"The United States must remove the shameful stain of Guantanamo"

[Catherina]

The United States must remove the shameful stain of Guantanamo
July 29, 2013 12:16 AM
By Morris Davis
The Daily Star

People often ask me how a person appointed chief prosecutor of the Guantanamo military commissions by the administration of President George W. Bush ended up becoming an outspoken critic of the detention center and an advocate for closing it down. Looking back, I recall that when I took the job in the fall of 2005, I believed – as did many others – that all of those detained at Guantanamo were the “worst of the worst.” I also went into it with an idealistic notion that the Bush administration was actually committed to a fair and open process for prosecuting the really bad guys whom we could charge with war crimes.

By then, the most shameful abuses against detainees had ended. In the summer of 2004, the Supreme Court said that federal courts had jurisdiction to hear Guantanamo habeas corpus cases. That opened the door for lawyers to visit the Guantanamo prison to meet with their detainee clients, and that bit of sunlight inside the prison helped end the worst practices.

The epiphany for me came in the summer of 2007, with the official appointment of General Counsel of the Department of Defense William J. Haynes and Air Force Reserve Brig. Gen. Thomas W. Hartmann over me. Haynes was the chief attorney for Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, and was instrumental in helping formulate the infamous memorandum Rumsfeld signed authorizing harsh interrogation techniques. Hartmann challenged my policy of not using evidence obtained by undue coercion, arguing that Bush said we did not torture anyone. With two people now exercising command authority over me who seemed to lack any legal or moral objection to what most would call torture, it was time to quit.

...

The third category, consisting of about 60 detainees, is the most problematic. These are men the government believes should be detained indefinitely without trial. It uses as justification the law-of-war principle of keeping the enemy off the battlefield. But soon, the question is going to be, “What battlefield, and what war?” The war in Iraq is over and that in Afghanistan is winding down towards a 2014 conclusion. The dubious law-of-war legal justification is about to expire, which means the military will either create some new legal fiction as a basis for detention or review the cases again and assign them to one of the other two categories, as the evidence permits. The latter is the right choice.

...

U.S. Air Force Col. Morris Davis was the chief prosecutor of the Guantanamo military commissions from September 2005 until October 2007. He retired from active duty in 2008. He is an assistant professor at the Howard University School of Law in Washington, D.C. This commentary originally appeared at The Mark News (www.themarknews.com).

http://www.dailystar.com.lb/Opinion/Commentary/2013/Jul-29/225393-the-united-states-must-remove-the-shameful-stain-of-guantanamo.ashx

[Solly Mack]

1. K&R

[Squinch]

2. K&R

[struggle4progress]

3. Obama: Guantanamo must close

By Lucy Madison
CBS News
April 30, 2013, 12:31 PM

Amid a protracted and widespread hunger strike at Guantanamo Bay, President Obama on Tuesday vowed to revisit the idea of closing the detention camp, though he conceded that "ultimately we're also gonna need some help from Congress."

The president, speaking to reporters Tuesday morning in a press conference, told CBS News' Bill Plante "it is not a surprise" to him "that we've got problems in Guantanamo," which he had pledged to close in the 2008 presidential campaign.

"I continue to believe that we've got to close Guantanamo," he told Plante. "I think it is critical for us to understand that Guantanamo is not necessary to keep America safe. It is expensive. It is inefficient. It hurts us, in terms of our international standing. It lessens cooperation with our allies on counter-terrorism efforts. It is a recruitment tool for extremists. It needs to be closed" ...

http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-250_162-57582112/obama-guantanamo-must-close/

[struggle4progress]

4. Political Barriers Stand Between Obama and Closing Guantanamo Facility

Little has changed politically since the last time Congress rebuffed the president.
By Michael Catalini
Updated: May 30, 2013 | 12:50 a.m.
May 3, 2013 | 6:00 a.m.

The last time President Obama tried to close the Guantanamo Bay detention center, Congress stopped him abruptly. The Senate did what it rarely does: It voted in bipartisan fashion, blocking his attempt at funding the closure.

Four years later, and the political barriers that blocked the president from closing the camp that now houses 166 detainees are as immovable as ever. Moving the prisoners to facilities in the U.S., a solution the administration suggested, proved to be a political minefield in 2009. Most Americans oppose closing the base, according to a polls, and congressional leaders have balked at taking action.

The Cuban camp is grabbing headlines again because of a hunger strike among the detainees. Nearly 100 have stopped eating, and the military is forcing them to eat by placing tubes through their noses, the Associated Press reported. The president reconfirmed his opposition to the camp, responding to a question about the recent hunger strikes at Guantanamo Bay with regret in his voice ...

"The president stated that the reason Guantanamo has not closed was because of Congress. That's true," Majority Leader Harry Reid told reporters last month, declining to elaborate ...

http://www.nationaljournal.com/politics/political-barriers-stand-between-obama-and-closing-guantanamo-facility-20130503

[Cali_Democrat]

5. ********CONGRESS BLOCKS BILL TO CLOSE GUANTANAMO***********

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/06/14/guantanamo-bay-close_n_3438347.html

WASHINGTON -- A worsening hunger strike and a fresh plea by President Barack Obama to close the Guantanamo Bay prison fell on deaf ears in Congress Friday, as the House of Representatives voted to keep the increasingly infamous jail open.

The House voted to make it harder for Obama to begin shifting inmates, adding a restriction to the National Defense Authorization Act of 2014 that bars any of the roughly 56 prisoners who have been cleared by military and intelligence officials to be sent to Yemen from being transferred there for one year. Some 30 other Gitmo inmates of the 166 kept there have also been cleared for release.

[struggle4progress]

6. Obama chooses lawyer to oversee Guantanamo closure

16 June 2013
By Matthew Lee, The Associated Press

WASHINGTON — President Barack Obama has chosen a high-powered Washington lawyer with extensive experience in all three branches of the government to be the State Department's special envoy for closing down the military-run prison at the Guantanamo Bay Naval Base in Cuba.

Clifford Sloan is the pick to reopen the State Department's Office of Guantanamo Closure, shuttered since January and folded into the department's legal adviser's office when the administration, in the face of congressional obstacles, effectively gave up its attempt to close the prison ...

http://usnews.nbcnews.com/_news/2013/06/16/18989755-obama-chooses-lawyer-to-oversee-guantanamo-closure?lite

[sabrina 1]

7. Another honest man who made the error of, like Greenwald, trusting that no US president

would engage in the crimes committed by the Bush administration:

I also went into it with an idealistic notion that the Bush administration was actually committed to a fair and open process for prosecuting the really bad guys whom we could charge with war crimes.

Now we will see what Congress decides to do about this:

But soon, the question is going to be, “What battlefield, and what war?” The war in Iraq is over and that in Afghanistan is winding down towards a 2014 conclusion. The dubious law-of-war legal justification is about to expire, which means the military will either create some new legal fiction as a basis for detention or review the cases again and assign them to one of the other two categories, as the evidence permits. The latter is the right choice.

The money involved in keeping this going is the problem.

I cannot think of that vile Gulag without feeling sick to my stomach, the memories of when we first found out about it, and what they were doing to deny any access to those poor people, to any form of justice.

It's not JUST a stain on this country, it is a major crime for which once again, no one has yet been prosecuted.

Where is old Rummy these days?

[Catherina]

15. and trusting that enough checks and balances were still in place

This place should have been closed by January 21, 2009, before the smell of sulfur evaporated from the White House. Every minute it stays open is one minute too long. I can't even think of it. When I do, I feel ill like you. This is our best chance for a cleanup. Pardon Manning, pardon Snowden, close Guantanamo, rein in the NSA severely under new, larger civilian oversight, and prosecute, prosecute, prosecute the Bush era criminals and anyone else who plotted against the peace.

It doesn't matter if it will gradually be closed, or closed in a few years, months, weeks. There's no excuse for the inhumane conditions and the suffering.

[struggle4progress]

8. Obama plans to transfer 2 Gitmo detainees to Algeria

Aamer Madhani
USA TODAY
6:04 p.m. EDT July 26

WASHINGTON -- ... White House spokesman Jay Carney said in a statement that the Pentagon certified to Congress its intent to repatriate the two to Algeria ...

The White House did not release the names of the detainees or any personal details about them.

Sen. Saxby Chambliss, the top Republican on the Senate Intelligence committee, questioned the move ...

The announcement comes as President Obama has stepped up efforts to follow up on a first-term promise to close the prison. He will meet on Thursday with Yemeni President Abdo Rabbu Mansour Hadi at the White House to discuss the transfer of Yemeni detainees at Guantanamo back to Yemen ...

http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2013/07/26/obama-to-transfer-guantanamo-detainees/2590485/

[Triana]

9. The United States must remove the shameful stain of slavery, greed, corporate & political corruption

misogyny, and a lot of other things too.

Don't hold your breath waiting. Unless you're a Republican. Then, do. That might be the only way it gets accomplished.

[Starry Messenger]

10. k&r

[Segami]

11. K&R!

[DonRedwood]

12. Yes, please.

[OnyxCollie]

16. Guantanamo is the stain

on the blue dress that is the United States.

[indepat]

17. Some stains are indelible, especially stains involving the national character

[Demeter]

18. This stain clings to certain public figures and will never come off

It isn't the collective guilt of the nation...it is the collective guilt of the liars and criminals holding office, who couldn't recognize an unconstitutional event if their lives depended on it (unless it happened to them, at which point they have already sawed the branch out from under themselves).

No mercy for the oath-breakers. I really don't care if they are being blackmailed into it.