Saturday, August 29, 2009

Why Is He Still Alive?

According to the Australian, Hambali, Al Qaeda's "chief of operations" in Southeast Asia, can't be prosecuted for the Bali bombings because of "lack of evidence." There's near "universal consensus" that he was involved, but apparently direct proof is lacking. Since he's a known leader of Al Qaeda, and tied to other terrorist attacks, he is "almost certain to remain in custody." Isn't that reassuring?

Hambali was captured by the U.S. way back in 2003, and has been at Guantanamo ever since. According to the article, he is
implicated in a string of attacks across Indonesia, including the 2003 attack on Jakarta's Marriott Hotel that claimed 12 lives and a series of Christmas Eve church bombings that killed 19.
This situation is a prime example of foolish legalism, and the stupidity of pretending that non-state terrorists should be prosecuted as if they were a normal criminals. This individual is a leader of an organization at war with the U.S., one which deliberately targeted our civilian population, has signed no treaties, obeys no laws, and deserves no consideration or rights whatsoever. 

We have held Hambali for six years, and are currently wasting time and resources trying to prove him guilty of crimes, as if his status as an Al Qaeda leader were somehow in doubt. He should have been summarily executed long ago, after we extracted every bit of useful intelligence that he had.

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