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> Ghassan al Sharbi Captured in Faisalabad, Pakistan in March 2002, al-Sharbi was transferred to Guantanamo Bay later that year. In 2006, al-Sharbi told a mili
by stickfigure 4y ago
> Ghassan al Sharbi
Captured in Faisalabad, Pakistan in March 2002, al-Sharbi was transferred to Guantanamo Bay later that year. In 2006, al-Sharbi told a military commission that he was a member of al-Qaeda and proud of his actions against the United States. Serious war crimes charges were dropped against him in October 2008, as it had been found they were based on evidence gained through torture of Abu Zubaydah. Al-Sharbi had a habeas corpus petition which his father had initiated on his behalf; when it reached the court in March 2009, al-Sharbi requested that it be dismissed. He did not want to pursue it.
Al-Sharbi was held at Guantanamo for twenty years.
The rest of his wikipedia page is not particularly flattering. I don't know to what extent the quasi-justice system that applies to enemy combatants went off the rails here, but I do know that if you're being accused of waging war against the United States, maybe chanting "May God help me fight the infidels or the unfaithful ones" is a bad idea.
> David Matthew Hicks
His story is way too complex to summarize here, but the Wikipedia page is fascinating: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Hicks https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Hicks
Say what you will, a lot of legal process (good and bad) was applied, and we're talking about a guy who sought out and attended an al-Qaeda training camp in Afghanistan. He spent 5 years in Gitmo. This is not someone who challenged a political leader by calling him a funny name.
The word "vanished" is a massive over-dramatization.
- gizmo 4y agoHow about Abdulrahman al-Awlaki? 16 year old American, vaporized by intentional US drone strike. For the crime of being the son of an alleged terrorist.
- lazide 4y agoNot defending - but you know what happened to him. That’s the opposite of vanished. Vanished would be things like [https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Death_flights https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Death_flights] where many of the victims were never recorded, and literally no one from their lives knows what happened to them - and many of the perpetrators have taken the memories to their graves, or never knew the victims names to begin with.
- pessimizer 4y agoI thought from the quotes that you were trying to show someone who was held without trial for 20 years based on accusations extracted through torture at a black site as an example of something bad. Instead, you seem to be saying that he asked for it because he was rude. Real twist ending.
- stickfigure 4y agoI'd say that comment goes a bit beyond rude. When you're being interrogated, even in US domestic criminal cases, the rule is "everything you say can and will be used against you". If you're suspected of giving material aid to the enemy in wartime, saying "I'm a member of al-Qaeda, I'm proud of my actions against the United States, may God help me fight the infidels" is the kind of thing that will get you convicted - of something. Did the guy deserve to spend 20 years in Gitmo? Maybe not. But if I look into my heart of hearts, I genuinely have a tough time feeling too much sympathy. The crazy guy off his meds who points a fake gun at police officers probably didn't deserve to get shot to death either, but that's just what happens.