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Rights of prisoners of war under the geneva convention
Guantanamo Bay against human rights
Guantanamo Bay against human rights
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Another issue that brought a lot of conflict against the Bush Administration is the president’s choice to harbor enemy combatants in Guantanamo Bay prison. Over the process of the war over 750 of supposed al Qaeda friendly individuals and enemy military combatants were arrested and housed in this facility. Each one of these individuals were given the title of “enemy combatants”. According to the Detention of Enemy Combatants Act of 2005, enemy combatants are “persons who, either lawfully or unlawfully, directly engages in hostilities for an enemy state or non-state actor in an armed conflict” (H.R. 1076, 2005). Due to the fact of their status, these individuals were denied the rights that were entitled to wartime prisoners under the Geneva Convention. …show more content…
Most of the military tribunals however were discovered to not be fair in their processing and trials. “In fact, the prisoners had not been screened by competent tribunals, as required by the Geneva Conventions” (Pyle, 2009, 33). Furthermore, between 2002 and 2006 it was found that most of the prisoners were being detained without even getting a chance for a trial. No matter how hard the Bush Administration pushed, there was no legal ground proven in court to find these individuals guilty of anything. There turned out to not be enough support to prosecute these prisoners of war crimes or even conspiracy of such. In the Supreme Court, in Hamdan v. Rumsfeld, Justice John Paul Stevens ruled that Congress has not yet to make conspiracy a crime against the law of nations” (548 U.S. 557,
The writ of habeas corpus should have been filed towards the person directly accountable for Padilla’s containment. Therefore, Padilla should have filed against the commander of the military brig he was held at, which was located in South Carolina. However, it was also stated that the President did not have the power to declare American citizens, not located in a combat zone, an “enemy combatant.”
Yes, Lisa is correct in saying that congress support did progressively diminish, expanding presidential control over situations. With this said, I think that opens the doors to the possibility of error. From the traditionally left-wing news company The New Yorker, my colleague Jane Mayer was one of many to reveal that brutality was often the product of aggressive policy by the US. When former vice president Dick Cheney contended in 2002 that “it’s going to be vital for us to use any means at our disposal…to achieve our objective”, I don’t think people fully comprehended the seriousness of these words (The New Yorker, 2015). Unbelievably, it was reported that programs such as the extraordinary renditions and covert operations “expanded beyond recognition”. However it wasn’t just the anti-war outlets which were reporting on this. The prestigious and world renowned publication company The Washington Post directly reinforced Mayer’s statements. A primary account written by Washington Post in 2002, reporting after the very launch of George W. Bush’s declaration of war on terror, illuminated that since 2001, 600 detainees had already been confined to Guantanamo Bay for terrorist questioning. This is a colossal figure – 600 supposed terrorists in merely one year. Furthermore, the article also publicized that while the Clinton administration “pioneered” often violent interrogation procedures –known as
What police procedures are used during arrests, and how do these procedures lead people to feel confused, fearful, and dehumanized?
The question in this case was whether or not the president had the power to order a trial by military for a group of German Nazi saboteurs, and whether or not that violated their fifth and sixth amendment rights. The agents attempted to sabotage various US targets, but failed. They were arrested and ordered by President Franklin Roosevelt to stand trial by military commission. They were all found guilty and sentenced to death. Seven of the eight agents filed a writ of habeas corpus directly to the Supreme Court, who decided to hear the
Ms. Vanklausen relies on primary and secondary sources with strong credentials in the realm of the constitution, law, public policy, and Americans’ right to freedom (Cato Inst., n.d.; Wikipedia, 2010) to support her argument. The authors have been published in a variety of respected periodicals as well as writing books on these topics. Her sources cite the expert opinions of Supreme Court Justices Sandra Day O’Connor and Antonin Scalia (“Can U.S. Citizens Be Held as Enemy Combatants”, Reinking & von der Osten, 2007, pp. 228, 231-233), who are entrusted with the ultimate responsibility to interpret our nation’s constitution and apply this standard to arguments brought before the Court when the rule of law is in question. Ms. Vanklausen also employs excerpts from the Bill of Rights to clarify the protections these individuals are not permitted in this situation. She provides a quotation by Thomas Jefferson, and notes decisions by the U.S. Supreme Court, the Second Circuit Court, and Federal Court Judge Mukasey. She also refers to established truths upon which Americans depend as signs of their freedom, such as “The foundation of liberty has always rested on the resistance to the idea of arbitrary imprisonment by an executive. (Reinking & von der Osten, 2007)
US forces were already involved in Vietnam when Lyndon Johnson engineered the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution of 1964, and George Bush Senior agreed in a two-day Senate debate on US intervention in the Persian Gulf, but George W. Bush has surpassed his predecessors in the assumption of imperial powers--most obviously, perhaps, in his tendency to conflate America's war against terrorism with his own existential destiny. "I will not forget this wound to our country," he told the nation shortly after September 11. "I will not yield; I will not rest; I will not relent in waging this struggle for freedom and security for the American people." In assuming this pivotal role, moreover, Bush has made it clear that he will allow no boundaries not even on his exercise of national power. The president made the arbitrary decision to designate as a foreign “enemy combatant” Some Americans are being held incommunicado in a military brig without due process of law and without charges... in suspect of being related to al-Qaeda and possessing a dirty bomb[2].
Gresham M. Sykes describes the society of captives from the inmates’ point of view. Sykes acknowledges the fact that his observations are generalizations but he feels that most inmates can agree on feelings of deprivation and frustration. As he sketches the development of physical punishment towards psychological punishment, Sykes follows that both have an enormous effect on the inmate and do not differ greatly in their cruelty.
The US had the right to send troops if these terms were violated, and were also given a lease for a naval base at Guantanamo
Ex-president George W. Bush asserts, “Abu Zubaydah also provided information that helped stop a terrorist attack being planned for inside the United States -- an attack about which we had no previous information.” Abu Zubaydah was a high-ranking Al Qaeda official who was water boarded (Luban, 1). Water boarding is a form torture that simulates drowning. Through this form of torture, the US was able to receive vital information that led to the prevention of a bomber decimating a bridge. Moreover, the CIA was able to extract this information and incarcerate the criminal. Though many lives were potentially saved, Bush was criticized for allowing the action of torture. He se...
Guantanamo Bay is located at the southeastern tip of Cuba; it is a United States owned territory dating back to the Spanish American war. The territory contains a high security military detention center and a functional base. The detention center houses high priority Al Qaeda operatives and conspirators to the September 11th attacks on the world trade center. Guantanamo bay is an important asset to keeping the United States safe. In recent years the operation of the base has been slowed down due to the efforts of president Obama. He vowed to shut the base down and move the high risk targets to a high security prison in the United States main land. Without Guantanamo bay the United States wouldn’t be able to contain high risk detainees that the base currently holds. Guantanamo bay should stay open.
A Writ of Habeas Corpus is an authoritative order forcing governments to provide the “body” of the detainee in which the legality of their detention and individual liberties will be challenged. Historically associated with civil liberty violation and the injustice of illegally detaining potentially enemies of the state, jurisdictional issues regarding their detaining location have made justice difficult to administer and deliver. Detaining enemies for their participation, involvement, and/or ties to threats of terror towards the United States will result the confinement of combatants, as solidified by the US Constitution, however, to what extent will they be forced to stay?. Residents of Guantanamo Bay are just; enemies of the state, accused individual that have been arrested and detain with minimal civil human rights to our jurisdictional due process that we American’s hold dear; with only a Writ of Habeas Corpus as their life line to legality and freedom. Although controversial in its conception and implementation by US presidential administration, judiciary members have cordially interpreted cases of questionable detention and the legality of doing so. It is truly unfortunate when individuals are tossed into confinement illegally with no help and/or the promise of their restorative freedoms (ACLU, 2014).
We stepped off the large tour boat with a look of fright in both our eyes. Some joy was there, but knowing what went on in this place made us feel the way we did. To me, Alcatraz didn't really look like a shut down prison at that moment. It looked more like an old worn down cemetery. The paint on most of the buildings was chipped off all the way down to the wood. Most of the buildings had collapsed down to some cement foundations and old rusted poles hanging every other way. As we walked to the building where you start your tour, that was probably the only building at this place with cleanliness to it. They gave us our tour headphones, which take you through the whole prison with a audio guide telling you how it was in the prison. Not just how it was for the prisoners, but how it was for the guards too.
On September 11, 2001, this country was under attack and thousands of Americans died at the hands of terrorists. This action caused the U.S. Military to invade Iraq because of the idea that this country was involved in harboring terrorist and were believed to have weapons of mass destruction. This was an executive order that came down from our government, for us to go in and attack Iraq while searching for those who were responsible for the death of American lives. This war brought in many prisoners whom were part of the terrorist group Al-Qaeda, whom the military took into custody many of its lower level members to get tips in capturing higher level members. During the detainees stay at Guantanamo Bay and Abu Ghraib, many of these prisoners
What has our society classified as a prisoner of war? A prisoner of war is someone who is a member of regular or irregular armed forces of a nation at war held by the enemy. After two years of war with the Middle East our society wonders what happens to the prisoners in jail. The other conflicts of prisoners of war is how they are treated in jail, also what did they do to be detained as a prisoner of war? In most situations, there is a legitimate reason why these people are taken captive. So many might ask what is happening to the Iraqis detained under Coalition forces custody, and do the prisons comply with standards set fourth in the Geneva Conventions? This subject is very controversial to the U.S and other nations. The controversial part of this subject is the alleged abuse of prisoners in jail in custody of U.S soldiers. There are many cases of prisoners dying in prison but is it because of abuse by American soldiers. This subject of abuse upon prisoners of war has reach all over the world especially to the United States. Our president George W. Bush, along with Congress, has arranged investigations on the events that happen inside the prisons. He has addressed to the nation that such things have not occurred, but what a U.S soldier knows may be a little different. This kind of action toward prisoners of war is illegal according to US law, which is dictated by the Geneva Conventions. If a soldier is found guilty of abuse, or other forms of mistreatment, that soldier will be recommended for court-martial. The other issue about this subject is that there are so many different opinions on this matter. One opinion is that U.S personnel really did cause the death of many prisoners of war. The other question i...
cont. ar. II sec. 2) and Congress is also granted the power to define and punish offenses against the law of nations (U.S. Cont. Ar. I sec. 8 cl. 10). These powers were first used by the United States during in the U.S. Mexican War between 1846-48, when the U.S. first used military tribunals. Guerilla fighters from Mexico and resisters were tried by tribunal. President Abraham Lincoln used military tribunals extensively during the Civil War. Any “rebels” that were arrested were subjected to military law, and tribunal by Lincoln. There were an estimated 4,000 military tribunals at that time. There were many U.S. civilians subjected to military tribunals just because they would not fight on the side of the North (Neely 1991). The ability to try anyone in a military tribunal changed after the case of Ex Parte Milligan. Lambidin P. Milligan, an Indiana lawyer and politician, was arrested for being a “southern sympathizer” who was involved in a failed conspiracy against the North. He was tried in a military tribunal and found guilty, and was sentenced to hang to death. Milligan filed a petition with the federal district court