Obama Drops “Enemy Combatant”, Keeps Powers

The Obama administration has taken a symbolic parting from the Bush Administration by dropping the term “Enemy Combatant” while maintaining broad rights to detain those who “substantially supported” terrorist group Al-Queda and its associates.

The administration added that those who “provide unwitting or insignificant support” to Al-Queda and its associates would no longer be detained. It also sees its powers of detention not limited to the battlefield but as worldwide.

The redefining comes from a Justice Department filing in response to federal judges, who wanted a clear legal justification for the US government’s holding of 241 detainees at the Gitmo Detainment Center in Cuba.

“The particular facts and circumstances justifying detention will vary from case to case,” Justice Department attorneys wrote. “Individuals who provide substantial support to al-Qaida forces in other parts of the world may properly be deemed part of al-Qaida itself [....] Such activities may also constitute the type of substantial support that [....] is sufficient to justify detention.”

The Bush administration maintained they had a broad constitutional power to detain almost any terrorism suspect for an indefinite period. For those at Guantanamo, the government had said it needed to prove only that the detainees were supporting the Taliban, al-Qaeda or associated forces to justify their confinements.

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