Moving Guantanamo to Bagram Could Evade Court Jurisdiction
In President Obama’s first week in office, he pledged to close down Guantanamo within a year.
The year’s been up for two months now, and Guantanamo still remains open.
Making matters worse, it looks like the Obama Administration may simply move Guantanamo to Afghanistan.
The Los Angeles Times is reporting that the “White House is considering whether to detain international terrorism suspects at [Bagram Air Base] in Afghanistan, an option that would lead to another prison with the same purpose as Guantanamo Bay.”
And that purpose is to hold suspects indefinitely, without ever granting them any due process rights.
The Supreme Court has ruled that suspects held at Guantanamo have due process rights because Guantanamo is effectively U.S. property. But the Obama Administration, like the Bush Administration before it, says that this court decision does not apply to Bagram Air Base.
Last September, Obama’s Justice Department told a lower court that “when it comes to military facilities, unlike Guantanamo, that are truly abroad—particularly those halfway across the globe in an active war zone—courts in the United States exceed their role by second-guessing the political branches about the reach of habeas jurisdiction.”
Until the Court resolves that question, Obama can ship detainees from Guantanamo – or anywhere else in the world – to Bagram Air Base and hold them there for years at a time.
It’s against international law, but that hasn’t stopped a President before.
So it looks like make Guantanamo may soon be Spanish for Bagram, and both will translate into human rights violations.
Matthew Rothschild is the editor of The Progressive magazine. To subscribe for just $14.97 a year, just click here.
![]() |
![]() |
![]() |
![]() |
![]() |
![]() |
![]() |
![]() |
|
|
This form needs Javascript to display, which your browser doesn't support. Sign up here instead
|
||||||||
CURRENT ISSUE: June 2013
Spying on Occupy Activists
Matthew Rothschild | How local law enforcement and Homeland Security help Wall Street.
The Commerce of Violence
Wendell Berry | The cheapening of life is surely the dominant theme of our time, from Guantánamo to the Boston Marathon.
Jason Collins, Meet Brittney Griner
Dave Zirin | Dave Zirin says Jason Collins and Brittney Griner can teach the guys in the huddle a lot.
e-Books
Preserving Our Home on Earth: 100 Years of Environmental Writing from the Archives of The Progressive Magazine. is now available from Amazon and Barnes&Noble.
"Since we only have one planet to call our own, it might be worth reading this book." —Bill McKibben
Welcome to The Progressive Magazine

















