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Guantánamo at HomeThe Bush administration has long defended its prison at Guantánamo by claiming that the Constitution did not apply there because it was located outside the United States. But newly disclosed government documents obtained by Yale Law School's Lowenstein International Human Rights Clinic and the ACLU under the Freedom of Information Act reveal that the administration was secretly trying to extend Guantánamo's lawless system to this country. The documents concern the three individuals held as "enemy combatants" within the United States: Yaser Hamdi, Jose Padilla, and Ali al-Marri. Two of those detainees—Padilla and al-Marri—were arrested in this country. Al-Marri, who is represented by the ACLU, remains at the Navy brig in South Carolina and is seeking review of his continued detention in the U.S. Supreme Court. The President's claim that he can order the military to seize people off the streets of the United States and imprison them forever without charge or trial by labeling them "enemy combatants" defies centuries of precedent and legal tradition. The new documents illustrate the dirty underbelly of this dangerous power grab. The documents clearly show that the standard operating procedure developed for Guantánamo governed every aspect of these detentions inside the United States. That procedure gave interrogators carte blanche to engage in tactics that bordered on if not amounted to torture. They demonstrate that the abuse inflicted on Padilla and al-Marri—which included prolonged isolation, painful stress position, extreme sensory deprivation, and threats of violence and death—was the direct consequence of the Bush administration's decision to apply the Guantánamo rules to the United States. The documents also show that the servicemen and women tasked with implementing these policies questioned mistreating detainees and expressed concern for the detainees' safety, only to be overruled by higher-ups in the chain of command. By shedding light on the administration's secret plan to create a miniature Guantánamo at home, the documents mark an important step forward in repairing the damage the administration has caused to America's Constitution and values.
Judge Orders Government to Free Innocent MenIn a landmark ruling, a federal district judge in Washington, D.C., today ordered the government to release a group of 17 Chinese Muslims held at Guantánamo Bay. The decision marks the first time a judge has ordered the government to free a prisoner from Guantánamo and delivers a powerful blow to the Bush administration's illegal and misguided detention policy. The question before the district judge was simple: does the Executive have the power to permanently imprison innocent individuals because it is politically expedient? Even more astounding than the judge's decision was the fact that the United States government would continue to press such a shameful and bogus argument in a federal courtroom. The prisoners in question are members of an ethnic minority in China known as the Uighurs. Like many others, they ended up in Guantánamo by mistake. What makes their case different is that this time the government admits it was wrong (although it still tries to cloak its error in double-speak by labeling the Uighurs "no longer enemy combatants" because the category of "innocent" doesn't exist at Guantánamo). The problem is that the U.S. can't send the Uighurs home since China will either torture or kill them and no other country will accept them for fear of angering China. The government's response to this dilemma has been to continue to imprison the Uighurs for as long as it takes to find a "diplomatic solution," even though they have already been locked up without cause for almost seven years. Imprisoning innocent people is not only immoral; it is also unconstitutional. Indefinite detention without charge, ruled District Judge Ricardo M. Urbina in today's decision, violates due process. Or, put more bluntly, enough is enough. The judge ordered the government to present the Uighurs in his courtroom this Friday so he can hand them over to local caretakers. For the Uighurs, today's decision promises a glimmer of hope after years of darkness in a prison beyond the law. For America, it offers an opportunity to begin to restore the sense of justice and moral credibility that Guantánamo has so badly tarnished. |
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