Originally captured by British troops in Iraq in 2004, Bagram detainee Yunus Rahmatullah remains in US custody. And despite a writ of habeas corpus to bring Rahmatullah to Britain, a Court of Appeals today announced that it simply isn’t going to happen.
According to the Court’s statement, it simply isn’t going to be able to comply with the writ, and it “accepts” that failure. The justification, according to the government’s lawyer in the case James Eadie, is that the US simply isn’t going to release Rahmatullah under any circumstances.
“The Americans are not going to play ball,” insisted Eadie. “They don’t accept that we have an unqualified right and that they have an unqualified obligation under international law.”
Rahmatullah is being held without charges by the US, and while the Court of Appeal agrees that his detention is “unlawful” it is at this point content to give up. Reprieve, the British group trying to secure his release, has promised to continue the effort, saying that the British government could face war crimes charges for his rendition to the US, given its inability to convince the US to honor its agreements on detainees.
"How to Make Friends and Influence People," the American way. Such belligerence on the part a US Court of Appeals only works to distance us, as a nation, even further from our friends in the world. Our country is continuously changing its image in the world, long after belligerent Bush departed the scene – we are consistent to say the least. Someday we will need friends, everybody does. Those kinds of decisions will come back to bite us, commercially and diplomatically.
If the poodles in the British government had any testicular fortitude they would now tell the US government that since it won't abide by its past agreements then it can not under any circumstances be relied upon to abide by its agreements in future and that therefore the one-sided extradition treaty between the UK and the US is now cancelled. They don' t, so they won't most likely because they are already "owned" by the CIA!
The United States of Amerika is done. Rule of law is collapsed and an ugly insane immorality rules the day.
If our government refuses to obey law, well, so can the citizens.
The citizens can't because they will be punished to the full extent of the law. Just please be careful, I am sure your email violates some aspects of the Patriot law. If it doesn't violate Patriot law you may still be charged with sedition like the old Egyptian blind sheikh. But, wait a minute, there is no need to charge anyone of anything as long as the President determines…