White House: Acquitted Detainees May Not Be Released

[tekisui]

Source: The Raw Story

The Obama Administration signaled Tuesday it may keep terrorism detainees even if they’ve been acquitted.

Chief Department of Defense lawyer Jeh Johnson told a Senate committee “that releasing a detainee who has been tried and found not guilty was a policy decision officials would make based on their estimate of whether the prisoner posed a future threat,” according to a report by Jess Bravin in the Wall Street Journal.

Bravin notes that the Bush administration maintained the same stance, “but its legality was never tested.”

Spencer Ackerman at The Washington Independent characterized Johnson’s response as moving the Obama administration “into new territory from a civil liberties perspective.”

“Asked by Sen. Mel Martinez (R-Fla.) the politically difficult but entirely fair question about whether terrorism detainees acquitted in courts could be released in the United States, Johnson said that ‘as a matter of legal authority,’ the administration’s powers to detain someone under the law of war don’t expire for a detainee after he’s acquitted in court,” Ackerman wrote.

“If you have authority under the law of war to detain someone” under a Supreme Court ruling, Johnson remarked, “that is true irrespective of what happens on the prosecution side.”

more: http://rawstory.com/08/news/2009/07/07/white-house-acquitted-detainees-may-not-be-released/

[SoCalNative]

1. WTF?

eom

[NC_Nurse]

2. Exactly.

:o :wtf:

[rug]

4. After we give them a fair trial we'll hold them anyway.

[DebbieCDC]

3. Fat Tony Scalia must be having an orgasm over this

It's right up his alley

I'm still waiting for that change I voted for...

[Why Syzygy]

5. Where did the Bill of Rights go?

Are there ANY would be leaders who still hold true to our original documents?

[GodlessBiker]

6. Then these are like Stalin's show trials.

[Generator]

30. Mark your calendar

Obama's been prez less than six months and his admin is getting compared to Stalin.

[GodlessBiker]

32. 100 years from now, what do you think the world will think about these kinds of trials?

[Solly Mack]

7. K&R

[stray cat]

8. Would we let Bin Laden go if we couldn't convict him?

or let Saddam go if he was found not guilty? I certainly have problems with the idea of detaining someone who was not convicted but some people you know are guilty you have to set free. Michael Jackson was found not guilty - but would you have let him work with children?

[mmonk]

17. We live in the real world so we know Bin Laden wouldn't be acquitted.

[unblock]

23. really?

well, if what you mean is that there would never be a trial at all, or that there would never be a trial if they weren't certain of the outcome, then i'd agree.

but in terms of an actual fair trial with hard evidence and everything, i'm not so sure. the public has been given zero hard evidence of his direct involvement in just about anything, only his various tapes, the authenticity of which are in doubt, have any credible evidence at all, the rest is just a huge pile of accusations.

i'm certainly open to the possibility that the government has mountains of presumably highly classified rock solid evidence against him, but even that might not be usable at trial.

so it's not clear to me that an actual trial would result in conviction.

also remember that you have to find 12 idiots who have never heard of bin laden and have no negative bias against him....

[mmonk]

38. You can't be serious. Americans have been frightened to the point where even

they don't mind innocent Muslim men being held without trial or proof of a crime much less having Bin Laden on trial. I will stand up for the Constitution and the rule of law. It worked against men much more dangerous on a large scale scale such as the Nazis. Giving up on the Constitution, the rule of law, and freedom is the main reason I'm struggling with my own party right now. I can't be fooled into giving it all up on political generated fear.

[tekisui]

19. Holy Shit! Is bin Laden in Gitmo?!?!?

[jgraz]

28. YES

We are either a nation of laws or we aren't. Once someone can be imprisoned indefinitely on the order of the President, we've blurred the most important line separating us from a dictatorship.

[arcadian]

9. Dare I say it?

Bush III

[Luciferous]

37. I'm starting to think so nt

[FiveGoodMen]

10. God damn anyone here who tries to defend THIS!

ANYONE.

[Fumesucker]

15. See post #8.. n/t

[FiveGoodMen]

18. I can't see post #8.

But that confirms the accuracy of my ignore list.

[G_j]

26. LOL

enough said..

:argh:

[glitch]

21. Hear, hear. nt

[noamnety]

24. It's a great decision

because he's only been in office 6 months.

(sorry, it's the best I can do here. ;) )

[pleah]

11. K&R USA! USA ! USA!

:banghead:

[ThirdWorldJohn]

12. So Obama makes tjhe promise to close camp Delta and lets some underling tell it like it really is.

Johnson also signaled that Guantanamo might remain open after January 2010: “You can’t prosecute some significant subset of 220 people before January,” he said. The Obama Administration plans to continue to detain some of those inmates suspected of terrorist ties, “whether at Guantanamo or somewhere else.”

http://rawstory.com/08/news/2009/07/07/white-house-acquitted-detainees-may-not-be-released/

[justabob]

13. surreal

I can't find the words to express my outrage....

[FiveGoodMen]

20. I can't express my outrage, either.

But I can sum up the situation: We've been had.

[wildbilln864]

35. yes that sums it up pretty good IMHO! Thank you. nt

:banghead:

[ohheckyeah]

14. I think the administration is going to take a lot

of heat for this move. I would love to hear the justification.

[Fumesucker]

16. Heat from whom?

The M$M?

It is to laugh..

[ohheckyeah]

22. Liberals. n/t

[Fumesucker]

25. Both of them?

Liberals make cats look like sardines when it comes to being individualistic..

[tpsbmam]

29. He's been pretty disdainful of liberals since 1/20 -- not sure how much

influence we hold at this point. Which does NOT mean that we should stop holding him to his word -- it's become crystal clear he is going to need constant challenging & pushing to do the right thing in a number of different areas.

[jgraz]

27. Chess, Pony, Purity, Only Five Months, Better Than Bush, Better Than McCain

I can't WAIT to hear the excuses for this one.

[surrealAmerican]

31. Are they trying to say the detainees, if not proven guilty ...

... would be considered prisoners of war?

[Orwellian_Ghost]

33. K&R

[wildbilln864]

34. a sad k&r! nt

:hide:

[Luciferous]

36. K&R

I'm so disgusted by him and his administration... I don't know how people can continue to defend them.

[Holly_Hobby]

39. Can't have them showing up on TV with scars on their penises n/t