Terroristmedia.com

A US judge has ruled that the Guantanamo military tribunals are unconstitutional.

In a setback for the Bush administration, US District Judge Joyce Hens Green on Monday also ruled the prisoners at the US military base at Guantanamo Bay in Cuba have constitutional protections under the law.

"The court concludes that the petitioners have stated valid claims under the Fifth Amendment to the United States Constitution and that the procedures implemented by the government to confirm that the petitioners are 'enemy combatants' subject to indefinite detention violate the petitioners' rights to due process of law," Green wrote.

More than 540 suspects are being held at Guantanamo after being detained during the 2001 invasion of Afghanistan and in other operations in the US "war against terrorism." They are suspected of being al-Qaida fighters and/or Taliban fighters.

Bush administration attorneys argued the prisoners have no constitutional rights and their lawsuits, challenging the conditions of their confinement and seeking their release, must be dismissed.

The detainees are suspected al-Qaida and Taliban fighters
The tribunals, formally called a military commission, at the base were authorised by President George Bush after the 11 September 2001, attacks, but have been criticised by human rights groups as being fundamentally unfair to defendants.

Green's 75-page opinion was the unclassified version made available for public release. It stemmed from 11 cases involving Guantanamo prisoners.

Her ruling probably will not be the final word on the issue.

A different federal judge in Washington, DC, on 19 January dismissed the cases of seven Guantanamo prisoners on the grounds that they have no recognisable constitutional rights and are subject to the military review process.

The cases could be appealed to the US appeals court, and then ultimately to the US Supreme Court.

What gets me is that these were the guys we captured in AF and did not convey any rights to those captured. We had a SEAL fall out of the back of a MH-47, yes he lived, and all that could be done while circling to go pick him up was watch the Tangos on the ground put him on his knees and execute him. He didn't get any rights to proceedure or protection under the a constitution.

My 2-cents

haebyong wrote:What gets me is that these were the guys we captured in AF and did not convey any rights to those captured. We had a SEAL fall out of the back of a MH-47, yes he lived, and all that could be done while circling to go pick him up was watch the Tangos on the ground put him on his knees and execute him. He didn't get any rights to proceedure or protection under the a constitution.

My 2-cents

Very true..Definite double standars...

Well, I don't go around spraying fire into bakeries and setting bombs off outside of religious sanctuaries. (Yes, if you fire from a church/mosque you're going to get return fire, so don't try that avenue of approach when replying.)

ramadi wrote:The mosque is gonna get burned even if there is noone in it, thats the type of guys the american army is made of, angry teenagers.

That's bullshit and you know it. The mosques would all be gone by now if the US wanted them gone. Remember, we have those smart bombs and they are very effective at destroying buildings. In fact, they were likely all found and marked off of planning maps as potential targets. It's really not in our best interest to anger the Shiite majority...the Sunnis are doing that well on their own.

Well the truth of the matter is that the United states are held responsible for there actions by the international comunity and this is a result of many different things. One being, they agreed to follow the Geneva convention and taking away the rights of POW's is a violation of the geneva convention.

They have a set of guidelines to follow and there clearly defying some of them. If the Iraqi's agreed to the Geneva convention then you might have a argument but they didn't so therefore you don't. The united states is a soverign nation and there fighting a group of people, not a actual state. Those people aren't woried about what the Geneva convention says or what international countries think of them.

Also it has been prooven more then once that some of the people in Guantonamo are not even combatants so this is a even worst case.

May Allah make a way for our Ickwaan there. Ameen

ramadi wrote:The mosque is gonna get burned even if there is noone in it, thats the type of guys the american army is made of, angry teenagers.

Ummmmm, Ramadi...I think you misunderstood...Spraying fire means Shooting Bullets...Not actually spraying fire into the Mosques.

Daffy_Duck wrote:

ramadi wrote:The mosque is gonna get burned even if there is noone in it, thats the type of guys the american army is made of, angry teenagers.

That's bullshit and you know it. The mosques would all be gone by now if the US wanted them gone. Remember, we have those smart bombs and they are very effective at destroying buildings. In fact, they were likely all found and marked off of planning maps as potential targets. It's really not in our best interest to anger the Shiite majority...the Sunnis are doing that well on their own.

Well said Mr. Duck.