Falsely Accused Enemies Deserve Due Process
Conservative columnist Stuart Taylor in today's Opening Argument : All "falsely accused" detainees should receive due process:
[Courts have held in dismissing lawsuits that ] Guantanamo was outside U.S. "sovereign territory" because Cuba technically retains sovereignty.We welcome Mr. Taylor's position, howver, we'd extend it to all detainees, not just those a tribunal feels have a "plausible case" of innocence.The legal black hole in which this leaves any and all innocent detainees held by U.S. forces abroad is both unjust and insulting to the international community. If this is the law, then the law needs amending.
Fundamental American values and international norms require some kind of due process for all prisoners, no matter where detained. Congress should now force the administration to do what it should have done long ago: assign military tribunals to interview every detainee and to provide all those who plausibly claim that they are not enemy combatants with a fair opportunity to prove it.
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