Politics: Guantanamo - a reverse for the Bush administration

The Bush administration was dealt a blow yesterday when the Supreme Court of the United States ruled the special military tribunals illegal, by five votes against three. Those tribunals were created by the Bush administration as part of the "Global War on Terror", following the 11-September attacks. The Court considered that the administration had overstepped its authority in setting up the tribunals. The Congress was requested to intervene to establish a legal framework making it possible to judge the presumed terrorists being held prisoners at the American base of Guantanamo (Cuba) – some 450 at the moment. The US organisations of defence of human rights welcomed the decision of the Court, calling it a "victory" for the state of law.

Meanwhile, US President George Bush has continued to refuse ruling out military tribunals for inmates at Guantanamo Bay detention centre. And immediately after the Supreme Courts' decision, republican senators began planning how to win congressional approval for new tribunals. In its ruling, the court said military tribunals contravened both the Geneva Convention on the treatment of prisoners, and the US code of military justice. It also ruled that the tribunals were not expressly authorised by any congressional act, and there was no "sweeping mandate for the president to invoke military commissions whenever he deems them necessary".

The 'only' problem I see is that this detention centre and these "military courts" have been going on for four years now and in the meantime we've seen prisoners being tortured and mistreated without having access to the basic human rights. Is this democracy? Is this the kind of democracy and State of law that the american administration wants to impose in iraq and elsewhere?

As Mr Bush has recognised himself, "Guantanamo sends a signal to some of our friends [and enemies I would add] — provides an excuse, for example, to say the United States is not upholding the values that they're trying to encourage other countries to adhere to", but in the meantime Mr Bush was reelected and these people are still being held without charges.

See further bellow the article on the film "Road to Guantanamo" from British director Michael Winterbottom, which I've just seen and which I strongly recommend.

[FR]

Guantanamo : un revers pour l'administration Bush

"Hier, par cinq voix contre trois, la Cour suprême des Etats-Unis a jugé illégaux les tribunaux militaires d'exception créés par G. W. Bush dans la foulée des attentats du 11-Septembre, estimant qu'il avait outrepassé ses pouvoirs face aux "combattants ennemis". Le Congrès a été appelé à intervenir pour établir un cadre juridique permettant de juger les terroristes présumés détenus sur la base américaine de Guantanamo (Cuba). Les organisations US de défense des droits de l'homme ont salué la décision de la Cour, évoquant la "victoire" pour l'Etat de droit."
(lu dans Le Monde digital)