NOTE: Free essay sample provided on this page should be used for references or sample purposes only. The sample essay is available to anyone, so any direct quoting without mentioning the source will be considered plagiarism by schools, colleges and universities that use plagiarism detection software. To get a completely brand-new, plagiarism-free essay, please use our essay writing service.
One click instant price quote
Articles Critique The race is not to the swift, nor the battle to the strong, Nor bread to the wise, nor wealth to the intelligent, Nor success to the skilful; Time and chance govern all. Ecclesiastes. There is a wild spirit of adventure that looks like malice. Nietzsche. In the two articles The Australian left to rot behind bars by Gay Alcorn and Justice required but mercy is not by Piers Akerman authors discuss whether David Hicks, an Australian citizen and a member of Al-Queda is fairly kept at the US military base in Cuba. Both authors agree that Hicks should no longer be kept there, it has to be a trial for him.
Alcorn, however, is convinced that Hicks should be treated fairly, which would mean keeping all his human rights protected. The author is outraged by the fact that David has not been charged with any crime in Australia. He has not been charged with any crime in Afghanistan. He is detained without charge, without trial and without access to family or consular assistance. Akerman, on the other hand, is very much against Hicks release and is quite radical about all Al-Queda members, and finishes his article by saying: there can be justice, but no mercy, for those who choose, however misguidedly, to cast their lot in with people determined to destroy Western culture and plunge the world back into the medieval choose.
The first articles is very well organized and structured. It is extremely easy to read and the point the author is trying to make becomes obvious from the very first paragraph. Alcorn tells about David Hicks fathers attempts for the fair judgment of his son and that gives a good understanding of what the article is further going to be about. The second article, on the contrary, requires a background on the issue in order to understand what it is about.
There are too many names and people in the Akerman's article and the reader who is completely new to the topic get very confused. Only after reading the last paragraph it becomes clear what the authors point is. The first article, The Australian left to rot behind bars, provides sufficient arguments and enough background about the issue. It tells that David Hicks was captured by the Northern Alliance in Afghanistan while traveling with Taliban soldiers who were defending their territory from the Northern Alliance. Davids father, Terry, said his son seemed unaware of the September 11 attacks and extremely doubtful of their authenticity when they spoke on a mobile phone a few days after the American bombing campaign had begun. Since Davids capture he has been handed over to the Americans who have moved him to Cuba and the infamous Camp X-ray.
He remains there uncharged after numerous interrogations by both American and Australian government military officers and / or officials. An Internet page web tells that David was detained in a small cage for more than five months, and was transferred to a small shed type prison cell about the middle of 2002. There is a bed, no chair and no window. The lights are on twenty four hours a day. He has only two fifteen minute exercise periods a week where he is walked shackled between two guards.
He is forced to wear an overall type uniform whether it is forty-three degrees Centigrade (over one hundred degrees Fahrenheit) or less. All of it proves that Alcorn has a sufficient background on the topic and gives his readers accurate facts only. The second article focuses on too many Al-Queda members, such as Malcolm Stewart and John Walker Lindh, and compares them to David Hicks. It is sometimes very unclear about which of the terrorists the author is talking about in particular or if he is talking all of them in general. The tone of the Akerman's article is very harsh and clearly shows that the author has no mercy to these people at all. When a reader, who is completely unfamiliar with the issue of David Hicks and other Al-Queda members reads both articles, he / she forms his / her opinion on the topic based on the amount of evidence, facts and background to the issue given by the author.
It may be said, therefore, that Alcorn's audience is the general public: both people who have come across the issue and those who never did. He gives enough information to the freshmen, so that they understand what he is talking about, and at the same time, does not overload it with the information, not to bore those who know much on this topic. Justice required but mercy is not, on the other hand has a different focus. Its audience seems to be people who have previously heard and thought about this topic. This article is more argumentative, than informative.
The opinion about the topic has been formed based on both articles. It seems that even if it can be proved that David is innocent, the only evidence they will allow is the intelligence they have gathered at Guantanamo Bay. This means information gathered under stress and duress, which would not be admissible in any Australian court. And the bottom line in these trials is that President Bush makes the final decision on everything, and it is not fair. There are so many things wrong about this that it is hard to know when to stop.
One thing that should happen though is that Mr Howard should be hauled into court for saying that David Hicks is guilty before he has been charged or put on trial. This is illegal. Regardless of whether David is innocent or guilty, he cannot be kept prisoner in this way. It seems to be a total violation of human rights. The basic point is since they have not been charged after 20 months, they should be released. If it can be done with prisoners from other countries like Afghanistan and Pakistan then why cannot it be done with Australian citizens.
The US and Australian governments keep trying to create the impression that if the Guantanamo Bay prisoners are released, they will return home and become sleeper terrorists. Howards attempts at this sort of thing are pathetic. He is clutching at straws, but the straws are getting shorter (web). It may seem strange, but Adelaide born David Hicks has much in common with Hemming way and Koestler.
More than a person might imagine, for each of the three was (is in the case of Hicks) an adventurous spirit with the soul of a poet. The news media in Australia even had some blonde bimbo of an early morning news presenter read to us an alleged example of Hicks verse as an intended means of denigrating him. After all, when evaluating poetry, it is timely to bear in mind the inescapable fact that facility with pentameter can be developed over time, for it is merely a craft, but the real art of the poem resides in its content. Secondly, all three involved themselves in the internal conflict of a foreign nation. The Spanish civil war in the case of Ernest and Arthur and the Afgani civil war in the case of David, who unlike his two literary colleagues actually took up arms in the defense of the governing party (Taliban), which a decade earlier had won the admiration of the U.
S. by booting out the Russians and bringing the evil empire to its knees. So then, no one could suggest that these three men are not kindred spirits (warrior poets), but what disparate fates awaited them purely on the basis of time and chance. The first two were pronounced heroes, while David, due to nothing more than a shift in cultural values over time, has been branded a pariah.
In any event, how was David Hicks supposed to have been able to foretell that the U. S. would invade Afganistan, kidnap him from within the jurisdiction of a sovereign country, and finally invent a new status (illegal combatant) permitting them to keep him at arms length from due process until hell freezes over, until the war on terror is won. (web) The U. S.
has been undergoing an interesting socio political process of evolution for the last three centuries or more. What with its witch trials, slavery, civil war, McCarthyism, Pentecostalism and jumping paranoia, its little wonder that reason struggles to get a back seat. Since John Howard formed his close friendship with US President George W Bush, many Australians could be forgiven for thinking that he could use his influence to further Australian interests. The looming trial of David Hicks is evidence that the Prime Minister has failed to take the opportunity to use this influence to the advantage of an Australian citizen. David Hicks has been held in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba in a US military camp for 19 months, without trial or charge, in conditions that can only be described as cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment. Mr.
Hicks may or may not be a terrorist, but the birthright of all Australians is that their Government will fight for their legal rights when they are imprisoned overseas. The Government should demand the same treatment for Australians as is received by citizens of the United States. The only US combatant captured in Afghanistan, John Walker Lindh, was offered a criminal trial in the United States before a court with full legal rights and due process in accordance with US law. By contrast, one of Australian citizens will face a military commission without any right to appeal. The commission will not be independent from the US Government and will not operate under the standard rules of evidence. Mr Hicks will have a lawyer chosen for him by the US Government and his own Australian lawyer will be limited to the role of a consultant.
Recently, Government Ministers have pre-empted the legal process by leaking alleged evidence to be used before the commission. If this selective disclosure of evidence had happened prior to a criminal trial in Australia, the Ministers could have been found to be in contempt of court. The Governments sensitivities on this matter were displayed clearly this week when The Australian newspapers Freedom of Information request about the legality of David Hicks detention was denied on the basis that it might damage relations with America. It seems that, for the Government, David Hicks poses less of an issue about justice for a citizen and more of a matter of not offending our American allies (web). Britain, the other member of the coalition of the willing, is fighting hard to seek justice for its citizens who could share Mr Hicks fate. With their long legal tradition, the British are rightly concerned about the proposed military trial and Tony Blair made such representations directly to President Bush.
Australia was unable to prosecute Hicks under its anti-terrorism laws because they did not exist when Hicks allegedly trained with al-Qaeda in late 2000 and early 2001. Tough new terrorism legislation outlawing membership of al-Qaeda was not conceived until after the September 11, 2001, attack on the World Trade Centre, months after Hicks trained in Afghanistan. It was passed in November 2002, a year after he was captured. The Australian criminal justice system depends on comprehensive rules to prevent the admission and misuse of unreliable evidence. Rumsfeld's order makes everything potentially admissible before a military commission, including unshorn statements, if it meets the fairly nebulous standard of having probative value to a reasonable person.
In Australia, a guilty verdict must be unanimous. At the military commission, it requires only a two-thirds majority, with unanimity only required to impose a sentence of death. In the Australian system a miscarriage of justice can be rectified by an independent appeals court. A decision of the US military commission can be reviewed only by a panel of three military officers appointed by Rumsfeld. The panel deliberates behind closed doors and is not required to consider any submissions from the accused. These practices are alien to our criminal justice system and the Howard Governments ambivalence has undervalued the rights we associate with Australian citizenship.
Aided by Australias strong friendship with America, the Prime Minister should also make strong personal representations to the President to secure justice for David Hicks. Instead, he sent one of his junior ministers, Senator Ellison, to Washington who simply secured the same concessions that the British had already fought for. It is unfortunate that Mr Howard is unable or unwilling to use his influence with the Americans and David Hicks fate relies upon the concessions earned by Tony Blair. It appears that Mr Howard has less regard for seeking justice for our citizens than his British counterpart. Labor created the US alliance and will always support it - but the Labor Party understands that there are some instances when Australia must stand up for its citizens.
The unlawful detention and fair trial of an Australian citizen is perhaps the most fundamental example. A great Australian tradition is the principle of a fair go. Regardless of what causes Mr Hicks might have supported, holding him in a cage and making him face a Breaker Mount style military tribunal is not the Australian way. At the very least, with trials now a possibility, the Government should be ensuring Hicks has full access to consular assistance and their Australian lawyers, and should be pressing for their return if they will not be afforded a standard of justice that meets the expectations of the Australian community. Both articles have accomplished an extremely important task: they have raised public awareness of the issue each in its own way, but they un doubtfully both have. What counts is the end is how the general public perceives the situation, because it is for the safety and security of the general public does all of this debate about what should be done with these people goes on.
The authors, therefore, have informed and tried to push their readers to make an appropriate, best for everybody's good decision. Sources: web web web web web
Free research essays on topics related to: guantanamo bay, tony blair, criminal justice system, mr howard, consular assistance
Research essay sample on Criminal Justice System Tony Blair
