Meanwhile, a former U.S. attorney general is demanding that the Bush administration charge the detainees with a crime or label them prisoners of war. 

The arguments were presented before U.S. District Judge Howard Matz on a petition filed Saturday by Stephen Yagman, an attorney representing a group of religious and educational leaders, alleging that the 158 prisoners -- suspected members of the al Qaeda terrorist network or fighters for the Taliban -- 

The petition for a writ of habeas corpus asks that the prisoners be brought before a judge to hear the charges against them. It also seeks to prevent the military from transferring any more prisoners to the base. 

Yagman said the judge asked the petitioners to address a number of issues at Tuesday's hearing, including the legal basis under which they are asserting their claims. The judge is considering only issues surrounding whether he should hear the suit, not the merits of it, Yagman said. 

The military began transferring prisoners from Afghanistan to Guantanamo this month. It classifies the detainees as "war criminals," not prisoners of war, thereby exempting them from requirements under the 1949 Geneva Convention, which was ratified but not signed by the United States. 

Nonetheless, military officials contend the United States is treating the prisoners well, while still maintaining rigid security measures. 

But Ramsey Clark, who served as attorney general under President Lyndon B. Johnson from 1967-1969, said the detainees most certainly are entitled to civil rights. 

"If they're POWs, they can't be questioned," he said on CNN's "American Morning." "They shouldn't have been detained the way they have and questioned the way they have. If they're not POWS, then if you're going to detain them you've got to charge them with a crime and present them to a magistrate to determine whether there's probable cause to hold people." 

Clark also warned that the treatment of the prisoners -- shaving their heads and beards, covering their heads in hoods, chaining them and putting them "in what we call kennels" -- accomplishes little but making "a billion people in the world very, very angry." 

"That's a way to make enemies and to have more victims all the way around," he said. "Let's treat them with respect and let's treat them in accordance with law. And let's above all obey the Geneva Convention. If we don't, how do we expect our prisoners, if we ever have any, to be treated fairly?"