Supremes Debate Fate of Guantanamo Detainees

The Supreme Court is hearing arguments today to decide if Guantanamo POWs detainees (aka enemy combatants aka detainees) can question their detention. The U. S. Court of Appeals wussed out initially and said that since Guantanamo is on Cuban soil that it is outside their jurisdiction (though on an American military installation?).

The Administration has insisted that Guant?namo is a place where neither the U.S. Constitution nor international law applies and no court in the world has jurisdiction.

Yes. Read that again. ‘No court in the world has jurisdiction.’ Gives you goosebumps doesn’t it? No think what is going to happen when American POWs are captured and treated with the same insane theory… The big question comes down to: is it right to hold anybody indefinitely without charging them? Is it right to grant this kind of power to the White House with no possible oversight or course of correction? Does due process only apply to those we like? Do you trust the police or the intelligence agencies to be absolutely accurate that detainees don’t get access to lawyers or to legal advice?

I guess I can’t fathom why they wouldn’t. Why should anybody on this earth be denied due process? Held without being charged for anything? What kind of free country are we pretending we live in? Secret military tribunals and secret executions are symptoms for a sickness I’d rather not name and if we’re going down that road then I better book that flight to Canada.


Posted

in

by

Tags:

Comments

6 responses to “Supremes Debate Fate of Guantanamo Detainees”

  1. Jef Avatar

    I know I must be out of it from getting up so early this morning. When I read the headline, I thought it had something to do with Diana Ross & the Supremes.

    This is the type of reasoning that made me nervous when our freedom began to be slowly chipped away from us after 911. I understand the importance of Homeland Security, but the government should still not have carte blanche over the people. And yet my Republican parents do not see this. It is beyond my comprehension.

    COMMENT:
    It was only recently actually that I could read The Supremes without thinking of the famed doo-wop girls. I know I’m becoming a political junkie now that I read POTUS and SCOTUS without flinching. Though SCOTUS always makes me read SCROTUM.

  2. Andy Avatar
    Andy

    I’m mostly worried that we are violating the Geneva Convention and not allowing due process to the accused – hell, they’re not even accused. Many of them have been there for two years and have yet to be charged with anything. Guantanamo is a lawless place.

    If the United States choose to ignore international law and bend it for our convenience then we shouldn’t be surprised when captured American soldiers suffer similar indignities.

  3. danoin Avatar
    danoin

    If you read the journals and papers of Germany before WWII you can find similar parallels.Are the people in Cuba soilders? Where will you stand when Bush calls for a Force to invade South America or some other country that we want to give massive Federal Aid-New Jeresy?

  4. Jef Avatar

    I guess great minds think alike because a big scrotum popped into my mind to when I read “scotus.”

    Where does one find journals and papers of Germany before WWII to read on-line. Now you have me curious as a quad-amputee kitty.

  5. danoin Avatar
    danoin

    ****Jef-Look up “Night of the Long Knives”-or Pre WWII Nazi Germany…

  6. Andy Avatar
    Andy

    Just finished listening to the hearing: abstract | audio | transcript Actually the big question is jurisdiction – again, the possibility of a lawless territory is quite chilling.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *