"Obama, you're doing a 'super' job!"
Posted on 09/13/2009 10:33:36 PM PDT by 444Flyer
WASHINGTON (AP): The Pentagon has begun putting into place a new program under which hundreds of prisoners being held by the military in Afghanistan will be given the right to challenge their detentions, a defense official said Sunday.
Prisoners at Bagram military base are all to be given a U.S. military official to serve as their personal representative and a chance to go before new Detainee Review Boards, to have their cases considered, said the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity to be able to discuss a program that has not been formally announced.
The initiative amounts to the first time prisoners will be able to call witnesses and submit evidence in their defense. There are some 600 detainees at the facility, some who have been held for up to six years.
(snip)The guidelines came to light as the Obama administration is reviewing Bush-era detention policies and determining where to make changes.
(snip)Under the rules, the military-assigned representatives, though not a lawyer, are charged with gathering evidence and calling witnesses on behalf of the prisoners.
(snip)That process is similar to the one used for detainees at the U.S. military prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.
(snip)Human rights campaigners have argued that the prisoners should be given the same rights as those at Guantanamo, but the U.S. military argues that Bagram detainees should be treated differently because they are being held in an active theater of war.
(snip)Ramzi Kassem, a law professor at City University of New York and attorney for one of those Bagram detainees, said the move is just "window dressing."
(snip) "These changes don't come anywhere near an adequate substitute for a real review."
Efforts to get responses from administration and military officials were not immediately successful.
(Excerpt) Read more at guardian.co.uk ...
Obama to McChrystal: "How do we Kill Morale?"
Obama’s Vietnam.
"Obama, you're doing a 'super' job!"
So I guess in WWII we allowed German and Japanese POW’s to demand a writ of habeas corpus?
Unfortunately, no. Apparently, McChrystal wants to hold hands with the enemy.
Regarding new ROE’s:
*PLEASE NOTE THIS PARAGRAPH IN PARTICULAR.*
“In preparing his assessment of the Afghan command, McChrystal found an American military culture that showed a great concern for troops’ protection – sometimes at the expense of their relations with Afghan civilians.
To change those relations, McChrystal wants American forces to think twice about basic conduct - for instance no longer pointing their guns at people when they pass in convoy or blocking narrow roads with their convoys, while relegating Afghans to the ditches.
To deal with the most contentious aspect of those shaky relations, McChrystal has already committed to try to reduce civilian casualties by issuing new orders that restrict when troops should call in bombing strikes.”
http://www.hotsr.com/news/WireHeadlines/2009/08/02/general-wants-more-troops-for-afghan-war-26.php
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