Red Cross says Guantanamo status unacceptable

[Ouabache]

http://www.reuters.co.uk/newsPackageArticle.jhtml?type=worldNews&storyID=386653§ion=news

By Jonathan Wright
WASHINGTON (Reuters) -

The International Red Cross say it is unacceptable that the United States continues to detain more than 600 people at Guantanamo Bay in Cuba without charges or prospect of a timely trial.

The Red Cross, which has an international mandate to monitor compliance with the Geneva Conventions and visit people detained in conflicts, has repeatedly expressed its concerns...The United States says the detainees are "enemy combatants" but not prisoners of war under the Geneva Conventions. It reserves the right to try them before military tribunals but has not yet brought any to trial.

On Thursday, a group of former U.S. federal judges, diplomats, military officials and human rights advocates urged the Supreme Court to review the case of detainees held at Guantanamo Bay and elsewhere in the name of "terrorism."

"The idea that American executive branch personnel, particularly military personnel, can detain people beyond the reach of habeas corpus is just repugnant to the rule of law," said John Gibbons, former chief judge of the federal appeals court in Philadelphia.


http://www.reuters.co.uk/newsPackageArticle.jhtml?type=worldNews&storyID=386653§ion=news

[ReadTomPaine]

1. They better watch out or the Red Cross will be named a terrorist group.

Along with those pesky Amnesty International meddlers.

[DuctapeFatwa]

2. Which Dem candidates have pledged to free the people in Gitmo?

I have looked on the websites, and was unable to find much about the candidates positions on this issue.

[maggrwaggr]

3. Red Cross are a bunch of Saddam Loyalist TRAITORS! (spittle flying)

How dare they criticize the United States!

[lumpy]

4. Bush as Commander in Chief of US military

has the responsibility and authority to put to right this breach of the rule of law set forth in the Geneva Conventions. The Red Cross should be expressing more than just 'concern' for this atrocity. Bush should be taken to task and if he refuses, the problem should be taken to the Supreme Court of the US of A. Once and for all it should be determined whether or not the US is respective of the Geneva Conventions. It would then be spelled out whether or not we can be considered a rogue nation by the rest of the civilized world.

[teryang]

5. How can a diverse group be declared to have the same status?

The status of each individual should be based on individual hearings with due process of law. Records should be kept of military tribunal status determination hearings with the minimal due process guarantees to determine whether each individual is a detainee, POW or unlawful combatant (criminal). Records of these proceedings should be open to Red Cross inspection. Detainees not charged should be returned to their host countries (released). POWs should be held until some determination is made that the conflict with the Taliban is over and that their repatriation is order. All detainees and POWs should be treated in acccordance with their status and the conventions.

Those detainees who are determined in accordance with due process before a military commission to be unlawful "combatants" should be tried before a civil government, that of the parent country, Afghanistan or the United States with all the due process rights afforded under the respective states laws. As civilians they are not subject to military jurisdiction outside the area of conflict, Afghanistan. The United States Armed Forces is a party to the conflict but is not the governing body in Afghanistan, nor is it authorized by any law to try civilians in Guantanamo. If they wanted to penalize these individuals without regard for our Constitution, they should have kept these specific prisoners in Afghanistan. In Gitmo, they can never be treated as anything other than detainees. In other words they cannot be treated as criminals indefinitely without a trial meeting Convention standards of due process. With a recognized government in Kabul, and civilian courts in the US and their mother countries, their further detention under abusive conditions without trial is unlawful and in violation of international law.

The creation of military tribunals for the purpose of trying civilian unlawful combantants in Guantanamo which is not a territory subject to the conflict among the parties is void. Bringing the detainees to such a place was nothing more than a subtrefuge to avoid civilian jurisdiction over civilian prisoners. A detainee who is determined to be a POW cannot be tried for past acts before capture. A detainee who is not a criminal cannot be tried period. An unlawful combatant/criminal is a civilian who must be brought to an appropriate civilian jurisdiction for trial.

[goforit]

6. Well, well, well..............It's about time they step up to the plate!!!

:bounce:

[lumpy]

7. This shouldn't be left in the dust to die.

nt