U.S. and British Detention Policies Continue to Unravel and Draw Litigation and Criticism

During May and June 2004, controversy over U.S. and British detention policies continued to mount. Due to space limitations this article covers only the U.S. Government decision to charge Australian David Hicks, a detainee at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba with war crimes, recent civil actions in the U.S. against civilian contractors for alleged abuses at Abu Ghraib; sharing of detainees’ medical files, British court martial charges against its soldiers for abuses in Iraq and increasing revelations and discussions about command responsibility. It does not cover failure to issue death certificates immediately after the death of detainees and other issues.