Basis for offshore prison (Gitmo) is undercut

[Robbien]

Source: LA Times

WASHINGTON -- The Bush administration may not be legally required to shut down its detention center at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. But now there appears to be little legal reason to keep it open.

Thursday's Supreme Court ruling on detainee rights eliminated the main reason for putting foreign prisoners in an offshore facility to begin with: to keep them out of American courts, where they could more effectively challenge their imprisonment.

. . .

Of the approximately 270 detainees, 80 face war crimes trials -- fewer than 20 of which have begun. Sixty prisoners have been approved for release but have not yet been sent home for various reasons, including because of the prospect of torture.

And about 130 are in an even murkier legal area, because the administration does not intend to charge them with war crimes yet considers them too dangerous to release. The ruling's most significant effect will be on these detainees.

Legal experts said that those captives now appear to have the same rights as any prisoner in the U.S., eliminating the need for them to be held at Guantanamo.

. . .

"The day the government has to show up in court and justify holding these guys for six years, the day before that is the day they are likely to get released," Kadidal said. "We want quick hearings and a quick resolution, and more importantly, the Supreme Court also wants a speedy resolution to these claims."

Read more: http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/politics/scotus/la-na-impact13-2008jun13,0,2488172.story

[Ilsa]

1. The network news said that some of their countries don't want them back.

I wonder what they are going to do with these people now that they have them on the other side of the planet?

[frogcycle]

4. They have pretty much boxed themselves in, haven't they?

They behaved like thugs - like mafia dons - who would just give the detainees 'concrete shoes' and 'send them to sleep with the fishes.' That is just about the only solution they have, and they can't do it without admitting that they really ARE murderous criminals.

I am reminded of the Ancient Mariner...

[DeepModem Mom]

2. K&R

[Supersedeas]

3. and Bar Assoc. big wigs wonder why there is such a negative perception of the Justice System