Accused Jemaah Islamiya Terrorist’s Questions Go Unanswered at Gitmo
EmailIn a second Gitmo transcript released today by the Pentagon, Jemaah Islamiya member Mohd Farik Bin Amin, better known as Zubair, chose not to make a statement before the Tribunal, as al Qaeda mastermind Khalid Sheikh Mohammed and others have. Zubair, best known for his work directly under Jemaah Islamiya’s operational planner Hambali, who is also being held at Gitmo, is accused of having played a role — namely in funding — in the attack on the JW Marriott Hotel in Jakarta, Indonesia in August 2003 that killed 12 and injured 144 people. He is also alleged to have been a member of an al Qaeda suicide team that was to participate in a plan to attack a building in Los Angeles, Calif. Unlike enemy combatants who have gone before, Zubair, according to the transcript, was very meek during his Tribunal, uttering barely audible "yes" and "no" responses to questions. At the end of the Tribunal, however, Zubair appeared to perk up and through his personal representative, asked several questions. Among his questions, he asked, "What type of cases would normally be brought to military court?…Is there a distinction between cases involving civilians and uniformed military personnel as targets?…third…What is the role of the Malaysian Government in the coalition?…Does the Malaysian Government have the right to petition for the extradition of the detainee?" Click Here for Full Blotter Coverage. The head of the Military Tribunal bluntly replied that the Tribunal cannot answer those questions. He punted on the questions concerning the military commission and Malaysia by saying they are part of "another process that is not relevant to these proceedings" and added that Zubair’s questions may be answered by other military authorities. The Tribunal president also said the actions of coalition partners like Malaysia "are not within the authority of this board to address." Jemaah Islamiya is an al Qaeda-affiliated terror network that usually focuses its attacks on southeast Asia. Read the transcript of Zubair’s Tribunal.
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So basically it would seem that our “war on terror”, inspired by the stateside attack of 9/11 has given the United States the right and authority to indefinitely hold and ultimately try people for involvement and perhaps funding acts of “terror” through out the world such as in Indonesia?
What legal jusrisdiction do “we” have in bringing to justice people suspected or accused of a hotel bombing in Jakarta 4 years ago and 2 years after 9/11?
Doesn’t anyone question whether we may have stepped way beyond our legal entitlement for retribution?
This guy’s guilt or innocence should be Indonesia’s concern.
Shouldn’t this guy be in front of a court somewhere in Indonesia?
Posted by: Zach | March 24, 2007, 12:11 pm 12:11 pm
The US is at war with a number of organizations, one of which this man is allegedly a supportive and active member. JI was added to the United Nations 1267 Committee’s list of terrorist organizations linked to al-Qaeda or the Taliban on 25 October 2002 under UN Security Council Resolution 1267. American citizens and the citizens of America’s allies were the victims of JI throughout their present campaign. Hope that helps to clarify and answer your questions, Zach…
Posted by: Jazz | March 28, 2007, 1:11 pm 1:11 pm
I suppose, if I ran the world’s most powerful empire, hosted the acting body called the U.N. and was one of only 5 nations with the ability to veto (or quash) other than my own objectives and interests…and could bully or buy the alligence and the right to economically manipulate a hundred other smaller, less fortunate nations…I could list all of my oposition as terrorists as well.
But targeting and eliminating my detractors by putting them by the thousands on a list doesn’t necessarily make my self invented list right, legal, morally superior, genuinely official or just.
Any more than it does for AQ, JI, PLO, Hamas, or anyone else that does it.
Posted by: Zach | March 29, 2007, 1:50 pm 1:50 pm
Hmmm, so you’re saying AQ, JI, et al are simply detractors who are being picked on by the big bad US of A? Most of the world, including Singapore, Indonesia and the PI, is united in erasing these organizations from planet Earth; do you actually support the murderous actions of these groups? Do you even know what their stated objectives are? “genuinely official” lol…
Posted by: Jazz | March 29, 2007, 2:35 pm 2:35 pm
Unfortunately, we, (the US and Europe in general) are simply reaping what we’ve sown.
Are we “picking on” them??
Why would anyone think that?
I mean, just because the people of the western hemishpere have been waging a continuous war against the middle east and Islam for 8 centuries now?
No I don’t support these groups.
But I can’t support the role played by my own country in all of this either. We’re just picking up where Mother England left off.
I mean, look at the lop-sided kill rate!
How could anyone think that in the last 4 years or 8 centuries that somehow our losses have even come close to what the eurocentric “we” has laid on these people?
Did anyone expect them to lay there and take it forever?
Would we?
Posted by: Zach | March 29, 2007, 9:12 pm 9:12 pm
No we wouldn’t take it – that’s my point. What groups like JI are attempting to do to and within their own countries are not being met with approval by those countries. Indonesia and the Philipines have shown that they have the intent and the right to fight and destroy these groups with the aid of the unified majority of the world, including the US. In this day and age, it is not “the west vs the non-west”, it’s the united front of nations in cooperation with each other against the scourge of hardline separatist, fundamentalist, indiscriminate violence. Look at the picture of the Marriot in Jakarta above…THAT is what JI did to their own country. THAT is why Mohd Farik Bin Amin will die at the hands of justice. THAT is why there is no negotiating with these groups. THAT is why they will be met with overwhelming and capitulating force…
Posted by: Jazz | March 30, 2007, 1:15 pm 1:15 pm
If we were to take the US and the Brits out of the equation, there would probably have been no Marriot in Jakarta in the first place. It was targeted not to make a statement to the local government but to the western/global powers who have interered with self determination in these countries and for all those targets represent.
Without the global sprawl of eurocentric interests over the decades and twisting the arms of the governments of such places as Indonesia, the Philipines and the middle east it is far less likely that these places would either have these symbolic targets for these groups to attack.
Beyond that it’s not inconceivable that these governments then would not be mixing it up with these “groups” of their own initiative or design.
These “groups” are only being sought by these local governments because politics prompts them to protect the interests of those countries (IE US, UK) that hold the fate of their economy and leadership by proxy and association.
To come full circle, in protecting the western interests they only make it all the more obvious that they no longer have national self determination and exist only to be part and parcial of the reigning western empire.
Posted by: Zach | March 30, 2007, 6:51 pm 6:51 pm