Perversely, the Guantanamo Bay detainees may be worse off under a new law designed to protect them from abusive treatment.
The McCain amendment to the Detainee Treatment Act quite rightly restates the longstanding American prohibition of cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment of detainees in U.S. custody. In short, we don't torture. But that same law limits the detainees' access to U.S. courts. They may challenge their enemy combatant status and appeal the verdicts of military tribunals but they may not seek habeas corpus or protest their treatment. |