I read an article on cnn.com yesterday about a former US Navy Seal who is suing Donald Rumsfeld for unlawful detention in Iraq, after he went there to make a documentary on Cyrus the Great. I thought the following was interesting, although I note that no source for the information was cited:
“Human rights monitors note that the vast majority of the over 15,000 detainees in U.S. military custody in Iraq have never been charged, tried, provided counsel, or allowed to challenge their detention in court, and over one-fifth of them have been detained for over a year in this manner,” the suit states.
It troubles me (assuming the above is true) that the US Government does not believe that the rights afforded to American citizens within the US apply universally regardless of geographic location.