British detainees 'heading home'

AAP ^ | 11/30/03 | AAp

[Mark Felton]

LONDON and Washington are reportedly set to strike a deal for the return of nine British terror suspects held by the United States at a naval base in Cuba.

The detainees' lawyer Clive Stafford Smith has told newspapers one of the detainees had been forced to admit taking part in an al-Qaeda plot to attack Britain's parliament.

Stafford Smith says the deal to have the detainees returned to Britain will be tied up by Christmas. Washington says the detainees - among 660 prisoners from 42 countries being held in Guantanamo Bay - are all enemy combatants ineligible for due legal process.

Many of them were swept up during the US-led war that ousted the Taliban regime from Afghanistan at the end of 2001.

He's told The Observer the deal will most likely consist of the British having to plead guilty on some nonsense charge and come back home to serve their sentence.

[rogue yam]

Hey MF -

How do you feel about this text:

"to plead guilty on some nonsense charge"

Tell me MF, do you hate America? Are you a lying communist piece of crap? I mean, what the heck? Do you see this piece as anything other than anti-American communist screed? Why even post this nonsense? I'm curious. Please inform.

[Mark Felton]

get some sleep. you're hysterical.

[rogue yam]

Sounds like guilty as charged.

[sgtbono2002]

It will be fun to see if these folks are greeted with open arms.

[Pedantic_Lady]

I have no problem transferring British subjects to British custody. The idea of Britain essentially dictating the terms of American prosecution, however, bugs me a little. IMO, Britain is missing a huge opportunity here, both to let the US handle these cretins at our own expense, and also to let the US mete out honest-to-goodness American justice. Their loss, our gain. (Unless the British establishment forces the Government to release the prisoners back into the wild, and they come back and harm us.)

Heh...you don't know anything about British society! I think there would be open rioting in the streets if any of these British subjects were actually convicted in a military tribunal or executed. You're seriously misjudging the depth of feeling about this in the UK. Tony Blair wants to stay in power, and this is one way he's doing it...cutting a deal with Bush to get his subjects out.

What I would like to see is them tried openly in public court, either in the UK or the US. We need to figure out what is motivating young British men of Asian origin to fight American and British troops. Do none dare call it treason?

[Pedantic_Lady]

The British public, however, appears to have taken a surprisingly hard line on the fate of the British captives. A YouGov poll for The Sunday Times shows today that 50% of people believe Abbasi and Begg should be tried by a US military tribunal, and only 43% that they should face a British court.

The Sunday Times is a conservative newspaper with a conservative readership, so that poll is skewed.

[Pedantic_Lady]

Islamism, communism, leftwing media, ideological anti-British indoctrination by the state education system, living in a society in which Abu Hamza is tolerated but right-minded people fear doing the right thing...

Interesting theories, but I don't think any of those are the right answer; otherwise, there'd be a hell of a lot more British subjects at Guantanamo Bay.

[DugwayDuke]

"What I would like to see is them tried openly in public court, either in the UK or the US. We need to figure out what is motivating young British men of Asian origin to fight American and British troops."

Why do you need a "public court" trial to learn they were motivated by militant Islaam?

[DugwayDuke]

"The detainees' lawyer Clive Stafford Smith has told newspapers one of the detainees had been forced to admit taking part in an al-Qaeda plot to attack Britain's parliament."

So, it starts already, the day after these guys are back in Britain you can expect all sorts of "revalations" about how abused, neglected, etc, these poor misunderstood young men were at Gitmo.

[NutCrackerBoy]

Nothing we can do about ["revalations" about how abused, neglected, etc, these poor misunderstood young men were at Gitmo] except deny, deny, deny. Tony Blair needed this bone [winning legal battle over evil Uncle Sam to give UK back their soveriegn citizens] desperately.

[steveegg]

As long as some Paras get to handle the punishment,.... (however, I somehow doubt that this will be the case).

[cake_crumb]

"He's told The Observer the deal will most likely consist of the British having to plead guilty on some nonsense charge and come back home to serve their sentence"

I certainly hope they aren't allowed to plead guilty to "some nonsense charge". Then again, those words did come from a lawyer defending al Qaeda.

[tjwmason]

IMO, Britain is missing a huge opportunity here, both to let the US handle these cretins at our own expense, and also to let the US mete out honest-to-goodness American justice.

Given that there is no capital punishment over here, and that most of the evidence which has been gathered at Camp Delta X-ray would be found as inadmissible in a British court; I am happy for you to try them.

However, I am not mainstream Labour Party. The problem is that the P.M. took a massive risk in supporting the U.S., and he is also trying to get measures on education and health through which the mainstream Labour Party hates. Getting these guys inside one of H.M. Prisons would be a useful sop to the unreconstructed communists who form much of Mr. Blair's party.

That said, a trial over here would be an horrendous risk, as I said above most of the evidence would be refused, there is a chance that they would be aquitted because of lack of evidence, then we start all over again. A U.S. trial (with all the evidence) or a form of plea-bargain which got them over here for the sentence would probably work best.

[Cicero]

I'd guess the poll is reasonably accurate. But Tony Blair needs to mend fences with his Labour Party base. He doesn't care what the Tories think.

[Mr. K]

Articles are posted that both agree and disagree with Freepers viewpoints- We do not gain anything by ignoring what the opposition thinks and says. That is why articles are posted that show idiot liberal viewpoints. Do not attribute the sentiments of the article to the poster.