U.S. Announces Plan for Detainee Review and Padilla Sees Lawyer

On March 3, 2004, the U.S. Department of Defense issued proposed draft rules providing for annual reviews by three-person panels of military officers of detainees at the military prison in Guant?namo Bay, Cuba. On the same day, Jose Padilla, the U.S. citizen detainees indefinitely as an enemy combatant for accusations that he conspired to set a ?dirty bomb? had an initial meeting with his counsel since his detention in May 2002. On February 14, 2004, U.S. Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld announced in the proposed draft memorandum released on March 3 that the review panels that are designed ?to reassess the need to continue to detain an enemy combatant at least annually? and to permit each detainee ?to explain why he is no longer a threat to the United States and its allies.? Until now, none of the detainees has received a judicial or military hearing whatsoever...[more]