To: Hawkmoon who wrote (2153 ) 1/13/2003 3:15:17 PM From: zonder Read Replies (1) | Respond to Forget the 1997 stuff But the primary issue is that have been declared "unlawful combatants" and thus their "status" has been declared. There's nothing in the Geneva convention that says a competent tribunal has to be immediately called. Only that they must be treated in accord with the Geneva Convention until such time that one is called to determine their final status. And on top of that, since none of these prisoners have entered the United States, they are NOT entitled to the same protections as those being held within official US territory. The 1950 Supreme Court decision Johnson v Eisentrager held that enemy aliens who have not entered the United States are not entitled to access to US courts. Under this ruling, the recourse the prisoners have about a change in status, etc., is to appeal through the Executive Branch, not the court system. But it is not clear whether this decision applies to the current situation , since there are other ways to construe the legal situation (I’ll let the lawyers figure this out). es.rice.edu So what's the beef??
