Much Ado About

What? What?!

David Hicks, the alleged Australian al-Qaida terrorist, will finally go home and serve 9 months of a 7 year sentence. We held on to this guy for 5 years, and claimed he was a threat to us and to the world, and this is what we wind up with after a military tribunal?!?!?!?!?!?!?!

Let me be clear, I think it's long past time to close Gitmo and shut down that entire operation. It flies in the face of the notions of justice that Americans have long cherished. It exists as a legal fig leaf for an Administration that could best be described as The Gang That Couldn't Shoot Straight, or would The Keystone Kops fit better?

Of course he gives up all rights to claiming he was badly treated:

The plea agreement for Hicks, a 31-year-old Muslim convert, faces requires that he drop any claims of mistreatment by the U.S. government since he was captured in Afghanistan and taken to Guantanamo Bay five years ago, said the judge, Marine Corps Col. Ralph Kohlmann. {emphasis mine}

And just so you know how dangerous he is:

Appearing at the U.S. military's war crimes tribunal court at Guantanamo on Friday, Hicks acknowledged that he trained with al-Qaida in Afghanistan and fought with its forces against U.S. allies in Afghanistan in late 2001 for two hours and then sold his gun to raise cab fare and tried to flee to Pakistan.

Boy, some world class terrorist he turns out to be. Two hours of fighting and you get 5 years in a foreign slammer with no family contact. Sounds ever so Third Worldish to me. But this is America and we hardly ever make mistakes that we'll own up to. Let that be a lesson to all those terrorist wannabes. WE are America and no one messes with us!

19 months of Bushie lunacy to go. I hope I can hold out that long.