A second federal judge has affirmed the Obama administration's right to detain Guantanamo detainees associated with the Taliban and Al Qaeda. In a little noticed ruling late last week, judge Royce Lamberth endorsed the scope of authority delineated by another judge, Judge John Bates, who ruled that Obama may order the detention of anyone suspected of being a member of Al Qaeda -- with the definition of membership construed very broadly. Like Bates, Lamberth rejected the administration's desire to hold people who had provided "substnatial support" to Al Qaeda and the Taliban, but he, like Bates again, noted that the executive branch has the power to decide what constitutes membership.
"However, the Court will still consider support of Taliban, al Qaeda, or associated enemy forces in determining whether a detainee should be considered "part of" those forces.Like Bates, Lamberth implicitly endorsed the administration's contention that the source of its detention power was Congress's Authorization for the Use of Military Force in Afghanistan and not in Article II of the Constitution.
Never sure if I can comprehend the articles regarding the "law" surrounding this issue but I come to my own conclusion; that anyone who is charged with doing injustice should have a day in court and get on with their life. A madness, is the arrest that have and are being made on suspicion alone. Intruding into ones home is unacceptable. It matters not if I live here or abroad it is unacceptable. The law should be to treat each person with respect no matter how wretched one may be. That alone would bring us back to a humane coexistence with one another. Therefore ultimately peace. Bring the noise level of war down to a vibration that can be shifted towards the benefit of mankind and our planet.
If we were legally "at war" with Al Qaida and its affiliates, would not these detainees be kept as prisoners of war throughout its duration?
If these judges knew some of the history of how these regime decisions were made, down deep at the core, they would be shocked into a more comprehensive awareness.