3 ex-officers challenging detentions at Guantanamo Bay

[Judi Lynn]

Posted on Sat, Nov. 29, 2003

3 ex-officers challenging detentions at Guantanamo Bay
In a case the U.S. Supreme Court will soon consider, three former high-ranking officers have played a key role in arguing against the indefinite detention of suspected terrorists on the Navy base in Guantánamo Bay, Cuba.
BY FRANK DAVIES
[e-mail]

WASHINGTON - Former Rear Adm. Don Guter felt the Pentagon shudder when an airliner hijacked by terrorists struck on Sept. 11, 2001. He helped evacuate shaken officers and later gave the eulogy for a colleague killed that day.

''I would have done anything that day, and I fully support the war on terrorism,'' said Guter, who served as judge advocate general, the Navy's chief legal officer, until he retired last year.

That makes Guter part of an unlikely trio -- joining his predecessor as Navy judge advocate general and a retired Marine general with expertise on prisoner issues -- challenging the Bush administration's indefinite detention of suspected terrorists at the Navy base in Guantánamo Bay, Cuba.

Guter, former Rear Adm. John Hutson and former Brig. Gen. David Brahms say they understand the demands of wartime security. They also worry that the example of Guantánamo -- lengthy incarcerations without hearings -- will undermine the rule of law and endanger U.S. forces years from now. (snip/...)

http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/news/breaking_news/7373725.htm

[Myra]

1. I believe this is the prototype case Bush Inc's been waiting for

To see if their prototype concentration camp can
withstand the courts. I'd imagine they're feeling
pretty confident what with the filthy five in their
pockets.

[teryang]

2. This is a great post JL!

Thanks.

One particular shortcoming I have mentioned before:

<The former military officers say the administration and Pentagon missed a chance to provide quick hearings with minimal due process, outlined in the Geneva Conventions, to determine if the captives were probably enemy combatants.

''Somehow, in the fog of war, we skipped over that,'' Hutson said.>

These military officers are great Americans to challenge this. Such challenges have the potential to arrest the descent into barbarism.

I wonder if anyone out there knows what their jurisdictional brief is. It must be pretty good if they are going to get a hearing from the SC. The clerk of the SC is a former acting JAG, he's a right winger, I'll bet he's pissed. It appears no former Army JAGs signed on. Early on one was an "expert consultant" on one of the cable channels, that lasted one night. He and one other JA simply knew a little too much about the law of military operations. Can't have these people who know what they are talking about, publicly analysing the treatment of prisoners, "collateral damage" or "accidental killings."

[IndianaGreen]

3. The good officers are being purged from the military

just as the Nazis purged the German military from the non-Nazis, and forced everyone else to take a loyalty oath to Hitler.

Did anyone noticed the strong Secret Service presence surrounding Bush when he was "visiting" the troops in Baghdad. They gave me the impression that they feared the troops. What a vote of confidence by the Commander-in-Chief (who appeared to be wearing a kevlar jacket under that heavy army jacket he was wearing)!