In another step that links Washington’s military aggression with attacks on legal protections at home, U.S. officials have alleged that one of those killed in the attack by a CIA drone in Yemen November 3 was the "ringleader" of six men in Lackawanna, New York, who are being held in a U.S. jail on "terrorism" charges.

Hamdi was seized by U.S. forces after his Taliban unit surrendered to the U.S.-backed Northern Alliance in November 2001. In February he was transferred to the U.S. naval base and prison camp in Guantánamo Bay--an area in Cuba occupied by U.S. forces against the protests of the Cuban people. After telling military authorities that he was a U.S. citizen he was moved in April to a military prison at the Navy base in Norfolk, Virginia, where he has been kept in solitary confinement.

A number of civil liberties groups and more than 100 law professors have backed an appeal on Hamdi’s behalf by public defender Frank Dunham--who has been denied permission to even meet or speak with his client--noting that the status of "enemy combatant" is open-ended and "undefined."

Justice Department lawyers called for the dismissal of the appeal October 28 before a three-judge panel in the appeals court in Richmond, Virginia.

As summarized at a previous hearing by one of the panel, Chief Judge J. Harvie Wilkinson, the government is demanding a ruling that would exclude any "judicial review" of the case of Hamdi and anyone else given the "enemy combatant" tag. If the government has its way, stated the court, "any American citizen alleged to be an enemy combatant could be detained indefinitely without charges or counsel on the government’s say-so."

U.S. Attorney Paul McNulty and deputy solicitor Paul Clement argued that opening a review of Hamdi’s case "would be unprecedented and could significantly hamper the nation’s defense." They maintained that "the military is under no obligation to provide any more information with respect to captured combatants."

Dunham pointed out that Hamdi has been so excluded by the government from any legal process that he has never even had the chance to say whether or not he agrees with the description "enemy combatant."  
 
Rights to information, counsel
"Hamdi should have the opportunity to know there is a proceeding going on in his name and to know that he has counsel," said the public defender, who has represented Hamdi since April, when he was assigned the case on the assumption that criminal charges would be filed.

The lawyer added, "The precedent that the administration is setting has long-term potential for incursions on our liberties."

At the same time, Dunham accepted the government’s stance that a decision made on the battlefield should be treated with "deference," arguing that "a year later...the emergency is ended [and] there is no need to give the same deference."

Lawyers for José Padilla, also known as Abdullah al-Muhajir, have also argued in federal court that their client "should be granted the fundamental right to have his voice heard" in court. The government should not be allowed to deny his right to counsel, they said, "merely by transferring his custody to another branch of the government."

Unlike Hamdi, Padilla was not seized in Afghanistan or on any other battlefield, but is accused of plotting to explode a "dirty" radioactive bomb in the United States.

Government officials stated that Padilla’s detention "is in no sense ‘criminal,’ and it has no penal consequences whatsoever." Held in a Navy brig in South Carolina since June, Padilla has been allowed no contact with his lawyers.  
 
Yemen assassination
Following the November 3 strike in Yemen by a unmanned CIA Predator drone, U.S. officials claimed that one of those killed, Kamal Derwish, was "probably a ringleader of a group of six men from the Buffalo area identified by law enforcement officials as a sleeper cell of the Qaeda terrorist network," reported the November 10 New York Times. The six men, who are U.S. citizens of Yemeni descent, have been jailed on charges of offering "material support" to al Qaeda.

The officials described Derwish as a "recruiter of other immigrants" for the organization. They said that he had been a "mentor" to the six and had "enticed" them to come to Pakistan and Afghanistan for religious and military training.

No evidence was offered to back up the assertions. In its place, the big-business daily quoted a Lackawanna resident who voiced "suspicions" about Derwish.

Meanwhile, the Pentagon released four prisoners from its military prison at Guantánamo Bay on October 28. The men, one of whom is in his 70s or older, had been locked in 8 by 8 foot metal containers 24 hours a day, with only two 15-minute breaks a week for exercise.

"I wrote a letter to my family that said, ‘I’m half animal now. After a month I’ll be a full animal and then I’ll come back," said Jan Muhammad, 35, one of the four. In the 11 months that he was held in complete isolation the only letter Muhammad received from his family was given to him three days before his release. The letter was stamped June 28, 2002.

About 30 new detainees were flown into Guantánamo as the four prisoners were being released. According to Pentagon officials there are now some 625 prisoners being held there.  
 
 
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