules for military commissions.

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The decision was made even though officials of Australia already had asked the United States not to bring such charges. Australia has been a steadfast ally to the Bush administration in its war on terrorism.

Hicks is a former kangaroo skinner captured in Afghanistan in December 2001. He has been held at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, for more than five years without trial.

According to government officials and documents, the Defense Department will announce that Hicks is being charged with "providing material support for terrorism." Hicks would be have a trial in a special military tribunal, established in a law that Congress passed last year, rather than a civilian court. Opponents have vowed to challenge the constitutionality of the military tribunal proceedings.

An earlier formulation of such military tribunals was declared unconstitutional last year by the Supreme Court.

[Barbi]

WASHINGTON - The Bush administration has filed charges against Daniel (something), an Australian citizen (recently became an American citizen)suspected of aiding the Taliban in Afghanistan and the first terrorism-war era detainee to be charged by the Pentagon under new rules for military commissions.

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The decision was made even though officials of Australia already had asked the United States not to bring such charges. Australia has been a steadfast ally to the Bush administration in its war on terrorism.

Hicks is a former kangaroo skinner captured in Afghanistan in December 2001. He has been held at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, for more than five years without trial.

According to government officials and documents, the Defense Department will announce that Hicks is being charged with "providing material support for terrorism." Hicks would be have a trial in a special military tribunal, established in a law that Congress passed last year, rather than a civilian court. Opponents have vowed to challenge the constitutionality of the military tribunal proceedings.

An earlier formulation of such military tribunals was declared unconstitutional last year by the Supreme Court.


EvilSteve...... what is your real name, eh? :)


:wow: interesting

[jcblitz]

I missed kangaroo skinner on career day.

[soda7o]

what did he give the terrorists kangarooo skin?

this is liek the salem whitch trials.. just accusing people.. i was just reading an article the other day abotu some guy that the CIA thausght was a terrorist and they kidnapped him and "interigated" and shit..than it turned out htye made a mistake

[NYCSTRIPES]

Soda...pleez
I am sure the KGB and other soviet agencies of the state were more accountable for their actions..

[soda7o]

Soda...pleez
I am sure the KGB and other soviet agencies of the state were more accountable for their actions..

hhahahahahhaha
MY GRANDFATHER was a top KGB agent he has done some evil thingsi n his life.. and some top sercete super sneaky missions.. up untill they day he died he kept everythign pretty much a secret only when he got shitfaced with me would he tell me anything. and still it woudl be very vague and short...he was tough as nails, and never gave up a secret he talked in code words even when he was here in america up untill he past away!!! not even my dad (his own son) knows what the man did.. my Uncle (the older son) followed in my grandfaterh footsteps and was also a KGB he is not here in america too... he tells me some shit he did during the cold war pretty horirble and he wants to teach me how to make bob,s and all sorts of weapons and boobie traps and etc.. KGB style.. lol


i am not denying it .. the KGB did some shady awfull things.. but hey they never claim to be squeeky clean and angels like america does.

[Ant]

It's def. a lighter version of the McCarthy era. I'm pretty conservative but I think the current admin is a bit over the top.

[NYCSTRIPES]

Some of you fellas need a wake up call. I am scared for the future of this country if we are starting to fell sorry for jailed Militant Muslim Extremists who will do everything in their power to cause death and destruction to our way of life.

Our current administration is doing nothing that resembles anything from the McCarthy era. These idiots were not plucked from a NY movie theatre for being Muslim, they were captured at terrorist training camps and Al Queda hideouts...
WAKE UP

Ken

[soda7o]

Some of you fellas need a wake up call. I am scared for the future of this country if we are starting to fell sorry for jailed Militant Muslim Extremists who will do everything in their power to cause death and destruction to our way of life.

Our current administration is doing nothing that resembles anything from the McCarthy era. These idiots were not plucked from a NY movie theatre for being Muslim, they were captured at terrorist training camps and Al Queda hideouts...
WAKE UP

Ken

i am antyhgin but sorry for them :)

[EvilSteve]

My name is not, I repeat *not* David Hicks. I doubt I could have become a citizen otherwise. :P

Just detailing some of the *alleged* torture that goes on down there.
http://www.smh.com.au/news/world/hicks-my-life-of-terror-and-torture/2007/03/01/1172338791480.html

AFAIC, if they're guilty, fuck em. The problem is that establishing someone's guilt by way of torture is clearly flawed. The old proverb of preferring several guilty people go free than have an innocent person hanged seems to have been turned on its head. The more we keep our actions & policies secret, they less human rights protection people get. I don't give a rats ass about David Hicks, I care about liberty and justice, as should we all. Picking random people off the street and torturing them is BS.

[Cakes206]

what did he give the terrorists kangarooo skin?
Beware of fugaizy MotoGP suits at flea markets!

[soda7o]

Beware of fugaizy MotoGP suits at flea markets!


hahah all

so thats how youspot alquida memebrs.. they have kangaroo racing suits on..

all track guys i i would watch out if i were you... cia might be snatching you form trackdays :0

[High_Revs_17]

Beware of fugaizy MotoGP suits at flea markets!

I think Dan just earned himself a new title. :lol:

EvilSteve wrote: "My name is not David Hicks."

[Mack]

I'm glad to hear we can hold people for 5 year without trails...doesn't sound like democracy to me.....oh wait I like the government tapping my phone converstations...no I'm not going to say anything I need to worry about but it's just the point.....NYCStripes...I'm sorry I think you have it wrong....I would rather see people die including myself due to some terrorism then give up my privacy and freedom.....but like I said that's just me and I am probably not in the majority.....also if you were starving in another country while the USA is dieing because they are the fastest people in the world I think you'd want to blow us up too.

[NYCSTRIPES]

Mack,
Not to worry, with more and more people finding ways to sympathize with terrorists/foreign soldiers, you just may get your wish...
I have always found it strange to want to grant civil rights to people who are not citizens of this country.
This reaches farther that just the holding of terrorists, also known as enemy combatants. We have historically held enemy combatants as POW's (prisoners of war in case some of you did not know the definition) until the end of conflicts in the past. This very thing has happened to many of our own US soldiers in many past conflicts. Its unfortunate and distasteful but a necessary part of fighting a war. Letting the enemy terrorists go before the end of the conflict will just lead to having to fight with them again and again, which is pointless and a sure way to loose. Its not paintball we are playing here, its actually a real war.
The allegations of maltreatment coming from Guantamo Bay are just that, allegations. We have watchdog groups keeping an eye on prisoner treatment there as well as congressional oversight committees. I am sure that liberal newspapers will continue to write articles stating that we are treating them poorly, I doubt much if any of it is true. We do abide by Geneva Convention rules as to the humane treatment of enemy prisoners. Not that much can be said for the treatment of our own soldiers when they were held in past conflicts. Remember when Haoi Jane visited North Vietnam?

I would imagine that holding captured enemy troops and detaining them for the duration of a conflict will always be common practice. Confusing them with having the same rights as you or I expect will surely lead to problems. Even for the Australian national being held in Cuba by the US Military. I am sure Australia is not shedding too many tears for someone who would have also attacked them on their own turf if given the opportunity. There was no valid reason for him ( a HS dropout) to have been in Afghanistan/Pakistan other than to have been involved with Al Queda. I saw that now at Guantanamo he is studying for his GED certificate and has since dropped his aspirations to be a Muslim. Also remember that Al Queda killed quite a few Austrailian citizens in the South Pacific resort islands already after 9/11. Austrailia is a partner in the coalition to fight in this conflict and would more than likely have taken the same steps with the kid if he was turned over to their military forces in the region.

It also touches onto the subject of illegal immigration, seeing US citizens demanding civil rights be considered for people who broke the law by their very method of entry into this country. It makes no sense to me, sneak in (breaking the law), work off the books, apply for public assistance, Medicaid, not pay taxes and demand the right to vote, and the right to sue. Meanwhile that person has not applied for permission to enter the US, nor have they any desire to become a US citizen. Then apply for Social Security benefits after not having ever paid into the system.
Then there are throngs of people who still think that we owe these services/benefits to people who don't pay into the system. Don't get me started on the issue of voting for illegal immigrants...
I just don't get it....I think that people here are beginning to feel sorry that they were born in this country and are beginning to collapse with the "guilt" of having to live here.
Am I missing something?
Ken

[Cakes206]

I think Dan just earned himself a new title. :lol:

EvilSteve wrote: "My name is not David Hicks."
:whistle:

[EvilSteve]

Now that made me laugh :LOL:

Ken. Firstly I want to say that I don't have a problem holding enemy combatants. The problem here is that the method by which people are defined as enemy combatants isn't exactly clear. I don't think it's fair to pull people off the street because they made phone calls to an Al Queda (sp? come to think of it, who gives a fuck how it's spelled) member and define them as an enemy combatant (for example). You'll also find that in fact, the allegations (as you and I quite rightly put them) are in fact of a nature to be in breach of the Geneva convention. Taking people to secret prisons in other countries (this has been admitted) and denying them basic rights is not something we'd want to happen to our troops right? So why is ok to do it to theirs? The past instances of torture in military prisons during other conflicts has always been viewed as abhorrent by the bulk of the civilized world. We shouldn't be justifying these actions or even doing anything but outrightly condemning it. Remember the struggle in congress to get some policy just to disallow torture? And the news articles about "water boarding"? This is torture and efforts to do anything but stop it completely is implicit acceptance of it. Torture of POWs *is* against the Geneva convention. Everyone should be treated fairly, if we can't do it, how can we expect the crazies out there to do it? I believe that it is hypocritical for us to fight a moral war if we don't occupy the higher moral ground so even if they're doing these things, we shouldn't.

As for illegal immigrants demanding rights; I'm still shocked that there was a demonstration of illegal immigrants and they weren't all rounded up and deported. They were all right there for goodness sake! I went through probably about 5 years of effort to get citizenship, including blood tests, background checks and disclosure of just about everything personal to the INS and these assholes want to wander in and get it for free? Fuck them and the donkey they rode in on! There are, according to the senior official at my naturalization ceremony, about 200,000 people naturalized each year. Every one of those people have to do similar things to me to get here. These protesters are all criminals! As a green card holder (as I was before), I could have been deported for breaking *any* law and here are these assholes flaunting their transgression and demanding they be treated with respect? Not to mention that none of them are paying taxes. Why the fuck would I allow someone into the country who's clearly got no respect for the laws (part of the citizenship oath!) and wants to fly their own damn flag instead of the US flag?! If we truly need that much unskilled labor in the country then send them all home, and fill unskilled labor with a "guest worker" program but one that requires background checks. We should also make US English the national language and require people to learn *some* English.

For the record, I don't have any problem with and race color or whatever, I hate everyone.

Anyway, enough ranting now.

[soda7o]

Kill whitiy!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Stealth ZX9R]

I feel the same way NYC does and with some of what EvilSteve is saying. However concerning the torturing of prisoners goes, I could almost care less, call me heartless about this issue but if they Actually Know that the prisoners are involved with the war and they want information or whatever it is then I could care less if they did it. No it may not be the Right thing to do but its a War and I am sure that they are doing the same thing to the US troops they have captured. Anyways I don't feel sorry for them, at least we aren't lining them up and shooting them all, they want to fight us and take away our freedom then they can suffer as far as I care. I'm not evil and I'm not a harsh person at all, However I don't feel sorry for the prisoners we have because they wouldn't be here if they weren't involved in the war some how.

On the immigration thing, I agree totally with Evil Steve and that immigrants should have no rights whatsoever and that All of them should take the same measures he did in order to become a US citizen and have all the rights that come with it.