The News Tribune from Tacoma, Washington • 12

A12 WEDNESDAY APRIL 21 2004 THE NEWS TRIBUNE About Guantanamo Bay prison camp Detainees Continued from A1 and compelling'' in that context he laid In addition to Stevem Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg David Souter Stephen Breyer and Sandra Day also appeared unpersuaded by the administration's arguments At issue was whether Guantanamo detainees some 600 men of varying nationalities seized in Afghanistan and Pakistan during operations against the TUtiban can have access to federal court to contest their detention through petitions for habeas corpus the ancient writ by which prisoners in the English-speaking world have for centuries been able to challenge the legality of their confinement The federal appeals court in Washington ruled last year that the federal courts lack jurisdiction to consider habeas corpus petitions from the detainees at GuantanamaThe two cases the Supreme Court combined for the argument on TUesday were brought on behalf of 16 detainees who all maintain that they were innocent noncombatants some mistakenly picked up by bounty hunters While hearing the case on behalf of i noncitizens the justices and most others in the crowded courtroom some who Chief Justice William Rehnquist objected: also says Cuba retains sovereignty" law has never had any application inside that Gibbons replied stamp with Fidel picture on it get a letter off the He added: so totally artificial to say that because of this provision in the lease the executive branch can create a zone where it is not accountable to any judiciary The Johnson Eisentrager precedent also figured heavily in Olson's half of the argument He argued that the case which rejected habeas corpus petitions from 21 German civilians who had been caught spying for Japan in wartime China estab- tidied a rule barring the federal courts' from even considering petitions from enemy aliens being held oversea! The Guantanamo lawyers however argue that when read properly the decision indicates that the court did exercise jurisdiction and then rejected the petitions on their merits at least in part because the Germans had already been tried and found guilty by a military commission If the justices accept that interpretation then there is no binding Supreme Court precedent that ban jurisdiction in the Guantanamo case for petitioners who have been neither charged nor tried had waited in line beginning at 11 pm Monday also no doubt had in mind the imminent next round in the Supreme Court's examination of the administration pursuit of its war on terrorism TWo cases to be argued next Wednesday test the rights of US citizens Yaser Esam Hamdi and Jose Padilla held for two years in military custody on suspicion of collaborating with al-Qaida but never officially charged or given the opportunity to contest the factual basis for their designation as enemy combatants Arriving at the court 2U years after the terrorist attacks of Sept 11 2001 the three cases present the Supreme Court with a long-anticipated opportunity to examine not only the balance between civil liberties and national security but between the executive branch and the judiciary as well Framed as questions of federal court jurisdiction the cases bring central questions of judicial authority to a court that has been notably jealous of its own prerogative! John Gibbons a retired federal judge who argued on behalf of the detainees emphasized that strand of his argument in his opening words at stake in this case is the authority of the federal courts to uphold the rule of he said The fact that he was making it lent an air of authority beyond partisanship to the cause Gibbons 79 was named risdiction of the American court system The administration maintains the land is sovereign Cuba while the prisoners' supporters say the United States has full control id the base The prison camp contains 816 individual cell! The first detainees arrived in January 2002 Some detainees have been released and the administration has begun the process of putting others on trial before military tribunal! TheAaociatedPreu from 1950 called Johnson Eisentrager indicated that noncitizen enemy combatants held outside the United States have no right to habeas corpin So it was important for the detainees to try to show that Guantanamo Bay should be considered functionally if not formally part of the United State! Navy Base as I can attest from a year of personal experience is under complete US control and has been for a Gibbons said Ginsburg said with a smile: need your personal experience what it says in the treaty It says jurisdiction complete jurisdiction andcontroL'" DAMP NOM NEBRASKA NATIONAL QUAAD cials have complained that it was getting rid of needed expertise Any trial of Saddam is sure to begin after the June 30 transfer of power to a caretaker Iraqi government after which the Governing Council will be dissolved If status is diminished in that handover is a very good chance this court may see a change in its said Adeed Dawisha professor of political science at Miami Uni-' versity in Ohio Ahmad INC held a seat on the Governing Council commission that drew up the Saddam tribunal UN envoy Lakhdar Brahimi has recommended the council be dissolved on June 30 and a caretaker government of technocrats take its place certainly (Chalabi) and the INC will have a diminution in their political Dawisha said that happen! will the judge who is a relative of Chalabi be able to survive t- SUMNER QTO MndSliMtCtE i Daffodil 9t Cc i 'I S' 9S9IMICL I satustej BSthStE GnlnSt uii MMMOmS I THE NEXUS 1WSUNE SOURCES: ESM He uid it is clou to streets in eut Sumner that have names instead of numbers: Parker Graham Daffodil and Main He cast the only vote to rename the street and uid he wu dismayed and amazed when the propoul failed trying for small-town revitalization" he said sad" Rob Tucker 253-597-8374 robtuckerOmaiUribneLcom 1 1 A National Guard soldier from the Chadron Neb-based 1067th Light-Medium Truck Company kisses the tarmac Tuesday upon retumirg to Lincoln Neb from deployment in Iraq The soldiers will be released to their homes Monday The US Navy base at Guantanamo Bay Cuba sits on 45 acres along a natural harbor near eastern tip The land was seized by the United States in the Spanish-American War and is held under a 1903 lease from Cuba that cannot be broken without US consent The Bush administration deliberately chose the base to house terrorism suspects because the government claims the location 230 miles from the United States puts the prisoners outside the ju- to the federal appeals court in Philadelphia by President Nixon He served as chief judge before retiring in 1990 to join a major law firm in Newark NJ As a young Navy officer he spent a year stationed at Guantanamo Bay One major question in the case Rasul Bush No 03-334 is how to characterize the US role in this Cuban outpost which it has occupied since 1903 under a perpetual lease that gives it jurisdiction and while preserving While its correct interpretation was the subject of vigorous debate on Tuesday the Supreme Court precedent at the erne of the legal argument a decision and four prosecutor! and additional judges will be appointed Qanbar said No date has been set for the trial of Saddam who was captured by US troops in December and has since been undergoing CIA and FBI interrogation at an undisclosed location in or near Baghdad Though INC head Ahmad Chalabi played a leading role in the opposition abroad to Saddam many Iraqis consider him and other Governing Council members as American implant! Chalabi has been trying to gain grassroots support for his faction after decades in exile On the council Chalabi a favorite of the Pentagon architects of the Iraq invasion has been a fierce proponent of expunging traces of regime He heads an official De-Baathification Commission that has been aggressive in purging Iraqis with links to Saddam's dissolved party from government positions so aggressive that even some US offi said While it might preclude creativity mo6t addresses east of Valley Avenue in Sumner and most new city streets have been assigned numbers to conform with the grid system Sumner gets about six new streets a year There have been exceptions because the Sumner Gty Council decided it could consider street-naming requests on a case-by-case basiaThe council renamed Eighth Street East to its traditional name of Stewart Road after annexing the area And the council named new streets because it was in the Daffodil neighborhood near Daffodil Valley Elementary School Deere because it provided access to Sumner Ihro-tor Co and because it connected to the train station and city fire station But street renaming creates extra costs for changing signs and dty maps and reprogramming the emergency dispatch system It also might cause problems for residents in mail delivery and with historic document! such deeds and easement! uid John Doan an auistant dty administrator Gty Councilman Matt Richardson lives on 53rd Street Court East and signed the petition to rename it El hi FRIDAY CaodsA nrlnnnisntallit MW IN SOUNDLIFE Iraq Continued from A1 were seen including two school buse! At least one of the school buses appeared to have been full of passengers an Associated Press reporter at the scene saifL A police colonel said about 10 elementary school students whose bus was passing by the Saudia station at the time of the blast were among the dead The facade of the Saudia station also was heavily damaged and a hole 6 feet deep and 9 feet wide was left in front British military spokesman Squadron Leader Jonathan Arnold said the blasts were believed to have been caused by car bomb! On Tuesday a senior member of Ahmad Iraqi National Congress was appointed to head the all-Iraqi tribunal a potentially controversial choice Chalabi a longtime exile who returned to Iraq and was named to the US-appointed Iraqi Governing Council is mistrusted as an outsider by many Iraqis who want to see Saddam prosecuted by Iraqis who were present under his brutal rule Meanwhile guerrillas fired a barrage of mortar rounds at largest prison killing 22 prisoners in an attack a US general said might have been an attempt to spark an inmate uprising against American guard! The slain prisoners were all security detainee! meaning they were suspected of belonging to the anti-US insurgency or to Saddam's former regime A US soldier was killed by a roadside bomb in the northern city of MosuL It was the 100th American combat death in April the deadliest month since the US-led invasion began in March 2003 At least 1100 Iraqis have been killed in fighting since the start of the month according to an Associated Press count based on reports from hospitals and Iraqi and US official! Tuesday's mortar attack was the bloodiest against the sprawling prison complex of Abu Ghraib in western Baghdad Ninety-two prisoners were wounded 25 of them seriously said Col Jill Morgenthaler a US military spokeswoman 1 isn't the first time that we have seen this kind of attack We don't know if they are trying to inspire an uprising or a prison Brig Gen Mark Kim- Street Continued from A1 But Sumner's fire and police chiefs warned against converting more numbered streets to named street! It could delay emergency responses by precious seconds or minute! they said problem isn't with Sumner fire crews and police officer! who know city streets well but with emergency personnel from neighboring jurisdictions who come to Sumner to help about 200 times a year they said the fire department we only have one crew on Fire Chief Steve Stringfellow said rely on Puyallup Auburn and East Pierce Fire Rescue not as familiar with named streets in While not concerned about renaming one short street to reflect focal history local chiefs warned the City Council against establishing a broad policy allowing it Six of seven council members agreed and voted against renaming the street (would make) it tougher for people outside the city who help said City Councilman LeRoy Goff who COMING UP Three bodies were Halliburton workers HOUSTON Three of four bodtes found near an attack on a feel convoy In Iraq earlier this month were contract workers for HallSxjrton Co the company said Tuesday Stephen Huiett 48 of Manistee Mich Jack Montague 52 of Ptttsbuig and Jeffery Parker 45 of Lake Charles La brave hearts without medal! humanitarians without parades and hemes without statue! Houstonbesed Halliburton said in a statement confirming the identities of the worker! Thomas HamM of Macon Mss the HaKburton worker seen on video attar the convoy attack remained unaooountad for The Associated Frets or will the new government appoint a new group of Elections due by Jan 31 for a government to replace the caretaker one also affect the tribunaL A court formed by an elected government would have more legitimacy in the eyes of Iraqi! Dawisha said Iraqis particularly the Shiite Muslim majority repressed by the Baathists -have been eager to try the man who ruled them with an iron fist for decade! Shiite! particularly local leaders with grassroots support are likely to dominate any elected government and could want to see their own people lead prosecution The tribunal named TUesday will not be an international one However its Iraqi judges and prosecutors will be trained in international and war crimes law and look at the experiences of bodies such as the Rwanda war crimes tribunal said INC spokesman Entefadh Qanbar who announced Salem appointment The court will determine chaiges against Saddam and his fellow Baathistt Qanbar said A team of Justice Department prosecutors and investigators has been gathering evidence for a war crimes case against Saddam while other international groups have been sifting through the mass graves where US officials say 300000 victims of Saddam's regime were buried Aside from the regime's brutal persecution of political opponent! Kurds and Shiite Muslim! Saddam's military used chemical weapons against troops and civilians during the Iraq-Iran War and a Kurdish uprising in the 1980! Stash Continued from A1 over ownership of the money Okanogan County Prosecutor Karl Sloan said Sloan and others uid they know of any Washington court case that hu decided whether the forfeiture law trumps the found-property law not like this happens every day" Sloan uid But he believes the found-property law apply to drug money any more than it would to a backpack full of marijuana A decision on who gets the money likely will be deferred until after criminal case is resolved authorities said Rogers and Sloan said the forfeiture case probably will be passed to a Superior Courtjiidge Rogers uid he wants to give the Gerths a reward if his office gets the money but he hasn't decided how much took a lot to turn this in and glad they Rogers uid a cop's point of view the right thing to It's also a requirement of state law SUNDAY Staff writer ten Cram trawls Paris Is da the chwalocal march through art history at tiro cNyU thru wafer mnuiHH IN SOUNDLIFE mitt told AP In August six security prisoners were killed in a mortar attack on the lockup which was once most notorious prison Iraqi security force! some wearing flak jackets and carrying weapon! moved back into the besieged city of Fallujah on TUesday part of an agreement between US officials and local leaders aimed at ending hostilitie! The accord calls on insurgents to hand in weapons and allows civilians to return US officials have warned that if guerrillas do not surrender their weapon! Marines are prepared to storm the city -likely sparking a new round of bloody fighting In the tribunal appointment! Salem Chalabi a US -educated lawyer and nephew of Ahmad Chalabi was named by the Governing Council as director-general of the court said INC spokesman Entefadh Qanbar Salem Chalabi named seven judges worked for an ambulance company for three decade! relying on them I support this" A handful of residents of 53rd Street Court East told the council they also opposed renaming the street had a heart attack a year and a half said Robert Evin! He said the emergency responders were wonderful to him the street name I see any benefit!" The switch to computerized 911 emergency dispatching drove the change to a street numbering system Beginning in the mid-1980! focal officials throughout Pierce County agreed to establish as much as possible a system that made directions to residences easier for fire ambulance and police who were sent by centralized emergency dispatcher! Sumner and other cities adopted the concept of a of logically numbered street! Police Chief Colleen Wilson advised the council Monday that ifSumnerwantstostayusafeasitcanit should stick with the grid system In neighboring Puyallup the City Council has a policy to preserve and grow its street numbering system Only under certain circumstances such a long meandering street can a street carry a name Fire Chief Merle Frank jmiii.