The Guantanamo Four

[RC]

Apparently the British government has given some unspecified "assurances" to the American government regarding the future of these four men, in order to get them released. I would be interested to know what members think ought to be done with them when they are returned.

[gil]

No doubt their case notes will precede them. On the basis of the evidence against them they should be re-arrested, charged and tried, or released (their passports confiscated for a year on a precautionary basis).

Frankly, when they were (apparently) captured with guns in their hands fighting for the Taliban, I was inclined to call them traitors (though quite a few Brits, including my father, fought on one or another side in the Spanish Civil War). After the way they've been treated, I'd rather let them off for time served.

[Wavid]

gil! I demand you tell us more about your father and the Spanish Civil War! I do remember distantly in Palimpular past that you have some connection with old Eric Blair - is this how that came about?

edit: found gil's post here (http://www.palimpsest.org.uk/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?p=11272#11272).

[HP]

Can you imagine the media scramble to try and secure these men's stories of their incarceration at Guantanamo? Or will the four in question have been effectively silenced by some means or other? From the shots of prisoners shuffling around or being carted on stretchers, it isn't too way out to imagine their interrogators using torture in some form. If so, can't see the US government wanting those sort of details released, can you? Wouldn't you just love to know exactly what sort of deal has been brokered - I know I would!

[amner]

The Spanish Civil War point is well-made, gil. It's the old conjugation:

I am a freedom fighter
You are a guerilla
He is a terrorist

If their uniforms were a different colour Mel Gibson would be making The Patriot 2. No matter. Again, as gil says, they should be judged on the basis of the evidence against them.

[bakunin_the_cat]

If the government has any evidence that they've committed any crime prosecutable under British law they should stand trial. Otherwise they should be released. Call it a fundamental human right or something, no imprisonment without trial, theoretically at least one of the things that differentiate free democracies from dictatorships.

While we're on the subject has anyone heard anything more about Britain's own Guantanamo, Belmarsh? The last I heard, the government was still discussing whether to admit phone-tap evidence.

Also is it just me, or is the fact that rich western governments can get their people out of Guantanamo, while leaving their less fortunate fellow prisoners to rot, more than a little shameful. If the British government and the UN were serious they'd put a lot more pressure on the Americans to give everybody there a fair trial or let them go.

[RC]

From a Guardian article (Vikram Dodd, Jan. 27):

Lieutenant Commander Flex Plexico, a Pentagon spokesman, said the US still believed the four men posed a security threat and that the Britons' release without charge should not bring into question their three-year detainment at Guantánamo. He said the US believed they posed a continued threat but had been able to work out a way of transferring them back to the UK.

FLEX PLEXICO ?? They've got to be kidding. :shock: :D

[NottyImp]

Flex Plexico... man of plastic!

What a truly remarkable name. Although I did see the surname "Jackwad" recently, which gave me pause.

[John Self]

ITV News does a fine line in silly reporters' names. My favourites are Nina Nannar (http://www.itn.co.uk/itv/reporters/itv_nannar.shtml)and of course the now legendary Romilly Weeks (http://www.itn.co.uk/itv/reporters/itv_weeks.shtml). It really is such a fine line between that and The Day Today-based names like Collately Sisters (http://www.uktv.co.uk/uktvG2/More.cfm?ccs=16&cs=149).

[amner]

hey look, that's nothing on Flip Spiceland:


http://wxia.com/art/perm/aboutus/bios/anchors/lg_155_spiceland.jpg
Flip Spiceland
Last Modified: 4/30/2004 8:36:22 AM
Former CNN weather anchor Flip Spiceland joined 11Alive’s First Alert Storm Team March 5, 2001.

Spiceland anchors the station’s morning and noon newscasts. He is teamed with Jill Becker, Ken Watts and sports anchor Randy Waters weekday mornings.

Spiceland is a familiar face to many. He was at CNN for 21 years, where his forecasts were broadcast in more than 211 countries and territories.

"I am thrilled to be with 11Alive. And, after more than two decades living in the best place in the world, we never want to leave the Atlanta area," said Spiceland upon joining 11Alive.

With the addition of Spiceland, 11Alive Storm Team members Paul Ossmann, Chris Holcomb and Steve Adamson now combine for more than 45 years of forecasting experience in the Atlanta area.

Before joining CNN, Spiceland was a weather forecaster for the nightly news at KNTV-TV in San Jose, Calif. Prior to that, he was at WICS-TV in Springfield, Ill. He holds a bachelor’s degree from Illinois State University.

Spiceland currently lives in Marietta with his wife and two children.

Or even, as it mentions above, 'Randy Waters'.

[NottyImp]

There is a lecturer at my college called Sandy Bywater, which I always though was rather a nice name.

[ono no komachi]

I once had the privilege of working in the vicinity of two gentlemen named Lucky Lakatos and Randy Spangle.

I'd have just loved to be a fly on the wall when those two went out to pick up chicks.

[Maggie]

When I was still working in the ICU unit at the hospital, we had a patient who came in often,he was elderly and had a lot of health issues. His name : Harry Dick.
Not Harold either, Harry. I think I'd have some issues with my parents as well as my health if I were him.


Maggie