Silicon Investor (SI) -- The First Internet Community

STOCKTALK

We've detected that you're using an ad content blocking browser plug-in or feature. Ads provide a critical source of revenue to the continued operation of Silicon Investor. We ask that you disable ad blocking while on Silicon Investor in the best interests of our community. If you are not using an ad blocker but are still receiving this message, make sure your browser's tracking protection is set to the 'standard' level.

Politics : The Donkey's Inn -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Mephisto who wrote (7959)	11/13/2003 2:03:46 AM
From: Mephisto	Respond to of 15516

Page 2 In the Guantanamo case, the justices limited their review to the narrow but significant question of access to U.S. courts. The case concerns only Guantanamo detainees, most of whom were picked up during the U.S. war in Afghanistan (news - web sites), although the United States holds prisoners in numerous other places overseas. Lawyers for the Guantanamo detainees had raised broad civil liberties objections to their detention and treatment, but the high court declined to look at those issues. The men could presumably renew those challenges if they win this case. Several U.S. allies have complained about the open-ended detentions, and at least 40 prisoners have been returned to their home countries. Last month, the International Committee of the Red Cross said the mental health of a large number of inmates was deteriorating. Civil liberties lawyers were rebuffed as they tried to challenge the detentions and interrogations on the men's behalf. Lower courts found that the American civilian court system had no authority to hear complaints from the alleged al-Qaida and Taliban foot soldiers. "The United States has created a prison on Guantanamo Bay that operates entirely outside the law," lawyers for four British and Australian detainees argued in asking the high court to consider the case. The four were seized in Pakistan and Afghanistan and have nothing to do with al-Qaida, other terrorist organizations or with the events of Sept. 11, 2001, lawyers from the Center for Constitutional Rights told the high court. The justices also will hear a similar challenge concerning 12 Kuwaiti men seized in Pakistan and Afghanistan and shipped to Guantanamo in early 2002, their lawyers said. The Kuwaitis are not terrorists and have never participated in any hostile act against the United States, their lawyers said. The court combined the two appeals and will hear them together early next year. A ruling is expected by July.

To: Mephisto who wrote (7959)	11/13/2003 2:04:23 AM
From: Mephisto	Respond to of 15516

Page 3 "We believe that the law is on our side," White House National Security Adviser Condoleezza Rice (news - web sites) said Monday. "We've always said with the detainees that they are being treated consistently with international law and we believe that we're right in this." Rice spoke in an interview with Fox affiliate WAGA in Atlanta. On the other side, the Center for Constitutional Rights said Monday, "In essence, the court must now decide whether the United States will reaffirm or reject its commitment to the rule of law." Separately, the court refused to hear an appeal from an Islamic charity whose assets were impounded three months after the terrorist attacks. The Illinois-based Global Relief Foundation argued that the government put it out of business without proof it was funneling money to terrorists. The Bush administration had urged the Supreme Court not to get involved in either case. Solicitor General Theodore Olson told the court that the Guantanamo detentions serve "vital objectives of preventing combatants from continuing to aid our enemies and gathering intelligence to further the overall war effort." Olson, whose wife was killed aboard the hijacked jet that crashed into the Pentagon (news - web sites) on Sept. 11, told the court that a lower federal appeals court properly rejected the Guantanamo appeals. The Guantanamo base was seized by the United States in the Spanish-American War and has been leased from Cuba for the past century. The cases are Rasul v. Bush, 03-334 and Al Odah v. United States, 03-343.