As yet another Gitmo-related case heads to the Supreme Court, we're learning more and more about the lunacy of our detainee policy there. And no, this time it doesn't involve mistreatment of prisoners. This time t involves basics such as adequate record keeping and adherence to the rule of law. An excerpt:
Just consider that the government says it has seized hundreds of the “worst of the worst;” brought them to Guantánamo; subjected them to “enhanced” interrogation methods that may violate international and federal laws against torture and coercion, then denied them a day in court to challenge the facts the detention was based on. It has repeatedly claimed that the Cuban base’s operations yield “valuable intelligence information.” And it has attacked journalists who question its blunt assertion.
Yet has it assembled in one place all information about a detainee? No. The government is holding hundreds of men without any adequate record on why they are being held. This despite the fact that the government asserts that it holds annual reviews of each detention. Yet, the government continues to hold hundreds of men, the majority not as “fighters,” but because they have “some association” with an alleged terrorist organization. And the government insists that it would take “massive resources” to gather appropriate files.Stated baldly, this means the government is not keeping complete files about the core group of terrorism detainees—presumably some of the most valuable intelligence sources available.
This is not who we are. This is not what countless generations of Americans fought and died to defend. This is not who we are.
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