Document Type
Article
Disciplines
International Law
Abstract
December 3, 2007, Cuban airspace at approximately 4:00 pm Eastern Standard Time: Flight Number 284940 carries various individuals, including attorneys from Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International, Judge Advocates, professors, and United Nations Special Rapporteur Martin Scheinin to Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. Upon landing, this group steps off the plane and onto a ferry to travel east across the Caribbean Sea. An Army Sergeant, in a voice only a soldier could produce, exclaims, "Welcome to Gitmo, Pearl of the Antilles!" Only one mechanism could bring such a variety of people together on one island for one purpose: a military commission.
On October 17, 2006, President George W. Bush signed the controversial Military Commissions Act ("MCA" or "Act").2 Broadly speaking, the MCA of 2006 authorized and established procedures for military tribunals; these tribunals ("military commissions") govern prosecution and detention of unlawful enemy combatants.' Its passage, like the shot heard around the world, plunged the country into a defensive position.
Recommended Citation
Carson, Carlissa, "Yes We Can Revise the Current Military Commission System, but Why?" (2010). Connecticut Journal of International Law. 498.
https://digitalcommons.lib.uconn.edu/cjil/498
Accessibility Requirements
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