Olympics attacks thwarted, and Gitmo prisoners still off the record

Despite pledging yearly reviews for all prisoners held by the U.S. military at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, Pentagon officials tentatively agreed during a high-level meeting last month to deny that process to some detainees and to keep their existence secret "for intelligence reasons," senior defense officials said last week. The Los Angeles Times reported that under the proposal, some prisoners would in effect be kept off public records and away from the scrutiny of lawyers and judges. meanwhile, The Chicago Tribune reports that recent information from Guantanamo has derailed plans for attacks during the Athens Olympics next month and possibly forestalled at least a dozen attacks elsewhere. The detention facility has been cloaked in secrecy since the U.S. decided in early 2002 to bring prisoners from Afghanistan and elsewhere to Guantanamo. Now, the veil is lifting in the wake of a recent U.S. Supreme Court decision giving prisoners held as enemy combatants the right to challenge their detention, the Tribune reported.  link

In what The New York Times calls "a last-ditch effort by the administration to retain control" over the Guantanamo detainees, the Pentagon yesterday announced a process under which the nearly 600 prisoners can challenge their confinement. The review process, outlined in this memorandum by Deputy Defense Secretary Paul Wolfowitz, does not include Fifth Amendment protections or the right to counsel. It is also doubtful that the proposed Combatant Status Review Tribunal -- composed exclusively of military officers, who are ultimately commanded by President Bush -- constitutes the kind of "neutral decision-maker" that the Supreme Court had in mind in its June 28 ruling that the detainees must be permitted to challenge the legality of their detention. The Pentagon continues to refuse to provide the names of the accused, their alleged crimes or the nationalities, the Times notes.   link

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