Davis: DoD General Counsel ‘Leaned On’ Me To Rush Detainee’s Trial Ahead Of Australian Elections
Davis: DoD General Counsel ‘Leaned On’ Me To Rush Detainee’s Trial Ahead Of Australian Elections
In March 2007, Australian native David Hicks, who was a detainee at Guantanamo Bay, became the first person to be sentenced by a military commission convened under the Military Commissions Act of 2006. At the time, critics charged that Hicks’ sudden plea bargain appeared to be the result of a political deal between Vice President Cheney and then-Australian Prime Minister John Howard.
A month before Hicks’ sentence was announced, Cheney visited Howard in Australia, where the Australian PM lobbied for the trial to “be brought on as soon as humanly possible and with no further delay.” At the time, Howard was in a tough re-election fight and Hicks’ fate was an issue in the campaign.
Yesterday, Col. Morris Davis — who was the lead prosecutor in Hicks’ trial — told Australia’s Herald Sun that he was “leaned on” by the Pentagon in a manner that “only made sense in political context“:
On the end of the line was the Pentagon’s general counsel, William “Jim” Haynes. He asked Colonel Davis how soon he could charge Hicks. The Australian had been held in custody without a hearing for five years after being picked up in Afghanistan in late 2001. […]
The only way Colonel Davis could make sense of what he was hearing from Mr Haynes was in the context of what he was reading about the political environment in Australia. […]
Colonel Davis says the phone calls he got from Mr Haynes and the timeline in Australia in which a “loyal ally” in Mr Howard was eyeing a difficult election and wanted to get the Hicks matter put to rest, means the nine-month sentence deal that got Hicks home has a “bad odour”..”
Davis, who has previously said that he “felt pressure to pursue high-profile convictions ahead of the 2008 elections, resigned from his position in October 2007 after he was placed under Haynes in the chain of command. Last week, Davis told the Nation that Haynes had insisted to him in 2005 that the Pentagon “can’t have acquittals” at Guantanamo because they’d “been holding these guys for so long” and it would be difficult to “explain letting them get off.”
Haynes announced yesterday that he is resigning in order to return “to private life next month.”
(HT: TPMmuckraker)
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Of course they did. This whole “War on Terrah” has been a political Dog-and-Pony show right from the start.
February 26th, 2008 at 9:34 pmRepublicans: Putting politics ahead of the war on terrorism.
February 26th, 2008 at 9:35 pm!
February 26th, 2008 at 9:45 pmOf course they did. This whole “War on Terrah†has been a political Dog-and-Pony show right from the start.
Comment by The Republic of Stupidity — February 26, 2008 @ 9:34 pm
If it was a real “War on Terrahâ€, then they would have stayed in Afghanistan until they got Bin Laudin and we wouldn’t be in Iraq.
Almost everything Bushco has told us is a lie.
February 26th, 2008 at 9:50 pmComment by The Republic of Stupidity — February 26, 2008 @ 9:34 pm
This whole “War on Terrah†has been a political Dog-and-Pony show right from the start.
Absolutely! It is just aq red herring distracting the people from the real mission the neocons have been persuing since the early 90s. Control of the ME and the oil that is there.
February 26th, 2008 at 9:52 pm“only made sense in political context“
the W legacy, in a nutshell.
February 26th, 2008 at 9:55 pmI love how these scum only come to Jesus after they don’t get their share of the spoils. Until then, they don’t care who they have to destroy in their climb up the Neocon power structure.
When Bush and Cheney go to Paraguay and Dubai, respectively, all kinds of people will be ratting them out. When that happens, I say we demand our money back one time, and if it’s not forthcoming, precision bomb their last known location.
February 26th, 2008 at 10:06 pmI seem to have struck a nerve here.
****
Almost everything Bushco has told us is a lie.
Comment by Wayne — February 26, 2008 @ 9:50 pm
This little rat’s *ss b*st*rd from Hades and his delusional, sociopathic sidekicks have done an incredible amount of damage to this world in just 7 short years. Actually, make that 7 endless years.
And it will take us DECADES to fix this place.
February 26th, 2008 at 10:11 pmAbsolutely! It is just aq red herring distracting the people from the real mission the neocons have been persuing since the early 90s. Control of the ME and the oil that is there.
Comment by Merlin — February 26, 2008 @ 9:52 pm
Yep, the plan is still up for the world to see at the PNAC website.
Like “Pinky and the Brain”, they want to take over the world.
The problem is the US MSM hasn’t even made a peep about PNAC.
This little rat’s *ss b*st*rd from Hades and his delusional, sociopathic sidekicks have done an incredible amount of damage to this world in just 7 short years. Actually, make that 7 endless years.
And it will take us DECADES to fix this place.
Comment by The Republic of Stupidity — February 26, 2008 @ 10:11 pm
If the Democrats “let it slide” in the interest of f-kin “bipartisanship” , if they let these criminal get away with it, this Country is toast, because both parties are dirty then.
February 26th, 2008 at 10:32 pmYou don’t let War Crimes slide in the interest of “bipartisanship”.
That’s insanity.
Couldn’t have said it better myself, Wayne…
Remember… first, you must feel the Snark…
… and then, and only then, can you BE the Snark.
February 26th, 2008 at 10:43 pmKangaroo court antics that Joe Show Trial Stalin would love, courtesy of Chimpy and The Dick.
-GSD
February 26th, 2008 at 10:44 pmAmericans and the World now see the new System of the United States with prisoners. Yes we kidnap, torture, rape and even murder people for no reason. We hold innocent people without charging them with a crime for as long as we want, then a fake trial in we think we will get caught. A time will come when this is done to Americans by other countries and I pray I’m not alive to see it.
February 26th, 2008 at 10:52 pmBush’s war on terror is becoming a joke and an embarrassment. He’s got nothing going on that’s legitimate - no real plan for this fabricated boogeyman. What he is expert on is breaking the laws of this country and setting a horrible example from the top down. If this war on terror was real, he wouldn’t be spying on american citizens (illegally).
February 26th, 2008 at 10:55 pmComment by good_golly — February 26, 2008 @ 11:02 pm
Of course, w/ a government as secretive as this one, we really have no idea as to what they may or may not have done by now.
I mean, Don Siegelman’s only real crime seems to have been being an elected Dem official in Alabama. No, he’s not dead, but he is in prison.
February 26th, 2008 at 11:13 pmComment by good_golly — February 26, 2008 @ 11:02 pm
As long as they’re just being held without charge, it’s ok with the troll.
February 26th, 2008 at 11:13 pmgood_golly: Not entirely true. Stalin made the families of the people he purged pay for the bullets that killed them–hardly “socialst” even by neocon standards. Bush just puts those bullets on a credit card.
February 26th, 2008 at 11:16 pmThis is shocking. The DOD being for political advantage. Wait until the media gets a hold of this. The citizens won’t stand for it! Are you sure?
February 26th, 2008 at 11:17 pmHe feels “safer”, Z.
I mean, after all, would Botch & Co imprison an innocent man? Seeing as they’re locked up, they must have done something wrong, no?
February 26th, 2008 at 11:17 pmBush just puts those bullets on a credit card.
Comment by Above the Clouds — February 26, 2008 @ 11:16 pm
So their grand children can pay for them, w/ interest?
February 26th, 2008 at 11:18 pm11. If this were Socialist/Stalinist, all of the prisoners would have been “shot trying to escape†by now.
Comment by good_golly — February 26, 2008 @ 11:02 pm
so the glass is half full?
troll.
February 26th, 2008 at 11:19 pmComment by good_golly — February 26, 2008 @ 11:02 pm
excuse me, i mean paid troll.
February 26th, 2008 at 11:19 pmComment by The Republic of Stupidity — February 26, 2008 @ 11:17 pm
It’s funny how that happens. I actually feel less safe knowing any of us could be locked up in the same manner, given an “enemy combatant” label.
February 26th, 2008 at 11:20 pmexcuse me, i mean paid troll.
Comment by joe cantwell — February 26, 2008 @ 11:19 pm
Oh please, you give the troll too much credit.
February 26th, 2008 at 11:21 pmeveryone saw it coming in australia - howard’s end was inevitable with the undying loyalty he showed to bush being so unpopular with australians - but to use hicks as a political pawn after virtually ignoring the guy for over 5 years was disgraceful - howard’s stunt stuck out like a sore thumb and australia voted him out in a massive defeat
February 26th, 2008 at 11:23 pmNo better way to spread liberty, truth and justice than with a show trial in front of a kangaroo court.
February 26th, 2008 at 11:39 pm11. If this were Socialist/Stalinist, all of the prisoners would have been “shot trying to escape†by now.
Comment by good_golly — February 26, 2008 @ 11:02 pm
ROTFL!! So NOW you CLAIM TO BE A SOCIALIST EXPERT? HYSTERICAL! Spoken like a TRUE FASCIST!
February 26th, 2008 at 11:51 pmIf this were Socialist/Stalinist, all of the prisoners would have been “shot trying to escape†by now.
I am wondering how this moronic troll knows that this has not already happened. For all we know they have shot or beheaded many people who were at Gitmo or in prison in Iraq.
February 27th, 2008 at 12:53 amA few, short, years ago we had a word for countries which had “secret prisons” and “kangaroo courts”.
We called them “ENEMIES”.
February 27th, 2008 at 1:16 amIf this were Socialist/Stalinist, all of the prisoners would have been “shot trying to escape†by now.
Comment by good_golly — February 26, 2008 @ 11:02 pm
You’re showing your ignorance. it’s either socialist, like America, or Stalinist, like the USSR. Your understanding of political systems is, unsurprisingly, minute.
February 27th, 2008 at 1:29 amgg is embarrassed that the great, wonderful USA can’t win a war against a third-world country, completely ignoring the fact that republicans refuse to support their country in their illegal wars, so losses are to be expected, and, among the civilized, hoped for. i hope we are driven out, and soon. No country should be allowed to commit international terrorism and war crimes without consequences, especially the USA.
February 27th, 2008 at 1:32 amSocialist/Stalinist? Are you kidding gg? Those two terms cannot be put together. Did you fail your World History class in 8th grade? Don’t answer, we already know.
February 27th, 2008 at 2:40 amBy the way, if the Russians shot everybody in the back why did Solzhenitzyn write the Gulag Archipelago? Facts are not your friend, gg.
February 27th, 2008 at 2:45 amwhite Australian man picked up on battlefield 9 months
Afghanistan 15 year old boy picked up on battlefield sentenced to death at Guamtanamo
America is just one BIG SICK COUNTRY
February 27th, 2008 at 6:43 amOn Friday, at a United Nations meeting in Geneva, the United States broke a series of legal promises. Keeping those promises would have proved extremely embarrassing to the United States government by pointing out that human rights abuses are being committed here at home, and at U.S. military installations abroad.
In 1994 the United States senate ratified the U.N. Convention on Elimination of all forms of racial discrimination promising to provide reports every two years on racial discrimination in the United States. The reports were to include anywhere in the world where the U.S. military is in charge. In other words, the United States military no matter where it was on the globe, agreed to report discrimination. That now includes Guantanamo and Abu Ghraib.
The treaty is the “supreme law of the land” under the U.S. Constitution, article 6, clause 2. Every nation that signed the treaty was charged with giving a national report on such basic areas of discrimination as health care, education, and prison terms. According to the Meiklejohn Civil Liberties Institute and the National Lawyers Guild, the United States on Friday presented a report to the United Nations Committee, never mentioning Abu Ghraib, Guantanamo, or the behavior of U.S. corporations working under U.S. military contracts.
February 27th, 2008 at 6:47 am1.00 EUR = 1.50298 USD
Stuff you attempts at seducing Europeans into cheap holidays in the USA
We are NOT COMING EVER
February 27th, 2008 at 6:49 am$101.26
brilliant your lously money makes Oil cost us more
STUFF THE DOLLAR
February 27th, 2008 at 6:52 amA report commissioned by the United Nations suggests that Palestinian terrorism is the inevitable consequence of Israeli occupation and laws that resemble South African apartheid - a claim Israel rejected Tuesday
as enflaming hatred between Jews and Palestinians.
The report by John Dugard, independent investigator on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict for the UN Human Rights Council, will be presented next month, but it has been posted on the body’s Web site.
TO THE SICK NATION OF AMERICA STOP VETOEING ISREALI UN RESOLUTIONS
February 27th, 2008 at 6:57 amLike coals to Newcastle, kangaroos to Australia?
February 27th, 2008 at 7:05 amAnother Australian thrown under the train. Has anyone read the book or seen the movie, “Breaker Morant?” Talk about a railroading, kangaroo-court action. So reminiscent.
February 27th, 2008 at 7:27 amNow the dems don’t want speedy trials for terrorists?
February 27th, 2008 at 8:58 amNow the dems don’t want speedy trials for terrorists?
Comment by Roger_Roger — February 27, 2008 @ 8:58 am
roger2 has missed the facts and the point entirely, as usual. ou should hire somebody to read to you, rr, y8ou obvious,y have no understanding of English. What speedy trial, after 5 years in prison? You’re truly the bottom of the evolutionary barrel, you conservotards.
February 27th, 2008 at 9:42 am#41 TP and the rest of you were asking and pleading that we send these terrorists to trial as soon as possible. Once we do that, you complain even more. Which way do you want to go on this?
February 27th, 2008 at 10:01 amDon’t answer R2 - his argument is fallacious — he intends only to rile you. There is no defense for what has been done in the Hicks case.
February 27th, 2008 at 11:10 amLets all acknowledge: Col Morris Davis is a courageous patriot, especially in these times. Thank you, sir.
February 27th, 2008 at 1:55 pm