WASHINGTON, 9 April 2005 — In a move that has sent a chill of fear throughout Muslim communities and American citizens who have contributed to various Muslim organizations and charities nationally and internationally, a Pentagon draft report states that military officials are proposing that military commanders be authorized to declare someone as an “enemy combatant” and detain him if he belongs to one of hundreds of suspected terrorist organizations.
“This policy could strip hundreds of thousands of people worldwide — including civilians — of their basic rights not be arbitrarily detained,” Kenneth Roth, executive director of Human Rights Watch, said in a written statement which accompanied the document released to the public on Thursday.
Human Rights Watch says the extensive list of groups suspected of terrorism is part of a 142-page draft proposal to the Joint Chiefs of Staff that is intended to provide an all-inclusive guide for military commanders regarding their options and authority for detaining people.
The new policies, set out in a 142-page final draft document prepared by the Joint Chiefs of Staff entitled “Joint Publication 3-63: Joint Doctrine for Detainee Operations,” include a directive that would allow the military to hold enemy combatants as “ghost detainees,” by denying access to them by the International Committee of the Red Cross.
“Instead of correcting current violations of the Geneva Conventions, these guidelines would shred the conventions further,” said Roth. “The policies set out in this document could even require personnel to commit war crimes.”
The Bush administration has long argued that unlike prisoners of war, who must be released when combat ends, these “enemy combatants” could be held indefinitely. The government has specifically used the term “enemy combatant” for prisoners who are not covered by the protections of the Geneva Convention.
Military officials say the document seeks to outline wartime prison operations that would detail a strict chain of command and clearer detentions rules, and would seek to eliminate the confusion that created detainee abuse in Iraq and Afghani prisons.
But the New York-based Human Rights Watch sharply criticized the draft yesterday, saying the provision on enemy combatants give military officials a way to circumvent international law.
Human Rights Watch also said the draft could cause more “ghost detainees’ to disappear within the military detention system, as some enemy combatant might not receive serial numbers if they are not considered official prisoners of the war.
