Pentagon Reportedly Aimed to Hold Detainees in Secret
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-prison9jul09.story Pentagon Reportedly Aimed to Hold Detainees in Secret
Proposal to keep some prisoners 'off the books' went against promises for yearly case reviews.
By John Hendren and Mark Mazzetti
Times Staff Writers July 9, 2004
WASHINGTON — Despite pledging yearly reviews for all prisoners held by the U.S. military at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, Pentagon officials tentatively agreed during a high-level meeting last month to deny that process to some detainees and to keep their existence secret "for intelligence reasons," senior defense officials said Thursday.
Under the proposal, some prisoners would in effect be kept off public records and away from the scrutiny of lawyers and judges.
The meeting on the Guantanamo reviews occurred months after U.S. officials came under harsh criticism by investigators and human rights observers for practices involving "ghost" detainees in Iraq who were kept hidden from inspectors for intelligence purposes.
It was unclear Thursday whether the Pentagon had followed through with the proposal, or how it would be affected by last month's Supreme Court ruling that granted detainees access to American courts. It also was not clear how many detainees the proposal would apply to. The Pentagon said there currently were 594 detainees at the camp, nicknamed "Gitmo." A Swedish detainee was released Thursday.<snip>
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