I don’t understand this latest move by the President. Human rights are supposed to be fundamental – so it shouldn’t matter if he thinks the US Constitution applies to them. Everyone deserves an open trail if charged with a crime.
The Obama administration, siding with the Bush White House, contended Friday that detainees in Afghanistan have no constitutional rights.
In a two-sentence court filing, the Justice Department said it agreed that detainees at Bagram Airfield cannot use U.S. courts to challenge their detention. The filing shocked human rights attorneys.
Less than a month after signing an executive order to close the Guantanamo Bay prison camp, President Barack Obama has quietly agreed to keep denying the right to trial to hundreds more terror suspects held at a makeshift camp in Afghanistan that human rights lawyers have dubbed “Obama’s Guantanamo”.
In a single-sentence answer filed with a Washington court, the administration dashed hopes that it would immediately rip up Bush-era policies that have kept more than 600 prisoners in legal limbo and in rudimentary conditions at the Bagram air base, north of Kabul.
Now, human rights groups say they are becoming increasingly concerned that the use of extra-judicial methods in Afghanistan could be extended rather than curtailed under the new US administration. The air base is about to undergo a $60m (£42m) expansion that will double its size, meaning it can house five times as many prisoners as remain at Guantanamo.
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I was initially very upset about this announcement and have spent quite a bit of time trying to get to the bottom of the “laws of war” governing our treatment of detainees.
One important point is that Obama didn’t claim that the detainees have NO RIGHTS. Rather, he claimed that, just as in every war of the past, detainees do not have U.S. constitutional rights that will enable them to have trials in a U.S. court. They, of course, have rights. They are human beings. Furthermore, they have rights under the Geneva Convention.
The fact that under George W. Bush detainees were tortured and even killed has nothing to do with them not having U.S. constitutional rights. They weren’t even given basic human rights, much less the rights of the Geneva Convention.
Obama has already said that the Geneva Convention must be followed in regards to the detainees at Guantanamo, Bagram and anywhere else.
The difference between Guantanamo and Bagram is that in Guantanamo, we are the sovereign power and, therefore, we can grant trials in the U.S. courts. Otherwise, who would try them? Cuba? In Bagram, we are still, unfortunately, militarily engaged. Detainees can, according to the Geneva Convention, be held until military action ends.
The 60 million dollar expansion in Bagram can be viewed another way. The conditions the detainees have been held in are deplorable. If they are going to be held, and probably more will join them in the upcoming troop surge, it would be unconscionable to not make some major improvements to their living conditions.
Personally, I don’t think we should be in Afghanistan at all. But, I’m an idealist. What would happen if U.S. forces simply left? Could the August elections still take place? Would the country descend into chaos and civil war? Maybe, maybe not. Should it even matter what happens there? I think so.
Emily: Thanks for commenting. You gave me something to think about. I’ll answer a few of the questions you posed:
1)What would happen if U.S. forces simply left?
Not much would change. The difference is that US troops & treasure wouldn’t be wasted there.
2) Could the August elections still take place?
Maybe.
3) Would the country descend into chaos and civil war?
Can’t be much worse that the current situation.
4) should it even matter what happens there?
It matters for strictly humanitarian purposes. But we aren’t in Afganistan for humanitarian purposes.
The US is there to protect a pipeline, and project power in the region. Everything else is froth and bubble.
That’s exactly what the rest of the world needs to realize…why we are in the middle east to begin with…
Its time Americans learn how to watch more than Fox News and get their media from multiple outlets in order to really educate themselves and get a full perspective.
Wait – you mean there is more to life than American Idol and FOX News?
Yes, there is also Nickelodeon and Comedy Central!!
Hardly anyone I know watches the news, they whine its too depressing. They’d rather just be in the dark I guess…do what Americans are supposed to do; just be content and go with the flow…well sorry I guess the time I wasted in college getting a political science degree was all a big fat waste…I’ll just get myself a Wii and order Papa Johns…everything will be ok!
To be fair – Papa John’s garlic dip is full of win.
You didn’t waste your time getting a degree.
Yes, well during my college years I lived on top of a beer distributor and a Papa Johns…still love beer but hate Papa Johns
Now sorta back to the Middle East, since Bush left the costs of military there out of his budget/hid costs…everyone is flipping out over Obama’s budget, what was Bush’s last year without including the army spending?
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