Re: Legal status of prisoners.

[Michael Perelman <michael@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

The Repugs have a remarkable skill for making up words.  Michael Ratner
says that the US is in stark violation of international law.  So what is
new?

On Sat, Jan 12, 2002 at 05:05:49PM -0600, Ken Hanly wrote:
> Are there any lawyers on Pen-L who know anything about the term "unlawful
> combatants"?
> If they were taken prisoners in the war against terrorism, how is it they
> are not prisoners of war? I guess it is because as someone put it: Grammar
> is the first casualty of war and you really cannot have a war against an
> abstract noun such as "terrorism". THe Bush spin doctors make words up to
> mean whatever suits them it seems.
>     Surely civil rights experts should be crying out against what the US is
> doing. The Red Cross is going to be allowed to visit but on US terms of
> course. What of family of these detainees, will they ever be informed about
> the detainees? It seems that the US is now in
> the disappeared business whisking people off to deal with as they please for
> the most part.
>
> Cheers, Ken Hanly
>
> Sunday January 13, 12:55 AM
>
> Prisoners at US naval base in Cuba face legal no man's land
>
>
>
> The prisoners transferred from Afghanistan to a US naval base in Cuba are in
> legal limbo facing unknown charges, and Washington has not yet set up the
> military courts expected to try them, experts say.
>
> The United States has qualified the prisoners as "unlawful combatants", who
> do not enjoy rights under the Geneva Convention, but agreed to grant the
> International Committee of the Red Cross access to the detainees.
>
> "They will be handled not as prisoners of war -- because they're not -- but
> as unlawful combatants," US Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld said Friday.
>
> "As I understand it, technically, unlawful combatants do not have any rights
> under the Geneva Convention."
>
> He noted, however, that "we do plan to, for the most part, treat them in a
> manner that is reasonably consistent with the Geneva Convention ... and that
> is exactly what we have been doing."
>
> The Pentagon has said the inmates will receive appropriate medical care and
> will have the right to practice their religion.
>
> But they will not have the right to an attorney.
>
> The United States has remained mum on the identities and activities of the
> prisoners, who are believed to be members of either Osama bin Laden's
> al-Qaeda network or Afghanistan's former ruling Taliban militia.
>
> Washington launched a military campaign in Afghanistan when the Taliban
> refused to hand over bin Laden, the suspected mastermind of the September 11
> attacks on US targets that left more than 3,000 dead.
>
> The Guantanamo inmates face continued interrogations and indefinite
> detention at the base, as the United States decides whether to hold military
> trials or dispose of them in some other way.
>
> Rumsfeld, however, has indicated that the prisoners may face long periods in
> detention, telling reporters Thursday that "you don't hurry through this."
>
> US General Tommy Franks, commander of the US campaign in Afghanistan, told
> CNN that US forces hoped to gain intelligence about the structure of the
> al-Qaeda network and training of operatives, in a bid to thwart future
> attacks.
>
> Guantanamo offers the administration of US President George W. Bush several
> advantages, including top-flight security due to its isolated location, as
> well as proximity to investigators and federal agents in the United States.
>
> The US naval base is about 1,300 kilometers (800 miles) from Miami on the
> southeast side of Cuba.
>
> The base, ceded by Cuba in 1903 and leased to the United States in
> perpetuity, also provides US authorities with foreign soil on which to
> detain and perhaps eventually try the suspects.
>
>

--
Michael Perelman
Economics Department
California State University
Chico, CA 95929

Tel. 530-898-5321
E-Mail michael@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx