Note: The following post is a quote:
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2222186/posts
Off Base on Terror: Judge’s Decision Throws Open U.S. Courthouse Doors to Our Worst Enemies
New York Daily News ^ | April 4th 2009 | staff
Posted on April 4, 2009 6:12:19 AM PDT by kellynla
A federal judge has taken the fateful step of ruling that three of the 600 prisoners at Bagram air base in Afghanistan have rights under the U.S. Constitution. This is dangerous folly.
One can only pray that higher courts reject Judge John Bates’ premise that noncitizens are not barred - as long thought - from contesting war captivity abroad in American civilian courts.
While Bates emphasized the distinct circumstances of the three, he built his holding on the notion that U.S. control of Bagram gave prisoners a leg up on getting into court.
Activists who have taken up the cause of the detainees were ecstatic. Tina Foster, of the International Justice Network, said the Bates ruling would extend “to any place where the United States seeks to hold individuals in a legal black hole.”
Presidents Bush and Obama - yes, Obama - argued against opening our courts to terror suspects abroad. But Bates drew his reasoning from the 2008 Supreme Court decision that foolishly granted Guantanamo detainees habeas corpus rights.
At the time, it was thought the effects of that case would go no further than Gitmo. That base in Cuba was seen as American territory for constitutional purposes because the U.S. controlled it under a long-term lease.
But now Bates has said the military has an “objective degree of control” at Bagram, putting prisoners, in effect, on U.S. soil. Then he applied a “functional, multi-factor, detainee-by-detainee test” to gauge rights.
He gave three detainees - two Yemenis and one Tunisian - access to federal courts because they had been apprehended elsewhere and taken to Afghanistan.
(Excerpt) Read more at nydailynews.com ...
QUOTE:
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/bloggers/2191075/posts?page=19#19
A bit off topic, but interesting:
http://www.jihadwatch.org/archives/025825.php
(Los Angeles Times)
April 24, 2009
“Obama Administration wants to settle Muslims freed from Gitmo in American communities to “set an example, helping to persuade other nations to accept Guantanamo detainees too””
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http://www.jihadwatch.org/archives/025822.php
(CHICAGO TRIBUNE)
April 24, 2009
“Relax: Chinese Muslim Gitmo inmates to be freed in U.S.”
#
http://www.humanevents.com/article.php?id=31513
“The Uighurs and the ‘Torture’ Memos”
by Jed Babbin
04/20/2009
SNIPPET: “White House lawyers are refusing to accept the findings of an inter-agency committee that the Uighur Chinese Muslims held at Guantanamo Bay are too dangerous to release inside the U.S., according to Pentagon sources familiar with the action.
This action — coupled with the release of previously top secret legal opinions on harsh interrogation methods — demonstrates the Obama administration’s willingness to ignore reality.
President Obama’s decision to close the terrorist detention facility (known as “Gitmo” to the military) was made despite Bush administration determinations that there were no realistic alternatives to it.”
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http://www.jihadwatch.org/dhimmiwatch/archives/024746.php
(AP)
February 6, 2009
“China warns against providing asylum to Chinese jihadis released from Gitmo”
19 posted on April 25, 2009 1:09:19 AM PDT by Cindy