U.S. Drafts Plan to Strengthen Detainee Rights -NYT

[Rose Siding]

Battered by criticism from the federal courts, foreign governments and human rights groups, the Defense Department is considering substantial changes to the special military tribunals that the Bush administration established to try foreign terror suspects at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba.

The changes, many of which are in a 232-page draft manual for the tribunals that has been circulating among Pentagon lawyers, include strengthening the rights of defendants, establishing more independent judges to lead the panels and barring confessions obtained by torture, military and administration officials said.

The proposals have renewed a sharp debate within the administration between military and civilian lawyers who are pushing for changes and other officials who have long insisted that terror suspects held at Guantánamo are not entitled to many of the basic rights granted defendants in United States courts.
...
The administration's willingness to restructure the commissions, which have been a central part of its strategy for fighting terrorism, is uncertain. Some officials said they considered the proposals premature because a lawsuit challenging the legality of the commissions is now in a federal appeals court.

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http://nytimes.com/2005/03/27/politics/27detain.html?hp&ex=1111899600&en=f363e59197d6ef2a&ei=5094&partner=homepage

[Robbien]

1. Not surprising Cheney is dead set against this

as the article says Cheney thinks there is no reason to change the treatment unless forced to do so by the courts.

[TahitiNut]

2. "not entitled to many of the basic rights"

This phrase is indicative of the corruption of our political processes. Human beings are inherently possessed of rights - rights conferred not by government but their 'Creator.' Government can only confer or deny entitlements, not rights. Government can only violate or abridge human rights, it cannot create or alienate those rights. That's what inalienable means - with neither ambiguity or doubt - irrespective of being either a citizen or an alien!

It's an absolute abomination that any particle of our government not be totally and completely aligned with these fundamental principles - principles upon which that very government relies for its own legitimacy. Any abrogation of these principles delegitimizes that very government and makes it inimical to (an enemy of) the Constitution itself.