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Obama's Pledge to Close Down Guantanamo is 'Not Even Close'
Commander says camp will take months to shut – and he's still waiting for the order
Barack Obama's pledge to shut down Guantanamo Bay will not be honoured until at least a year after the President's self-imposed deadline - and may not be completed in his first administration.
The US Vice-President Joseph Biden, left, and retired military officers watch President Barack Obama sign orders to close down the detention centre at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, in January 2009. (GETTY IMAGES) The man in charge of the seven prison camps at the US naval base in Cuba is yet to receive direct orders to begin the transfer of prisoners so he can close the detention facilities.
In his first media interview since taking up the post three months ago, Admiral Jeffrey Harbeson said that even if President Obama implemented his order today it would take him six months to complete the job, a year after the January 2010 deadline imposed by the President when he signed the executive order in 2009.
The stalled timetable reflects growing opposition from the US public, and Congress, to the transfer of prisoners to the US mainland. Plans to move the bulk of the 176 detainees to a specially built maximum security prison close to Chicago have run into fierce local and national opposition, while Congress has also blocked the allocation of more money
to build new facilities.
Criminal trials for the Guantanamo detainees accused of crimes linked to the September 11 attacks have also ground to a halt over arguments about what process the suspects should face. There is also little international enthusiasm for a settlement involving the transfer of the bulk of the remaining detainees, from 30 different countries, to new locations around the world.
Admiral Harbeson, the 10th commander of the camps since they were opened in January 2002, told The Independent that as a "ball-park figure" it would take his Guard Force six months to close Guantanamo. Asked if he had received an instruction to implement President Obama's order, he replied: "No."
On the closure operation he added: "Any movement of the detainees that we do will mean there are a lot of folks who go with them to ensure safety and security - [that means] medical personnel, regular security and interpreters. That's the tail...."
He continued: "Once you do that, [and] the detainees are safely transported to different locations, then you come back to the infrastructure and the security aspect and the personnel who are here, turning off the lights, turning off the power..."
The camps themselves are protected by a court order which means that after Guantanamo is closed the infrastructure must be maintained as evidence in ongoing legal action being brought by detainees against the US government.
Admiral Harbeson, who took up his year-long post in June, also admitted that the CIA has dramatically scaled down its interrogation operations at Guantanamo Bay and now only interviews al-Qa'ida and Taliban suspects who volunteer to speak to its agents.
The US intelligence-gathering operation is now restricted to monitoring the mail sent in and out of the camps, but the Admiral insists there is still intelligence to be gleaned from the detainees. "These individuals were picked up on the battlefield and belong to various organisations, so they still communicate through mail and phone calls," he says.
Despite this, living conditions in the camps have greatly improved since the detainees were held in the cages of Camp X-Ray in the early months of 2002, Admiral Harbeson added.
The international focus on Guantanamo remains fixed on President Obama's promise to close the camps. In October last year Admiral Harbeson's predecessor, Admiral Tom Copeman, said that he could close down Guantanamo by January this year. He added that a "substantial number" of the then 223 detainees were "still hoping" they would be repatriated to their respective home countries.
But his replacement says the closure of the base is not his chief concern and that he doesn't necessarily want to be remembered as the man who closed Guantanamo.
While politicians on Capitol Hill worry about how to put the Guantanamo genie back in the bottle, Admiral Harbeson said his focus is the detainees, the majority of whom have been held for eight years without charge or trial. "My mission is to make sure that those individuals are treated humanely, [that we are] legal and transparent in everything we do and that they are held in common with article three of the US Constitution [which governs the judiciary]."
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35 Comments so far
Show AllStill believe in all that much-ballyhooed "change", friends?
No.
Obama has been able to or willing to reverse the damage Bush did to our Constitution in creating GITMO...the authoritarian minded can't give up the GITMO Gulag.
Pardon me, Crazy, but don't you mean "UNable or UNwilling"?
Aside from correcting the spelling, I think Obama is UNABLE to do anything but what he is doing. What leader have you seen who returned to the people power that was not rightfully his?
It's human nature. If I were among the richest 2% how can I say for sure that I would not feel entitled to my luck?
Obama lied about EVERYTHING.
There is either a consortium of consultants or one incredible machiavellian mastermind (Rove?) who planned this: the continuation of the subversion of democracy in the US.
They stole the election again, they've maintained perfect control.
Cheney/Bush had overstepped, crossed the line of that public sense of decency and created a vulnerability at the time of the 2000 election.
But they saw the vulnerability WAY ahead.
Remember when O-man came out of nowhere to give the keynote address at the D-party convention in 1996? The media absolutely swooned. I distinctly remember it because the speech was mediocre, the press response disconcertingly dissonant, and I thought whassup?
But if you really stop to consider whassup, you realize it was a breath-takingly brilliant scheme. Just marketing, really, but absolutely brilliant marketing, it pushes every single button of american cultural vulnerability.
They created a package that completely disguised its' contents! In fact, it made the contents appear to be the exact opposite of what they actually were!
Obama was black, young, urban, hip, educated and affluent. The average citizen attaches all sorts of association with those characteristics. He talked "white" to middle class audiences and "black" when it was necessary. He was perfect.
And every muscle and tendon in that body was conected to an invisible string that was controlled by the oligarchs behind the curtain. The ultimate trojan horse.
Remember the couple of quizzical times that O-man dsappeared during the heat of the campaign? Maching orders. A few more strings were applied.
It worked beyond their wildest dreams. We fell for it hook, line and sinker. Of course, not everyone fell for it, but more than enough did.
It was so effective that many good people are still disabled, unable to think clearly or analyze how they were scammed. It's not pretty or pleasant to admit that you were fooled so completely.
It's time to move beyond the "I told you so" phase of this process. We need to pull progressive/liberal/left groups together to promote progress.
Enjoy the satisfaction of political insight if you saw through O-man from the beginning. Very perceptive. But it's time to move on. The right-wing bastards are killing us.
And, if we were REALLY smart, WE'D be pulling the strings.
The keynote speech was in 2004. People liked it because it seemed to call the electorate away from the "culture war" mode of the previous two decades. Also because, Obama's oratory was vivid and coherent compared to the unbearable, logically tangled, semantically butchered mush issuing forth from John Kerry's mouth. Kerry appeared to be among the living dead by comparison.
Obama sounded "bold". Of course, a literal reading of his remarks reveals just how vapid and as you mention, mediocre, they were, but nevermind: when did anybody among our political/entertainment/media/business elite ever take or mean anything literally? It's always about "sending the right message", never about actually solving the ostensible problem identified (indirectly) in the message. Obama is the reining champ at this kind of cheerleading.
But when it's game time, the cheerleaders stand behind their pom-poms and bullhorns, behind the backfielders and tackles, behind even the water boy. When it's game time, the big boys take the field and the carnage begins. And the cheerleaders wait for signals from some low level asst coach liaison, to starting bouncing around and shouting again.
We'll never be able to hit back at the "rightwing bastards" who "are killing us" until a lot more people learn not to be distracted by the cheerleaders and to keep their eyes on the ball.
Thanks for correcting my dates jareilly, I've never been good with time frames.
Your analogy of Obama as a cheerleader is outstanding! He has been the perfect distraction to focus our attention away from the crux of what is going on.
My only quibble is that I think the media had been clued in before the speech in 2004 to present him in a positive context. So the quality was irrelevant, the 'fix' was in, he was on the road to success because he was the horse they were not only betting on but training/promoting.
Maybe the monied interests aren't that powerful. Maybe they don't plan that far ahead. I think they do.
"Obama lied about EVERYTHING."
AH-Ha! He didn't!!!!! He said straight up he was going to keep the occupation in Afghanistan going.
Fabulous! Out of 100 promises, he only lied about 99 of them. That in my book qualifies them as 'everything'.
iowapinko, thank you for the comments- they are all reasonably and logically thought out. For us living abroad and paying attention to what is happening in the US, I believe you are correct - Obama seems to be a Manchurian candidate who is the oposite of what he pretends to be.
Being of mixed Arab/Israeli heritage I have very mixed emotions about your Obama. He definately does not appear to be what he pretends. He seems to love war while proclaiming be be a man of peace.
The problems your government are creating in your country soon metastasize throughout the world and cause unbearable suffering. I am trying to stay optimistic by it does not look good.
Change You Can Believe In
has become
Lies We Did Believe In.
I never bought Obomba's BS about change we can believe in, but I understand how many believed Barry's lies as this guy is the consummate lying machine. He is a great con man; and that makes him more dangerous than the village idiot that he just replaced. Just like on the red herring N.Y. Mosque controversy: He is for it two!
Why keep bringing this up?
Obviously if Obama intended to close the detention facilities he would have done it. We have other bases with the facilities availiable, not as comfortable, but just as good.
He chooses not to close it. End of story. The real question is why anyone is surprised at this point. He does everything he shouldn't and nothing that he should.
The great capitulator just can't stop himself from being what he is.
The photo is reminiscient of so many "Polit-Buro" photos of the "Keepers" going through the motions until it all came crashing down upon their heads... stern, dour, grey-headed old fools who could not comprehend that time had passed them by.
Time is on our side - this will not last.
That's because he's either a yellow-assed coward or a wolf in sheep's clothing.
or both.
I don't believe that he is a "yellow- assed coward" but a "wolf in sheep wolf's clothing is a good description." Actually he is just another Washington establishment liar. It is not a great President we seek. A good honest President would do.
The Cowardly Lion - you know, the one from Emerald City, that tripped with Dorothy - thought he was a coward, but had a moral center.
This one thinks he's a Lion. I think he's just a Lyin' _.
It is so sad to watch Obama dance to Fox News' tune.
all they have to do is get Glenn Beck to foam at the mouth for an hour about some ridiculous shit, and Obama will change his direction yet again.
the GOP are too evil to lead, and the Dems are too weak to lead.
Obama: Lead, Follow, or GET THE FUCK OUT OF THE WAY
Dems are not weak. They just pretend to be weak--it's all Kabuki theatre.
Like Repugs, Dems are serving their corporate masters--just like the Repugs though the Dems are more coy about their actions whilst the Repugs are more open about their blatant ties to industry.
Don't hold your breath for Obama to lead--he won't lead--he's a puppet.
Would Germany have ever considered closing Auschwitz during WWII?
Will America actually close Guantanamo during the War on Terror (WWIII)?
When life gives Obama lemons, he just renames them Sour Yellow Citrus Thingys and declares victory in a 2 hour self-congraulatory speech, but only after checking with Fox News and the Jewish Lobby to make sure thats the way they want it.
Mujeriego,
You forgot to state Obama must also check with Wall St., Pig Pharma,MIC, US Chamber of Horrors, the health insurance cartel, etc. to make certain that things go their way too!!!
He's serving ALL of his corporate masters!
"He's serving ALL of his corporate masters!"
Chelsey,
I wonder at times if the President of the United States has any power at all or if he is just a guy somewhere in the chain of command of a very powerful corporatist nation state. If that is case cannot anyone be President? (Anyone that is who completely lacks morals and ethics and can follow a script of deception.) This is not only about the current President but rather the office of the President of the United States itself. Is the office corrupted beyond repair?
I understood the game and was never charmed by the current President. From the very beginning my expectations were low but I did expect some positive indications of a transition to something better.(Did not happen)
My thinking at the time was the next President of the United States would be Senator McCain or Senator Obama.(My thinking was correct. It was either McCain or Obama and certainly not an independent or third party candidate) Senator McCain a Republican...Senator Obama a Democrat..hmmmm...We had eight years of President Bush and we all know how that worked out so I thought that Senator Obama at the very least could not do worse. Also at the time I felt a McCain/Palin administration would or could be disastrous. Now I ask myself.....How much more of disaster would a President McCain actually have been?
Dante,
Indeed!
Even if Barry did close Gitmo it would simply be a shell game. These unfortunates would be shipped to other little slices of heaven in such places as Afghanistan, Morocco or Egypt.
Apparently, the Amerikkkan government doesn't even have enough evidence to try most of the prisoners in a kangaroo court, let alone a criminal court that is subject to something that resembles due process.
Torture is an act, not a place. Closing Gitmo does nothing to make us humane, as it would simply be a feel good maneuver. It absolves no wrongs and doesn't prevent future wrongs. Keep Gitmo open and punish the torturers.
The penitentiary lockdowns are worse than Gitmo, total solitude and isolation for those who may well be innocent.
No symbolism over substance, please. They may be dangerous now, like benign and innocent puppies, who after years of abuse become raving canines readying to the attack.
we've made enemies we didn't have to make.
Meanwhile back at the ranch:
Release the Kagan: Neocon Nabob Hired by Team Obama
Wednesday, 18 August 2010 13:21
Buried many fathoms deep in an LA Times story about the latest American scolding of its unruly satrap in Bactria, we find this little nugget:
Some senior officials are saying privately that they fear their reliance on the Karzai administration could be the weakest link of their strategy to stabilize the country. Government corruption is seen as one of the most important factors driving ordinary Afghans to support the Taliban. ...
Army Gen. David H. Petraeus, the newly appointed head of the international forces in the country, has hired two experts known for their strong emphasis on fighting corruption, Frederick Kagan and Brig. Gen. H.R. McMaster.
That's right; Frederick Kagan, the neocon architect of the Iraq "surge," the epitome of the armchair warriors who have sent thousands of human beings (including their fellow Americans) to needless death and plunged millions more into needless suffering, has been hired by the Peace Laureate Administration to serve as guide and counsel to the Laureate's newly appointed military supremo.
It goes without saying that Kagan -- yet another spawn of the Project for a New American Century, that gaggle of bloodthirsty Beltwayers who openly longed, in September 2000, for a "new Pearl Harbor" to scare the American public into supporting the group's hyper-militarist agenda -- is not an expert on "fighting corruption" or on Afghanistan, just as he knew nothing about Iraq. He is an "expert" on one topic only: churning out bullshit to justify war. And that is exactly why he has been hired by Obama and Petraeus.
...
http://www.chris-floyd.com/articles/1-latest-news/2007-release-the-kagan-arch-neocon-nabob-hired-by-team-obama.html#comments
Racism. Homophobia. Misogyny. Xenophobia.
These are all tools used by the oligarchy to keep the peasants at one anothers' throats. Versus their throat. The oligarchs have only one singular, unified throat.
The repub/dem divide is strictly a theatrical performance for us plebes. If we want any chance at taking back our future, we need to be able to see through the smoke and mirrors to the reality.
Obama/Bush/Cheney/Clinton/Kucinich/Palin. One team. The oligarchs. They keep it close to the vest, they will even deny it in public, but they all know the mantra by heart. One team.
You. Me. My black neighbor. Your republican aunt. The middle-east emigre who owns the convenience store and the single mom down the street with the bratty kids, we're all on the same team, too. One team. The schmucks. Not dumb schmucks, we're deliberately miseducated and misinformed with intent. The intent is to confuse us as to what team we're on.
The oligarch team invests inordinate, mind-boggling effort to keep our team confused, in disarray, at one anothers' throat. We circle one another with suspicion, wondering if they're the one taking our jobs, our rights, our dreams.
Obama and Kagan are on the same team. They're on the team that owns our government. They've taken a good share of the treasury. They're on the way to despoiling the planet beyond salvation in their unquenchable greed for profit. They need to be thrown out before it's too late.
There's an on-going debate about what to call our team. The people, the working class, I'm not so sure it matters, but we need to be aware we're all on the same team. Together.
The oligarchs have known it all along.
I hope we 'get it' pretty soon. I think we're coming up to bat.
Kucinich is part of it? Really?
I'm sticking to print media from now on. So long...