The Cost of Confusion: Resolving Ambiguities in Detainee Treatment

The Stanley Foundation (Muscatine IA), Bridging the Foreign Policy Divide Project, March 2007

American University, WCL Research Paper No. 2008-77

17 Pages Posted: 9 Mar 2007 Last revised: 10 Feb 2009

See all articles by Kenneth Anderson

Kenneth Anderson

American University - Washington College of Law

Elisa Massimino

Human Rights First

Date Written: March 1, 2007

Abstract

This short policy paper considers US counterterrorism policy with particular attention to treatment of detainees in matters of challenging detention, interrogation, trial of detainees, and release. It analyzes the existing US war on terror and considers future policies that would address both national security concerns and human rights/civil liberties concerns. The paper is written by two experts and advocates in counterterrorism-related issues, coming from the center right and the center left in American politics, as part of a project of the Stanley Foundation, Bridging the Foreign Policy Divide, which publishes papers by pairs of experts coming from conservative and progressive points on the political spectrum, on US foreign policy topics in preparation for the 2008 elections. The purpose of the joint essay is to explore common ground between political positions that might otherwise go unaddressed, while identifying differences in policy positions. Kenneth Anderson is research fellow with Stanford's Hoover Institution, and Elisa Massimino is Washington Director of Human Rights First, which has been a leading human rights advocate in issues of the war on terror.

Keywords: terror, terrorism, Hamdan, Hamdi, Common Article Three, enemy combatatant, unprivileged belligerent, Guantanamo, detainees, war on terror, laws of war, counterterrorism, human rights, Geneva Conventions, Military Commissions Act of 2006, national security court, military commissions,

JEL Classification: K10, K14, K33

Suggested Citation

Anderson, Kenneth and Massimino, Elisa, The Cost of Confusion: Resolving Ambiguities in Detainee Treatment (March 1, 2007). The Stanley Foundation (Muscatine IA), Bridging the Foreign Policy Divide Project, March 2007, American University, WCL Research Paper No. 2008-77, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=968177

Kenneth Anderson (Contact Author)

American University - Washington College of Law ( email )

4300 Nebraska Avenue, NW
Washington, DC 20016
United States

Elisa Massimino

Human Rights First ( email )

100 Maryland Avenue, NE
Suite 500
Washington, DC 20002
United States

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