Due Process For Gitmo Detainees

Due process is a flexible concept that essentially requires people to get the process due them given their circumstances. This story (here) reveals the due process given to every detainee that has ever gone to Guantanamo Bay.

"Every one of the other roughly 450 detainees at Guantanamo, who began arriving in 2002, have already undergone the tribunals. The tribunals for the 14 new arrivals will be held almost certainly using the same procedures, Waddingham said.

"The tribunals are conducted by a three-member military panel, which examines evidence against a detainee, can speak to witnesses, and determines if the detainee is an enemy combatant and should be held. The detainee is represented by U.S. military counsel.
"Those judged not to be enemy combatants are generally transferred out of Guantanamo to their home countries. Those determined to be enemy combatants stay locked up here. They then face annual Administrative Review Boards that examine whether they still pose a threat to the United States or have intelligence value.

"Congress and the Bush administration are currently working on guidelines on how detainees should be interrogated and put on trial. Ten Guantanamo detainees have been charged with crimes but their military trials were put on hold after the Supreme Court last June ruled that the tribunals were illegal — partly because the Bush administration had set them up without Congressional approval."

Those who claim the detainees are without due process are liars.

-tdr

Technorati: War, Terrorism, Bush,