WASHINGTON, March 14: President Barack Obama’s administration has dropped the “enemy combatant” designation for terrorism suspects and vowed to draw on international law for its detention policy at Guantanamo Bay prison.

In a court filing with a district court in Washington on Friday, the US Justice Department submitted a new definition for the government’s authority to hold detainees at the US naval base in southern Cuba. “It does not employ the phrase ‘enemy combatant’,” the Justice Department stressed in a statement.

Former president George W. Bush had argued that his status as commander-in-chief allowed him to indefinitely hold “enemy combatants” without charge. But under the new policy, suspects would be held in accordance with the international laws of war. The Justice Department said only individuals who “substantially supported” Al Qaeda, Taliban or “associated forces” would be considered detainable.

Warning that the facts and circumstances “justifying detention” would vary for each case, the Justice Department said “the contours of the ‘substantial support’ and ‘associated forces’ bases of detention will need to be further developed in their application to concrete facts in individual cases.”

The definition immediately drew fire from rights groups and conservatives alike.

“The Obama administration’s take on detainees is essentially the Bush standard with a new name,” said Joanne Mariner, director of the terrorism and counterterrorism programme at Human Rights Watch.—AFP
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