Gitmo Detainees Subject to Detention Even if Acquitted: Pentagon

[tekisui]

WASHINGTON (AFP) - Some detainees at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba will likely never be released because of the danger they pose, and those tried and acquitted will still be subject to continued detention as enemy combatants, a Pentagon spokesman said Tuesday.

Geoff Morrell, the Pentagon press secretary, made the remarks as Salim Hamdan, a Yemeni, awaited a verdict in the first war crimes trial to be held under a special regime created for "war on terror" suspects.

Morrell said Hamdan, a former driver of Al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden, could appeal the verdict in US courts.

"But in the near term, at least, we would consider him an enemy combatant and still a danger and would likely still be detained for some period of time thereafter," he said.

Morrell said there were plans for at least 20 more such trials at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba but he said a significant portion of the detainees being held there would neither be tried nor released.

He said efforts were being made to reduce the size of the population through transfers of prisoners to their home countries for incarceration or release.

"But I think, you know, there are still a significant population within Guantanamo who will likely never be released because of the threat they pose to the world, for that matter," he said.

link: http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20080805/pl_afp/usattacksguantanamodetainees;_ylt=A0wNcySytJhIt3oBuQes0NUE

[endarkenment]

1. kafka resurrected to write pentagon pr releases nt

[truebrit71]

3. No kidding right? Even if they are found not guilty of the bullshit charges brought up against them.

...they STILL get to stay in prison...

What kind of fucked up system is this?

[Ichingcarpenter]

5. Kafka was my first thought too

"As Gregor Samsa awoke one morning from uneasy dreams he found himself transformed in his bed into a monstrous vermin."

[alfredo]

2. Why even have trials?

[TechBear_Seattle]

10. Gotta give the illusion we actually believe in justice

But it is all a sham, and the government can't be bothered to make more than a token effort in that direction.

[alfredo]

20. that's it. I ran across a woman who said she doesn't bother to vote.

I told her (as far as I remember),our government is in a bad state because people are turned off to the point that they aren't paying attention. I told her that that inattention is making matters worse. I told her democracy dies of neglect. I went on and told her how us voters kicked out the old guard in our county and state parties and that is happening to other state Democratic parties. I told her Obama is encouraging voters involvement in our government. He wants us paying attention to what is going on in our government.

Those weren't the exact words I used, but that was the message I sent to her. I told her to pay attention and get involved. We need to use our democracy or lose it.

[panzerfaust]

24. Why did Stalin have elections?

[alfredo]

25. So the liquor stores have time to restock?

[otherlander]

4. Will this change if Obama is elected president?

Will it?

[truebrit71]

6. It bloody well better do!!!

He will have alot of VERY uncomfortable questions to answer if he doesn't...

[tekisui]

7. Obama has said he will close gitmo.

So, yes it will change.

[otherlander]

9. But what will actually happen to the people?

[tekisui]

18. I am not sure.

My understanding is that they will be tried and released or sentenced. But, I don't know about those already tried.

[TechBear_Seattle]

8. Even the kangaroo courts are just window dressing

I'm so glad we are a nation of laws which supports justice and liberty. :eyes:

[malaise]

And even the dressing is tres shabby

To the fugging Hague.

[TechBear_Seattle]

12. Indeed, off to the Hague

I fear that a war crimes tribunal against the Junta will be the only way we, as a nation, can regain our honor among the nations of the world.

[Wizard777]

11. Are they or are they not going to abide by the Geneva Convention?

[TechBear_Seattle]

13. The Junta has already given its answer very clearly: No

The US has claimed from the very beginning that the detainees are "enemy combattants" and not prisoners of war. As such, they are not entitled to the protections and priveledges of the Geneva Conventions. Nor, apparently, are they entitled to the protections and priviledges of US law or the laws of any civilized country.

Thank goodness "they" hate us for our freedoms because if they hated us for our actions, we would be in real trouble.

[Wizard777]

15. I thought SCOTUS already cleared that up? But they could be abiding by the GC.

POW's can be tried for crimes and punished. But repatriation (sending them home)doesn't come until after the cestation of hostilities. Not at the end of a criminal trial. They can be held as POW's until our war with Al Qaida is over. There are some medical exception that require them to be repatriated before the end of hostilities. Like they've gone bat shit crazy or terminal illness.

[TechBear_Seattle]

17. The Junta has held from the start that the detainees are NOT prisoners of war

That has been the legal sticking point. If they were prisoners of war, the manner in which we are holding them was not a mere treaty violation but a criminal action under US law and possibly war crimes under recognized international standards. But the Geneva Conventions -- and thus US law -- explicitly do not extend to the class defined as enemy combatants.

As for the Supreme Court, I believe they ruled that the detainees have a few rights and nothing more. The right to habeas corpus: No. The right to a speedy trial: No. The right to face one's accusors: No. The rights to an open court and trial before a jury of peers: No. About all they got was legal counsel (from people appointed by and answerable to the military) and occasional inspections from the International Red Cross. The terribly sad thing is that this decision was hailed as a win over what the Junta was demanding.

[Mandate My Ass]

14. Not

The innocent will suffer along with the guilty -- forever.

Welcome to the Hotel California, you can check out any time you like but you can never leave.

[panzerfaust]

23. What? THAT "quaint" document.

But you can bet that if the A-rabs don't abide by it, we will shriek and complain: Just as the Brits did when their sailors got caught by the Eye-Ranians who made the women wear headscarves!

Yes, the Brits actually complained about that - the very same Brit government who hooded (in violation of international agreements) POWs; not to mention, as is again coming to light in the UK press - beating them to death.

A friend of mine is in a place that he should not be, doing things that he should not be doing. If he is caught, he knows that - at least in part because of our repudiation of the Geneva Convention - he has not got a prayer of surviving.

That is true of any serviceperson - our abandonment of the minimal common standards of conduct in war has put each person at risk.

I am so ashamed for our country.

[MadrasT]

16. Huh?

Every single day, I slip farther and farther into a nightmare alternate universe.

:wtf:

[Supersedeas]

19. American values that America can be proud of???

[suffragette]

21. And we continue in our descent into the abyss

Really blatant in saying they'll base actions on how they "would consider" the situation than on rule of law.

[panzerfaust]

22. Seems fair.

If they were not truly guilty, then they would not be in GITMO. Duh!!

nicht wahr?

Thus it is clear that an acquittal is simply a miscarriage of justice - well, anything to do with GITMO is more of an abortion of justice, than a miscarriage - and so therefore a mistake, thus the truly guilty MUST stay in prison. Makes perfect sense.

This is in the hallowed traditions of the Catholic Inquisition (It was not SPANISH, it was Roman Catholic, The Holy Mother Church burned heretics and witches throughout Europe for centuries). The job the current Pope had before taking over Peter's Rocks, would have been that of Chief Inquisitor - had The Church not changed the name of the job awhile ago.

God Bless Our President for keeping us safe from the Unbelievers/Infidels (cannot keep those two straight: One denies Allah, the other God. Hell with it: Death to BOTH for the Glory of God/Allah!) even if they are proven innocent!!

I feel so much safer.

? Is that a knock at the door ??