A federal appeals court in Washington has invalidated the Bush administration's finding that a detainee held for more than six years in the Guantanamo Bay military prison in Cuba is an "enemy combatant," and has ordered the government to release him, transfer him or offer him a new hearing.The good news seems to be that there had been some sort of 'combat status review tribunal'.
In a ruling decided Friday but released yesterday, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit ruled that Huzaifa Parhat, an ethnic Chinese Uighur captured during the early stages of the U.S. war in Afghanistan, was inappropriately designated an enemy combatant at a hearing before a Combatant Status Review Tribunal.
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The case is the first successful appeal of a detainee's designation as an enemy combatant at Guantanamo. The review by the court was part of a process established by Congress in the Detainee Treatment Act of 2005, which allows the appeal of tribunal decisions.
[ cf Appeals Court Invalidates Detainee's 'Enemy' Status ]
So at one level this is either something that all americans embrace, because the idea of law is a good thing in it's own right. Or it is the continuing horror of Radical Judicial Activists who feel that they must uphold the law over the Truthier Holy Beliefs of the Unitary Executive Principles and the Divine Rights To RULE!!
What if find amusing is:
"Enemy combatants," according to the U.S. government, are unlawful fighters such as those who have supported the Taliban or al-Qaeda in terrorist acts against the United States. The United States does not consider them prisoners of war, who typically fight for a state's military and are afforded certain legal rights.I think it is a lovely idea that in america we can simply outlaw folks, because, well we can.
( op cit )
It is not like we need to make any actual conceptual distinctions between those who oppose us, lawfully, Enemy Combatants and those who UNLAWFULLy oppose us, Enemy Combatants.
But we may get to a time when the ability to differenciate lawful from extra-lawful, and super-sized lawful may become a useful distinction.
Until then, let us Thank GOD that we have RoboBushCheney!
They Shiney!!!
They NOT bogged down in the law stuff, because they are Judge Dredd In Drag!