Neo-cons Subverting Supreme Court Verdict On Gitmo

The Pentagon said on Wednesday a newly created tribunal of three U.S. military officers will conduct hearings to permit all of the approximately 594 prisoners held at the U.S. naval base at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, to challenge their status as an "enemy combatant" rather than prisoner of war...

But the Pentagon said Guantanamo prisoners cannot have a lawyer for the tribunal hearings, and that unspecified security and other arrangements must be resolved before detainees can have access to lawyers for court challenges to their imprisonment.

Amnesty International have noted that the new process remains entirely within the U.S. military, and that all sorts of evidence will be admissible, including from anonymous witnesses and statements that may have been coerced.

The new tribunal was detailed in an order written by Deputy Defense Secretary Paul Wolfowitz. The order stated that 'the tribunal is not bound by the rules of evidence such as would apply in a court of law' and that there will be 'a rebuttal presumption in favor of the government's evidence.' "