Free Republic

Pentagon Makes Fighting Extremism Top Priority Seven years after the Sept. 11 attacks, the Pentagon on Thursday officially named "the long war" against global extremism as its top priority and pledged to avert any conventional military threat from China or Russia through dialogue. The Defense Department, in a new national defense strategy, also emphasized the need to subordinate military operations to "soft power" initiatives to undermine Islamist militancy by promoting economic, political and social development in vulnerable corners of the world. Defense Secretary Robert Gates said he hoped the change would help establish permanent institutional support for counterinsurgency skills...

The U.S. military prepared new charges Friday against three of the best-known detainees at Guantanamo Bay — a key step toward resuming the military tribunals for terrorism suspects that were halted by the U.S. Supreme Court last year. Authorities drafted new charges — including murder, conspiracy and providing material support for terrorism — against Canadian Omar Khadr, Australian David Hicks and Salim Ahmed Hamdan of Yemen, said Air Force Col. Morris Davis, chief prosecutor in the Guantanamo war crimes trials. Under military rules, the charges are not considered formally filed against the detainees until they are approved by a U.S....

Chief Justice John Roberts declined to participate in the U.S. Supreme Court hearing that yesterday took up the appeal of Salim Ahmed Hamdan, who served as Osama Bin Laden's driver for five years. Roberts was forced to step aside because he had rendered an opinion on Hamdan's claims while sitting on a lower court. Roberts' recusal was regrettable because his legal thinking was spot-on in upholding President Bush's power to try Hamdan, now held at Guantanamo Bay, before a military tribunal. Roberts concluded that Congress had authorized the President to convene such tribunals and that Hamdan can be so tried...

---snip---Anyway, the military tribunal was all set to try Hamdan when U.S. District Court Judge James Robertson  ruled the Bush administration had no right to declare the man an enemy combatant. Robertson went on to say Hamdan should be classified a prisoner of war and given Geneva Convention protectionsRobertson ruled this despite these facts: Hamdan was not fighting for any country, Hamdan wore no uniform on the battlefield, Hamdan was a member of at least one terrorist group, possibly two.Judge Robertson also ruled that the Geneva Convention  protections supersede any presidential order or designation by military tribunal. In effect, the...

A federal judge has ordered a civilian court hearing for Osama bin Laden's driver, a landmark ruling that throws into question the Bush Administration's plans to bring alleged terrorists to justice through military tribunals by denying them prisoner-of-war status. The Justice Department said it would seek an immediate stay of the Monday ruling by U.S. District Judge James Robertson and file an appeal. The judge, ruling from Washington, halted the pretrial proceedings of Salim Ahmed Hamdan, 34, of Yemen, after his lawyers filed a petition challenging his status as an alleged enemy combatant. Hamdan was taken captive in Afghanistan and...

The Department of Defense announced today that Guantanamo detainee Salim Ahmed Hamdan of Yemen has been assigned a military defense counsel. Although he has not been charged, Hamdan is one of six detainees President Bush determined to be subject to his military order of November 13, 2001. Military commission rules require that a detailed defense counsel be available to an accused sufficiently in advance of trial to prepare a defense. Navy Lt. Cmdr. Charles Swift was detailed to represent Hamdan by the acting Chief Defense Counsel, Air Force Col. William Gunn. Swift intends to meet with Hamdan in the near...