From the you-have-got-to-be-fucking-kidding-me department comes word that the Bush administration is kicking around ideas on possibly detaining terror-suspects for life even if they don’t have enough evidence to ever file charges in court:
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The Bush administration is preparing plans for possible lifetime detention of suspected terrorists, including hundreds whom the government does not have enough evidence to charge in courts, The Washington Post reported Sunday.
Citing intelligence, defense and diplomatic officials, the newspaper said the Pentagon and the CIA had asked the White House to decide on a more permanent approach for those it would not set free or turn over to courts at home or abroad.
As part of a solution, the Defense Department, which holds 500 prisoners at Guantanamo Bay, plans to ask the U.S. Congress for $25 million to build a 200-bed prison to hold detainees who are unlikely to ever go through a military tribunal for lack of evidence, defense officials told the newspaper.
The new prison, dubbed Camp 6, would allow inmates more comfort and freedom than they have now, and would be designed for prisoners the government believes have no more intelligence to share, The Post said.
Stop and think about that for a moment: We’re talking about being imprisoned for the rest of your natural life, with no legal recourse, without going to trial, or
ever being charged with a crime
, simply because the U.S. Government thinks you might be a terrorist. I’m stunned that anyone could possibly rationalize this as being even remotely legal under U.S. or International Law.
You there! You look like a terrorist! Where’s your I LUV GEORGIE bumper sticker? Aren’t you a God-fearing patriotic American? Don’t lie to the U.S. Government! You’re a terrorist and we know it! Now get in the truck or we’ll shoot your ass! Lawyer? Whahahahahahahahahahahahaha!
Welcome to the ranks of the pleasant ‘junta’ regimes of the likes of military Argentinia, Peru, Spain…
The US is now OFFICIALLY in the business of ‘dissappearing’ people.
One does wonder why they are so stupid to act that openly in the first place. Can’t they see that they are adding to the Guantanamo perception every day?
I think those prisoners are actually going to go free in a couple years, whenever sanity returns to the administration (well, not to THIS administration). But the propaganda damage will stay for a generation.