legal status of us military bases abroad

i have a question for any legal experts/military personnel out there.

as you may remember, one of the reasons the guantanamo detainees were placed in guantanamo to begin with was because the government wanted them located in an area outside of "ordinary" US-civilian jurisdiction.

now, i grew up frequently visiting us military bases overseas, as a civilian. my understanding was that non-military people in these bases who had committed crimes would be subject either to US civilian law or the laws of the host country. different people gave different answers.

but assuming one or the other answer was correct, it would seem that non-american-armed-forces members were still subject to either US "civilian" law or the civilian laws of the host country.

so my question is, how can the guantanamo detainees be said not to fall under either? it seems contrary to what i had previously been told. anyone know anything about this?

-koji K.

[edit on 30-6-2004 by koji_K]

Here's the understanding I have (as I have lived abroad as a military brat)...

When a civilian, and in a US base, you are subject to US law, as the base is treated similar to an embassy. When outside the base, you are subject to local law.

Since the base is considered US territory, and the detainees are foreign citizens, they are subject to US law and since not citizens, can be detained. They are not subject to local law, since they are considered to be in US territory...

Hope that clears it up....

thanks! it sort of clears things up... still doesn't explain why the guantanamo detainees wouldn't be subject to US law though, in that case? instead they're said to be in a 'legal limbo' where no one is sure what laws pertain to them, and that doesn't seem right... (in the 'factually correct' sense, rather than the moral sense).

(i used to play in DoDDS tournaments, although my school wasn't DoD )

-koji K.