Despite rhetoric, Obama continues Bush policy on detainees (John Byrne)

  Indefinite detention, no legal rights

  Bagram airbase flies under the radar but will continue to operate without US law

  John Byrne -- Raw Story

  Feb. 23, 2009 -- In a stunning departure from his rhetoric on Guantánamo Bay prison, President Barack Obama signaled Friday he will continue Bush Administration policy with regard to detainees held at a U.S. airbase in Afghanistan, saying they have no right to challenge their detentions in US courts -- and denying them legal status altogether.

  "This Court’s Order of Jan. 22, 2009, invited the Government to inform the Court by Feb. 20, 2009, whether it intends to refine its position on whether the Court has jurisdiction over habeas petitions filed by detainees held at the United States military base in Bagram, Afghanistan," Acting Assistant Obama Attorney General Michael Hertz wrote in a brief filed Friday. "Having considered the matter, the Government adheres to its previously articulated position."

  The move seems to be a reversal from Obama's much-trumpeted announcement to close the U.S. prison at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba in January, in which he promised to return the United States to the "moral high ground" and "restore the standards of due process."

  The U.S. Supreme Court previously ruled that it was unconstitutional to hold detainees at Guantánamo Bay without giving them access to US courts. Following that ruling, more than 200 detainees filed suit in the District Court for the District of Columbia.

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