I figure these two articles need to be read together. You know, because those detainees are such innocent little babies who wouldn't hurt a fly or, shudder, be a terrorist or anything.
Three Former Gitmo Detainees Held in Morocco
Morocco re-arrested three former Guantanamo detainees on terror charges:
A Moroccan court has convicted three men who were formerly held by the US at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, of creating a criminal group and forging documents.
The criminal court in Sale, located near the capital, Rabat, handed the heaviest sentence of five years in prison to Mohamed Souleymani Laalami, who was accused of forming a criminal group, the MAP news agency reported late on Friday.
Two other defendants, Najib Lahssini and Mohammed Ouali, were sentenced to three years each on charges of falsifying documents, the news agency said.
Democrat Senator Patrick Leahy Wants Detained Terrorists to have Habeas Corpus Rights
First we hear that we just may have House Majority Leader John Murtha. Now there's word that Patrick "Leaky" Leahy wants to ensure that terrorists detained at Gitmo have full Habeas Corpus rights:
WASHINGTON, Nov. 11 (UPI) -- A battle is shaping up between Democrats and the White House over the Military Commissions Act, signed into law last month by President George W. Bush.
Sen. Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., is expected to take over as chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, and The (Calif.) Daily Journal reports that Leahy is drafting a bill to undo portions of the new law in an effort to restore habeas corpus rights for enemy combatants.
A spokeswoman for Leahy told the newspaper the bill would be intended to repeal portions of the law that prevent some detainees from pursuing federal court challenges to the government's authority to hold them indefinitely.
Spokeswoman Tracy Schmaler told the newspaper the goal is to "try and do something to reverse the damage."
Scott L. Silliman, Director of the Center for Law, Ethics and National Security at Duke University School of Law, told the newspaper an attempt to amend the law could set up a partisan showdown in Congress, and possibly a presidential veto.
Civil rights attorneys filed a constitutional challenge to the act after Bush signed it Oct. 17, the Journal said.
To say that many or most of the detainees are guilty is not something I have heard anyone disagree with. To say that the USA is so weak and incompetent that we need to undermine our basic values to deal with them is what we unafraid Americans are saying. This country is special. Let's keep it that way.
Posted by: Pete | 13 November 2006 at 06:32 AM