Obama sticks to Bush detainee policy

WASHINGTON, April 11 (UPI) -- The Obama administration is sticking, for now, with a policy that contends U.S. detainees held in foreign prisons have no U.S. legal rights, observers say.

A move by the Justice Department Friday to appeal a decision granting three detainees at the Bagram U.S. air base in Afghanistan the right to challenge their detention in U.S. courts shows the Obama administration is hewing to policies set by the Bush administration, The Washington Post reported.

In appealing a decision by U.S. District Judge John Bates, Justice Department spokesman Dean Boyd told the newspaper that because the administration is still reviewing its detainee policies, "we concluded that it was necessary to appeal this ruling," but he did not rule out a change of heart once the review is complete.

In its appeal, the Justice Department said the consequences of granting the Bagram detainees immediate access to U.S. courts would be severe. The department warned that if foreigners imprisoned at Bagram could legally challenge their incarcerations, the U.S. military wouldn't be able to hold captured Pakistani militants there for "security or centralized intelligence gathering" without having to defend the transfers in court, the Post reported.