The Scum at the Top
Commentary on the Rats in Washington
Guantanamo Now Holds Top Terror Suspects
By Ben Fox
Associated Press
© September 6, 2006
The most notorious
terrorism suspects held by the U.S. are now at
Guantanamo Bay, kept in windowless cells in the
highest security section of the detention center
and facing military tribunals that could begin
early next year.
Khalid Sheikh Mohammed and Ramzi Binalshibh,
alleged architects of the Sept. 11 attacks,
were taken out of secret CIA custody along
with 12 other alleged terrorist leaders and
flown to the U.S. base in southeastern Cuba.
There, they joined some 445 men suspected of
links to al-Qaida and the Taliban.
President Bush announced the transfer as he
outlined a plan to resume the military tribunals
that were struck down in June by the Supreme
Court.
If Congress approves the president's proposal,
the military expects to file charges against
about 75 detainees and will seek the death
penalty in some cases, Guantanamo's chief
prosecutor, Air Force Col. Morris
Davis, told The Associated Press.
"Obviously, someone of (Khalid Sheik Mohammed's)
magnitude it would be reasonable to expected
would be subject to the death penalty," Davis
said, adding that he is not sure which detainees
would be tried and what charges they would face.
Guantanamo officials would say little about
the newest detainees, whose arrival brings
the overall prisoner population to about 460.
"It is our policy that every detainee ... be
treated humanely," Navy Cmdr. Robert Durand
said.
The detainees were held in the steel-and-concrete
Camp 5, one of the newest sections of Guantanamo
Bay, which is intended for detainees suspected
of the most serious offenses or those considered
"high value" for intelligence reasons.
Men held in this section are generally allowed
outside for exercise for an hour per day
behind tall chain-link fences ringed with
razor wire. They get their food through a
small slot in the door - an opening that
also allows prisoners to shout out to other
detainees and at their guards.
Bush said the men would have access to the
Red Cross and defense lawyers like all
detainees at Guantanamo.
Human Rights groups and defense lawyers
welcomed the transfer of the prisoners from
secret detention centers to Guantanamo Bay.
"It's heartening to have 14 people who were
held completely outside the rule of law
brought within the rule of law," said Priti
Patel, a lawyer with New York-based Human
Rights First.
Defense lawyers and human rights groups
questioned whether the Bush proposal would
meet conditions set by the Supreme Court.
Navy Lt. Cmdr. Charles Swift, the military
lawyer for Salim Ahmed Hamdan, a former driver
for Osama bin Laden, told CNN that the
president's proposal is "exactly the same
rules" that the Supreme Court already struck
down and doesn't provide sufficient legal
protections to detainees.
The Department of Defense would have three
months after passage of the legislation to
come up with new rules for the tribunals,
Davis said.
"I'm expecting we will be back in court around
the first of the year," the chief prosecutor
said.
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reserved. This material may not be published,
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Last Modified:
January 15, 2007