Comment & Debate
“Court Rules U.S. Enemy Combatants Can Be Detained Indefinitely”. US State Department. September 9th, 2005 – “A U.S. federal appeals court ruled September 9 that President Bush indefinitely may detain a U.S. citizen captured as part of the global war on terrorism who is alleged to have a close association with al-Qaida.
‘The exceedingly important question before us is whether the president of the United States possesses the authority to detain militarily a citizen of this country who is closely associated with al-Qaida,’ appeals court Judge J. Michael Luttig wrote. ‘We conclude that the president does possess such authority.'”…
“Don’t close Guantanamo until terror war ends: Cheney”. Reuters. December 15, 2008 – The vice president was asked when the United States could responsibly close the U.S. prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, which was set up to hold detainees in President George W. Bush’s war on terror launched after September 11.
“Well, I think that that would come with the end of the war on terror,” Cheney said, adding no one knows when that might be.
“In previous wars, we’ve always exercised the right to capture the enemy and then hold them until the end of the conflict.
“The same basic principle ought to apply here in terms of our right to capture the enemy and hold them,”