thedrifter
02-21-09, 09:01 AM
Obama backs Bush policy on detainee rights in overseas jails
February 20, 2009
President Obama sided with the Bush administration Friday, saying detainees at Bagram Airfield in Afghanistan cannot use U.S. courts to challenge their detention. The filing shocked human rights attorneys.
"The hope we all had in President Obama to lead us on a different path has not turned out as we'd hoped," said Tina Monshipour Foster, an attorney representing one of the roughly 600 detainees at the Bagram Airfield. "We all expected better."
After Obama took office, a federal judge in Washington gave the new administration a month to decide its policy.
"They've now embraced the Bush policy that you can create prisons outside the law," said Jonathan Hafetz, an attorney with the American Civil Liberties Union.
GUILTY OF MURDER
An Army medic was convicted of murder Friday for his involvement in the execution-style slayings of four bound and blindfolded Iraqi detainees shot in the back of the head in the spring of 2007. The court sentenced him to life in prison. Sgt. Michael Leahy Jr., 28, was convicted by a nine-person jury at the court-martial in Vilseck, Germany. "Looking back ..., I see it was the wrong thing to do," Leahy read from a statement to the court before he was sentenced. "Please see that I'm not a bad person, that I made a bad mistake. I want to move on."
bomb kills 3 troops
A roadside bomb killed three coalition troops Friday in Uruzgan Province. No further details were released.
NAVY CROSSES AWARDED
Navy Cross medals, the second-highest medal for bravery that can be bestowed on a Marine or sailor, were presented Friday to the families of two Marines -- Lance Cpl. Jordan Haerter, 19, and Cpl. Jonathan Yale, 21 -- who were killed while thwarting a suicide bomber and saving the lives of dozens of Marines and Iraqis.
NEWS SERVICES
Ellie
February 20, 2009
President Obama sided with the Bush administration Friday, saying detainees at Bagram Airfield in Afghanistan cannot use U.S. courts to challenge their detention. The filing shocked human rights attorneys.
"The hope we all had in President Obama to lead us on a different path has not turned out as we'd hoped," said Tina Monshipour Foster, an attorney representing one of the roughly 600 detainees at the Bagram Airfield. "We all expected better."
After Obama took office, a federal judge in Washington gave the new administration a month to decide its policy.
"They've now embraced the Bush policy that you can create prisons outside the law," said Jonathan Hafetz, an attorney with the American Civil Liberties Union.
GUILTY OF MURDER
An Army medic was convicted of murder Friday for his involvement in the execution-style slayings of four bound and blindfolded Iraqi detainees shot in the back of the head in the spring of 2007. The court sentenced him to life in prison. Sgt. Michael Leahy Jr., 28, was convicted by a nine-person jury at the court-martial in Vilseck, Germany. "Looking back ..., I see it was the wrong thing to do," Leahy read from a statement to the court before he was sentenced. "Please see that I'm not a bad person, that I made a bad mistake. I want to move on."
bomb kills 3 troops
A roadside bomb killed three coalition troops Friday in Uruzgan Province. No further details were released.
NAVY CROSSES AWARDED
Navy Cross medals, the second-highest medal for bravery that can be bestowed on a Marine or sailor, were presented Friday to the families of two Marines -- Lance Cpl. Jordan Haerter, 19, and Cpl. Jonathan Yale, 21 -- who were killed while thwarting a suicide bomber and saving the lives of dozens of Marines and Iraqis.
NEWS SERVICES
Ellie