Romero speaks to National Press Club about Guantanamo Detainees

ACLU’S ROMERO SPEAKS TO NATIONAL PRESS CLUB ABOUT GUANTÁNAMO DETAINEES

On Wednesday, March 9, Anthony D. Romero, Executive Director of the ACLU, 
spoke at the National Press Club’s “Newsmaker” luncheon about the U.S. 
government’s detention of enemy combatants at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba, and other 
Bush Administration policies that jeopardize the freedom of all Americans.

“Hundreds of people called enemy combatants by the U.S. government languish in 
legal limbo at Guantánamo Bay,” Romero said.  “With no access to the courts, 
or legal counsel, these policies are fundamentally lawless and trespass on our 
most deeply held values of fairness and basic due process.”

More than 600 people from 44 countries, including teenagers, are being held by 
the U.S. at Guantánamo.  Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld has said that 
detainees may be held indefinitely, even if eventually charged and acquitted. 
  Indeed, he has also said that if the government determines that any 
individual is a continuing threat, detainees may be imprisoned for the rest of 
their lives.

The ACLU is part of a broad-based coalition that filed a friend-of-the-court 
brief before the U.S. Supreme Court on behalf of the Guantánamo detainees.

The brief calls for a review of the legality of the government’s detention of 
these prisoners and argues that under the terms of the U.S. Constitution, the 
Geneva Conventions and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights they cannot 
be detained indefinitely at Guantánamo without some review of their legal 
status.  Arguments on Guantánamo procedures will be heard by the Supreme Court 
on April 20th.

In a related matter, the Supreme Court is scheduled on April 28th to review 
the President’s authority to designate an American citizen an enemy combatant 
and detain him indefinitely.  The Court is expected to render decisions on 
both legal matters by the end of the term in June.

Listen to the speech on NPR.org
http://www.aclu.org/L/www.npr.org/programs/npc/2004/040310.cfm?MX=1153&H=0

Watch Anthony Romero on C-SPAN's Washington Journal (Real Player)
rtsp://video.c-span.org/archive/ter/ter_wj030904_anthony.rm

A news release about the Guantánamo case is online at:
http://www.aclu.org/SafeandFree/SafeandFree.cfm?ID=14705&c=206&MX=1153&H=0

The ACLU has also published a new report called "Conduct Unbecoming: Pitfalls 
in the President’s Military Commissions" that details how the Bush 
Administration has created a “parallel” system of justice in America -- a 
system that fails to provide the safeguards necessary to ensure due process:
http://www.aclu.org/SafeandFree/SafeandFree.cfm?ID=15165&c=206&MX=1153&H=0

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