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Justice American-style!

George Bush, Tony Blair and John Howard - as leaders of the Coalition of the Willing - have repeatedly asserted that their aim in Iraq was not only to topple Saddam but to bring democracy and freedom to Iraq - and indeed the entire Middle East.

So, how are these grateful recipients of American democracy and freedom to view the American view of justice? This report in the Canberra Times hardly presents any even remote example of how people not charged with any offence are to be treated in a so-called democracy:

"More than three-quarters of the detainees in Guantanamo Bay will never stand trial and many face being held indefinitely without charge or conviction.

The chief US prosecutor, Colonel Moe Davis, told The Canberra Times yesterday he anticipated charging only about 75 of the 395 prisoners at Guantanamo, including Australian terrorism suspect David Hicks.

Colonel Davis said the remainder of the prisoners would be "released or detained for the duration of hostilities".

"Of the 395 people we've taken off the battlefield ... there's about 75 that we believe there's sufficient evidence of what they did in the past of a serious enough nature to warrant bringing them to trial," he said.

When asked when hostilities would be determined to have ended, Colonel Davis said that was not his decision to make."

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