Homeland Security

DATE=12/03/03

TYPE=U-S OPINION ROUNDUP

NAME=GUANTANAMO PRISONERS

NUMBER=6-130169

BYLINE=ANDREW GUTHRIE

DATELINE=WASHINGTON

EDITOR=ASSIGNMENTS

TELEPHONE=619-3335

CONTENT=

INTRO: Word that at least 100 of the prisoners from the Afghan war jailed at the Guantanamo naval base are being released to their home nations is being well received in the U-S press. We get a sampling now from V-O-A's _____________ in today's U-S Opinion Roundup.

TEXT: For roughly two years, some 660 men and a few teenagers have been held as enemy combatants at the U-S naval base in Cuba. They have been questioned repeatedly about the Afghan war and have been denied contact with lawyers and family. Both international and domestic human rights groups have protested their treatment. But the Bush administration defends its actions, saying they are "enemy combatants," not prisoners of war.

Now, with news of a major release, many American newspapers, like The Philadelphia Inquirer, are jubilant, suggesting:

VOICE: It's about time. Defense Department officials report . as many as 140 detainees . could be sent home and freed, others may be imprisoned on charges by their own governments. . These prisoners were captured in late 2001. While they are suspected of links to international terrorism, none has been charged with a crime. . the U-S military should free detainees it cannot try in a court of law. That's the right thing to do for the world's greatest democracy.

TEXT: In the state capital of Texas, The Austin American-Statesman is also pleased noting:

VOICE: In the fight against terror.the United States has ventured into unusual territory in matters of national security, human rights and due process of law. . President Bush is using the power presidents have during wartime to define the [Guantanamo] detainees as outside the Geneva Convention's rules governing prisoners of war. But many Americans, not to mention millions of people around the world, are uneasy with a classification that doesn't recognize the Constitution, international treaties or basic human rights. . [Such] an open-ended detention in Guantanamo.is persecution.

TEXT: In yet another criticism of the prisoners' treatment, Florida's Miami Herald finds the government's legal arguments flawed.

VOICE: The absurdity of U-S policy in detaining terror prisoners at Guantanamo .becomes more obvious with each day that passes and with every shift in tactics. .For two years . officials have described the detainees as "killers" and the "worst of the worst" of al-Qaida terror suspects . Yet now, with only the thinnest explanation, the administration declares that some of [them] aren't so threatening after all and can be transferred to other countries. . the federal government accuses [the] detainees of being "enemy combatants" but gives them no chance to challenge, deny or rebut the assertion. That's as wrong as it is un-American.

TEXT: Focusing in on the youngest of the detainees, The San Francisco Chronicle suggests why the administration is changing it policy.

VOICE: The U-S Supreme Court recently rebuffed the administration by taking up the question of whether the Guantanamo prisoners can challenge their detention. However that issue is decided by the . court, the imminent release of many Guantanamo detainees - - possibly including three boys ages 13 to 15 - - suggests that a substantial number of "combatants" may have been held far longer than necessary, without specific legal justification.

TEXT: In Salt Lake City, Utah, The Mormon Church's Deseret Morning News sums up its arguments on behalf of the prisoners this way.

VOICE: We have no doubt that some of them are, indeed, desperate enemies. But many of them, apparently, are not. . Secrecy breeds suspicion and contempt. The rest of the world has watched the United States deal with these captives in ways that defy this nation's legacy of fairness and the rule of law. . But even with this release, more than 500 prisoners remain. If they are indeed dangerous, they should be tried and sentenced.

TEXT: That excerpt from a Deseret Morning News editorial in Utah, concludes this sampling of reaction to news that at least 100 of the Guantanamo Afghan war prisoners are to be released.

NEB/ANG/MEM