New US guide on handling of military prisoners

The Pentagon’s completion of a hefty manual outlining procedures for terror trials has revived debate in Congress on the treatment of military detainees.

Democrats said they were concerned that the manual – based on a law passed last year in the Republican-run Congress – tramples on basic legal rights that should be afforded to military prisoners. This, they say, puts US troops at risk of mistreatment if ever captured.

Senator Christopher Dodd said he is working alongside fellow Senate Democrats Patrick Leahy and Russ Feingold on a bill addressing flaws in the manual “that are impediments to the effective and credible prosecution of suspected terrorists.”

But the Bush administration and Republican members say the tough standards are needed to ensure dangerous terrorists are convicted.

“While ensuring the fair and full prosecution of terrorists, the military commissions manual preserves the ability of our warfighters to operate effectively on the battlefield,” said Republican Congressman Duncan Hunter, the top Republican on the House Armed Services Committee.

Under the law, the president can convene military commissions to prosecute terror suspects so long as he follows certain guidelines, such as granting defendants legal counsel and access to evidence used against them.

It also for the first time provided specific definitions of abusive treatment of prisoners, prohibiting some of the worst abuses like mutilation and rape but granting the president leeway to decide which specific interrogation techniques are allowed.

The new regulations lack some protections used in civilian and military courtrooms, such as against coerced or hearsay evidence. They are intended to track a law passed last year by Congress restoring Bush’s plans to have special military commissions try terror-war prisoners. Those commissions had been struck down earlier in the year by the Supreme Court.

The 238-page manual, released yesterday, outlines the trial procedures and provides detailed descriptions of various war crimes that can be prosecuted by military commission.

Dodd, who has 2008 presidential ambitions, said he was particularly concerned about limits placed on military judges and a defence counsel’s access to witnesses and evidence, as well as the use of coerced statements.

Likewise, Democratic Congressman Ike Skelton, the chairman of the House Armed Services Committee, said he planned to scrutinise the manual to ensure that it does not “run afoul” of the Constitution.

“I have not yet seen evidence that the process by which these rules were built or their substance addresses all the questions left open by the legislation” authorising the military commissions, Skelton said in a statement.

Dodd said he believes the Pentagon’s top lawyers assigned to defend detainees were excluded from the preparation and review of the manual. Last year, critics of Bush’s plan for military commissions charged that the administration ignored the advice of uniformed legal experts.

At least one Republican – Senator Arlen Specter – said he would join Democrats in changing the law to allow detainees to protest their detention in court. Under the bill signed into law last year, only detainees selected for trial by the military are able to confront charges against them. This leaves a vast majority of the thousands of military detainees in custody in Iraq and elsewhere without a chance to plead their case.

US officials say they believe there is enough evidence to prosecute 60 to 80 military detainees.

Nearly 400 people suspected of ties to al-Qaida and the Taliban are being held at the military’s prison in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. About 380 others have been released since the facility was opened five years ago.