Hyperbole? You be the judge.
Last summer the Supreme Court recognized the right of prisoners in Guantanamo Bay to challenge their detention in court. In response four prisoners at the Bagram Airfield in Afghanistan tried to challenge their detention in US District Court in Washington DC.
Court filings alleged that the U.S. military had held them without charges, repeatedly interrogating them without any means to contact an attorney. Their petition was filed by relatives on their behalf since they had no way of getting access to the legal system.
In response Bush administration lawyers argued that Bagram (where we know torture has occurred) should remain a law-free zone. They said that all prisoners at Bagram are "enemy combatants" and thus have no constitutional rights. Because it's in a battle zone, Bagram is different from Gitmo, they argued, and warned that if detainees in Afghanistan had access to US courts, then all prisoners of the US would. (Oh noes!).
When Obama took over, a judge in DC gave him one month to decide whether it would stand behind Bush's position. Now it's official:
In a two-sentence court filing, the Justice Department said it agreed that detainees at Bagram Airfield cannot use U.S. courts to challenge their detention
Human rights and cilvil liberties advocates are appalled, and with good reason.
"They've now embraced the Bush policy that you can create prisons outside the law," said Jonathan Hafetz, an attorney with the American Civil Liberties Union who has represented several detainees.
I wish I could write at length on this, but I'm typing with one hand because I have a baby in one arm. Suffice it to say that in a very fundamental and dangerous way, Obama is the same as Bush.
UPDATE: In comments people are claiming that these prisoners are protected by the Geneva Conventions, but those apply to POWs. These prisoners are enemy combatants--a status embraced by Bush precisely to avoid international law. In upholding Bush's position, Bush is reaffirming that these prisoners are enemy (or unlawful) combatants.