Inshallah
In a stunning bit of news this week the long feared military tribunal ruled on the fate of bin Laden driver, Salim Ahmed Hamdan. Hamdan’s struggle for a fair trial had gone all the way to the Supreme Court and left him back in the hands of the dreaded military tribunal. The world watched as the verdict came in, guilty. Then the world waited as the panel recessed to decide Hamdan’s fate.
We didn’t wait long. After five years awaiting trial, the deliberation took only an hour. Clearly there was clarity in the decision if not unanimity.
Despite the prosecutions plea that the sentence should be long and harsh to warn the world that “the United States will hunt you down and give you a harsh but appropriate sentence if you provide material support for terrorism,” the sentence was neither.
Convicted of some criminal activity, acquitted of others, the military leaders that held Hamdan’s fate in their hands determined that he should serve five and a half years for aiding Osama bin Laden as his driver, a fraction of the prosecution’s plea. Pouring salt on the prosecution’s wound was the tribunal’s judgment that with time served (already more than five years!), Hamdan’s sentence will be served in full by the end of this year!
Admittedly, I was a skeptic. I had little trust that a military tribunal would deliver anything but retribution. Both the process and the outcome of this particular tribunal evidence a level of humanity and fairness that is a healing balm in a bitter time. The New York Times reported on the significant relationship that developed between Hamdan and his Navy lawyer, Charles Swift. Noteworthy too was the relationship Hamdan forged with the judge, Capt. Keith J. Allred, also of the Navy. Apparently a man of good humor, Hamdan was engaging and committed to forging a path of healing not only for himself but for the world as he worked diligently with investigators aiding their search for the illusive bin Laden. Not only his lawyer, Swift, and Judge, Allred, the members of the tribunal were able to recognize and embrace the full decency and humanity of a man caught in web not of his choosing. Justice, even in glimpses, is a brilliant light.
Glimpses are all we were able to see today, however. Even as the stunning news was hitting the airwaves, the Pentagon and White House were issuing caveats and contingencies. Remember, they added quietly to their speeches, Hamdan is a combatant in a time of war. Verdict or no, sentence completion or not, Hamdan’s fate wrests neither in the American justice system nor in the hands of the military tribunal we mistakenly feared. Hamdan’s fate wrests in the administrative decisions that lie between the White House and the Pentagon.
The New York Times reports that Hamdan’s fate is unclear, “because the Bush administration says that it can hold detainees here until the end of the war on terror” which is tragically endless. When asked if Hamdan would be held after his sentence completion, Pentagon spokesman, Cmdr. Jeffery Gordon, said he “would not speculate on that.” MSNBC quotes an unnamed Pentagon source as saying, “He (Hamdan) won’t be going anywhere anytime soon.”
These taunts are neither innocent nor impotent, and I shudder at the implications. My instinct is to gather the righteous crowd. Yet, despite my predetermined mistrust of the tribunal, the goodness of humanity trumped the drive for vengeance and my skepticism was proven misplaced already once this week. We have witnessed the spirit at work, a power greater than ourselves. What is yet to unfold is still unknown.
As I struggle to hold my skepticism in check, I cling to one of the more riveting scenes this week, the closing exchange between the accused and the judge:
“Mr. Hamdan,” Judge Allred said, “I hope the day comes that you are able to return to your wife and daughters and your country.”
“Inshallah,” Mr. Hamdan said in Arabic, before an interpreter gave the English translation of “God willing.”
“Inshallah,” Judge Allred responded.
Inshallah. God is still speaking.
