Opinion | Editorials
Let US courts deal with suspects
Hamdan's case proves that Guantanamo's military commissions do not work.
- Gulf News
- Published: 23:59 August 7, 2008
A verdict has been delivered, but justice has not been done and the so-called war on terror has not been served well. Salim Hamdan was found guilty of providing material support for terrorism by a Guantanamo military commission. Since the Second World War, Hamdan, who admitted to working as Osama Bin Laden's driver and occasional bodyguard, was the first person to face a US war crimes tribunal.
The uniformed jurors cleared him of conspiring in terrorist attacks. But this case proves that the military commissions do not work. During one of the commission's private sessions, Hamdan made an offer to provide assistance in capturing his former boss. This was not followed up by the US authorities. The whole argument of those in favour of Guantanamo is that it provided the US military with the framework, free from legal "contamination'', for getting just this type of information. Yet in this case, it was not acted upon.
On top of this, Hamdan's and any other convictions by the commissions could be invalidated some time in the future after a series of recent US court rulings that the commissions are unlawful. Let the US Federal courts deal with terror suspects, they are certainly more capable than Guantanamo.
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