User talk:Merecat/uec

Unlawful enemy combatant, under current United States military vernacular, is the designation for those fighters who are captured while allegedly fighting or training for organized military battles against the USA, without authority from their native countries. This term is the designation which the United States military has applied to those fighters being kept imprisoned at the Gitmo naval base in Cuba. The usage of this term for captured fighters of this type has set off new debate regarding the international legal validity of the War on Terror. Additionally, there are significant legal challenges being posed on behalf of some of those thus imprisoned. One of the defenses being offered is that for certain of the imprisoned men, this designation does not apply as it's contended that they were not in fact fighters. Several cases have come to light in which detainees in fact were erroneously designated unlawful enemy combatant. Logistically, one of the problems preventing the release of these imprisoned men, is that they have been afforded only the barest of rights to pursue legal recourse. Currently in the USA, there is an ongoing political debate and a number of ongoing court cases regarding this issue.

According to Senator Lindsey Graham's office "The detention status of all detainees at GTMO is assessed by an administrative process called the Combatant Status Review Tribunal (CSRT)." and "CSRT determines the status of a detainee and whether they should be detained at GTMO as an unlawful enemy combatant." 

Links

 * Out of Guantánamo - Guardian.co.uk, Book Review, Saturday April 1, 2006
 * Senate Press Release Senator Lindsey Graham - 11/10/2005

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