Detainee Issues

John Bellinger, the State Department’s senior legal adviser, in Brussels on May 4, 2006. Photo: Gery Jacobs War on Terror detainees now in U.S. custody will receive “full and fair trials,” a senior State Department legal adviser says, adding that the CIA will not resume any programs of secret detention without approval from Congress. John Bellinger, legal adviser to Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, says it is “clearly an uphill battle” trying to explain U.S. detention policies to foreign audiences. Bellinger briefed reporters at the Foreign Press Center in Washington October 19, two days after President Bush signed the new Military Commissions Act of 2006 into law. Military commissions for suspected terrorists will “provide full and fair trials that are very much similar to all of the protections that we have both in our federal criminal trials and in our [military] courts-martial,” Bellinger said. However, he said, the United States has “not done a very good job” discussing its detention policies and trial process with non-U.S. audiences. “As a result, a lot of inaccurate perceptions have grown up.”

2007: State Department Legal Advisor Bellinger Discusses Geneva Conventions, Detainees (Dec 10, 2007) | State Department's Bellinger: European Parliament Report on Renditions Unbalanced (Feb 14, 2007) | Blogs by State Department Legal Advisor Bellinger: Unlawful Enemy Combatants | Armed Conflict With Al Qaida | Immunities (Jan 2007)

2006: Bellinger's Reflections on Transatlantic Approaches to International Law (November 15, 2006) | State's Bellinger Addresses European Concerns About Detainee, Legal Issues in War on Terror (Oct 31, 2006) | Attorney General Gonzales Discusses Detainee Issues in Berlin (Oct 25, 2006) | U.S. Official Explains New Military Commission Law (Oct 23, 2006) | State's Fried Discusses Russia, Georgia, and U.S.-EU Cooperation (Oct 20, 2006) | Bush Signs Military Commission Act To Try Terrorist Suspects (Oct 17, 2006) | Congress Passes Legislation on Questioning, Trying Detainees (Sep 29, 2006) | State Department Legal Advisor Examines U.S.-European Counterterrorism Cooperation (Sep 11, 2006) | Bush Says High-Level Detainees Will Face Fair Military Trial (Sep 6, 2006) (Speech) | Pentagon Releases New Rules for Treatment of Detainees (Sep 6, 2006) | Geneva Conventions Will Apply to Detainees, U.S. Official Says (Jul 11, 2006)| European Report on Renditions Not Supported by Facts, Says U.S. (Jun 8, 2006) (McClellen Transcript) | Releasing Guantanamo Detainees Would Endanger World, U.S. Says (May 25, 2006) | State's Legal Adviser Bellinger Discusses U.S. Detainee Issues, Guantanamo (May 25, 2006) | U.S. Says U.N. Torture Report Ignored Crucial Data (May 19, 2006) (Transcript of Bellinger Remarks) | Legal Advisor Bellinger in Brussels Says CIA Flights Overstated, Welcomes Ideas for Guantanamo (May 8, 2006) (Transcript) | Rice Advisor Bellinger Addresses Detainee Concerns (Mar 13, 2006)

The United States and Europe must work together as partners to defeat terrorist networks, Attorney General Alberto Gonzales said March 7 in London, where he defended U.S. treatment of detainees while discussing the sometimes deep disagreements over how to defend against militant groups. Gonzales also said the United States welcomes a “difficult but necessary dialogue” on how to balance human rights with protecting human lives in the struggle against terrorism. “Although these issues are complex, we must not let the consensus between the United States and Europe in fighting terrorism be weakened over differences in how we approach the fight,” he said in a speech at the International Institute for Strategic Studies. (Full Text of Remarks)