Freedom is on the March, part III

According to the Washington Post, the Pentagon and CIA have asked the White House what they want to do about 550 "enemy combatants" currently detained at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba (Gitmo). Detainees include suspected terrorists who they don't plan on setting free, officially charging with a crime, or allowing "due process" by going through a military tribunal because the lack of evidence against them would result in their release. So far, 510 hearings have been completed, and continued detention has been repeatedly ordered.

One proposal being kicked around is to transfer detainees to prisons in their home countries and under State Department oversight. In the meantime, the Department of Defense wants to build a $254 million 200-bed prison at Gitmo, dubbed Camp 6. The facility would be "designed for prisoners the government believes have no more intelligence to share."

Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chair Richard Lugar (R-Indiana) "suggested" on Fox News Sunday that holding suspected terrorists for life may be "unconstitutional" and a "bad idea" to boot.

Detainees have filed lawsuits requesting that federal judges order the Pentagon to let them have lawyers at tribunal hearings, see secret evidence against them, and exclude evidence gained by torture or to have civilian U.S. courts hear their cases.

While claiming there has been no torture at Gitmo, Principal Deputy Associate Attorney General Brian Boyle acknowledged that military panels would consider evidence gathered by torture of detainees in foreign countries, even though such statements have been barred from U.S. courts for 70 years because of unreliability.