Non-Subscriber Extract
Closing time
24 July 2009
Col Lawrence Morris says detainees are subject to the laws of war that allow indefinite detention. (PA)
There are approximately 220 detainees at Guantánamo, ranging from eight maximum security prisoners, including Khalid Sheikh Muhammad and Ramzi Bin al-Shibh, who in court proclaimed their involvement in the 11 September 2001 terrorist attacks on the US; to those who allegedly assisted them; and those who were swept up on the battlefield.
Col Morris said: "Wearing a uniform is not what makes you an illegal combatant or not, it is what you do. The major point is we think these folks violated the laws of war, deliberately targeting civilians, which is far different from not wearing a uniform."
He explained that the laws of war allow indefinite detention of a prisoner who might commit a warlike act in the future, while prosecution by the military commission pertained to actions committed in the past.
A Pentagon taskforce is currently determining which detainees can be released, which will be transferred for trial in the US, which will be tried in Guantánamo, and which are too dangerous to release. There are also legality issues regarding how evidence was obtained.
Col Morris said: "Forget those allegations of torture; no one was tortured. But none of those people were read Miranda rights [reading rights before arrest], and the normal Fourth Amendment rights were not observed. But they were not caught here; they were caught in Afghanistan or Pakistan, and now we are being told to use civilian rules."