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Obama’s Failure to Close Guantánamo by January Deadline Is Disastrous
President Obama's admission in China that he will miss his self-imposed deadline for the closure of Guantánamo is disastrous for the majority of the 215 men still held, and for those who hoped, ten months ago, that he would move swiftly to close this bitter icon of the Bush administration's lawless detention and interrogation policies in the "War on Terror."
Despite announcing the closure of Guantánamo on his second day in office, as part of a number of executive orders rolling back the Bush administration's executive overreach, Obama then failed to follow up with a detailed plan, missing the opportunity to bring a number of wrongly imprisoned men to the US mainland (the Uighurs, Muslims from China whose release into the US had been ordered by a District Court judge), and allowing Republican fearmongers to seize the initiative, mobilizing lawmakers (including some in Obama's own party) to pass legislation preventing any cleared prisoner from being released into the United States.
Recently, lawmakers were even prepared to go so far as to prevent the administration from bringing prisoners to the US mainland for any reason, even to face trials. Senior officials successfully fought back against this proposal, and announced last week that ten prisoners, including Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, the self-confessed mastermind of the 9/11 attacks, were to be brought to the US mainland to face trials, either in federal courts or in a revamped version of the much-criticized Military Commissions, introduced in November 2001, and revived by Congress in 2006 after the US Supreme Court ruled that they were illegal.
However, administration officials have also explained, as the Washington Post described it, that the government does not intend to put more than 40 prisoners in total on trial, leaving 175 men in Guantánamo in a predicament that has been troubling since Congress rose up in revolt against Obama's intentions, and which has suddenly become even more alarming.
While Obama's deadline stood, there remained the possibility that the President could persuade lawmakers to drop their opposition to bringing these 175 men to the US mainland, so that Guantánamo could be closed as promised.
Now, however, with the President publicly conceding that this will not be possible, and refusing to set a new deadline, it is difficult to work out what pressure the administration can exert on lawmakers to persuade them to overturn their opposition to allowing any prisoners into the US unless they are to face trials.
The horrible truth is that, as a result, prisoners cleared by military review boards under the Bush administration, by the Obama administration's interagency Task Force, established as part of his executive orders, or by the US courts, after successful habeas corpus petitions, who cannot be repatriated because of fears that they will be tortured in their home countries, have no alternative to remaining in Guantánamo, until, if possible, other countries can be found to accept them.
According to officials, around 90 prisoners cleared for release are still at Guantánamo, and a majority of these - from countries including Algeria, China, Libya, Syria, Tunisia and Uzbekistan - cannot be repatriated. European countries have so far accepted a handful of cleared prisoners, but a major stumbling block to the acceptance of others has been the Americans' refusal to accept cleared prisoners themselves.
The other group - numbering around 75, according to administration officials - are those whom the government does not wish to either charge or release, claiming that they are too dangerous to be released, but that not enough evidence exists to put them on trial, or that the evidence is tainted through the use of torture (or, as the Washington Post put it, "because of evidentiary issues and limits on the use of classified material"). This is deeply disturbing, as there is, simply, no excuse for holding people in what is essentially an identical form of "preventive detention" to that practiced by the Bush administration, and prisoners should either be charged or released.
For a small number of these men - eight, to date - the administration can justify its actions because they lost their habeas corpus petitions before District Court judges, who ruled that the government had established, by a preponderance of the evidence, that they were associated with al-Qaeda and/or the Taliban. As a result, the government can continue to hold them under the Authorization for Use of Military Force, the founding document of the Bush administration's "War on Terror," through which Congress authorized the President "to use all necessary and appropriate force against those nations, organizations, or persons he determines planned, authorized, committed, or aided the terrorist attacks that occurred on September 11, 2001, or harbored such organizations or persons."
It is difficult to see why administration officials mentioned the number of prisoners whom the administration intends to hold indefinitely without charge or trial, as their ongoing habeas corpus petitions will put these decisions in the hands of judges, where they belong. In the long run, it is uncertain how acceptable it is to hold prisoners on this basis, especially if it turns out that they may be held for the rest of their lives for "crimes" no more egregious than, for example, cooking for an Arab fighting force supporting the Taliban in 2001.
In a world unsullied by the Bush administration's lawlessness, they would have been held as prisoners of war protected by the Geneva Conventions, who can be held until the end of hostilities (in which case they would still be held, as no one seems to have any idea when this particular war will come to an end). However, this didn't happen, of course, and, as a result, the administration needs to do all in its power to facilitate the habeas corpus petitions of the majority of these 75 men, and to release those whose petitions succeed (as in 30 of the 38 cases so far decided).
Even so, it remains unacceptable that these men should have to stay in Guantánamo while their petitions proceed to court, just as it remains unacceptable that cleared prisoners should languish at Guantánamo for one minute longer, let alone for months, or possibly years beyond the deadline that has proven impossible for the administration to honor.
In an interview with Fox News that followed his announcement about Guantánamo, President Obama explained, "We are on a path and a process where I would anticipate that Guantánamo will be closed next year. I'm not going to set an exact date because a lot of this is also going to depend on cooperation from Congress."
That last line sums up the problem succinctly, and I can only hope that this cooperation will be forthcoming, although one major problem, clearly, is that Republicans will delight in thwarting the President still further. If it does not happen, however, the failure to close Guantánamo will cast a dark shadow on Obama's presidency, and an even darker one on the prisoners - whether cleared men, or others still held without charge or trial - who will rightly conclude that, for them, there really is no justice in the United States.
44 Comments so far
Show AllAnother good one by Andy.
This United States government is a moral cesspool, and dysfunctional.
The Supreme Court declares MCA to be illegal, and Congress tortures the law and passes it again.
What a joke this country has become.
What a joke this country has become.
What a deadly, lethal, bitter joke this country has become. This is the look and smell of decline.
Alas, it's no joke, Mordechai. If it were merely decline, most of us might adapt reasonably well. It's the collapse that's coming we need to look at and prepare for.
"Obama’s Failure" Obama is a failure. Some idiots compare him to MLK. WTF! Who would MLK bomb?
. . . allowing Republican fearmongers to seize the initiative . . .
This is, without doubt, His Excellency, The Great Obama's most singular gift . . . next to lying.
What gets me every time is the continued suggestion that any of the eventually released would even wish to resettle in the US!
Actually, it's the failure of all of us. The American people are (for the most part) tolerating this travesty of justice, either by voting Democrat or Republican and thus handing power to the Congress and their satanic "not in my backyard" laws; or by being members of the group who actually wanted these laws.
I wrote to the President last month that because of Guantanamo, Diego Garcia, Bagram, the loss of habeus corpus and the continuation of "rendition" I would be voting Green (or some other third party) for all future elections.
I realise this may be "wasting my vote" and handing it to the Republicans, but as long as men and women are being kidnapped and flown around the world to be tortured, or held for the rest of their lives because we no longer have any respect for "innocent until proven guilty", and peaceful protesters are attacked by militarized police weapons, I don't really see much difference. Horror is horror, no matter who is arranging it.
If anyone can persuade me that I should continue to vote for the lesser of two evils I'd be happy to hear their arguments but I doubt I'll hear anything that will convince me. I think it would be better if every single person who cares about these issues would make a call to the President and their Congressional representatives and let them know that they have lost a vote. Maybe a few hundreds of thousands of irretrievably lost votes would make an impression. One can only hope. And pray, for the prisoners screaming in the torture chambers, compliments of our tax money.
Sioux Rose
Each day's news brings more evidence that Obama's role is to equivocate, SEEM genuinely interested in furthering the path to justice in any number of venues, but then find himself thwarted by opposing forces. In other words, he gives the APPEARANCE of wanting to change things for the better, when in reality, NOTHING has been changed. This health care giveaway to big insurance is probably the industry's own Plan B stage after getting the "no prescription drug benefit not over-charged" bill passed. For all the chatter about raising numbers (and by what degree) of soldiers in Afghanistan, it's another ideological tango which will breed the same forward march to a morally bankrupt destination. The war profiteers don't mind since for them, the quest (as opposed to the concrete "destination") is everything, El Dorado style.
For those last hold-outs that want to see the good in Obama, who project their own hopes or grace onto him, the most damning evidence of the true nature of his motives is seen in the company he keeps. Most of his advisors are from the old school, direct architects of all the things wrong with the nation's direction and its martial foreign policy. As citizens work harder and harder to get no where, find themselves financially treading water at best, HOPELESSNESS will fill the air. Besides Fox faux news and the utter control of media's message (apart from Internet), another reason why no serious mobilization has occured is due to the false labeling of events. How many recognize that a Depression is still underway? Just as the media broadcast all the "good news" about Iraq, framing the issue of a lessening of violence as positive U.S. policy instead of the FACT that likely a million were left dead, while several million others had departed their own nation... now the media tells us the recession is over, and is as usual falsifying data to provide a narcoleptic vision of what's truly underway. Those who speak out, challenge the voice of the dominant power-brokers are seen as the tin hat crazy brigade. Truth itself has been marginalized by our dis-information media, and like the individual raised on faux food filler, s/he owns no basis for discerning what ACTUAL nourishing food (in this case for thought) tastes like!
Very well said and much more thorough than this article I might add. Your question on the Depression is a great one. I say that the Great Depression is already in but it's a matter of when enough of the public will stop denying it and stop calling us tin hats when they themselves are the tins hats in denial. Somewhere, the elites of the Great Depression decided to retreat for a while and come up with a hideous strategy to seduce people into accepting their ways and turning people against each other. How long they wanted this to last is anyone's guess but I'll say it's probably long enough to hog everything away. George Lakoff's works could help reverse the framing. However, I sometimes question Lakoff's attempts to improve the Democrat Party even as the party's victories in 2006 and 2008 proved that deceptive framing is all that Democrats and Republicans are good at. The other day on my way to work, a fundraiser for one of the local Republicans told me how much he likes Obama's lying and dissing of the progressives and feels that Republicans will be able to come up with similar moves to "fake people into believing that they're flying out of the Great Depression". It is as if they have learned the lessons of George Lakoff for evil purposes. I think we have more work cut out for us than we realize.
Sioux Rose
JB: You have a fine mind for analyzing the details animating political loyalties. I don't keep track of who votes inside the two-party system, as I understand that many don't believe any VIABLE alternative exists. It doesn't help that the various sporting arenas are treated like a primitive form of religious idolatry in this nation. There the two competing teams format finds an easy segue into the political arena. Thus many have been trained to behold the world through the prism of polarity (good versus evil, Muslim versus Christian, Black versus White, and so forth), and thus they get caught in the endless conundrums duality spawns. I don't particularly like politics, but realize that to understand our nation and its probable evolution (not to mention its impact upon the world) I must remain informed about what's going on. "As above, so below" demands an equal focus on both the celestial themes (their due hours upon the great stage) and those of mundane import. Many believe that Nostradamus had the capacity to move through time to view today's events several centuries ago. I wrote about the power of deception (Neptune and the Final Phase of the Piscean Age) and knew it would hold special sway at this juncture, during this transition of Ages. Indeed the acts of leaders, the messages moving through the media's echo chambers make that intimation an under-statement. The book asks not so rhetorically, "How can dreamers come to recognize THE awakened state?" If I knew the answer, I'd share it. It would seem that a critical mass induced by current events will in all likelihood serve as the proverbial alarm clock.
and most people will hit the snooze button.
Welcome back Sioux! Your inimitable postings have been missed.
"HOPELESSNESS will fill the air. " –(Sioux Rose)
I believe it already does "fill the air" except for the unrepentantly naïve. Paradoxically this is not necessarily a bad thing. It can become consciousness changing if it is confronted and used properly to 'harden up' one's understanding and analysis of reality–if not develop a future politics.
In any event, it is always better than false hope and bad faith which remain the bane of what remains of American Progressivism.
–(Jill Bains)
Sioux Rose
AMFORTAS: A compliment from a finely-tuned mind such as yours is most welcome! Sometimes I feel I have already said all that needs to be said (on this site), and do not wish to become redundant. However, as one such as yourself is new to this forum, conceivably I might still have something of value to share. My world view seeks to take in the design of time itself, and those analogies between the dance of the firmaments and the related affairs of men, or should I say mankind. Always things appear darkest just before the dawn, and our small group of posters seems to confirm the vision of dark times given our exposure to so much troubling news and foul, failed public policy. Some who claimed a higher awareness sent emails circulating that shared "The Good News" that Obama was the one, an esteemed lightworker arrived to turn the tide. I never believed any of it. I remember the days during the late l980's when many wished to believe in the positive portents of "The Harmonic Convergence." Prior to our times over a century ago a charismatic preacher from the south convinced his flock that the Messiah was about to arrive, that the time for a great, much anticipated reckoning had arrived. Then nothing at all happened. The elected hour came and passed, but this preacher managed to convince most of his flock that the error of their ways (in specific, get this: worship on the wrong day of the week!) had led to the Messiah's profound change of venue! This "Great Disappointment," (the terminology used to relate this historical phenomenon) introduced the new faith of the "7th Day Adventists."
And so it is difficult to predict with precision whether or not 2012 will manifest readily discernible changes, those that would make it undeniably different in content from 2011. More plausibly these predicted changes will happen by increments thus bringing to mind the unfortunate frog who cooks so slowly that he fails to recognize the danger when there is still time to get out of the pot.
I often wonder how it was that the Atlanteans for their purported advanced use of technology, inclusive of genetic engineering, failed to read the cues that brought about the rapid demise of their world? It makes one think of those buried in the ashes of Pompeii as they went about their daily tasks unaware that their last breaths were about to be taken. A similar fate befell those living near the exploding volcano at Krakatoa. We are neither the first, nor last, to live in a state of impermanence (as the Buddists teach). And currently a surprising array of predictions overlap to suggest a profound turning point just ahead, depending on one's priorities determines whether it will turn out to be the next Great Disappointment, or something entirely beyond our grasp. C.D provides a useful forum where minds open to both the dangers and the magnificence of life at this time can debate the possibilities. Discoveries may ensue as a direct result of our collective cognitive synergy. I think I will take a toast to that proposition.
I hope you get to enjoy some time off with your daughter, Jill. I'm strongly considering a trip to Asia in early 2010. The things we may have taken for granted hardly seem as steady and reliable as they did just a few years ago. Part of me feels pressed to take advantage of travel options now... it's hard to say if the horizon will narrow and such prospects will become narrowly restricted in years, possibly months ahead. Peace, my friend. It was very kind of you to acknowledge me.
Very well put Jill. I always suspected that this administration was "bold" in the wrong direction. In fact, even as senator, Obama would go on the tellies to "boldly" criticize the anti-war protesters. Last year's "bold" move to bully the progressives in both chambers to voting for Dubya's bailout package was a signal of what was to come of this administration. Like a bad dog, this administration will "boldly" play roll over for social creeps like Rick Warren, Bill O'liely, Glenn Beck, etc... and be godsend for the corporate/military elites but at the same time "boldly" make excuses on Main Street such as "my hands are tied" and then take a page out of Dubya's play book on blaming the party out of power as the obstructionist when it's both parties that are "bold" obstructionists against Main Street. Obama isn't the first Democrat to do this but the way he's doing it is unprecedented compared to previous Democrats at least showing an ounce of shame. It will be interesting to see just how much of Obama's blind loyal base remains come November 2012 as he has already lost more than enough this year alone.
Sioux Rose
JILL: Thank you. What I find most mortifying is that America no longer has the leisure of time on its side insofar as global warming, imminent financial collapse, and the likely blowback from trafficking in vile armaments are concerned. That we have a president acting like a charming M.C. instead of one who realizes the NEED for leadership at this juncture consigns our nation to the junk heap of history under the heading of "Lost Empires." This nation has the intellectual resources and will to put positive changes into motion, but with the media co-opted by the voices and interests that profit (for the moment) from this disastrous status quo, and elected leadership severely delinquent with respect to the responsibility of protecting the interests of the commonwealth, added to the fact that "peaceful protest" is regarded as one notch below domestic terrorism, the channels that would make for a necessary regeneration of policies, practices, and public participation are closed off.
JENNIFER: Great work on the use of the premise "bold" and how Obama has relieved it of its intended meaning! Thanks for the post.
I know it looks weird when one quotes the word but I thought about the weird ways even the perceived spineless cowards both in politics and outside the political realm misuse boldness in the wrong direction. I figured that it matches the Orwellian behavior much like "free trade", "war on terror", "change you can believe in", etc... Sometimes, I have a hard time digesting it.
Also, thanks for the reply on the politics of the parties. Usually, I could care less what party label anyone wants to associate themselves with as long as they do the right thing where it counts. Nostradamus sounds interesting. I look forward to reading the book you mentioned. I doubt that mankind will ever get a definite answer to the how and why of the awkward state since I wonder if anyone will ever be able to collect all the pieces of the puzzzle.
I will chirp in with my usual screed that America is still loony about terror, driven that way by those who can profit by fear-mongering.
This media-stoked paranoia is given validity and truth by the insanity of Public Law 107-40 allowing any President to wage any war he wants, anywhere he wants, if he says that it prevents future terrorism against the US.
America must confront the law that started this madness because it is DAFT. Once America deals with terrorism sanely and stops considering itself in a war against terrorists past, present and future, then Gitmo can be solved.
The Emperor is pandering to Fox News, just like Tony Blair/Gordon Brown pandering to Sky News/the Times (all owned by our dear friend Rupert Murdoch). It seems R
Our beloved D majority Congess is also proving itself to be completely different than those bad ol Republicans eh? Thank goodness we have a D House, a D Senate, and a D White House eh? Now we are on the right track, what a relief
The level of democratic choice and accountability are quite impressive eh?
obama's failure to close gitmo is in keeping with his ever growing list of "failures" which are not failures at all
sure it gets the progressives knickers in a snit but i think we can safely assume by now that obama is not that concerned with our knickers.
he lies his ass off - promising to make the changes we elected him to make but never does. gitmo is just one of those - how about repealing homeland security which he said he would do, how about no new taxes for those making less than 250k. iraq is another one
he must be amused. i mean when the curtain falls and he is alone with his handlers they must laugh at the sheer absurdity of the part of the population still hanging on the their hope and change slogans like they mean something
progressives are in an alarming state of denial when it comes to the state of politics, wars, economics and the nwo
they parse the tidbits that come their way like a shaman reading the ashes - they try to decipher the tea leaves and any hidden insights that may be there
no wonder they held in contempt by the right wing
let's review:
1. america is a de facto fascist state - we know this because the country is run by and for the benefit of the corporations/oligarchs like the rockefellers - as proof of this i offer the bank bail out - 24 trillion and still counting, the greatest swindle in the history of the world. this is the standard definition of fascist. in dumbed down america it is a slur projected both by and from the left and right to each other. in our toxic politics smears pass for dialogue but that doesn't affect textbook definitions in the slightest.
smear though it may be it is still an accurate way to describe america in these dark times.
2. the corporations/oligarchs have no allegiance to any country including the united states - they play by their own rules and they do what they like. and the things they like to do include murder, destruction of countries, raping of resources and forcing people into slavery
3. america serves the ends of these folks by providing a lawless economic space called wall street where there is no end to the criminality they are allowed to commit in the name of profits
4, america has built, with taxpayer money, a roid raged christian military that is dispatched at the whim of the controllers to destroy any and every country where there are resources they covet
when the usefulness of this military is over these nwo controllers are going to pull the rug out from under this country by mass dumping of our dollar debt which is somewhere in the 6 to 8 trillion dollar range and we are going to die
this country will break up into smaller right wing fascist client states of the nwo, much like what was done to yugoslavia
at this moment we are well on the way to this dissolution
consider this:
between july to september 2009 - 937,840 homes received a foreclosure letter; 3.4 million homes are expected to enter foreclosure by year’s end, with some experts estimating that next year will be even worse
25 million people are unemployed or underemployed
10 U.S. states are on the verge of bankruptcy, with several ready to declare a financial state of emergency. California, Arizona, Florida, Illinois, Michigan, Nevada, New Jersey, Oregon, Rhode Island and Wisconsin are all “barreling toward economic disaster, raising the likelihood of higher taxes, more government layoffs and deep cuts in services.
the federal budget deficit for the fiscal year that just ended was $1.4 trillion, nearly a trillion dollars greater than the year before." In total, "U.S. public debt topped $12 trillion for the first time in history… The public debt topped $10 trillion in September 2008. The debt is quickly approaching the statutory limit of $12.104 trillion, meaning Congress would have to raise the ceiling to prevent a shutdown of government operations
47.4 million U.S. citizens live in poverty
One out of every two children in the United States of America will need to use a food stamp… to EAT!
but here we sit wondering about gitmo, palin and the nwo psyop obama
collectively we are nero, fiddling as rome burns
"...progressives are in an alarming state of denial...they parse the tidbits that come their way like a shaman reading the ashes - they try to decipher the tea leaves...no wonder they are held in contempt by the right wing." –(buff)
Pretty much correct, and well put, yet errs on the side of optimism: Progressives are not so much in a "state of denial" but rather in a state of abject and irreversible decline.
Yet the contempt that the right holds for the denatured and ineffectual tenants of Progressivism is nothing compared to the contempt it holds for itself, but cannot admit, self-critique or change.
Instead they 'organize locally' in 'small groups,' preparing to embarrass themselves in the next round of the elections they hold so sacred. Or maybe they will just vote for Obama again.
Those 'tea leaves' have long been 'read' and now sit smoldering in compost piles which will be used to grow organic turnips whom no one will eat.
–(Jill Bains)
I could easily dismiss Obama's failure to close GITMO as sour grapes for two reasons:
#1: Failure to close GITMO was what he intended thinking it would help him secure a second term. Well, anything is possible if Dubya getting his second term despite his disastrous first term in any indicator. I didn't expect Obama to close it or come close and still don't.
#2: Locust is right. Our society is filled with loony tunes who believe on this "war on terror" garbage. The average voter could read this article and mutter some nonsense such as "Well, Obama had to make compromises and do the right thing." If this is the kind of support Obama is looking to just to win a second term, his misplaced "boldness" isn't surprising.
So what if Obama had closed GITMO and scared off the loonies on the Far Right? Sure, he would faced the cold truth that our "justice" system is plagued with more prison hell that needs serious reform. Examing Obama's past record and statements on what he viewed at as change, it is possible that this administration defines "change one can believe in" as "change" that doesn't affect the status quo. Now, that my friends is as oxymoronic as the "war on terror" phrase. War creates terror just like change affects the status quo. I wouldn't be surprised to approach this administration and get lame responses such as "Nooooooooo, closing GITMO is not change you can believe in !"
The only way I see GITMO closing would be a national scenario of being unable to allocate any more money to keeping GITMO online similar to the way states are getting it right on putting a moratorium on zero tolerance, death penalty, 3 strikes, etc... because there is no money to continue it. Washington would have to stop borrowing money from other countries just to come to half its senses. Lord knows when these nations lending out the money will just stop.
"The only way I see GITMO closing would be a national scenario of being unable to allocate any more money to keeping GITMO online..." –(Jennifer Bedingfield)
–This is true, yet one needs to contemplate the darker possibility which holds true for all American military and war funding: Even in the event of total economic crisis and collapse there will ALWAYS be funding for what makes America what it IS.
Most Americans are very fond of "GITMO," as the word itself has become iconized and has a cinematic flavor as it rolls off the tongue. It will be the last thing to go, just like the now iconic 'Predator drone' will not be leaving anytime soon.
Do not be surprised to see a GITMO Commemorative Postage Stamp in the near future, replete with swaying palms, tropical Caribbean breezes and fascist guards.
–(Jill Bains)
The GITMO merchandise is already out there and it's not just stamps. I've met people who think they're cool wearing a GITMO T-Shirt, having a mug with "Club GITMO" written on it, and pro-GITMO bumper stickers and nobody arrests them. Pro-GITMO postage might wake up a few people who know nothing about GITMO.
my t-shirt - my design - is:
Hard Luck Cafe, GITMO.
I don't think it's cool.
It is my comment on the callousness of the apologists.
Damn!
Just when one thought to have believed the worst, reality comes crashing in on a tide of blood!
America never fails to disappoint; if one fears the worst, the truth is always one better yet.
No one can ever prepare for the worst in America because the worst is always an event horizon of the future. There is always a second act.
What a marvelous gift America has. The dance macabre spins and spins.
With a life of its own. –(Jill Bains)
Obama has broken all of his promises. Transparency? Visitors logs to OUR house, the White House, are still secret, as under Bush. The AfPak wars are increasing, and we are fortifying Colombia to go after Venezuela, Bolivia, El Salvador, and any other country which wants economic independence from us, or who has leaders elected which are not CIA-approved. Remember, we got Bush twice in fraudulent elections....and Obama, a two-year Junior Senator appoints Cheney's Dark-Side General McChrystal to run the war in AFghanistan...all the while, trying to convince Progressives that he is running a "kinder and gentler war", so that the Progressives will feel good about the re-branding of our National Security State under Obama, and their consciences will be eased by their silence, or muted protest, or their "demands" that we leave Afghanistan on a "timetable". We see how well the timetable withdrawal the Democrats championed worked in Iraq. Sure, Guantanamo will not be closed as promised. Instead, we still have hundreds held there, while a few are tried in show trials. This is classic Modified Limited Hangout...give them a bone, and they will forget the big story. The big story is the secret torture prisons in Eastern Europe, and the thousands tortured, and murdered there, and in Iraq prisons, and other facilities. Does ANYONE not think that Obama is not simply the slicker face of the same National Security State which has been in place since 1947? Americans should look at the reality of their country with unvarnished, non-rose colored glasses. Only then is change possible. War continues, and increases in the Middle East, and there are still 128K troops there. Obama said he would remove all COMBAT troops...but Progressives heard in their heads that he would remove ALL troops. These words are Psyops, and are designed to fool you. In reality, the Vatican-sized "Embassy" in Iraq will be protected by 58K troops...we have not left South Korea, and we will not leave Iraq...as Alan Greenspan said in his autobiography "Why don't they just admit that they invaded Iraq for the oil?"
It's time to send Republican fearmongers to the ICC for a few decades of re-education.
yeah, with all them right-wing "Democrats" who needs Republicans? It is all an illusion anyway. Wake up, we live in a de-facto one-party state. Has this not become obvious by now?
Gee, the last time I checked the D party had big majorities in both houses and cotrols the WHouse.
Obama/Palin 2012
lol
(0 might prefer her on top.)
"Obama/Palin 2012." –(mujeriego)
Why does this no longer sound in the least bit cynical?
No more cynical than one may soon hear that Obama is spending a few hundred million more to upgrade the Guantanamo infrastructure to state of the art.
After a protracted, bi-partisan political 're-consideration.' Of course, with much 'debate' at the highest levels!
The people cheer!
But then you knew that already?–(Jill Bains)
I suppose one could be cynical and say there's a bright side to this: If we closed Gitmo, we'd probably just send the prisonsers to Bagram, which by all accounts is even worse, or we'd just rendition them to some ally of ours that would torture them for the rest of their lives.
"... the failure to close Guantánamo will cast a dark shadow on Obama's presidency..."
–(Andy Worthington)
The use of the future tense "will cast" is incorrect. The 'other' foot has already fallen.
–The Obama Presidency is increasingly a 'shadow' without the contrast of light to leaven it. The glomming, obscuring darkness is all but in the ascendent. There is no chiaroscuro here. That 'tug of war'– if there ever was one–is over.
"Outside, in the cold distance the wind began to howl!"
(Bob Dylan/Jimi Hendrix)
–(Jill Bains)
". . . barefoot serpents, too."
Perfect. Thanks!
"barefoot serpents" indeed.
Prophecy.
–(Jill Bains)
if one word defines Obama that contains ALL the other derogatory ones that he DESERVES:
it is LIAR.
in its worst, most mendacious, most conniving and callous way.
LIAR.
if anything - he LIED to his own MOTHER who , as far as we know, was a woman who had great interest in alleviating the condition of those less privileged than she or her son.
and all he did growing up was learning and figuring out , secretly, how he might become the ABUSER of those that he probably began to think were beneath him.
he is a LIAR.
Obama has broken all of his promises. Transparency? Visitors logs to OUR house, the White House, are still secret, as under Bush. The AfPak wars are increasing, and we are fortifying Colombia to go after Venezuela, Bolivia, El Salvador, and any other country which wants economic independence from us, or who has leaders elected which are not CIA-approved. Remember, we got Bush twice in fraudulent elections....and Obama, a two-year Junior Senator appoints Cheney's Dark-Side General McChrystal to run the war in AFghanistan...all the while, trying to convince Progressives that he is running a "kinder and gentler war", so that the Progressives will feel good about the re-branding of our National Security State under Obama, and their consciences will be eased by their silence, or muted protest, or their "demands" that we leave Afghanistan on a "timetable". We see how well the timetable withdrawal the Democrats championed worked in Iraq. Sure, Guantanamo will not be closed as promised. Instead, we still have hundreds held there, while a few are tried in show trials. This is classic Modified Limited Hangout...give them a bone, and they will forget the big story. The big story is the secret torture prisons in Eastern Europe, and the thousands tortured, and murdered there, and in Iraq prisons, and other facilities. Does ANYONE not think that Obama is not simply the slicker face of the same National Security State which has been in place since 1947? Americans should look at the reality of their country with unvarnished, non-rose colored glasses. Only then is change possible. War continues, and increases in the Middle East, and there are still 128K troops there. Obama said he would remove all COMBAT troops...but Progressives heard in their heads that he would remove ALL troops. These words are Psyops, and are designed to fool you. In reality, the Vatican-sized "Embassy" in Iraq will be protected by 58K troops...we have not left South Korea, and we will not leave Iraq...as Alan Greenspan said in his autobiography "Why don't they just admit that they invaded Iraq for the oil?"
what's really happening is that the "new" gitmo at bagram in iraq is not ready - the remodel job isn't complete.....
as obama said, "it takes time".....
as soon as it's ready gitmo will close.....
This is truly mystifying. All Obama and Congress need is for some major political donor - for argument's sake, let's just say someone like, oh, Haliburton - to build a private "holding" facility on U.S. soil. Then offer, on a no-bid contract, to charge U.S. taxpayers several $billion per anum per "terrorist" (sic) to hold them.
What? Haliburton's already built facilities? No, that can't be right ...
-career trolls for party purity and perpetual angst-
Aside from the usual self important, drama queens here,
there is an inordinate amount of obvious right wing spew.
I ain't sifting through it.
It's still wet and smelly.
It is funny how Republicans come to sites like this to pick up anti-Administration talking points.
You know, "if you fly with crows, you might get shot at."
It's a metaphor, so don't have a coronary.
Obama said go... Congress said no.
There is no there there; except, if that poor bastard were Mother Theresa (and I think he's not), he would still be presiding over the most corrupt bureaucracy in the history of mankind.
We say it over, and over, and over..
and you are still, all over the map with a million pet issues.
There is only one issue.
Get the money out of Congress by instituting opt in, public campaign financing in your home state, through your referendum rights.
It's your last shot. If you can't invent an "ISM" that will get the majority of Americans into the streets shouting with one voice, aside from violence, public campaign financing is your only hope. Rigid ideologues are incapable of forming partnerships, and there will never be a violent revolution in America, so go with what you have.
Have a nice day and thanks for not shopping at Walmart.
That line DID crack me up though... "if there ARE any hold outs that still have even a glimmer of faith in Obama," or whatever the princess said... that cracks me up. Like everyone is doing a Rumba Line, following you crestfallen idealists off a cliff.
You're as out of touch with reality as the damn tea-baggers.
Disaster enough, with the show trials likely worse --- the guilt of the various complicit government agents up and down the chain of command is both manifest and ongoing.
0bama and his minions have joined Cheney in guilt enough to merit prosecution many times over.
- Torture continues.
- Rendition continues.
- Occupation continues under the same fraudulent claims debunked in the Cheney administration.
- Preparation for further crimes continues apace, with arms and nuclear arms building for renewed oppression of South and Central America.
Very little of government or business remains for an American of good faith to cooperate with.
Italy convicts 'U.S. agents' in CIA kidnap trial
November 4, 2009 -- Updated 2126 GMT (0526 HKT)
Italian prosecutor Armando Spataro speaks Wednesday in the court in Milan at the end of the trial.
Italian prosecutor Armando Spataro speaks Wednesday in the court in Milan at the end of the trial.
STORY HIGHLIGHTS
* Suspected U.S. CIA agents ordered jailed for seizing of suspected terrorist in Milan
* Americans are not in custody, but ruling could make them international fugitives
* Case centered on "extraordinary rendition" of Muslim cleric, who says he was tortured in Egypt
RELATED TOPICS
* Central Intelligence Agency
* Italy
ROME, Italy (CNN) -- Nearly two dozen Americans -- most thought to work for the CIA -- were sentenced to five years in prison Wednesday by an Italian court for their role in the seizing of a suspected terrorist in Italy in 2003, the prosecutor in the case told CNN.
The Americans did not appear for trial and are not in custody, but the ruling could effectively make them international fugitives.
The trial was the first to deal with a practice that human rights groups call "extraordinary rendition." They say the United States has often sent suspects to countries that practice torture.
Washington acknowledges making secret "rendition" transfers of terrorism suspects between countries but denies using torture or handing suspects over to countries that do.
The case centered on the extraordinary rendition of a Muslim cleric, Osama Mustafa Hassan Nasr, or Abu Omar.
He was seized on the streets of Milan, Italy, in 2003, transferred to Egypt and tortured, he said. He was suspected of recruiting men to fight in Iraq and Afghanistan and was under heavy surveillance by Italy's intelligence agency.
Prosecutors said he was nabbed by a CIA team working with Italian intelligence officials.
The verdict "shows governments and institutions that the fight against terrorism has to be carried out in accordance with the law. There are no shortcuts," Spataro told CNN.
Those who were found guilty were ordered to pay Abu Omar 1 million euros ($1.48 million) and his wife 500,000 euros.
A total of 22 Americans were each sentenced to five years in prison for their role in his abduction. Another -- Robert Seldon Lady, whom prosecutors said was the CIA station chief in Milan -- was sentenced to eight years in jail, prosecutor Armando Spataro told CNN.
Cases were dismissed against three other Americans, including Jeff Castelli, the man assumed to be the CIA station chief in Rome at the time, because they had diplomatic immunity from prosecution. Spataro said he may appeal that ruling.
Cases were also dismissed against the former head of Italy's intelligence service and his deputy because of state secrecy provisions.
Two other Italians were sentenced to three years in jail for aiding the plot.
Sabrina De Sousa, one of the American defendants, was "saddened, angered and dismayed" by the ruling, her lawyer told CNN.
She felt the U.S. government had "stabbed her in the back," Mark Zaid said. "We understand why the Italians did what they did. They were following their laws. But at the end of the day, representatives of our United States government abroad were let down and left alone by their own government."
De Sousa, a career diplomat, is suing the State Department over the case, Zaid confirmed. She has never said she worked for the CIA.
CIA spokesman George Little said Wednesday: "The CIA has not commented on any of the allegations surrounding Abu Omar."
But U.S. officials confirmed to CNN when the case first broke that the CIA was involved in the rendition of Abu Omar from Italy to Egypt. The officials never disclosed the number of Americans involved or their names.
Pentagon spokesman Geoff Morrell responded to the verdict as it applied to an Air Force officer, Lt. Col. Joseph Romano III, who was among the Americans sentenced.
The Pentagon had asserted jurisdiction over the incident under the NATO Status of Forces Agreement, a position that the Italian minister of justice supported, Morrell said.
"We are clearly disappointed by the court's ruling," Morrell said. "Our view is that the Italian court has no jurisdiction over Lt. Col. Romano and should have immediately dismissed the charges."
The American Civil Liberties Union, a persistent critic of Washington's extraordinary rendition program, demanded the United States match Italy's actions.
"The decision in Italy underscores the need for the United States to hold its own officials accountable for crimes committed under the 'extraordinary rendition' program. It is shameful that the first convictions of this kind came from a foreign justice system, where those convicted are not likely to serve their time," said Steven Watt, staff attorney for the ACLU Human Rights Program.
Italian authorities originally indicted 26 Americans and five Italians in 2007 for kidnapping in the matter.
The Italians included the former head of Italian intelligence, Nicolo Pollari, and one of his deputies. They testified in preliminary hearings that Italian intelligence played no role in the alleged abduction.
None of the Americans is in custody in Italy and the Italian government did not ask for their extradition; they were tried in absentia.
Former CIA analyst Michael Scheuer told CNN in the past that the Italian military secret service had approved the operation involving Hassan, and CIA sources who refused to be named told CNN in 2005 that the agency had briefed and sought approval from its Italian counterpart for such an abduction.
The Italian government of the day -- which was led by Silvio Berlusconi -- vigorously denied having authorized Hassan's kidnapping, which it called illegal. Berlusconi has since returned to power.
This is and always has been destined to be a demonstration of the failures of the Imperial Presidency.
Against US legal precedent as well as any international law that pretends to hold power, the legal excuses and explanations about the hows and whys of Guantanamo's legality have always amounted to a perfect example of the marriage of the dark side of public relations to an administrative branch gone rogue (and I hesitate to use that word, another that has been gutted by its current promoters).
I would like to suggest that the failure to close Guantanamo is just another example of the cluster f--k that started when we allowed the prison to be established in the first place.
And how would anyone invent LEGAL legal proceedings to try those illegal imprisonments when, at every step of the way, they were excused and promoted by a system based in PR that primarily promoted fear in order to be allowed to take the most monetary advantage possible of a war that was only waged to gain control and seize the profits from oil fields.
The whole endeavor has no precedent in any transparent democratic society, no legal flow chart. It is reminiscent truly of the power, land and resource grabs from the Middle Ages: what we do for god we do more for our very privatized treasuries. To invent precedent now has the inventors and inheritors at obvious odds about how to spin the proceedings so that their emperor's clothes don't become completely dislodged. So they won’t, voila, be stark naked in the history books or during the next election.
And then there's the potentially larger issue of how to release innocent men (and boys, or at least those who were boys when they were kidnapped) and not expect them to find a forum to talk about their experience in Guantanamo... most apparently it was not like summer camp in the Catskills.
It takes time to come up with widespread agreement about which Potemkin legal facades to erect that at least appear to be lawful to a population that has given up real education for snippets and sound bites of Sarah Palin and Rush Limbaugh; big-eyed booby blondes that breathlessly describe the minutiae of Brad and Angelina’s face lifts as if they were the stuff of catastrophe equal to the sorrows of the families who our raids, bombs and greed have deprived of anything that we, if we were allowed to know, would recognize as home.