Courts side against U.S. in Gitmo cases

WASHINGTON, Sept. 7 (UPI) -- U.S. courts have ruled for the U.S. Defense Department in only seven of 36 cases brought by Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, terrorism detainees, documents indicate.

The pattern in the 15 months since the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that the detainees could sue for their release indicates civilian judges are hardly convinced that the Bush administration jailed "the worst of the worst" at Guantanamo, as once claimed by former U.S. Vice President Dick Cheney, The Miami Herald reported Monday.

The newspaper's review of the cases showed that those ordered freed include four ethnic Chinese Uighurs now working as groundskeepers in Bermuda; a young Afghan man who was released after virtually growing up at the U.S. prison camp; and an Algerian who now lives in France with his family.

"I think the number of difficult questions presented by the Guantanamo cases is unprecedented in our court,'' U.S. District Court Chief Judge Royce Lamberth in Washington told the Herald. "In our court, mostly settled law applies. It makes it interesting. But it really is time-consuming because of the need to proceed carefully'' and decide "precedents for future wars as well as this war.''