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Tue 11 Mar, 2003 07:14 am
I am aware of increasing concerns, at least from the international community, about the continued interment of captives from Afghanistan at Guantanamo Bay. This is especially so given recent publicity about suicide attempts.
I was unsure whether to put this in Politics, or here, but the legal questions seem to me over-riding.
Why are these people still being held - incommunicado, without charge, without trial, without legal advice? What is the USA gaining from this -information, terror directed towards possible future fighters' decision making - what?
Do people think any possible good outweighs the negative aspects of doing this to people?
What of the legal situation? How is this viewed within the US legal system? How is the government able to continue to keep these people in this state - legally, I mean?
What do A2kers think of what is happening?
They are, I think, considered prisoner's of war and as such will be held until some one in the US government decides the war against terror is over, which may be never. At some point they may be transferred to a prison or other compund in the US or another country but for now they are hostages of the US military. They are not US citizens nor are they on US soil so they essentially are denied the protection of our constitution.
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They are, I think, considered prisoner's of war and as such will be held until some one in the US government decides the war against terror is over, which may be never. At some point they may be transferred to a prison or other compund in the US or another country but for now they are hostages of the US military. They are not US citizens nor are they on US soil so they essentially are denied the protection of our constitution.
Afgan Prisoners in Guantanamo Bay & The Red Cross
The US Attorney General's Opinion
Al-Qaida Prisoner Held By US MIlitary In Other Locations
Do not prisoners of war have rights under the Geneva Convention? Are these rights being honoured?
Thank you for the links, Joanne - I shall come back and explore them them tomorrow - I need to go to bed - 'tis getting on for 1.00 am!
Oh, Deb I am so sorry about the double post I thought I was in edit mode, oh well. One of the article I cited does discuss these prisioners being covered by the Geneva Convention.
I am not sure that Taliban/Al Qaeda fighters are prisoners of war. They did not belong to any army, neither they were guerillas having distinction marks on their garments. They are terrorists caught with arms. In process of war such people can be shot down immediately without any trial. They are being kept in Guantanamo for intelligence information retrieval and collection purposes.
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