Monday, June 04, 2007

Lawful vs Unlawful Enemy Combatants

I honestly don't understand this AP report Judge Dismisses Charges Against Detainee.

Omar Khadr is a Canadian citizen being held at Guantanamo. He was captured in Afghanistan on July 27, 2002 at the age of 15 while fighting US troops. "Khadr's father has been described as one of bin Laden's senior lieutenants." The charges against Khadr are very serious.

"Khadr had been classified as an 'enemy combatant' by a military panel years earlier at Guantanamo Bay, but because he was not classified as an 'alien unlawful enemy combatant,' Army Col. Peter Brownback said he had no choice but to throw the case out. The Military Commissions Act, signed by President Bush last year after the Supreme Court threw out the previous war-crimes trial system, says specifically that only those classified as 'unlawful' enemy combatants can face war trials here. The dismissal of the charges does not mean he will be freed from Guantanamo."

Huh? Maybe this is a reason we shouldn't be calling this war on terror but that this should be treated as an international police action (I'm making this term up). When a war ends, the prisoners are released unless they face war crimes. Since this war on terror isn't going to end, we can't just keep these people prisoners indefinately so we should have trials (after all we think they are breaking laws and doing bad things) and if found guilty, imprisoned. Figuring out if they are lawful or unlawful enemy combatants and having charges dismissed but prisoners not released is way too 1984 for me.

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