by overruled
The ACLU just announced that Ali Saleh Kahlah al-Marri, the only Bush-era "enemy combatant" being held in military detention on U.S. soil, will be
charged as a criminal terrorist and tried for his alleged crimes by the Obama Administration. This is a really big deal, both because it marks a major step by the new Administration to demonstrate that national security does not require us to abandon the Constitution, and also because it gives meaning to President Obama’s previous decision to close Gitmo. If the Gitmo detainees were merely transferred from Cuba to U.S. soil, but were then detained here without trail, the President’s promise to close Gitmo would have been meaningless.
The Supreme Court already agreed to consider a challenge to the constitutionality of al-Marri’s detention, and the ACLU is asking the Court still to consider that case. According to Al-Marri’s attorney, the ACLU’s Jonathan Hafetz, "it is vital that the Supreme Court case go forward because it must be made clear once and for all that indefinite military detention of persons arrested in the U.S. is illegal and that this will never happen again."
I couldn’t agree more.
<…>
One question that came up in comments is whether al-Marri has been charged yet. My understanding is that the Administration is still preparing the case, and hasn't filed charges yet.
Even so, I wouldn't read that much into this delay. Preparing a prosecution always takes time, and it is perfectly reasonable for the new Attorney General to take an appropriate amount of time to get it right. If, in fact, al-Marri is a terrorist, then we want his trial to lead to conviction.
What is important is that the Obama Administration is following the constitutionally correct process of investigation, charging and trial---not Bush's extra-legal process of never-ending detentions.
By Carrie Johnson and Julie Tate
Washington Post Staff Writers
Thursday, February 26, 2009; 3:00 PM
<...>
Indicting Marri in a federal court marks a significant change from the policies of the Bush administration, which had argued that al-Marri should be tried in a military tribunal proceeding and that he could not use American courts to contest his legal status.
Marri is the last remaining "enemy combatant" in the United States and has spent 5 1/2 years in a military brig in South Carolina. The criminal charges, which sources said also could include conspiracy, will be among the most early and critical signals about the Obama administration's approach to handling alleged terrorism suspects.
In one of his first steps since taking office last month, President Obama explicitly directed government lawyers to review the status of Marri's case. He also ordered within one year the closure of the U.S. prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, where about 245 terrorism suspects have been housed for years.
The decision to move Marri into the U.S. courts, where he will be able to assert a host of rights to challenge any evidence against him, comes after lengthy debate at the highest levels of government.
more
Printer-friendly format
Email this thread to a friend
Bookmark this thread
(1000+ posts)
Send PM |
Profile |
Ignore
