AP Urges Supreme Court to Give Military Detainees Access to US Courts

by John Stephenson | March 1, 2008 7:47 pm

There has been plenty of debate over whether military detainees should be put through civilan courts in the U.S. The ACLU think so [1]and even want the detainees in Gitmo to be dragged through American courts.[2] The AP throws all objectivity out the window and picks a side of the debate. Unsurprisingly, they choose the side of far left liberals.[3]

The Associated Press, reporters groups and advocates for press freedoms urged the Supreme Court on Friday to reject Bush administration arguments that people held by the military in Iraq have no access to American courts.

The government’s view, if ratified by the court in a case that will be argued in March, would make it harder for journalists and others who are detained in the heat of battle, particularly in urban areas, to seek their freedom, the organizations said in a legal filing.

Take whatever side you want in the debate, but the AP reveals why they are taking sides in the debate.

The AP has been fighting the detention of photographer Bilal Hussein, who has been held by the U.S. military without charges for 22 months. He waited 20 months before his first hearing in an Iraqi court.

Of course the AP release made no mention of the charges against him. [4] There was no mention of how Bilal Hussein staged anti-war propaganda photos, or how in April of 2006 American forces detained him with al Qaeda terrorists and a cache of weapons. What is the line between spreading enemy propaganda, having contacts with the enemy, and actually being one of the enemy? Of course since the AP is a global press they will have every chance in the world to paint their own as an innocent detained by the evil U.S. military. the AP ought to recuse itself from reporting on the Hussein case at all if they want to retain any appearance of objectivity. Of course they won’t.

Personally I think bringing every military detainee through the American Court system would be a chaotic mess, and giving individuals rights that they really don’t have in the situation of war. Regardless, the qualm I have here is the media getting involved and taking sides to the point of trying to sway the court, then using their own power to publish this action to the world. Next time you hear the AP report about a detainee, can you really believe their reporting will be untainted by bias? Of course not.