Good Richard's Almanac: Obama Says U.S. Troops Round Up Prisoners Indiscriminately

March 13, 2009

Obama Says U.S. Troops Round Up Prisoners Indiscriminately

The Justice Department Friday threw out the Bush administration's justification for detaining "enemy combatants" at Guantanamo Bay, establishing a new standard for the government's authority to detain terror suspects at the facility.

The Bush administration had argued that Guantanamo Bay detainees can be held without charge because they are "enemy combatants" who in some way supported Al-Qaeda or the Taliban in Afghanistan.

But the new Justice Department rejected that logic Friday in a federal court filing, claiming instead that only individuals who provided "substantial" support to al Qaeda or the Taliban can be detained.

Let's think about that. If the Obama administration believes there are people detained at Gitmo that have not provided "substantial" support to al Qaeda or the Taliban, that implies troops were rounding up people who do NOT provide "substantial" support.

So in other words, troops were rounding up civilians indiscriminately.

I see.

Update

Found this gem at NRO...

Maybe President Bush should just have changed the name of Guantanamo. Then he could have announced that there were no longer any enemy combatants at Guantanamo.

Love it!

Obama to re-brand “enemy combatants” by Michelle Malkin
Obama abandons “enemy combatant” term for Gitmo detainees at Hot Air
Erasing An Important Distinction at Powerline

Posted by Richard at March 13, 2009 1:55 PM

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Comments

Not sure that they are implying that soldiers are 'rounding up civilians indiscriminately'. I think your interpretation is a little extreme.

I think it is certainly logical to think that some people, who are rounded up by soldiers on a street corner, might not have had the benefit of an accurate and reasonable analysis.

Posted by: kirkmcquest at March 14, 2009 8:03 AM