‘"Tantamount to torture" is how an inspection
committee of the International Committee of the Red Cross recently described
detention practices at Guantanamo Bay. More than 400 men have been detained for
more than four years in virtual solitary confinement at the military detention
center in Cuba. The prisoners, whom the U.S. government has denominated
"enemy combatants," are foreign citizens taken into custody from
various countries. 

They have been interrogated
repeatedly. With few exceptions, they have insisted they have done nothing
wrong and took no action against the US government. Some may have violated
international laws; some may be terrorists. But others may not. What we do know
is that these people have not been charged, let alone tried. The Bush
administration has fought tooth and nail to prevent these "detainees"
from being given an opportunity to appear before a court to challenge the basis
for the government's classifying them as combatants. They just languish in
Gitmo. 

The writ of habeas corpus is
enshrined in our Constitution: "The privilege of the writ of habeas corpus
shall not be suspended, unless when in case of rebellion or invasion the public
safety may require it." It is the traditional method used to require
prosecutors to explain to a judge the basis for imprisoning those suspected of
committing crimes. In an astounding surrender to executive power, Congress
recently passed a bill purporting to repeal the prisoners' right to file habeas
petitions and substituted a procedure that leaves the prisoners at the whim and
caprice of military tribunals. Translation: continued indefinite
incarceration.’ 

A National Disgrace:
Scandalous State of Affairs at Gitmo

‘Legal, diplomatic, religious and human rights authorities
are struggling to be heard on what many consider to be the "Son of
Guantánamo" - a secret prison in Afghanistan where the US military is said
to have been holding some 500 "enemy combatants" for as long as three
or four years without access to lawyers. 

The existence of the prison,
located at Bagram airbase near Kabul, was reported last week by the New York
Times. But the story was quickly relegated to back pages by the revelation that
Dubai Ports World (DPW), a company owned by the government of the United Arab
Emirates, was about to take over the management of as many as six major US
seaports. 

On the Bagram prison issue, the
views of David Cole, one of America's foremost authorities on constitutional
law, are typical of reactions obtained by us. Cole, a professor at Georgetown
University law school in Washington, said, "The Bagram story raises
serious questions about the Bush administration's unwillingness to be bound by
law. 

The administration chose
Guantánamo in the first place because it thought it was a law-free zone. Now
that the Supreme Court has said that the administration is actually accountable
to legal limits at Guantánamo, it is turning to other avenues to avoid
accountability. The only real solution is to conform its conduct to the law,
not to continue to evade legal responsibility for its actions."’ 

Son of Gitmo

‘Bush administration lawyers, fighting a claim of torture
by a Guantanamo Bay detainee, yesterday argued that the new law that bans
cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment of detainees in U.S. custody does not
apply to people held at the military prison. 

In federal court yesterday and in
legal filings, Justice Department lawyers contended that a detainee at
Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, cannot use legislation drafted by Sen. John McCain
(R-Ariz.) to challenge treatment that the detainee's lawyers described as
"systematic torture."’ 

US
Cites Exception in Torture Ban