I just got off the plane here in Kabul and was greeted by this news about the Bagram detainees

and this IS good news... while it ain't perfect, it's a start and a whole hell of a lot better than heading the other direction like we were under you-know-who...

Hundreds of prisoners held by the U.S. military in Afghanistan will for the first time have the right to challenge their indefinite detention and call witnesses in their defense under a new review system being put in place this week, according to administration officials.

The new system will be applied to the more than 600 Afghans held at the Bagram military base, and will mark the first substantive change in the overseas detention policies that President Obama inherited from the Bush administration.

[...]

Under the new rules, each detainee will be assigned a U.S. military official, not a lawyer, to represent his interests and examine evidence against him. In proceedings before a board composed of military officers, detainees will have the right to call witnesses and present evidence when it is "reasonably available," the official said. The boards will determine whether detainees should be held by the United States, turned over to Afghan authorities or released. For those ordered held longer, the process will be repeated at six-month intervals.

my preference would be that each detainee have a lawyer, even if it's a military lawyer, but let's see what happens...

by the way, the sign that greeted me the first time i landed here in march of last year is still there...

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