US Army Officer Raises Doubts About Guantanamo Tribunals

23 June 2007



A U.S. Army intelligence officer and lawyer is strongly criticizing the military tribunals for detainees at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.

Lieutenant-Colonel Stephen Abraham took part in the hearings at the U.S. military base for six months starting in late 2004. In papers filed with a federal appeals court in Washington, the Army reservist and lawyer says officers conducting the hearings relied on incomplete intelligence sources to determine if detainees were enemy combatants. He says the arbitrary process failed to review evidence about the detainees that could have proved their innocence.

Abraham also says military officers serving as judges at the hearings were pressured by their commanding officers to rule against detainees.

The lawyer says he decided to come forward after learning that the officer who oversaw the program, U.S. Navy Rear Admiral James McGarrah, asserted in a sworn statement the military carefully considered the status of each detainee.

The Pentagon is defending the military tribunals as fair and impartial. Military officials also questioned Abraham's account, because of his limited time at Guantanamo.

The military has conducted tribunals for 558 detainees at Guantanamo Bay, with 520 having been classified as enemy combatants who should remain in custody. The detainees are not allowed to have a defense lawyer present, and can not examine much of the evidence against them.


http://www.voanews.com/english/2007-06-23-voa10.cfm?rss=human

and that alone is enough reason for impeachment if you ask me.

What are they doing about this?

June 21, 2007

Two Senate Democrats are working together to attach an amendment to the defense authorization bill that would close the detention facility at Guantánamo Bay. The probability of a presidential veto of the bill, already high due to the looming Iraq and habeas corpus provisions, would only rise if Sens. Tom Harkin and Dianne Feinstein succeed in their Guantánamo push.

Feinstein, of California, said she and fellow Democrat Harkin, of Iowa, likely will combine their competing bills into a single amendment that could be offered to the $648.8 billion fiscal 2008 defense authorization bill.

The defense bill, which Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) plans to bring to the floor before the July 4th recess, is turning into a minefield for presidential hopefuls as it becomes a vehicle for some of the most contentious battles brewing in Congress. In addition to the Guantánamo Bay measure, Senate Democrats plan to use the bill for making another statement against the Iraq war and for restoring habeas corpus rights to alleged-terrorist detainees.

Critics say the detention center inhumanely houses detainees and has brought widespread damage to the United States’ reputation around the world. Former Secretary of State Colin Powell earlier this month became the latest high-profile Republican to call for closing the facility, joining presidential candidate Sen. John McCain (Ariz.) and current Secretary of Defense Robert Gates.

Harkin and Feinstein take disparate approaches to shuttering Guantánamo, making the task of melding them potentially difficult. Harkin would require the government to charge detainees once they are transferred, either in federal courts, courts-martial or the military commissions crafted by the Bush administration and increasingly challenged by the judiciary.

Feinstein’s original bill would allow detainees to remain in custody without charge but bring their treatment in line with international law. In addition, military commissions would not be permissible venues.

Unlike Feinstein, Harkin includes a clause to block further congressional appropriations for Guantánamo until the closure process begins, making his language a prime candidate for addition on the floor to the defense spending bill if the defense authorization fight falls short.

Though Democratic White House candidates long have campaigned on a vow to close Guantánamo, only recently has the field begun endorsing legislation to accomplish that goal. Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-N.Y.) endorsed Feinstein’s bill last week, and Sen. Joseph Biden (D-Del.) signed on to Harkin’s this week. Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.) and McCain, both of whom support closing Guantánamo, have yet to endorse either bill.

The ACLU will hold a rally and grassroots action day next week aimed at bringing Guantánamo shutdown and habeas restoration to the forefront, hosted by Harkin, Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.) and other senior lawmakers. Further fueling the debate, the U.S. transferred six more prisoners out of Guantánamo yesterday, one of whom may face political persecution in his home country of Tunisia.


http://thehill.com/leading-the-news/feinstein-harkin-aim-to-shut-guantnamo-through-defense-authorization-bill-process-2007-06-21.html