If they are enemies, then they are accorded the treatment due to
prisoners.


Dave wrote:
Nice try, but no cigar, Doug. There's no convention dealing with "enemies."
There is one dealing with "prisoners of war." The two are not synonyms.


I didn't claim they were.


Vito wrote:
You are trying to apply logic to law but law is seldom logical.

The rules say that a 'combatant' captured out of uniform need not be treated
as a POW. He can be shot out of hand, held incommunicado indefinitely

Wrong.

... even
killed without trial, as a spy or saboteur. According to Bush, those held at
Gitmo are in this special catagory.


This is a reply to both Vito & Dave.

There is no category of person who can be "held incommunicado
indefinitely."

Spies, pirates, and mutineers caught in the act can be killed on the
spot, but when captured they must also be given due process. Enemy
soldiers on the battlefield can be killed. Otherwise it's simply murder.

To repeat- I do not comprehend why *any* American thinks it's OK to
simply grab people and lock them up forever, just because it's
convenient for the gov't. It would have been inconcievable to me a few
short years ago that any American would approve of torture of prisoners.

But it's happening. At least we can still sing songs about how brave &
free we are.

DSK

"DSK" wrote
There is no category of person who can be "held incommunicado
indefinitely."

Spies, pirates, and mutineers caught in the act can be killed on the
spot, but when captured they must also be given due process.

Ahhh, now I see what you missed. These people did get "due process" in the
form of a militry tribunal back in Afghanistan or Iraq. Thats how they ended
up at Gitmo instead of a local prison, being shot, or being set free.

I we houldn't hold them indefinately. We should have been hanging them from
day one.

Vito wrote:
Ahhh, now I see what you missed. These people did get "due process" in the
form of a militry tribunal back in Afghanistan or Iraq. Thats how they ended
up at Gitmo instead of a local prison, being shot, or being set free.


???

Do you have a reference for this?

Even the military supervisors of the Gitmo prison don't know where some
of the captives came from, nor who captured them. Many were handed over
to military custody by clandestine agencies.


I we houldn't hold them indefinately. We should have been hanging them from
day one.


The ones who are given due process, sure. Or stoned, if that's more in
accordance with their own laws.

My problem is that the U.S. gov't is engaging in the practice of simply
imprisoning lots of people without showing any reason why, nor giving
any reasonable proof of guilt, in fact, denying the whole concept of any
accountability in the matter.

A strange thing for a proponent of 'freedom' to do.

DSK