’08 verdict could hinder Obama’s detainee plans

32 freed through habeas corpus challenges

WASHINGTON - The case against Saeed Mohammed Saleh Hatim seemed ironclad.

The Justice Department alleged that Hatim, a detainee at the US military prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, trained at an Al Qaeda military camp in Afghanistan, stayed at terrorist guesthouses and fought in the battle of Tora Bora. The accusations were built on Hatim’s own words and those of a witness, a fellow Guantanamo Bay detainee, court records show.

But a federal judge reviewed the case and found the government’s evidence too weak to justify Hatim’s confinement. The judge ordered the detainee’s release, ruling that he could not rely on Hatim’s statements because they had been coerced. He also found the government’s informer was “profoundly unreliable.’’

The case is more the rule than the exception. Federal judges, acting under a landmark 2008 Supreme Court ruling that grants Guantanamo Bay detainees the right to challenge their confinements, have ordered the government to free 32 prisoners and backed the detention of nine others. In their opinions, the judges have gutted allegations and questioned the reliability of statements by the prisoners during interrogations and by the informants. Even when ruling for the government, the judges have not always endorsed the Justice Department’s case.

The rulings in the Hatim case and the 31 others may be a harbinger of trouble for the Obama administration, which is considering plans to indefinitely detain dozens of Guantanamo Bay prisoners without civilian or military trials. Although the detainees will never face a jury, they are entitled to their day in court under the Supreme Court ruling.

http://www.boston.com/news/nation/washington/articles/2010/02/18/08_ruling_may_snag_obama_administrations_guantanamo_plans/

can be held without charge for years and our Democratic administration fights to keep them there.

I can't get past that.