(HOST) Once again we’ve heard calls to close the Guantanamo Bay Detention Center. And that has reminded commentator Willem Lange of the legal limbo of the Guantanamo prisoners.
(LANGE) I came across an article in an issue of my alma mater’s alumni magazine. It describes the through-the-looking-glass experiences of a pair of alumni. Attorneys, father and son, they’re attempting to represent two of the detainees held at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. As someone who knows only what he learns from the media, I leaped at the chance to read the stories of two men actively involved.
The father, Mark Denbeaux (Class of 1965), joined the march from Selma to Montgomery that summer. The son, Josh (Class of 1990), grew up with an awareness of the necessity of human rights. He was skeptical of the Government’s description of the prisoners. “What are the chances,” he asks, “that the 517 people the government has snatched from a culture it does not understand, halfway around the world, with no intelligence on the ground, were exactly the right terrorists? What are the chances that these guys are – as our defense secretary called them – ‘the worst of the worst’?” So when the Supreme Court ruled the Guantanamo detainees were entitled to representation, the Denbeauxes decided to take on a case or two.
They discovered the rules for attorneys have been designed to make that as intimidating as possible. After securing clearance and signing an oath not to reveal classified information, they could visit their clients. Their notes have to be turned over and sent to a secret facility near Washington. If they contain “classified” information, the attorneys have to go to Washington to review them. During interviews, they have to keep moving from room to room with the blinds drawn, lest someone with a telescope see their computer screens. The government held or “lost” notes, failed to deliver mail, and barred phone calls. The Denbeauxes found their two clients, Tunisians in their thirties, chained to the floor of their cells.
The Denbeauxes found that only five percent of the detainees were captured by United States forces. Almost ninety percent were turned over in response to flyers that read, “Get wealth and power beyond your dreams….You can receive millions of dollars…enough money to take care of your family, your village…for the rest of your life….”
The Denbeauxes are pressing for trials, but are certain they will never occur. “[The government] can’t afford to have it proven to the world that they are holding 517 people – most of them for absolutely no reason,” Josh says.
You can find the story on the website for the College of Wooster magazine, in the Summer 2006 issue. All the Denbeauxes are after is fair trials. “Maybe we do have a government that is exploiting fear,” says Josh. “But we can’t blame the government, because the people allowed it to happen….That’s what makes me most angry. My clients are being held in prison forever, without a trial, in my name.”
Ours, too. You may think that’s all right. If so, I suggest you reread the Constitution. According to that, we, of all people, are supposed to play fair.
This is Willem Lange up in East Montpelier, and I gotta get back to work.