A federal judge scheduled further proceedings on a motion aimed at moving the case against more than 100 suspected al Qaida terrorists held in Cuba forward, however he cautioned human-rights activists that he might not have the authority to make a formal ruling. U.S. District Judge A. Howard Matz ordered a hearing next month on the motion filed by Ramsey Clark-affiliated civil rights advocates to have some 110 prisoners captured in Afghanistan brought into a civilian court so that the charges against them may be formally presented. The motion filed over the holiday weekend placed Matz in a position to possibly decide the question of whether the al Qaida fighters being held under heavy security at Guantanamo Bay are prisoners of war under the protection of the Geneva Convention or criminal suspects whose rights are protected under the Constitution.
Clark and fellow fifth columnists will do everything they can to monkey wrench the US actions. |