Gitmo detainees may be asked about names

AP on Yahoo ^ | 7/29/05 | Larry Neumeister - AP

[NormsRevenge]

NEW YORK - A federal judge considering whether the government should be forced to reveal the identities of Guantanamo Bay Naval Base detainees suggested Friday that each one be asked whether he wants his name made public.

Judge Jed S. Rakoff offered the idea as he considered the government's position that the United States must hide the identities to protect the detainees and their family members from potential reprisals.

If asked, "that person may be saying, `Yes, please, tell the world,'" Rakoff told Assistant U.S. Attorney Elizabeth Wolstein.

Wolstein said there might be "military reasons" for not engaging in such a dialogue with a detainee, a roadblock the judge said could be cured by posing the question in a two-paragraph letter to each detainee.

The exchange occurred during oral arguments in Manhattan over how much information the government must release on 558 tribunals conducted in the last year to give detainees a chance to challenge their incarceration.

The Associated Press filed a lawsuit in April, saying the government was reluctant to release information from the tribunals that should be public.

In court papers, the government said it has produced more than 3,900 pages of documents that provide a detailed picture of each detainee's life before he was captured, including his profession, work history and connections to terrorist groups.

Wolstein said the information already released was sufficient to satisfy the public interest in monitoring how the tribunals were conducted.

She said there was no history of judicial rulings that would define the law in a way to permit the disclosure of names and other facts the AP was demanding.

David A. Schulz, an attorney who argued the case for the AP, said there was no history of rulings in similar cases because "there are a couple of fairly novel issues here."

He said the detaining of hundreds of men for nearly four years without revealing to the public who they were and why they were being held was "really an unprecedented action by the government" that clashed with the principles of democracy.

Schulz said protecting the privacy of detainees was an "excuse by the government to keep information from the public, to keep the public from knowing what they are doing."

He said Rakoff's idea to ask each detainee his preference should be used only as a last resort.

The judge said he would rule in August on whether the names and other facts such as ages and hometowns must be revealed.

The government began staging combatant status review tribunals to let detainees refute their classifications as "enemy combatants" last August after the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in June 2004 that the detainees may challenge their imprisonment.

Guantanamo holds 520 prisoners, while more than 230 others have been released or transferred to the custody of their home governments. Most were captured during the U.S. war in Afghanistan after the Sept. 11 attacks. Only a few have been charged with any crime.

The Bush administration designated them as enemy combatants, a classification that includes anyone who supported the Taliban or al-Qaida and does not afford as many legal protections as prisoners of war under the Geneva Conventions. The designation allows indefinite detention without charges.

[NormsRevenge]

He said the detaining of hundreds of men for nearly four years without revealing to the public who they were and why they were being held was "really an unprecedented action by the government" that clashed with the principles of democracy.

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Being attacked by enemies at home and abroad in such a cut-throat fashion is kind of unprecedented too, huh, Mr. Schulz?

[NormsRevenge]

Heck, even the dogs are getting sued. Well, two of their handlers anyway.

Has the left no shame?

In this 1994 photo released by the U.S. Army, Sgt. Michael J. Smith is seen during practice at Fort Riley, Kan. Sgt. Smith faced an article 32 hearing at Fort Meade, Md., which ended Wednesday, July 27, 2005. The hearing will determine weather Smith and Sgt. Santos A. Cardona will face courts martial on charges in connection with of prisoner Abuse at Abu Ghraib Prison, in Baghdad. On Tuesday, witnesses testified that military dogs bit at least two detainees at the prison in Iraq, one severely enough torequire stitches. A defense lawyer told reporters the approval came from top officials as the Army tried to bring to Iraq some of the techniques that human-rights advocates have criticized at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. (AP Photo/U.S. Army, Mike Heronemus)

[ClaireSolt]

Is there a point of law here, or is the judge improvising?

[NeonKnight]

The Red Cross has visited Gitmo numerous times. If these people wanted their identities out, they would be out.

Obviously, the vast majority do not. Terrorists are sort of like spies in that regard.

[FlingWingFlyer]

Where do these wacko "judges" get off? If they want to get involved in the war on terror, I suggest that they get off their asses, take off those goofy looking robes, put on some desert BDUs, grab an M-16 and get their goat smellin' asses over to Baghdad and help out.

[Scribbz]

Good Lord!

They (the left) want us to release the names so the Terrorist F@#!s can change their plans!

[csn vinnie]

It's that Constitutional right to publicity. Haven't you consulted the emanations from the penumbrae lately?

[Mad_Tom_Rackham]

These cut-throats deserve nothing more than death. The firing squads should run 24x7 until the job is done.

[Mad_Tom_Rackham]

[The hearing will determine weather Smith and Sgt. Santos A. Cardona will face courts martial on charges in connection with of prisoner Abuse at Abu Ghraib Prison, in Baghdad. On Tuesday, witnesses testified that military dogs bit at least two detainees at the prison in Iraq, one severely enough to require stitches. ]

[softwarecreator]

Is there a point of law here, or is the judge improvising?

A very good point.  Is there a precedent for this or is the left just winging it as they go along?  Do these people ever give up?  Why do they continue to beat this dead horse?  This is just another ploy to keep this Gitmo nonsense alive.  Apparently they are the only ones who don't understand that probably only about 10% of people in this country even care about this non-story anymore.

[CT]

Had WWII never happened it would 'almost' be unprecedented. And that's an ACLU fact.

[OldEagle]

"that dog looks like a pig! What kind of breed is that?! "

It's a pig-bull.

[Sans-Culotte]

Also, can anyone name at least two Germans by name who were held in prison camps in WWII?

[Calpernia]

Did you copy and paste this?

>>>>The hearing will determine weather Smith and Sgt. Santos A. Cardona

Weather?

I am queen of all typos on message boards. I can care less about hitting spell check. But that is from a NEWS source?

[Shawndell Green]

Wolfgang Schmidt and Hans Schneider.

[NormsRevenge]

LOL,, The theory is all the cub reporters are running AP today. ;-)

[FlingWingFlyer]

Does anyone know where these so-called "judges" get their authority to decide what goes on in Cuba? I think these jugheads are working out of their jurisdication.