One small step for Guantanamo detainees

Jim, this is called synchrony. Okay? Not secret messages. Although, I suppose synchrony translated into American cloak and dagger culture would come out to be secret messages. So, hey. Okay. Secret message follows.....


Long-term prisoners being held at the naval base at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, will receive annual reviews to determine whether they should remain in custody, Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld said Friday.

The reviews will determine whether prisoners, if released, would remain a threat to the United States, officials said.

Many details of the reviews have not been worked out, Pentagon officials said.  Chicago Sun-Times article

No doubt there will be many details, and perhaps this is just more smoke blowing stall tactics - the Bushites are very good at throwing out a grand sentiment and then letting it fall on hardpan.

Paul Butler, deputy assistant secretary of defense for detainee operations, told reporters at the Pentagon that the detainees at Guantanamo fall into several categories: ones who are no longer a threat and can be freed, ones who committed war crimes and will face a military tribunal, and ones who remain a threat but cannot be charged with any crime.

Of those who remain a threat, a few are being turned over to the governments of their home countries. So far, four men have been turned over to Saudi Arabia and a fifth to Spain.

"The detainees are not in a legal black hole," Butler said.

Just a very dark gray one.

More on Guantanamo horrors is here on my webpage.