~snip~
The judge said a military review board had labeled Khadr an "enemy combatant" during a 2004 hearing in Guantanamo. But the Military Commissions Act adopted by the U.S. Congress in 2006 said only "unlawful enemy combatants" could be tried in the Guantanamo tribunals.
Brownback said Khadr did not meet that strict definition because there had been no formal proceeding designating him as unlawful.
Because none of the 380 foreign captives held at Guantanamo have been designated in that way, lawyers said they could not be tried unless they first faced proceedings reclassifying them as unlawful enemy combatants.
Brownback dismissed the charges against Khadr, but left open the possibility that charges could be re-filed if Khadr went back before a review board and was formally reclassified.
This was the latest setback for the Bush government's efforts to put the Guantanamo detainees through some form of judicial process. It was forced to rewrite the rules last year after the U.S. Supreme Court deemed the old tribunals illegal.
more:
http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/N04481007.htm