Combatant Status Review Tribunal
Initially the Bush administration asserted that they could withhold all the protections of the Geneva Conventions to captives from the war on terror. This policy was challenged before the Judicial branch. Critics argued that the USA could not evade its obligation to conduct competent tribunals to determine whether captives are, or are not, entitled to the protections of prisoner of war status.
Subsequently the Department of Defense instituted the Combatant Status Review Tribunals. The Tribunals, however, were not authorized to determine whether the captives were lawful combatants -- rather they were merely empowered to make a recommendation as to whether the captive had previously been correctly determined to match the Bush administration's definition of an enemy combatant. Al Ansari chose to participate in his Combatant Status Review Tribunal.
Read more about this topic: Faris Muslim Al Ansari
Famous quotes containing the words status, review and/or tribunal:
“The censorship method ... is that of handing the job over to some frail and erring mortal man, and making him omnipotent on the assumption that his official status will make him infallible and omniscient.”
—George Bernard Shaw (1856–1950)
“As I review my life, I feel I must have missed the point, either then or now.”
—Mason Cooley (b. 1927)
“There’s a new tribunal now
Higher than God’s—the educated man’s!”
—Robert Browning (1812–1889)