The military tribunals of suspected terrorists held at Guantánamo Bay were a ”tremendous failure”, a United States military lawyer told Congress on Wednesday.
Navy Lieutenant Commander Charles Swift was testifying before the first full Senate hearing on the Bush administration’s treatment of detainees since the ”war on terror” began.
His comments come amid calls from Democrats and some Republicans that the Guantánamo Bay prison camp be closed down.
Swift was assigned to represent Salim Ahmed Hamdan, Osama bin Laden’s driver, whom he said had been left mentally disturbed after being held in solitary confinement for seven months. Swift said that Hamdan was offered the opportunity to see a defence lawyer only if he pleaded guilty to the charges made against him.
He told the Senate judiciary committee: ”Mr Hamdan was on the verge of being coerced into a guilty plea or deteriorating mentally to the point that he would be unable to assist in his defence if he ever came to trial.
”We have lost sight of our fundamental values to the point that Mr Hamdan faces judgement for allegedly violating the law of war in a tribunal that fails to live up to the standards of justice required by that same law.”
Brigadier General Thomas Hemingway, a legal adviser to the military commissions, denied that access to lawyers had been made conditional on a guilty plea.
He also objected to the description of Hamdan’s conditions as ”solitary confinement”, describing it instead as ”segregation”. He did not explain the difference.
Only four people have been charged under the military commission system, which was suspended before any prosecutions could be made pending court battles over the legality of the procedures.
The stalling of the military tribunals has left about 520 detainees in Guantánamo Bay without charges.
In the past few days some prominent Republicans have joined Democratic calls for it to be closed down or reformed.
Mel Martinez, a senator normally considered a Bush loyalist, described it as ”an icon for bad news” and questioned whether its costs outweighed its benefits.
Rightwing Republicans at Wednesday’s hearings rejected criticism of the Guantánamo Bay camp, first established in January 2002. Jeff Sessions said the site, on the south-eastern tip of Cuba ”would make a magnificent resort.”
But moderate Republicans expressed their unease. The committee chairperson, Arlen Specter, said Congress’s failure to define the rights of detainees had left a ”crazy quilt” of court rulings.
”It may be that it’s too hot to handle for Congress, may be that it’s too complex to handle for Congress,” he said. ”But at any rate, Congress hasn’t acted.” – Guardian Unlimited