The Poetry of Presidential Abuse: The D.C. Circuit Rules Against the President With “Snarky” Poem

For years, many have cited international and domestic law to show that President Bush has committed grave crimes in office. Now, the Court of Appeals has enlisted Lewis Carroll and his poem “The Hunting of the Snark” to bring home the point in it ruling against the Administration in the case of a Huzaifa Parhat, a Chinese Muslim held at Guantanamo Bay.

The Court quoted the 1876 poem to show that the Administration does little in court but repeat the same unsupported assertions and demand that the Court except them without question. The D.C. Circuit said that it was right out of “The Hunting of the Snark.” In the poem, a crew hunt an undefined creature that their leader, The Bellman, simply insists exists. The Bellman simply repeats:
“I have said it thrice: What I tell you three times is true,” the Bellman says in the poem.

Parhat never fought against the U.S. or threatened the United States. He was part of the East Turkestan Islamic Movement, a militant group seeking eparation from China.

The Court has ordered a new hearing in the case, dismissing the Administration’s prior hearing as woefully flawed and inadequate.

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