Lawyers complain iguanas at Guantanamo get more legal protection than detainees

[madfloridian]

I never realized the really unique status held by our base at Guantanamo. I guess I wasn't paying attention to details. It is really caught in the middle of a strange universe.

From the MN Star Tribune:

U.S. law protects endangered iguanas on the naval base, but not detainees.

Guantanamo Bay, the only U.S. military base in a country that has no diplomatic relations with Washington, is a concentrated slice of Americana: The Star Spangled Banner blares from loudspeakers every morning as soldiers outside Starbucks stand at attention.

U.S. law protects endangered iguanas on the naval base, but the Supreme Court is struggling to determine whether it also applies to the 305 men imprisoned there. In the balance hangs America's traditional reputation for justice for all.

Leased by Cuba to the United States 104 years ago under an agreement that can be broken only by mutual consent, the base is firmly in Washington's hands, much to Fidel Castro's annoyance. Washington pays $4,085 a year in rent for the 29,000 acres of cactus-studded hills and pristine deepwater bay, but Castro refuses to cash the checks and recently said the U.S. is illegally occupying the base and using it for "dirty work."

Here is more about the complicated situation there.

The Military Commissions Act of 2006 sharply narrowed detainees' ability to challenge their confinement, a right known as habeas corpus to which all people on U.S. soil are entitled.
The base certainly looks like America. It features a McDonald's and community housing resembling a 1950s U.S. suburb, and boasts a huge Fourth of July fireworks display. And the military does apply some U.S. laws, including the Endangered Species Act, which outlines how iguanas must be treated. The base's 25 mph speed limit is strictly enforced, which helps avoid roadkill, according to public affairs officer Bruce Lloyd.

"There is a very consistent effort by the command to protect the iguanas and other exotic species here, which I assume is partially driven by the federal law," he acknowledged.

The reporter is right when he said:

In the balance hangs America's traditional reputation for justice for all.

[madfloridian]

1. No need to register...use the 7 day pass. Well worth reading all of it.

Seems the Supreme Court is having lots of questions.

"Supreme Court justices were intrigued by Guantanamo Bay's unique status. At one point Wednesday, Chief Justice John Roberts asked how Cuban laws apply on Guantanamo, specifically to three elderly Cuban workers who have commuted to work at the base since before Cuba's 1959 revolution."

..."Justice Anthony Kennedy, considered a pivotal vote in the Guantanamo case before the Supreme Court, has already revealed his leanings on what laws apply at Guantanamo. In a 2004 opinion, he said: "Guantanamo Bay is in every practical respect a United States territory."