Jul. 12, 2004 - 21:33 MDT

THE WONDERING JEW

HUP !

Wonder what next ? An editorial in a recent Denver paper (Rocky Mountain News or The Denver Post if on Sunday) brings up an interesting point.

Too little, too late for detainees

"In a hasty response to the Supreme Court decision granting the 595 detainees at Guantanamo Bay the right to challenge their imprisonment in federal court, the Bush administration plans to set up what it calls Combat Review Tribunals." It is a belated step to regularize and review the status of the detainees, and a long time coming, considering the prison opened in January 2002."

"The review tribunals are to consist of three U.S. military officers and are to determine whether each detainee fits the administration's definition of an illegal enemy combatant. That is the formulation the administration has used to exempt the detainees from the protections of the Geneva Conventions."

"Each detainee is to have a non-lawyer officer as a "personal representative." The detainee will be present at the hearing, have an interpreter, be allowed to present evidence and question witnesses and even present witnesses of his own if readily available." If the panel finds a detainee is not a combatant, he will be repatriated to his home country."

"The Bush administration believes that the Status Review Tribunals will strengthen their hand in federal court by arguing that the detention of the detainees was not completely arbitrary. But the administration might have left the detainees in legal limbo too long. The final determination of the detainees' status may now be out of the administration's hands and up to the federal appeals process."

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Could it be possible that the Mighty Bush Empire waited too long ? Since January 2002 ? Perish the thought. Those non-lawyer military folks who are to be "personal representatives" for the detainees cause me to laugh at the thought. Hell they wil be standing up to a tribunal well versed in the law. Somehow I just hope the bulk of the detainees are released to their countries along with compensation for the time they were held since January of 2002. My opinion, such as it is.

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Rian sent me the words to the complete poem today, it is by Ella Wheeler Wilcox.

Growing Old

The days grow shorter, the nights grow longer;

The headstones thicken along the way;

And life grows sadder, but love grows stronger

For those who walk with us day by day.

The tear comes quicker, the laught comes slower;

The courage is lesser to do and dare;

And the tide of joy in the heart falls lower

And seldom covers the reefs of care.

But all true things in the world seem truer,

And the better things of earth seem best,

And friends are dearer, as friends are fewer,

And love is all as ur sun dips west.

Then let us clasp hands as we walk together,

And let us speak in low sweet tones,

For no man knows on the morrow whether

We two pass on -- or but one alone.

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To me still words of wisdom worthy of thought.

And I wonder Who in the administration recognized the probem and said to the boss, Hup ! . . . . . . . .

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