Mary, having been reading much of your writing on this subject over the past few days, let me ask you this highly theoretical question: Is Bin Laden innocent until proven guilty?
Technically, he's not head of a nation state and there's been no formal declaration of war but our nation's military is hellbent on killing him, imprisoning him seems rather secondary.
However, were he captured and brought to America for trial or tried elsewhere in a military proceeding, would you assign him the same innocent until proven guilty status as you wish for Amir Elgindy?
And another theoretical: What if Bin Laden was determined to be in Lebanon? Would Lebanon extradite him to the U.S.?
meib.org
meib.org
It seems very clear that this War on Terrorism has changed the stakes to much of what we hold dear and precious in terms of rights and liberties and the pursuit of justice.
Right now Elgindy sits in custody in a presumption of innocence. However, the set of conditions which led to his arrest and the arguments presented at his bail hearing go to the heart of trying to do the right thing under an extremely complicated set of circumstances.
As we both agree, time will tell and during these difficult times, both during and in the aftermath of 9/11, it's very difficult to be objective about anything: Vengence and justice are odd bedfellows. Nonetheless, Elgindy, because of his own actions and not the actions of others, has to face the heat whatever that may be or may become. You see harm reduction in this matter has a wayback machine that is nutted and bolted from the pain of many, both long and short.
Perhaps psychologically Elgindy always wanted to be in a movie--such a wish just might be fulfilled. Unfortunately, it's a real one! |
