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CNN Live Saturday

ABA Takes Issue with Indefinite Detention of Citizen Terror Suspects

Aired August 10, 2002 - 18:07   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

CAROL LIN, CNN ANCHOR: Attorneys for the Justice Department are pulling at one end, lawyers for the American Bar Association at the other.
Here is the heart of the battle - legal rights and how much they should be compromised in the fight against terror. Here's Jonathan Aiken.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JONATHAN AIKEN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): With the war in Afghanistan off the boil, things are heating up on the legal home front. A panel of the American Bar Association is criticizing the Bush administration's use of enemy combatant status for some arrested in the war on terrorism.

BOB HIRSHON, PRESIDENT, ABA: U.S. citizens detained on U.S. soil should be given the guarantees that they have under the Constitution for access to counsel and access to courts.

AIKEN: Currently two in military custody are defined as enemy combatants. Yasser Hamdi -- Louisiana born, Saudi raised. And Jose Padilla -- accused in a so-called dirty bomb plot.

They could be held indefinitely, have no right to a lawyer and don't have to be told what charges they face.

Some Justice Department officials say in war you capture enemy soldiers first and try them second.

UNKNOWN MALE: You can't really envision Patton racing through Europe with a -- with a number of judges sitting along with him making adjudications about who you can shoot and who you can capture.

AIKEN: John Walker Lindh wasn't an enemy combatant but his attorney sees parallels with his client's case.

JAMES BROSNAHAN, DEFENSE ATTORNEY: In this country when you are a citizen you have certain rights and they can't take those away from you whether you are popular or not.

AIKEN: Harsh criticism has also met the Justice Department's anti-terror tipster program. Its focus has now been narrowed after critics said it encouraged Americans to spy on one another. LAURA MURPHY, ACLU: You are going to have to wonder who's looking at your movements and how are these people going to be trained so that they do not engage in vigilantism.

AIKEN: Operation TIPS won't begin now until Congress is consulted after its vacation ends next month. And it's clear these challenges from both the legal community and the public suggest that the wide latitude the Bush administration has enjoyed in prosecuting the war on terrorism since 9/11 is now under greater scrutiny. Jonathon Aiken, CNN, Washington.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

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