Gauntanamo

Imagine for the moment you are walking along a sidewalk and suddenly you hear and feel an explosion. As you run for your life someone tackles you and gives you over to the police. Within hours you are hooded and handed over to a foreign power and a month later put on a plane to somewhere. The foreign power who has detained you continues to make allegations that you were somehow involved in the explosion which you repeatedly deny. The foreign power "invents" a legal process which is found to be inadequate, the second version is found inadequate as well, and they are now working on a third version. The judges, prosecutors, and most defense counsel have no experience as it relates to national security litigation and capital punishment. You are introduced and assigned to military defense counsels who wear the same uniform as the prosecutors. Men, some of whom may be totally innocent, awake every day to this indefinite detention. This is the reality of the Military Commissions system for detainees at Guantanamo Bay.

Trial by the Military Commissions does not present defendants with a meaningful opportunity to challenge the bases of their detention. Even a determination by the Commission that it does not have personal jurisdiction over a defendant, or, after trial, that the defendant should be acquitted, does not have a binding effect. The Bush Administration policy maintained a policy of indefinite detention regardless of the outcome as described by the Pentagon Press Secretary Geoff Morrell whereby he stated at a news conference, "even if he [the detainee] were acquitted of the charges that are before him, he would still be considered an enemy combatant and therefore would continue to be subjected to-subject to continued detention." It is a policy that is currently being followed by the Obama Administration and, in the meanwhile, detainees are held with no hope of release.

The primary purpose of drafting the Constitution was to limit government power. The Due Process guarantees found in the Bill of Rights were meant to empower individuals against arbitrary government action. This is a bedrock principle of American jurisprudence and is being completely ignored as a policy concern in relation to Guantanamo detainees.