U.S. and Great Britain officials say the British subjects being held at Guantanamo Bay will be sent home--by Christmas. Some will be released with no charges being filed, some may be charged, plead guilty here and then serve their sentences in Britain.

The agreement will end one of the most damaging conflicts between the White House and Downing Street, which has been pressing for fair trials for the Britons who have been held under military command at the US base in Cuba for two years.

Australia has announced a similar deal with its detained subjects.

British human rights lawyer Clive Stafford Smith, who is working with the suspects, said:

'The Americans just want these people to plead guilty so that it looks as if they have been telling the truth that these are all "bad dudes... 'We know that is nonsense. There is no evidence of any kind against them. In one man's case all he was doing was running a school.'

Three teens remain in captivity at Guantanamo. Their release was recommended this past August, but they are still there. Two arrived in January, 2002 and one later.

Human rights advocates say the U.S. military should long ago have released the boys, between the ages of 13 and 15, but detention mission commander Maj. Gen. Geoffrey Miller said this week their freedom is being held up at higher levels.

Soldiers guard them day and night, never shutting their bedroom doors and monitoring them on wide-angle mirrors on the walls. The bathroom remains open, a small curtain covering part of the doorway for privacy.

....The teenagers are generally respectful, and are considering becoming a religious cleric and a doctor, Sgt. P said. The guard, a middle school teacher in civilian life, said he has never seen the boys cry.

....The teenagers have a refrigerator stocked with apples, oranges, pears and dates. Those who cooperate get snacks and extra movie time. Those who don't are sent to their rooms for "time out."

None have lawyers. No charges have been filed against them. But "they are still interrogated from time to time, officials said."

"We're concerned that a prolonged separation from their families may cause a deterioration in their mental health," said Jo Becker, of the New York-based group Human Rights Watch...."We were told six months ago that the U.S. government was aware that the detention of children was problematic," said Alistair Hodgett of Amnesty International. "Nothing has happened in their case."

"They are no longer a threat to U.S. interests," said Army Lt. Col. Pamela Hart, a spokeswoman.

Yet, they aren't the only teens at Guantanamo. Others are being housed with adult inmates. This is abominable. There should be total physical, sight and sound separation of juveniles from adult inmates. Studies show children confined or mixed with adults are five times more likely to be sexually assaulted, twice as likely to be beaten by staff, and twice as likely to be attacked with a weapon than when they are confined in a more appropriate, juvenile facility. In 1994 alone, 45 children reportedly died while in confinement in state adult prisons or detention facilities -- including 12 murders and 16 suicides.

Moreover, children who survive being mixed with an adult population are more likely to re-emerge much more hardened and dangerous. And most of these children will, at some point, be coming out of incarceration to be placed back into society. Without serious rehabilitation efforts, which are bound not to occur in a mixed facility, they will pose an even greater threat to society. Recidivism rates are much higher for children transferred to an adult system than they are for those retained in the juvenile justice system.

The Washington Post has the story of Benamar Benatta:

Jailed the night of the attacks on the World Trade Center and Pentagon, the Algerian air force lieutenant with an expired visa has spent the past 26 months in federal prisons, much of that time in solitary confinement -- even though the FBI formally concluded in November 2001 that he had no connection to terrorism.

Benatta has yet to have his deportation hearing, and he has been unable to post a $25,000.00 bond.

Benatta was among the 1,200 or so men detained by U.S. law enforcement agents in the frenzied weeks after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks. He had a most unfortunate résumé: He was an Algerian and a Muslim and an avionics technician, and -- like most of the others -- he lacked proper immigration papers.

It was as though Benatta became invisible. His name never appeared on lists of detainees. His family in Algeria believed he had vanished. No defense attorney knew of his existence until a federal defender in Buffalo was assigned his case in late April 2002.

The federal government has few explanations for what happened.....

A British Judge joins the fray over the indefinite detention of prisoners at Guantanamo, calling the U.S. policy a " monstrous injustice."

Lord Steyn, a serving law lord, said the United States was acting illegally by holding the men without trial since their transfer from Afghanistan early last year.

"By denying the prisoners the right to raise challenges in a court about their alleged status and treatment, the United States government is in breach of the minimum standards of customary international law," he said.

As to the military tribunals, Lord Steyn said:

"The term 'kangaroo court' springs to mind. It derives from the jumps of the kangaroo, and conveys the idea of a pre-ordained arbitrary rush to judgment by an irregular tribunal which makes a mockery of justice.

The law lord left his audience in no doubt where his own feelings lay by quoting the famous meditation of John Donne, the 17th century poet and preacher: "No man is an island, entire of itself . . . Any man's death diminishes me, because I am involved in mankind; And therefore never send to know for whom the bells tolls; it tolls for thee."

Lord Steyn, 71, the third most senior law lord, said that under English law the writ of habeas corpus would protect citizens and foreigners. That was consistent with human rights law, which Lord Steyn concluded, the US had broken.

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The troops celebrated Thanksgiving at Guantanamo:

Yesterday, it was the end of the Muslim holdiay Ramadan. Today, it's Thanksgiving. The prison at Guantanamo Bay Naval Base in Cuba has marked the holidays with traditional cuisines.

The prisoners got lentils, baklava, dates and chicken stew yesterday. Their captors are eating turkey, stuffing, cranberries and pumpkin pie today.

The base holds some 660 prisoners from 44 countries captured in the war with al-Qaida and other militant groups. International human rights groups accuse the U-S of denying the prisoners justice. More than 20 of the men have attempted suicide.

Update: Red Cross Slams U.S. over detainees at Guantanamo [link via Counterspin]

Update: Guantanamo guards celebrate in new facility.

The Pentagon agreed to withdraw the death penalty as an option for Australian David Hicks at his upcoming military tribunal trial. Other concessions were made as well.

U.S. and Australian officials announced yesterday that two Australians held at the jail will not face the death penalty if they are convicted before a U.S. tribunal or commission. The Pentagon agreed in July that two British prisoners at Guantanamo Bay who have been designated as possible defendants would not be executed if convicted.

Military officials said last night the concessions granted to the British and Australian detainees may not apply to other countries' citizens brought before the tribunals. But international lawyers said it would be difficult politically for Washington to execute other nations' citizens if it ruled out that possibility for these two allies' nationals.

Among the other concessions:

If Hicks is charged, he could talk by telephone with "appropriately cleared" family members, who also could attend the trial. Prosecutors will not bar him from the courtroom even during presentation of sensitive evidence. Military officials will not monitor conversations between him and his attorneys, and if convicted he could serve his sentence in Australia.

Theresa Heinz Kerry weighed in on the Guantanamo detainees in Seattle. She said the detainees deserve prisoner of war status:

"They were captured while fighting a war," Teresa Heinz Kerry said at an informal discussion with minority activists in Seattle. "They should have the rights that other prisoners of war have had."

Heinz Kerry, the heir to the Heinz family's food fortune, said denying the detainees the protections of the Geneva Convention is "insulting, ignorant and insensitive" to the rest of the world.

She added that under President Bush, the United States, once known as the standard-bearer for human rights, is now considered a hypocrite. "The arrogance shown by this administration on human rights and in its foreign policy is horrible," she said.

So, does husband John agree? The article says yes, but if you read his position, the answer is no.

A spokeswoman for the Kerry campaign said Sen. Kerry supports his wife's position that the detainees should be given basic protections such as the right to an attorney. "As long as al-Qaida is actively trying to take down America, Sen. Kerry believes that these prisoners should be held as enemy combatants," spokeswoman Stephanie Cutter said.

Unless Cutter got her candidate's position wrong, she's saying Kerry agrees with Bush, rather than his wife. Bush has emphatically and continuously insisted that enemy combatants are not prisoners of war and do not receive the protections of the Geneva Convention or our Constitution.

Maybe Theresa should be the candidate from the Kerry family.

The U.S. released 20 detainees from Guantanamo today. And 20 more came in to take their place. Here is the Pentagon's statement on the transfer.

There are still 660 prisoners at Guantanamo. 88 have been released to date. 84 went back to their home countries. 4 went to Saudi Arabia prisons for continued incarceration. Ouch.

Five of the men released this weekend went back to Pakistan, where they will be freed. The U.S. says it is negotiating with other countries to have some prisoners sent back "for a lengthy process of investigation, detention and prosecution." Six are scheduled for military tribunals, which are on hold while conditions for the trials are negotiated between the U.S. and Great Britain.

Since the Guantanamo prison opened in January, 2002, prisoners from 42 countries have been taken there for interrogation and detention. U.S. officials said their priority was to get intelligence to help avoid future terrorist attacks and keep dangerous people out of circulation.

Some good news....a U.S. envoy speaking in Spain said that 24 detainees are scheduled for release from Guantanamo in the next few weeks.

Pierre-Richard Prosper, the U.S ambassador-at-large for war crimes, said several dozen other prisoners will be transferred to the custody of authorities in their native countries.

More than 600 prisoners are being held incommunicado at the U.S. naval base in Cuba, accused of links to al-Qaida or the former Taliban regime in Afghanistan. Some 60 former suspects have been freed and sent home.

"We expect to see almost two dozen individuals released in the coming weeks who no longer pose a threat to the international community," Prosper told a news conference at the U.S. Embassy in Madrid.

Does President Bush really think that re-naming an unconstitutional and unfair procedure will make it palatable to the American people? Apparently. He and Prime Minister Blair gave a press conference today which included questions and answers about the Guantanamo detainees. No longer are they "enemy combatants." Now they are "illegal non-combatants."

From the White House transcript:

Q What do you say to those people, both those who support what your two governments have done since September 11th, and those who oppose it, that, in fact, the treatment of the captives in Guantanamo Bay actually belies all your talk of freedom, justice and tolerance? And on a specific point, in view of the comments from the Secretary of State and from Charles Kennedy and Michael Howard, is there on the minority of British nationals held captive an explicit offer from the United States to repatriate them? And, if that depends on a request from you, Prime Minister, are you prepared to make it now?

The judges on the Second Circuit sounded skeptical of the validity of the Bush Administration's policies on "enemy combatants" and indefinite detentions.

Judge Rosemary Pooler, who presided over the two-hour, 15-minute hearing [said]

"As terrible as 9/11 was, it didn't repeal the Constitution."

The Government at one point argued that "the congressional resolution authorizing the use of military force to respond to the September 11 attacks extended to U.S. citizens on American soil to prevent further attacks or for intelligence gathering."

In response, Judge Barrington Parker said,

If the court upheld that argument, "We would be affecting a sea change in the constitutional life of this country."

Bottom line according to the CNN article:

A federal appeals court panel on Monday cast doubt over whether President Bush has the authority to designate an American citizen an "enemy combatant" and detain him indefinitely without criminal charges.

Newsday also says the Court put the Government on the defensive.

Update: Analysis by Daily MoJo and Philadelphia appellate attorney Peter Goldberger, in the comments section.

Terrific editorial by Newsday....

No American president should have the absolute power to imprison people at will, even when the nation is at war.

Read the whole thing.

Update: The comments on this thread are at 99, and due to bandwidth, 100 is our self-imposed limit. Thanks to all of you for weighing in. Comments are now closed.