Detainee Treatment—Compromise

Though it is still early and the full details are not yet available, it seems that the “White House and senior Republican lawmakers reached an agreement on guidelines for interrogating suspects in the US-led war on terror.”^[1]

According to Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist, “the agreement ‘meets three tests: it protects Americans by ensuring that our high value CIA program will be preserved; guarantees that classified sources and methods will not be disclosed to the terrorist detainees; and third, ensures that our military can begin to try terrorists in our custody.’”^[2]

Senator John McCain, who had refused to agree with President Bush’s proposed legislation, announced that “There's no doubt that the integrity and letter and spirit of the Geneva Conventions have been preserved.”^[3]

It is unclear whether the compromise addresses access to the courts, but tomorrow’s Christian Science Monitor is reporting that the White House is yet again introducing legislation to “strip the federal courts of jurisdiction to hear cases brought by Guantánamo detainees challenging the legality of their confinement.”^[4] The legislation is apparently aimed at superseding Rasul v. Bush, which held that Guantanamo detainees were entitled to petition for a writ of habeas corpus, and that federal courts had jurisdiction to hear and decide their cases.^[5]

One would think, after being embarrassed globally for the case of Abu Bakker Qassim^[6] or Canada’s findings regarding Maher Arar,^[7] that the United States would not be so keen on preventing individuals from being able to challenge their detentions; it isn’t like these are the only two “mistakes” that have happened. It was reported last week that 14,000 individuals had been arrested and imprisoned across the world as part of the United States war on terror, and “[m]any say they were often interrogated around the clock, then release months or years later without apology, compensation or any word on why they were taken.”^[8]

---

[1] White House, Congress Reach Accord on Interrogation Guidelines, AFP (via Yahoo!), Sep. 21, 2006.
[2] Id.
[3] Ann Plummer Flaherty, Bush, GOP Rebels Agree on Detainee Bill, AP (via Yahoo!), Sep. 21, 2006.
[4] Warren Richey, For Detainees: Less Access to US Courts? Christian Science Monitor, Sep. 22, 2006.
[5] Id.
[6] Abu Bakker Qassim, Listen to the Pleadings of a Voice from Guantanamo, Houston Chronicle, Sep. 18, 2006. Mr. Qassim is an ethnic Uighur who was captured by bounty hunters and sold to the United States on false pretenses; he has been completely exonerated and released from Guantanamo, but only because he was allowed to challenge his detention.
[7] Ottawa Asks US to Remove Canadian from Terrorist Watch List, AFP (via Yahoo!), Sep. 21, 2006. Mr. Arar was erroneously deported from the United States to his “native” Syria (he holds dual citizenship with Canada) where he was subsequently tortured. He was accused of terrorism, eventually fully exonerated, and when he tried to sue the US government, the district judge dismissed his case, citing national security issues. See also Doug Struck, Canadian Was Falsely Accused, Panel Says, Washington Post, Sep. 19, 2006.
[8] 14,000 Held in Overseas US Prisons, AP (via CBS News), Sep. 17, 2006.