		For Immediate Release: June 9, 2009			CONTACT: Brenda Bowser Soder 202-370-3323, bowsersoderb@humanrightsfirst.org

Prolonged Detention Hurts America's Efforts to Defeat Terrorists

Human Rights First CEO Massimino Says Existing Laws Provide Effective Best Practices

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Washington, DC – In testimony stating that a new prolonged detention system highly vulnerable to constitutional attack is not a durable solution to problems stemming from current Guantánamo detention policies, Human Rights First (HRF) Chief Executive Officer Elisa Massimino today urged lawmakers to rely on proven existing laws that ensure national security instead of turning to reckless new procedures that could set a dangerous legal precedent without solving the problem of Guantánamo.

"The use of arbitrary and unlimited detention by the Bush Administration has done considerable damage to America's efforts to defeat terrorists because it has served as a powerfully effective recruiting advertisement for al-Qaida and others. It has strengthened the hand of terrorists – rather than isolating and delegitimizing them – in the political struggle for hearts and minds," Massimino told members of the Senate Judiciary Committee's Subcommittee on the Constitution, Civil Rights and Property Rights during its hearing examining the consequences of prolonged detention. "It has undermined critical cooperation with our allies on intelligence and detention. It has done considerable damage to the reputation of the United States, undermining its ability to lead other countries and international opinion."

Massimino testified that any attempt to revise the United States' failed military commissions and continue to detain Guantánamo prisoners without trial would be counterproductive and undermine the Obama Administration's efforts to "enlist the power of our fundamental values." She noted that the United States made a grave error when it chose to label all Guantanamo prisoners as "combatants" engaged in a "war on terror," a designation that resulted in prolonged detention and ceded an important advantage to al Qaeda because it supported their claim to be "warriors" engaged in a worldwide struggle against the United States and its allies rather than the criminals they truly are.

Pointing to a New York Times opinion piece by General Wesley Clark that was later cited approvingly in a legal brief by 19 other former national security and counterterrorism officials, Massimino reminded the committee that many military and intelligence experts share this view. General Clark noted in his piece that, "By treating such terrorists as combatants … we accord them a mark of respect and dignify their acts. And we undercut our own efforts against them in the process…. If we are to defeat terrorists across the globe, we must do everything possible to deny legitimacy to their aims and means, and gain legitimacy for ourselves….
[T]he more appropriate designation for terrorists is not "unlawful combatant' but the one long used by the United States: 'criminal.'"

HRF has long advocated the use of existing U.S. criminal justice laws and courts to ensure accuracy of judicial outcomes in detainee cases. Any detention system that deviates from these proven mechanisms reduces that accuracy, particularly if decision makers resort to racial profiling and stereotypes or are allowed to consider the use of secret, classified or coerced evidence. Massimino warned that any prolonged detention system that fails to meet constitutional muster will ultimately lead to errors that "fuel resentment and criticism of the system." Referring to the HRF report In Pursuit of Justice: Prosecuting Terrorism Cases in the Federal Courts, she reminded the committee that for years the government has been able to effectively and lawfully detain and prosecute many suspected terrorists under provisions of criminal, immigration and other laws. She also noted that adding additional procedural protections in a newly created system, including the right to an attorney and the right to judicial review, would still fall far short of the accuracy safeguards provided by the nation's existing criminal justice system.

Massimino concluded, "There has not yet been a full public accounting of the strategic and operational costs of the failed Bush administration policies on Guantánamo and detention. But there is plenty of evidence to suggest that continuing down the road to prolonged detention without trial will continue to undermine our security. It will also continue to impede the Obama Administration's efforts to turn the page on the past and successfully implement a new strategy to combat terrorism that brings the United States and its allies together in pursuit of a common goal. We hope that the Congress will encourage the administration to reject this path, and prevent the entrenchment of an entirely new system of detention in the federal law and on American soil."

To read her testimony visit: http://www.humanrightsfirst.org/pdf/090609-ETN-elisa-testimony-detention.pdf

To read In Pursuit of Justice: Prosecuting Terrorism Cases in the Federal Courts, visit http://www.humanrightsfirst.info/pdf/080521-USLS-pursuit-justice.pdf.

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