Retired Navy and Marine JAG Generals join call to grant detainees access to the U.S. Court System

From an article in the Guardian, they are: Brig. Gen. David M. Brahms, the senior legal advisor for the Marine Corps from 1985-88; Rear Adm. Donald J. Guter the Navy's judge advocate general from 2000 to 2002; and Rear Adm. John D. Hutson, the Navy's judge advocate general from 1997 to 2000.

These retired Generals have joined a number of U.S. and European diplomats urging the Supreme Court grant Guantanamo detainees full access to the U.S. court system.

The article points out that

the 355 detainees have only narrowly structured appeal rights. They are entitled to a single civilian court review of their status as enemy combatants, a designation made by three-member military panels. The detainees have no legal counsel before the military panels, which rely largely on classified information that the detainees are not allowed to see.

The Generals, in their filing to the high court, said:

The panels, called Combatant Status Review Tribunals, have been tainted by the permissible use of evidence obtained by torture...If the United States holds prisoners indefinitely - potentially lifetime imprisonment - based on sham CSRT proceedings and without providing meaningful judicial review of their imprisonment, enemies in current or future conflicts may use that as an excuse to mete out similar treatment to captured American military forces.

I echo the sentiment, but wish some senior former JAGs from the AF and Army had joined the fight.