November 20, 2008
Conservatives call on Bush to free Muslim Uighurs
by Hope Yen
The Associated Press
WASHINGTON – A group of conservatives is chastising the Bush administration for refusing to free 17 Turkic Muslims being held without charges at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, saying their continued detention defies legal principles and "undermines our standing in the world."
The 10 conservatives, including legal scholars and officials who worked for Republican presidents, said the Uighurs -- a group of Muslims from China -- should be freed immediately because they are no longer considered enemy combatants. Their statement comes as a federal appeals court was set to hear arguments next week on whether the Bush administration overstepped its constitutional bounds by blocking the Uighurs' release.
"The executive branch is wrong to have detained the Uighurs for nearly seven years without meaningful review," says a letter being released Thursday by The Constitution Project, a bipartisan think tank. "Moreover, it is wrong in opposing the exercise of their habeas corpus rights, and it is wrong in asserting they can be detained indefinitely."
The letter was signed by Stephen E. Abraham, a 26-year veteran of military intelligence who played a key role in the "enemy combatant" hearings at Guantanamo Bay before repudiating the process last year; Col. Lawrence B. Wilkerson, who served as chief of staff to former Secretary of State Colin Powell; and Bruce Fein, former associate deputy attorney general in the Reagan administration.
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