keith, i think we should be grateful he is willing to 're-think' his decision (S). : )
On Feb 22, 1:06 pm, Keith In Tampa <[email protected]> wrote: > A dollar and a beer bet says that President Obama never closes Gitmo..... > > =============== > > Obama Upholds Detainee Policy in Afghanistan > By CHARLIE SAVAGE > Published: February 21, 2009 > > WASHINGTON — The Obama administration has told a federal judge that military > detainees in Afghanistan have no legal right to challenge their imprisonment > there, embracing a key argument of former President Bush's legal team. > > In a two-sentence filing late Friday, the Justice Department said that the > new administration had reviewed its position in a case brought by prisoners > at the United States Air Force base at Bagram, just north of the Afghan > capital. The Obama team determined that the Bush policy was correct: such > prisoners cannot sue for their release. > > "Having considered the matter, the government adheres to its previously > articulated position," wrote Michael F. Hertz, acting assistant attorney > general. > > The closely watched case is a habeas corpus lawsuit on behalf of several > prisoners who have been indefinitely detained for years without trial. The > detainees argue that they are not enemy combatants, and they want a judge to > review the evidence against them and order the military to release them. > > The Bush administration had argued that federal courts have no jurisdiction > to hear such a case because the prisoners are noncitizens being held in the > course of military operations outside the United States. The Obama team was > required to take a stand on whether those arguments were correct because a > federal district judge, John D. Bates, asked the new government whether it > wanted to alter that position. > > The Obama administration's decision was generally expected among legal > specialists. But it was a blow to human rights lawyers who have challenged > the Bush administration's policy of indefinitely detaining "enemy > combatants" without trials. > > The power of civilian federal judges to review individual decisions by the > executive branch to hold a terrorism suspect as an enemy combatant was one > of the most contentious legal issues surrounding the Bush administration. > For years, President Bush's legal team argued that federal judges had no > authority under the Constitution to hear challenges by detainees being held > at the military prison at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba, and elsewhere. > > The Supreme Court rejected the Bush administration's legal view for > prisoners held at Guantánamo in landmark rulings in 2004 and 2006. But those > rulings were based on the idea that the prison was on United States soil for > constitutional purposes, based on the unique legal circumstances and history > of the naval base. > > Rights lawyers have been hoping that courts would extend those rulings to > allow long-term detainees being held at United States military bases > elsewhere in the world to sue for release, too. There are about 600 > detainees at Bagram and several thousand in Iraq. > > Jack Balkin, a Yale Law School professor, said it was too early to tell what > the Obama administration would end up doing with the detainees at Bagram. He > said some observers believed that the Obama team would end up making a major > change in policy but simply needed more time to come up with it, while > others believed that the administration had decided "to err on the side of > doing things more like the Bush administration did, as opposed to really > rethinking and reorienting everything" about the detention policies it > inherited because it had too many other problems to deal with. > > "It may take some time before we see exactly what is going on — whether this > is just a transitory policy or whether this is really their policy: 'No to > Guantánamo, but we can just create Guantánamo in some other place,' " Mr. > Balkin said. > > After becoming president last month, Mr. Obama issued orders requiring > strict adherence to antitorture rules and shuttering the Guantánamo prison > within a year. He also ordered a review of whether conditions there meet the > standards of humane treatment required by the Geneva Conventions, and a > review of what could be done with each of the 245 detainees who remain at > the prison. > > On Friday, government officials said that a Pentagon official had completed > the Guantánamo report, concluding that the site complies with the Geneva > Conventions' requirements for humane treatment — including procedures for > force-feeding prisoners on hunger strike by strapping them down and > inserting a nasal tube, a practice prisoners' lawyers have denounced. The > report does recommend that some prisoners be given greater human contact, > however. > > 22bagram.map.jpg > 23KViewDownload > > 22bagram_map.jpg > 23KViewDownload --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ Thanks for being part of "PoliticalForum" at Google Groups. 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