Senators Seek Rules for Gitmo Detainees

[sabra]

<<SNIP>>
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/06/27/AR2005062700992.html

Senators Seek Rules for Gitmo Detainees

By MATTHEW DALY
The Associated Press
Monday, June 27, 2005; 4:46 PM

WASHINGTON -- Two Democratic senators, just back from Guantanamo Bay, said Monday that Congress should come up with concrete rules for handling detainees at the U.S. prison there.

Sens. Ron Wyden of Oregon and Ben Nelson of Nebraska said more precise rules would help ensure that prisoners would not be abused and that the United States would not suffer further embarrassments because of the way detainees were treated.

Wyden and Nelson made the comments after a three-day trip to Cuba that included a tour of the Guantanamo Bay Naval Base and extensive meetings with top U.S. officials and rank-and-file soldiers and sailors. The lawmakers also met with a top Cuban agriculture official in an effort to promote trade of cherries, peas and other crops grown in their states.

"The Bush administration is correct when they say these are unique circumstances" at Guantanamo, Wyden said at a Capitol news conference. "We are in a war. These are not your garden-variety criminal defendants."

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[maddezmom]

1. I hope Specter decides not to sit back on this

Specter, chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, scolded the GOP-run Congress earlier his month for not doing more to clarify the rights of detainees.

"It may be that it's too hot to handle for Congress, may be that it's too complex ... or it may be that Congress wants to sit back as we customarily do. But at any rate, Congress hasn't acted," Specter said.

[Supersedeas]

7. he's gotten suddenly much quieter about it....odd?

[TahitiNut]

2. How about "due process"? (Assholes!)

It's called habeas corpus, representation by an attorney, right to face accusers, and right to a prompt trial by a jury of their peers!

[mom cat]

4. Are you on that constitution kick again. Habeas corpus is for sissies.

:sarcasm:

[Yo_Mama_Been_Loggin]

5. Sissies?

As in Chicken Hawk George and Turd Blossom Karl.

[mom cat]

6. How did you know who I had in mind?

[gratuitous]

3. You got that right, Sen. Wyden

These are decidedly NOT your garden-variety criminal defendants. In fact, they're not your garden-variety ANYTHING. They have no status as prisoners, defendants, or even as human beings as far as the corrupt Bush administration is concerned. They haven't been charged with anything, accused of anything, or been afforded an opportunity to have their situation evaluated by an independent tribunal.

There used to be a time when the United States opposed mad regimes that did this to people. Now we're the planet's leading example of it, without even the decency to try to hide its lawlessness.