Headline 'o the Day
by digby
Military seeks stay of Guantanamo groin search ban
Yes, they're apparently afraid that prisoners are smuggling weapons and hoarding medication in their groins areas so they've instituted searches to and from meetings with their lawyers.
Acting on a series of complaints filed by detainees at the prison for terror suspects, U.S. District Court Judge Royce Lamberth found that the new search procedures—formally imposed in May—unduly interfere with detainees' ability to pursue court cases challenging their detention.
"The Court finds that the new search procedures lack a 'valid, rational connection' to the legitimate government interest—security—put forward to justify them," Lamberth wrote in a 35-page decision (posted here). "The motivation for the searches is not to enhance security but to deter counsel access."
The judge rejected claims by Guantanamo's latest commander, Army Col. John Bogdan, that the new procedure was necessary because the previous one had been applied inconsistently, because of the suicide of an inmate who may have hidden hoarded medication in his groin area, and because a recent search of the detention facility turned up a variety of contraband items including improvised weapons.
And for the second time in a week, a federal court judge cited President Barack Obama's words as part of a critique of practices at Guantanamo. Lamberth noted that in a May speech, Obama declared: "We will insist that judicial review be available for every detainee."
"This matter concerns whether the President's insistence on judicial review may be squared with the actions of his commanders in charge of the military persion at Guantanamo Bay. Currently, it cannot," Lamberth wrote.
What else is new?
The military denies that it's just doing this to inhibit prisoners from meting with their lawyers. Why would anyone ever think otherwise?
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