Court Vicrtory against terrorists.

So, you presume that anyone the US gov't says is guilty, is guilty?

Nope. Not at all. I presume that the prisoners in Guantanamo bay are guilty.

So, you presume that anyone the US gov't sticks in Guantanamo bay is guilty?

No.

Nope. Not at all. I presume that the prisoners in Guantanamo bay are guilty. They are not anyone.

The prisoners in Guantanamo Bay were arrested in Afghanistan as illegal combatants.

If they were not guilty, they would have been released with the rest of the chaff that has been released.

McGentrix wrote:

If they were not guilty, they would have been released with the rest of the chaff that has been released.

I was going to post something like that, but as an ironic aside to illustrate how stupid that position is. Then McG comes along and posts it as a serious statement to prove how stupid that position is.

These days, absurdity has a tough time keeping pace with reality.

The prisoners in Guantanamo Bay were arrested in Afghanistan as illegal combatants.

McGentrix wrote:

The prisoners in Guantanamo Bay were arrested in Afghanistan as illegal combatants.

Some dozens were captured in Bosnia, the United States, Pakistan and "elsewhere".

I would like to see some evidence that prisoners being held in Guantanamo Bay were not arrested in either Afghanistan or Pakistan

<snip>

I have not seen evidence that "there are prisoners in Guantanamo from all over the world, not just captured in Afghanistan. "

If you have it, I would enjoy reading it and expressing my surprise.

Only 8 percent of detainees at Guantanamo were labeled by the Defense Department as "al Qaeda fighters," they found, and just 11 percent had been captured "on the battlefield" by coalition forces.

Ait Idir is one of six Algerians who lived in Bosnia for about a decade before being arrested shortly after the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, on suspicion of plotting to bomb the American and British embassies in Sarajevo.

The men were held for three months, until Bosnia's Supreme Court acquitted all of them. Ait Idir and the others tell the tribunal that when they walked out of the police station as free men, they were quickly arrested again by Bosnian and U.S. officials, put on a plane and sent to Guantanamo.

Learning of the Accusations Against Them

Hadj Boudella, one of the other detainees, tells the military panel at his tribunal that this is the first time he's heard some of the accusations against him.

"I've been here for three years, and these accusations were just told to me," Boudella says. "Nobody or any interrogator ever mentioned any of these accusations you are talking to me about now."

What's striking is that, despite not knowing fully why they're being held, enduring open-ended detentions and sometimes harsh interrogations, the detainees on these audio tapes express faith that truth will prevail. Boudella tells the panel that his lawyers -- at the Boston firm Wilmerhale -- sent him a letter telling him not to participate in the tribunal for fear of incriminating himself.

"I want to show you that I am really innocent, and I want you to see I can defend myself," Boudella says on the recording. "If you're innocent, no matter how people try to cover your innocence, it will come out."

Unclassified Evidence Is Slim

The detainees question the panel about the evidence against them and ask for proof, rather than just allegations. The audio recordings and transcripts show that the unclassified evidence is slim; for example, just a rundown of allegations, petitions for habeus corpus, which challenges the prisoners' detention, and affidavits attached to those petitions; one has a letter from Ait Idir's wife. At one point, Ait Idir expresses disbelief over the lack of proof and tells the panel he hoped it had more evidence it could give him.

"If I was in your place, but if a supervisor came to me and showed me accusations like these, I would take these accusations and I would hit him in the face with them," he tells the panel, apologizing for being so blunt.

Ait Idir, Boudella and the others on the recordings all ask that they be allowed to provide the tribunal with additional evidence, such as a copy of the decision by Bosnia's Supreme Court, showing their acquittal.

One detainee asked that his supervisor at the Red Crescent Society in Bosnia testify at the proceeding. He is told that a request was made twice to the U.S. State Department, which handles the matter; each time, the date of the tribunal was emphasized. The tribunal president says there was no response from the State Department to either request.

In some cases, the detainees' representatives don't know what efforts have or are being made to locate requested evidence. The only witnesses available to Ait Idir and Boudella are the other men they were arrested with. Boudella asks one witness the most pertinent question: "Do you know if I belong to any terrorist organization or if I am a terrorist?"

In a simple, almost naïve answer, the witness tells the tribunal that Boudella is not a terrorist. "All I know about this person is that he is a very nice and very good person. He takes good care of his family," the other detainee says.

I was answering Cyc's post.