(7/11/06)
US applies Geneva Convention to military detainees
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The Pentagon acknowledged for the first time that all detainees held by the U.S. military are covered by the protections of an article of the Geneva Conventions that bars inhumane treatment, according to a memo made public on Tuesday.
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(6/29/06)
Supreme Court rejects Guantanamo military tribunal
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - In a major defeat for the Bush administration, the
U.S. Supreme Court ruled on Thursday that the military tribunal for a Guantanamo
prisoner cannot proceed because it violates the Geneva Conventions.
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Additional Articles and other resources:
Listen to online archives of
Fresh Air to hear the following interviews by Terry Gross:
[Fresh Air from WHYY, July 5th, 2006] Reporter Jane Mayer's recent article in The New Yorker examines the role of David S. Addington, Vice President Dick Cheney's chief of staff and longtime legal adviser. Mayer says current and former Bush administration officials credit him with helping form the administration's legal strategy in the war on terrorism.
[Fresh Air from WHYY, June 22, 2006] Civil rights lawyer Joseph Margulies' new book is Guantanamo and the Abuse of Presidential Power. Margulies has represented several prisoners held at Guantanamo Bay Detention Center, and he believes that current U.S. policy is a legal and ethical disaster. He says that few new prisoners are arriving at Guantanamo, but the population at Bagram prison in Afghanistan is growing rapidly.
Lawyers Oppose Efforts to Free Guantanamo Detainees
[Fresh Air from WHYY, June 22, 2006] Attorney Richard Samp is the chief counsel for the Washington Legal Foundation, an organization that has been urging the U.S. Court of Appeals to dismiss challenges to detentions at Guantanamo. He has said, "Throughout our history, the courts have never allowed nonresident aliens to invoke the Constitution as a basis for challenging their detention by American authorities."
Listen to
This American Life and hear the stories
of some real-life detainees at our Guantanamo detention center:
Habeas Schmabeas
The right of habeas corpus has been a part of this country's legal tradition longer than we've actually been
a country. It means the government has to explain why it's holding a person in custody. But now, the war on
terror has nixed many of the rules we used to think of as fundamental. At Guantanamo Bay, our government initially
claimed that the prisoners should not be covered by habeas – or even by the Geneva Conventions – because they're
the most fearsome terrorist enemies we have. But is that true? Is it a camp full of terrorists, or a camp full of
our mistakes? Reporter Jack Hitt unveils everything we know about who these prisoners are. In interviews with two
former detainees, he finds out the consequences of taking away habeas, for them and for us. Broadcast the weekend
of March 10-12 in most places and now available via RealAudio in our online archives.
Check out the archives for the March 10th, 2006 Show (Episode 310)
Listen to Real Audio File
Listen to Expanded "Bonus" Version
Here are some ordinary definitions of
Torture...
The Geneva Conventions on...
Do a Google Search for
Guantanamo...
Research a number of articles at
NPR.ORG...
Do a search of
FirstGov.gov for
Guantanamo Detention Center...
Original Materials on
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reserved.
How do you define torture? 
(9/6/06) Major Policy Speech
Whitehouse.Gov - The President Discusses Creation of Military Commissions to Try Suspected Terrorists
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