Obama's new executive order on Guantanamo (Salon)

[chill_wind]

Obama's new executive order on Guantanamo

Glenn Greenwald
Tuesday, Mar 8, 2011 10:09 ET

President Obama yesterday signed an Executive Order which, as The Washington Post described it, "will create a formal system of indefinite detention for those held at the U.S. military prison at Guantanamo Bay" and "all but cements Guantanamo Bay's continuing role in U.S. counterterrorism policy." The Order -- which codifies a system of charge-free indefinite detention and military commissions once ostensibly scorned by Democrats -- was captured perfectly by this headline from Time:

Obama Bolsters Gitmo
Posted by Massimo Calabresi

http://swampland.blogs.time.com/2011/03/07/obama-bolsters-gitmo/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+timeblogs%2Fswampland+%28TIME%3A+Swampland%29&utm_content=Twitter

None of this is the slightest bit unexpected. The new Executive Order has been previewed for months and merely codifies what has long been Obama's policy: "long" in the sense of "since he's inaugurated" -not, of course, "when he was a Senator and presidential candidate." I'm writing about this merely to address the excuse from the White House and its loyalists that the fault for this policy, this inability to "close Guantanamo," lies with Congress, which forced the President to abandon his oft-stated campaign pledge. That excuse is pure fiction.

http://www.salon.com/news/opinion/glenn_greenwald/2011/03/08/guantanamo/index.html

[Solly Mack]

1. K&R

[Jefferson23]

2. That excuse is pure fiction indeed. n/t

[jaxx]

3. Pure fiction is the skewing of the truth.

<..>

In restarting the military tribunal process following a two-year hiatus, the administration did not opt for a carbon copy of the process used under President Bush. The proceedings will not be able to use any information obtained via a process determined to be cruel or inhuman, for instance. Handling of classified information will be revamped.

In addition, Obama issued an executive order setting up a review process for Guantánamo detainees who have yet to face a full tribunal or who are being detained indefinitely as military combatants.

These reviews will be held by a board consisting of intelligence agency officials and representatives from the Departments of Defense, State, Justice, and Homeland Security. Detainees will have a defense representative assigned them, and will be able to hire outside lawyers if they wish. Defense representatives with the proper clearances will be able to view classified evidence.

Taken together these moves mark “a substantial improvement over the status quo,” writes University of Texas law professor Robert Chesney on the “Lawfare” national security blog.

http://www.csmonitor.com/USA/Justice/2011/0307/Obama-orders-Guantanamo-tribunals-to-resume.-Is-he-abandoning-his-pledge

[Jefferson23]

4. I don't see any skewing by Greenwald, he fully acknowledges

the obstacles by Congress. Yet the details remain essential when looking at the framework of Obama's plan after the election. I believe
it speaks to what Obama is willing to fight for, how he frames it initially..how much if any political capital he was
willing to use initially.

Snip* It is true that Congress -- with the overwhelming support of both parties -- has enacted several measures making it much more difficult, indeed impossible, to transfer Guantanamo detainees into the U.S. But long before that ever happened, Obama made clear that he wanted to continue the twin defining pillars of the Bush detention regime: namely, (1) indefinite, charge-free detention and (2) military commissions (for those lucky enough to be charged with something). Obama never had a plan for "closing Guantanamo" in any meaningful sense; the most he sought to do was to move it a few thousand miles north to Illinois, where its defining injustices would endure.

Snip* It was in May, 2009 -- a mere five months after his inauguration -- that Obama stood up in front of the U.S. Constitution and the National Archives and demanded a new law of "preventive detention" to empower him to imprison people without charges: a plan the New York Times said "would be a departure from the way this country sees itself." It was the same month that the administration announced it intended to continue to deny many detainees trials, instead preserving the military commissions scheme, albeit with modifications. And the first -- and only -- Obama plan for "closing Guantanamo" came in December, 2009, and it entailed nothing more than transferring the camp to a supermax prison in Thompson, Illinois, while preserving its key ingredients, prompting the name "Gitmo North."

[jaxx]

5. He makes the skewing perfectly clear with this:

<..> I'm writing about this merely to address the excuse from the White House and its loyalists that the fault for this policy, this inability to "close Guantanamo," lies with Congress, which forced the President to abandon his oft-stated campaign pledge. That excuse is pure fiction.


If the congress would have cooperated, Guantanamo Bay would be closed today.

[Jefferson23]

6. I think if you ignore the information highlighted in the OP by Greenwald

you could say the Congress was the primary obstacle.

[jaxx]

7. The bills didn't pass.

It's pretty simple.

[Jefferson23]

8. It is simple if you ignore the highlighted passages on the actions

by Obama prior to the issue with the Congress.

I believe we just disagree on this and I'll leave it at that.

[GeorgeGist]

12. Ahhhhhhhh ...

a kinder, gentler fascism. I'm so relieved.

[bvar22]

9. "The bills didn't pass."

"Strong and successful presidents (meaning those who get what they want - whether that happens to be good for the country or not) do not accept "the best deal on the table". They take out their carpentry tools and the build the goddam piece of furniture themselves. Strong and successful presidents do not get dictated to by the political environment. They reshape the environment into one that is conducive to their political aspirations."

http://www.commondreams.org/view/2010/07/17

"If we don't fight hard enough for the things we stand for,
at some point we have to recognize that we don't really stand for them."
--- Paul Wellstone

[chill_wind]

11. "In short, strong and successful presidents are the bat, not the ball. "

+1000

[chill_wind]

10. Obama was looking for an out with an EO *before June 2009.*

Joint story between ProPublica & WAPO told the tale at the time, but nobody wants to hear it.
Most here didn't want to hear it then, either.

White House Is Drafting Executive Order to Allow Indefinite Detention; Move Would Bypass Congress

by Dafna Linzer, ProPublica, and Peter Finn, Washington Post June 26, 2009, 4:25 p.m.

http://www.propublica.org/article/white-house-drafts-executive-order-to-allow-indefinite-detention-626


******************************

The Pentagon and NSA inside ball-busters were the ones who won this battle with Obama early on.

Well before Congress did.

Obama quietly killed the Gitmo plan in the second week of May; Craig never got a chance to argue the case to the President. "It was a political decision, to put it bluntly," says an aide. The stumble had long-term consequences: later that month, Congress blocked the release of Guantánamo detainees in the U.S. and restricted their transfer there for trial. The White House realized it had to start over on a signature issue.

The Fall of Greg Craig, Obama's Top Lawyer
By Massimo Calabresi and Michael Weisskopf

Thursday, Nov. 19, 2009

Read more: http://www.time.com/time/politics/article/0,8599,1940537-3,00.html#ixzz1G2FCWzCK

Phil Carter resigns less than a year in. Suddenly misses his family.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/11/24/phil-carter-resigns-key-p_n_369936.html

[chill_wind]

13. .

[I-LOVE-PELOSI]

14. Keep Guantanamo Open

I don't want those terrorists brought over here or set free.

[NorthCarolina]

15. Check: Another campaign promise kept!

Oh wait....

[dflprincess]

16. So much for restoring the rule of law

The hits just keep on coming.