Friday, March 30, 2007

Punishment fit for a . . . terrorist?

David Hicks - painted by the Bush administration as a terrorist guilty of conspiracy, attempted murder, and aiding the enemy - was today sentenced to nine months in prison for "material support of terrorism."

A sentence of nine months is a far cry from the original 20 years sought by the prosecution. Such a discrepancy, not only in the length of the prison sentence, but also in the prosecution's dropped charges, demonstrates the increasingly-tenuous grip that the government has over its prosecution of alleged terrorists. That, coupled with the fact that only 10 of the 385 detainees have actually been charged with a crime in the five years they have been detained, only underscores the dubious allegations made by the government.

When the government's smoke and mirrors game is revealed for what it is - political grandstanding, at best - it becomes clear that the administration's old and dry tactic of using inflated rhetoric is losing its oomph.

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