Major Michael Daniel Mori
For the un-informed, Major Daniel Mori of the U.S. Marine Corps is the appointed attorney of Australian GTMO Detainee David Matthew Hicks, for some reason the press keeps referring to him as Major Michael Mori, apparently his preferred name is Daniel or Dan, and that's coming from the guy himself, a somewhat reliable source.The Australian Lawyers Alliance hosted the Major in what can only be described and a passionate and insightful speech in relation to the charges against David Hicks as well as House Resolution 6166 (H.R. 6166) or somewhat better known as the "Military Commissions Act of 2006." (MCA)
I intend this to be the first post of two, addressing both topics covered by Mori, I had intended to tape the lecture, but was unable to courtesy of misplacing the Dictaphone, so whilst these words are my own, they are inspired by the talk the Major gave, if at any stage you have to opportunity to listen to the Major, I strongly recommend it. There is an Mp3 of the Major's talk at the Australian National University from August this year (available here) I haven't listened to it yet, but presume it would be of a similar nature.
First things first the charges against Hicks:
Hicks' charged conduct is triable by a military commission, he is charged with Conspiracy, Attempted Murder by an Unprivileged Belligerent and Aiding the Enemy.
Charge Number One: Conspiracy
According to the MCA:
§950v. Crimes triable by military commissions
(28) Conspiracy – Any person subject to this chapter who conspires to commit one or more substantive offenses triable by military commission under this chapter, and who knowingly does any overt act to effect the object of the conspiracy, shall be punished, if death results to one or more of the victims, by death or such other punishment as a military commission under this chapter may direct, and , if death does not result to any of the victims, by such punishment, other than death, as a military commission under this chapter may direct.
In alleging the charge of Conspiracy in United States v. David Hicks:
19. David Matthew Hicks… In Afghanistan, from on or about January 1,2001 to on or about December 2001, willfully and knowingly joined an enterprise of persons who shared a common criminal purpose and conspired and agreed with Muhammad Atef, Saif al Adel, Usama bin Laden, and other members and associates of the al Qaida organization, known and unknown, to commit the following offenses triable by military commission: attacking civilians; attacking civilian objects; murder by an unprivileged belligerent; destruction of property by and unprivileged belligerent; and terrorism.
This is the important part… They are not charging Hicks with attacking civilians; attacking civilian objects; murder by an unprivileged belligerent; destruction of property by an unprivileged belligerent; and terrorism, they are saying that the others did that, but Hicks is guilty because he was there, in Afghanistan…
Further allegations against Hicks in support of the Conspiracy charge…
g. On or about August 2001, Hicks participated in an advanced al Qaida course on information collection and surveillance in an apartment in Kabul, Afghanistan. This course included “practical application” where Hicks and others conducted surveillance of various targets in Kabul, including the U.S. and British embassies, and submitted reports.
Sounds like Hicks was a major operative for al Qaida’s surveillance wing, However, Major Mori pointed out that the British and U.S. Embassies closed in 1989 and weren’t open in August 2001. It is presumed that his report back to al Qaida was… They are closed…
l. On or about October 2001, after Coalition bombing operations commenced, Hicks joined an armed group outside the airport, where they guarded a Taliban tank.
Um… Yeah… Tanks… Bad… One man guarding a tank… That’s a whole lot of protection.
Charge number two: Attempted Murder by an Unprivileged Belligerent
In an interview with Andrew Denton the transcript of which can be found here, Major Mori, when asked what the charge meant, answered:
ANDREW DENTON: "An unprivileged belligerent"? Meaning what?
MAJOR MICHAEL MORI: I don't know what they mean. They made it up.
ANDREW DENTON: So you're his defense counsel...
MAJOR MICHAEL MORI: Yes.
ANDREW DENTON: ...And you can't even define what the term 'unprivileged belligerent' means. How do you defend that?
MAJOR MICHAEL MORI: Well, their view was, everybody on the Taliban side. Anybody on the Taliban side was a war criminal because they resisted the invasion of their country. I didn't quite understand that. Then it was, as you heard the administration, their position was, "Well they didn't wear proper uniforms." So I started thinking about that. I said, "What about the Northern Alliance? What about the CIA they were fighting in Afghanistan? They weren't wearing proper uniforms." So it really can't be a crime and it's not a crime, but they had to try to fabricate something.
Unprivileged belligerent isn’t covered in the MCA, the charge sheet says:
…Hicks…, in Afghanistan between on or about September 11, 2001 and December 1, 2001 as a perpetrator, co-conspirator, member of an enterprise of persons who shared a common criminal purpose, an aider or abettor, or some combination thereof, attempted to murder divers persons by directing small arms fire, explosives, and other means intended to kill American, British, Canadian, Australian, Afghan, and other Coalition forces, while he did not enjoy combatant immunity and such conduct taking place in the context of and associated with armed conflict.
According to Mori, a point of contention against this charge may have to do with the absence of Australian and Canadian forces in Afghanistan at the time that Hicks’ allegedly shot at them… They haven’t exactly defined Afghan forces either, unless they mean the Northern Alliance, which last time I checked, in 2001 were somewhat of a rebel force maybe, perhaps?
Third Charge: Aiding the Enemy
MCA:
Any person subject to this chapter, who, in breach of an allegiance or duty to the United States, knowingly and intentionally aids an enemy of the United States, or one of the co-belligerents of the enemy, shall be punished as a military commission under this chapter may direct.
Hicks Charge Sheet:
… Hicks, in Afghanistan between on or about January 1, 2001, and December 1, 2001, intentionally aided the enemy, to wit: al Qaida and the Taliban, such conduct taking place in the context of and associated with armed conflict.
So Hicks didn’t swear allegiance to the United States, He is Australian, much like me, my father, and my uncle. We didn’t swear an allegiance to the United States, we have no duty to the United States, well none that I am aware of. The two other contributors to this Blog are Canadian, I’ll have to check, but I am pretty sure that they are yet to swear an allegiance to the US, Steven Harper the Canadian PM may have, we all know that Aussie PM John Howard has… (well I can’t back that up entirely but he may as well have)
Keep in mind that Hicks was in school until grade 9, the Australian Military wouldn’t allow him to join because he wasn’t smart enough, his punishment for not being smart enough?
Hicks has spent the last 5 years at GTMO, most of which in solitary confinement, I looked for pictures but couldn’t find any… Abdullah Tabra a former spokesperson for the Taliban a man who could quite easily be charged with the same if not more charges than David is not inside Camp X-Ray at Guantanamo Bay, he is busy, studying at YALE UNIVERSITY, and yes I do mean the Yale University in the United States.
My next post will be a angry tirade about the Military Commissions Act, and it’s future nightmare in regard to International Relations. I’ll begin my conclusion by quoting the Major as seen in the Denton Interview.
"I believe he's been mistreated and physically assaulted, and, through my investigation, I've confirmed it. What's interesting, it came out and became an issue with the Australian Government, and they of course, are only relying on the assurances by the US administration. I'll give you an example, because they conducted an investigation. One of the allegations was that David was with a group of other detainees that were taken from a ship to a piece of land, they were hooded and bound at the time, and that they were randomly beaten. So then they conducted their investigation and spoke to other detainees that were there that had been beaten as well and said, "I was hit," as well. But that didn't support David's story because they were hooded and they could not see David being beaten. You see, they can always try to find some way to support that doesn't confirm what happened. Any logical person would say that if five people go out and all five people say they were hit at this time, that that supports that."
What may be easy to forget is that this is a Major in the United States Military who is so disgusted at the way his country is behaving, that he is in Australia, asking Australians to help him force the Australian Government into action. No US citizen is in GTMO, No US citizen can be tried with any offences listed in the Military Commisions act. The British government were so disgusted with GTMO that they got their citizens out... And Australian born David Hicks sits there still, in his solitary confinement cell (the dimensions escape me) waiting, for over 5 years for his day in court, I mean court marshall, oh no, it's a commission...
Whilst I work on the next post about the joke of an Act the US Congress has passed, whilst you are thinking about what you have read here, or listened via the ANU link or the Denton interview, and you start to think about what it is you can do, before you go to radical go to GetUp! – Action for Australia, or just click here, sign the petition, then write to your local Member of Parliament or Head of State for that matter, no matter what country you are reading this from. Don’t let David Hicks become a statistic, and remember…
Silence = Death
posted by Mark @ 10:15 PM
3 Comments:
Refering to your first paragraph, I believe Denton himself referred to him as 'Michael' (I consulted the infamous 'notebook' and it reads the same.)
But remember he said his real name is Dante, and Denton remarked how ironic that was.
I think it is time for us all to stand up and ask: "What has happened to the Australian spirit?" Doesn't anyone recall the reaction to the British military shooting Harry 'Breaker' Morant after his court marshall?
Australians stood up as one and told the British that they were never to execute any of our soldiers ever again - and the British listened - it never happened again. It did not matter whether Morant was guilty or not guilty - he was ours to deal with, not a foreign power.
We have lost sight of the fact that David Hicks is not the issue, the issue is that an Australian has been held in solitary confinement at Guantanamo Bay for five (5) years without charge, except for some childish effort regarding spying on the U.S. and British consulates in Afganistan, which had in fact been closed 2 years prior to the date of the offence. They were just buildings!
Another thing, how can the U.S. government, and by extension the Australian government accept that it is okay for the U.S. interrogators to obtain information as a result of torture prior to the 31st of December 2005 (and it would be admissable evidence), but as of January 1 2006, the interrogators could no longer torture, what a disgraceful act, and we are supposed to have the justice system that the rest of the world should adopt!
David Hicks is not the issue, he is just the catalyst for exposing the gutless and subservient nature of the Australian Government under John Howard, by extension, Australian people would have to be regarded as gutless for allowing the government to continue this pathetic charade.
Whilst I cannot speak for Australian war veterans, I believe that they would not have fought for a country that does not have the spine to stand up for justice for their own people.
Getting back to John Howard, what a typical schoolyard bully! When dealing with powerful nations such as Indonesia he is respectful and wary of offending them. But wait, if you are from a small Pacific nation watch out - lift your game or we will stop aid to your country - remember Australia is the deputy sherrif - George Bush Junior said so himself!
Well, it is not the Pacific nations that need to lift their collective games. Australia before you throw mud, make sure that your own backyard is clean!
Well what a turnaround, the British told Bush that they would look after their own prisoners, but the Australians did not.
The Australians who stood up to Britain after the execution of Breaker Morant must be rollng in their graves after recognising just what a gutless and subservient nation that we have become!
M.G.
So because 'Unprivileged Beligerent' is a "made up" term, what does this mean for the charge of attempted murder as an unprivileged beligerent? Is that made up or because it is coming from powers that far exceed everyone else that it is going to stick?
Regardless of the charges, Bono said it all at about 9:35pm Tuesday, bring Hicks home.
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