4.09.2005
US Justice Judged (TheAge.com.au)
April 9, 2005 - 4:53PM
In a development the Bush administration had hoped to avoid, the stories of about 60 detainees imprisoned at Guantanamo Bay Naval Base have spilled out in court papers.
A US college-educated detainee asks plaintively in one: "Is it possible to see the evidence in order to refute it?"
In another transcript, the unidentified president of a US military tribunal bursts out: "I don't care about international law. I don't want to hear the words 'international law' again. We are not concerned with international law."
Expressing defiance in some instances and stoic acceptance of their fate in others, the once nameless and still largely faceless detainees appeared last year before tribunals that, after quick reviews, declared they were unlawful enemy combatants who could be held indefinitely.
The US government is holding about 550 terrorism suspects at the Navy base in Cuba. An additional 214 have been released since the prison opened in January 2002 - some into the custody of their home governments, others freed outright.
Little information about them has been released through official channels. But the stories of 60 or more are spelled out in detail in thousands of pages of transcripts filed in US District Court in Washington, where lawsuits challenging their detentions have been filed.
(More ... US justice judged - War on Terror - www.theage.com.au) ¶ 20:12
In a development the Bush administration had hoped to avoid, the stories of about 60 detainees imprisoned at Guantanamo Bay Naval Base have spilled out in court papers.
A US college-educated detainee asks plaintively in one: "Is it possible to see the evidence in order to refute it?"
In another transcript, the unidentified president of a US military tribunal bursts out: "I don't care about international law. I don't want to hear the words 'international law' again. We are not concerned with international law."
Expressing defiance in some instances and stoic acceptance of their fate in others, the once nameless and still largely faceless detainees appeared last year before tribunals that, after quick reviews, declared they were unlawful enemy combatants who could be held indefinitely.
The US government is holding about 550 terrorism suspects at the Navy base in Cuba. An additional 214 have been released since the prison opened in January 2002 - some into the custody of their home governments, others freed outright.
Little information about them has been released through official channels. But the stories of 60 or more are spelled out in detail in thousands of pages of transcripts filed in US District Court in Washington, where lawsuits challenging their detentions have been filed.
(More ... US justice judged - War on Terror - www.theage.com.au) ¶ 20:12
