(US Military)Judge grants Guantanamo detainee hearing on POW status

[maddezmom]

Source: AFP

WASHINGTON (AFP) - A US military judge has agreed to hold a hearing to determine if Osama bin Laden's former driver is a prisoner of war, in a setback for a White House push to prosecute Guantanamo detainees by military tribunal.

Military Judge Keith Allred ruled Monday in favor of Salim Ahmed Hamdan's petition for a determination of whether he is a prisoner of war, status the United States has denied its war-on-terror detainees, according to the American Civil Liberties Union, which follows Guantanamo proceedings.

Granting Hamdan POW status could lead to his being tried in a court-martial with protections guaranteed by the Geneva Conventions which govern the rights and treatment of captives in wartime, rather than the special tribunals set up for Guantanamo inmates.

"For almost six years the Bush administration has treated those imprisoned at Guantanamo as bereft of any rights under the Geneva Convention and as without the protections of POWs," said Center for Constitutional Rights president Michael Ratner.



Read more: http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20071219/pl_afp/usattacksguantanamodetaineesjustice_071219071226

[gratuitous]

1. Well, that's it

Just hand the keys to the country over to the islamofascists. America is over. Bush said so, and it must be true because our war president wouldn't mislead the citizenry during war time except for our own good. Oh, the wailing and gnashing of teeth that will now ensue! Rush and Michael and Sean may even stroke out working themselves into faux apoplexy.