Welcome to hell

There is what seems to amount to internecine warfare going on today among the commenters to Glenn Greewnwald's piece in Salon, "Confrontational investigations, subpoenas, and hearings are the priority. Greenwald makes the reasonable case that hearings will get further than attempts to pass legislation against BushCo's dictatorial takeover of what used to be a Constitutional government. A number of commenters think it is way too late for that, and that any number of Democratic congressional reps are simply in bed with the neocon, authoritarian presidency. Interesting but frightful.

And then there is this post to Glenn's comments from Australia, about an Aussie held in Guantanamo these past five years-- with all the usual Guantanamo amenities. And now his military lawyer is apparently to be removed from the case and charged "with using 'comtemptuous language' towards Bush and Cheney". She wants to know what in hell is going on. So do we all, of course. But "hell" is simply the word for it: no doubt David Hicks' hell is and has been more intense than this blogger's, but it gets harder to deny that we are at least in the infernal suburbs.

What the hell is going on? What is going on in America? Your legal system seems to be in meltdown. I'm an Australian and you're holding an Australian named David Hicks in Guantanomo Bay on 'terrorism' charges. He has been held for five years without charge, toruted and anally raped with objects. His father and his American military lawyer Major Michael Mori have been trying to get him either freed or put on trial for the whole five years. Now the latest is that Major Mori has been doing his job too well. He is apparently to be removed from the case and charged with using 'comtemptuous language' towards Bush and Cheney.

This is the kind of thing the Nazis did. If Mori's charged and found guilty (which these days is the same thing) he faces a lengthy jail term and being thrown out of the army. He is a family man, a good and decent man, an excellent lawyer and a genuine American patriot (unlike Bush and Cheney who are fake, war-mongering, photo- opportunity patriots). None of which will protect Mori from the right wing fanatics who now want to destroy him the way they've destroyed his client. What happened to the legal process being free from political interference? The Australian Prime Minister is beginning to believe the Hicks case might cost him government when he faces an election later this year so he's making noises about bringing Hicks home but he could have brought him home years ago, as the Germans and the British did with their citizens in Guantanomo. He refused to do it because, he said, 'the Australian government couldn't charge him with anything'. And here I was believing that if they couldn't charge you with anything they had to let you go! An Australian 'Sixty Minutes' program that went to air last night here revealed that even if Hicks went to trial and was found not guilty the U.S. government still has the power to keep him in Gauntanomo Bay for the rest of his life. I've come to the conclusion that your politicians are a bunch of contemptible cowards - both sides of the aisle.

Land of the brave? Home of the free? I don't think so. What's going on in Guantanomo Bay is a bloody disgrace. And if it's not fascism it's a pretty good imitation.

A "pretty good imitation", aye.