Justice Stevens' Rasul v. Bush Case

Facts:

1. The American military has a base in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.
2. During the United States' War on Terror, four British and Australian citizens were captured in Pakistan or Afghanistan and transported to this base in Cuba.
3. The government argued that the federal courts had no jurisdiction to hear this case because the prisoners were not American citizens and were being held in territory that the U.S. did not have power over.
4. This court was dismissed after it was confirmed by the district court and U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia we did not have jurisdiction over this case.
5. It was ruled in a 6 to 3 vote that U.S. courts have jurisdiction to consider legal appeals filed to foreign citizens held by the U.S. military in Guantanamo Bay Naval Base, Cuba.
6. Stevens wrote that the right to habeus corpus is not dependent on citizenship status, so the prisoners were allowed to challenge their suit claiming it was unconstitutional.

Questions:

1. Why were the prisoners in the Middle East sent to a base in Cuba?
2. How many military bases does the United States around the world?
3. Was there a reasonable cause for actually capturing these prisoners, or was it just because it was during the War on Terror?
4. Would this case be dealt with in a different manner if the prisoners were taken to the U.S. or a different country?

http://www.oyez.org/cases/2000-2009/2003/2003_03_334