President Obama will attempt today to answer critics of his dismantling of Bush-era policies on detention and interrogation, in a speech reminding Americans that strong national security and adherence to laws and national values are not mutually exclusive.
Beyond this lofty reassurance, senior administration officials said, Obama will also repeat the case he made on his third day in office that the Bush administration’s system of dealing with “enemy combatants” — resulting in three prosecutions in seven years and challenged by U.S. courts and allies — was not sustainable.
Four months ago, Obama announced his intention to close the prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba; release, transfer abroad or try all its remaining inmates; and outlaw the harsh interrogation techniques he defined as torture. But the implementation of those executive orders has proved far more complicated than he expected.
Mugged by reality?
The realities of leadership require that President Obama get beyond the campaign rhetoric of “Change we can believe in” and “Yes we can”.
,
ACLU head Romero’s comments give fair warning that Obama can’t continue to pin the tail on Bush.
Obama needs to decide if these are enemy combatants (or rather illegal enemy combatants) or this is a matter for the civil criminal justice system and therefor justicable by the courts.
I think it is a big (a catagory) mistake to confuse a war with civil criminal activity.
President Obama’s naivety and arrogance has run hard into reality. Did President Obama really think that the Bush administration was full of evil people trying to victimize those caught on the battle field of the war on terror?
“Did President Obama really think that the Bush administration was full of evil people trying to victimize those caught on the battle field of the war on terror?”
Unlikely. But the Koskids did and O needed their support to kill Hill.
Poping pop corn and getting ready to watch the fun when the Obama administration tries to move Gitmo detainees to prisons. The Senators and Representatives from those states are going to raise a lot of sand. After President Obama’s magical tour of Europe I thought the Europeans would be delighted to receive some Gitmo detainees. What happened? I thought reading the magical teleprompter insured that what ever President Obama wanted he got!
This is not really so hard. If we are still getting good intelligence out of these terrorists then keep them. If not, try them swiftly and hang them just as swiftly if they are found guilty of capital crimes.
Send them back to country of origin. If they don’t want them, let them camp out at the nearest point of entry or airport.
The only proviso: They cannot come back to the United States — EVER.
Obama to congress: give me the money to close Gitmo.
Congress to Obama: show us your plan for relocating the detainees and you can have the money
Obama: Just uh trust me and uh give me uh the money!