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Bush-Era Executive Order to Form Military Commissions for Terror Suspects Reaches 10th Anniversary

HeadlineNov 14, 2011

Sunday marked the 10th anniversary of President George W. Bush’s executive order to form military commissions to try prisoners captured in the war on terror. One of the strongest critics of the military tribunal has become retired U.S. Air Force Colonel Moe Davis, a former chief prosecutor for the Guantánamo tribunals. Davis recently said, “I think we’ve botched this so bad that we’re past the point of redemption.” Attorney Michael Ratner of the Center for Constitutional Rights compared Bush’s executive order to a coup d’état. Ratner said, “Under that order the president gave himself the authority to direct the capture of any non-citizen anywhere in the world allegedly involved in international terrorism, and detain that person indefinitely without access to the remedy of habeas corpus.” Despite widespread criticism of the tribunal system, President Obama has backed the use of the tribunals to try prisoners at Guantánamo. Abd al-Rahim al-Nashiri was arraigned last week in the 2000 bombing of the U.S.S. Cole off the coast of Yemen.

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