The U.S. military is wasting no time in resuming military tribunals at Guantanamo Bay prison in Cuba. Less than a week after the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit ruled that military tribunals were permissible, the trials of four captives are set to resume immediately with the government preparing charges against eight more detainees.
According to Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, the tribunals will move forward 'as rapidly as is possible.'
The tribunals had not been convened since last December when a Federal District Court ruled that they were improper and stayed proceedings in one case.
The entire judicial situation began in June 2004 when the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that detainees at Guantanamo Bay had a right to contest their status in American federal courts.
As of late, members of both parties in Congress are growing impatient with the delay in filing charges against detainees and holding tribunals.
Under the Bush administration's present policy, the detainees are not guaranteed rights under the Geneva Conventions as prisoners of war. Instead, they are treated as enemy combatants. As a result, they are held indefinitely without charges being filed against them and are not permitted access to lawyers or to cross examine witnesses against them in many cases.
Representative Adam Schiff, a California Democrat, told reporters that Congress should pass a law that requires a hearing within six months and a decision within two years for detainees held at Guantanamo or similar facilities.
'We're strongest in the war on terrorism when we act in unison, with the Congress and the administration, and areas like we're in now are kind of a twilight zone,' Schiff told the 'Washington Post.' 'I understand why the administration wants to move forward. Even so, we have 12 people designated for tribunals out of 500. It begs the question about what will done about all the rest.'
Meanwhile, the defendant in the case that was overturned by the U.S. Court of Appeals, Salim Ahmed Hamdan, has vowed to appeal the ruling. Hamdan was allegedly a driver for Osama bin Laden, the terrorist mastermind who orchestrated the September 11 attacks on the United States. Bin Laden remains free almost four years after the attacks.
Despite the controversy, the Bush administration is eager to move ahead with the tribunals. At a news conference at the Pentagon, Rumsfeld told reporters, 'The court's ruling marks an advance in the global struggle against extremists and aids the effort to protect innocent life.'
