Blunderov
Archon
Gender: 
Posts: 3160
Reputation: 8.91
Rate Blunderov
"We think in generalities, we live in details"
  
|
 |
The Snarking of Guantanemo Bay
« on: 2008-06-30 13:14:15 » |
 |
[Blunderov] Long time Virions will probably be aware that I am in favour of the snark - unless it should turn out to be a boojum**
of course. (The snark has kindly lent it's name to species of wit frequently to be found on the internet which some might
consider snide and sarcastic but which is more often regarded as being pungent and darkly witty.) Many times and oft
we have, in these august halls, exchanged quotes from The Hunting of the Snark. It's nice to know that it is more widely
known - and understood 
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080630/ap_on_go_ot/guantanamo_chinese_detainee
Judges cite nonsense poem in Guantanamo case By MATT APUZZO, Associated Press Writer
15 minutes ago
WASHINGTON - A federal appeals court reviewing evidence at Guantanamo Bay compared a Bush administration legal argument
to one made by a hapless, dimwitted character in a 19th century nonsense poem by Lewis Carroll.
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit cited the 1876 poem, "The Hunting of the Snark," in ruling that the
military improperly labeled a Chinese Muslim as an enemy combatant. The ruling was issued last week but an unclassified version
of the opinion was released only Monday.
It was the first time a court has reviewed the military's decision-making and considered whether a detainee should be held.
The court said military review panels were unable to assess much of the evidence against the detainee, Huzaifa Parhat, and at
times treated accusations as evidence.
Parhat is one of a group of Chinese Muslims, known as Uighurs, being held at Guantanamo Bay. Their case has become a diplomatic
and legal headache for the U.S., which has tried to find a country willing to accept the Uighurs (pronounced WEE'-gurs) even as it
defended its decision to hold them as enemy combatants.
The Justice Department concedes that Parhat never fought against the U.S. and says it has no evidence he was planning to do so.
The case hinges on Parhat's connection to the East Turkestan Islamic Movement, a militant group that demands separation from
China. Parhat says he considers China, not the United States, the enemy.
The Justice Department says the U.S. has classified intelligence that ETIM is affiliated with al-Qaida, though officials did not identify
the source of that intelligence either to the judges or to the military reviewers. The judges said there's credible evidence the source
of that intelligence is the Chinese government, "which may be less than objective with respect to the Uighurs."
The three-member court, which was made up of two Republican judges and one Democrat, was particularly pointed in its criticism
of the logic that evidence is reliable because it appears on multiple documents.
"The government insists that the statements made in the documents are reliable because the State and Defense Departments would
not have put them in intelligence documents were that not the case," the court wrote. "This comes perilously close to suggesting that
whatever the government says must be treated as true."
The judges compared the argument to the logic in Carroll's nonsense poem. The Bellman lead his crew across the ocean, guided by a
map that was just a blank piece of paper. He rallied and reassured his crew simply by repeat himself.
"I have said it thrice: What I tell you three times is true,"* the Bellman says in the poem.
"Lewis Carroll notwithstanding, the fact that the government has 'said it thrice' does not make an allegation true," the court wrote.
The court said Parhat deserved a new hearing or should be released — though it didn't say to where. The U.S. does not want to
send him to China for fear he will be tortured.
http://www.literature.org/authors/carroll-lewis/the-hunting-of-the-snark/
* "'Tis the voice of the Jubjub!" he suddenly cried.
(This man, that they used to call "Dunce.")
"As the Bellman would tell you," he added with pride,
"I have uttered that sentiment once.
"'Tis the note of the Jubjub! Keep count, I entreat;
You will find I have told it you twice.
'Tis the song of the Jubjub! The proof is complete,
If only I've stated it thrice."
The Beaver had counted with scrupulous care,
Attending to every word:
But it fairly lost heart, and outgrabe in despair,
When the third repetition occurred."
**Fit the Eighth - The Vanishing
"They sought it with thimbles, they sought it with care;
They pursued it with forks and hope;
They threatened its life with a railway-share;
They charmed it with smiles and soap.
They shuddered to think that the chase might fail,
And the Beaver, excited at last,
Went bounding along on the tip of its tail,
For the daylight was nearly past.
"There is Thingumbob shouting!" the Bellman said,
"He is shouting like mad, only hark!
He is waving his hands, he is wagging his head,
He has certainly found a Snark!"
They gazed in delight, while the Butcher exclaimed
"He was always a desperate wag!"
They beheld him--their Baker--their hero unnamed--
On the top of a neighboring crag.
Erect and sublime, for one moment of time.
In the next, that wild figure they saw
(As if stung by a spasm) plunge into a chasm,
While they waited and listened in awe.
"It's a Snark!" was the sound that first came to their ears,
And seemed almost too good to be true.
Then followed a torrent of laughter and cheers:
Then the ominous words "It's a Boo-"
Then, silence. Some fancied they heard in the air
A weary and wandering sigh
Then sounded like "-jum!" but the others declare
It was only a breeze that went by.
They hunted till darkness came on, but they found
Not a button, or feather, or mark,
By which they could tell that they stood on the ground
Where the Baker had met with the Snark.
In the midst of the word he was trying to say,
In the midst of his laughter and glee,
He had softly and suddenly vanished away---
For the Snark *was* a Boojum, you see."
The End
|
Author
Logged
