US told to free 'enemy combatant'
A US appeals court has ruled that the government does not have the authority to detain on American soil an alleged al-Qaeda member who is a legal US resident, without pressing charges.
The court on Monday ordered the release of Ali Saleh Kahlah al-Marri, a Qatari national held since 2003 over the September 11 attacks, from military custody.
But al-Marri, 41, can still be tried on criminal charges in a civilian court or be deported, the three judges ruled in a split two-one decision.
The freedom that he wanted couldn’t bring itself through the gates
So he imagined it pressing its paws to the soil beyond the walls,
That he heard it weeping plaintively just outside his tiny room.
Said he could smell it in the breath of every passing spring,
Spoke of its splendid dance waiting with shoes for his feet.
He said he'd heard its velvet voice flecking upon his ears
And that he tasted it in the warm water gracing his lips,
Yet the long shadows that stirred beneath his door
Startled him with their quick and brutal motions
And consoled him with torturous laughter.
They never once had spoken of freedom,
Made no mention of its demise.
© 2007 mrp/thepoetryman
