White House throws issue of detainees to the courts
Regional-USA, Politics, 6/21/2005

While the White House and its supports had previously turned the issue of the detainees as an argument on support or opposition to the US military, the White House in its latest statement has shifted its position to leave this issue to the federal courts.

The White House Press Secretary Scott McClellan said yesterday about the detainees held by US detention camps that "the United States stands for some very important values, and we believe in upholding our laws and setting -- sending a clear message to the rest of the world that not only do we work to promote freedom and democracy and rule of law, but we uphold it here at home.Ê And our men and women in the military do an outstanding job adhering to those standards and those values and those laws, and we appreciate the job that they do.

"In terms of what you're referencing, I think that our belief is that about a dozen or so detainees that have been released from Guantanamo Bay have actually returned to the battlefield, and we've either recaptured them or otherwise dealt with them, namely killing them on the battlefield when they were again attacking our forces. And so it is an issue that we're always looking at. The reason people are at Guantanamo Bay is because they are dangerous individuals. And so we're always looking at their disposition and how to deal with them through the legal process. There are, as the President pointed out, I think there are some 800 initially or so, he said, and now we're down to 500-plus. A number of them have been returned to their country of origin, after we have received assurances that they would look after those individuals.

"But we're always looking at how to deal with the detainees that are there, but they are there for a reason, because they have been involved in attacking United States or coalition forces or they otherwise seek to do harm to the American people. And we must always take a careful look at that.

.".The Department of Defense has worked through the interagency process, with the lead being the National Security Council, in terms of establishing the appropriate procedures for dealing with the detainees. And these are procedures that really go beyond what even the Geneva Conventions require. And they include the combatant status review tribunals, to confirm that each individual is, indeed, an enemy combatant, and every detainee at Guantanamo Bay has had such a hearing.

"There are also administrative review boards that assess the remaining potential threat and intelligence value that each detainee has, and they are regularly looking at those detainees and evaluating whether or not they can be released. And then, of course, we went and set up the military commissions, where these detainees would have full and vigorous representation by defense counsel for those who were suspected of committing war crimes. Now the courts have ruled regarding military commissions, and those commissions have temporarily been suspended, pending further review by the federal courts. And that's where it stands at this point."

The US has come under great criticism from international human rights organizations about the US detention centers around the world saying they are the "Gulag of our times," because of the lack of due process afforded these accused persons. The Senate's initial hearing on this subject concluded by a statement by its chairman Senator Arlen Specter that the US Senate Judiciary committee has "a lot of work ahead of it" on this issue. Senators had indicated that there is a mishmash of federal court rules on this issue.

Meantime, President George W. Bush invited yesterday the press to visit the Guantanamo Bay detention center. It was not clear if this invitation allows journalists to talk to the detainees about the charges leveled against them and the status of their detention, or just merely to visit the location to see the kind of food being served and such.

Previous Stories:
  US agrees to expansion, continues efforts to shift focus from real Security Council reform   (6/17/2005)
  US Senate hearing on detainees; an accused person has no rights   (6/16/2005)
  Sunday Times: US and UK manufactured pretext for war against Iraq   (6/16/2005)

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