General Discussion
Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsSo, the detention facility at Guantanamo is going to close in 2014. Does anyone believe that?
pinto
(106,886 posts)Of course seeing is believing, but that's the stated intent.
marble falls
(57,055 posts)frazzled
(18,402 posts)it won't be Obama's fault. Congress has actively prevented it for 5 years now, since he first wrote the executive order to close it upon taking office. And he repeated his demand to them tonight:
That's clear. Write your senators and congressperson: lift the restrictions they have placed on him.
Pterodactyl
(1,687 posts)frazzled
(18,402 posts)yell louder at the House Republicans? Do you think that will really work? Does anything he prioritizes change their minds?
He has been releasing prisoners to foreign countries over the past year, where he can; but without the restrictions being lifted and funding being restored, it's not going to be completed.
Pterodactyl
(1,687 posts)davidpdx
(22,000 posts)Please remind me how many it actually takes to get to the floor for a vote. Yeah, 60. He would have to get 6 Republicans as well. So please name for me which 6 you think he can convince. I'd put Collins down for a maybe.
ProSense
(116,464 posts)"Obama himself has not been making this a high priority."
...he has.
NEW YORK At a press briefing today, President Obama restated his belief that the prison at Guantánamo should be closed. Anthony D. Romero, executive director of the American Civil Liberties Union, responded to the president's comments by detailing immediate actions the president could take.
"We welcome the president's continuing commitment to closing Guantánamo and putting an end to the indefinite detention regime there," Romero said. "There are two things the president should do. One is to appoint a senior point person so that the administration's Guantánamo closure policy is directed by the White House and not by Pentagon bureaucrats. The president can also order the secretary of defense to start certifying for transfer detainees who have been cleared, which is more than half the Guantánamo population."
"There's more to be done, but these are the two essential first steps the president can take now to break the Guantánamo logjam," Romero said. "We couldn't agree more with President Obama's statement that the 'idea that we would still maintain forever a group of individuals who have not been tried that is contrary to who we are, it is contrary to our interests, and it needs to stop.'"
http://www.aclu.org/criminal-law-reform-human-rights-national-security-prisoners-rights/aclu-statement-presidents
WASHINGTON President Obama today appointed lawyer Clifford Sloan as the State Department's special envoy in charge of closing the military prison at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba.
"The appointment of a new envoy at the State Department for closing Guantánamo puts in place one of the last pieces of the puzzle for getting the prison closed," said Laura Murphy, director of the ACLU Washington Legislative Office. "The president now has ordered the restart of transfers out of Guantánamo, lifted the moratorium on transfers to Yemen, and appointed top officials at the White House and State Department to get it done. Once President Obama makes the necessary appointment at the Pentagon to begin transferring detainees out of Guantánamo, he should immediately begin doing so. With more than half of the detainees already cleared for transfer or release, and dozens more being held without ever being charged or tried, it's time to start sending these men home."
http://www.aclu.org/national-security/aclu-comment-appointment-envoy-close-guantanamo
WASHINGTON Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel today appointed Paul Lewis as the special envoy for closing the Guantanamo Bay detention facility. In his new position, Lewis will work with the State Department on transferring detainees out of the prison to other countries.
Christopher Anders, senior legislative counsel at the ACLUs Washington Legislative Office, had this comment:
"The American Civil Liberties Union is pleased that Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel has filled the important position of Defense Department envoy for closing the Guantanamo detention facility. We had been concerned about the lengthy delay in filling this critical job that the president ordered created as part of his National Defense University speech in May, said Anders. Paul Lewis has three decades of experience working on national security and rule of law issues at the highest levels of government. In his new position, he will play a critical role in carrying out the presidents commitment to close Guantanamo for good."
https://www.aclu.org/national-security/aclu-comment-appointment-envoy-close-guantanamo-bay-detention-facility
WASHINGTON The Senate late last night passed the National Defense Authorization Act for fiscal year 2014, which will ease transfer restrictions for detainees currently held at the military detention camp at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba, most of whom have been held without charge or trial for over a decade. The bill, which passed the House of Representatives last week, cleared the Senate by a vote of 84-15. The improved transfer provisions were sponsored by Senate Armed Services Committee Chairman Carl Levin and were strongly supported by the White House and the Defense Department.
"This is a big step forward for meeting the goal of closing Guantánamo and ending indefinite detention. For the first time ever, Congress is making it easier, rather than harder, for the Defense Department to close Guantánamo and this win only happened because the White House and Defense Secretary worked hand in hand with the leadership of the congressional committees," said Christopher Anders, senior legislative counsel at the ACLUs Washington Legislative Office. "After years of a blame-game between Congress and the White House, both worked together to clear away obstacles to transferring out of Guantánamo the vast majority of detainees who have never been charged with a crime."
The current population at Guantánamo stands at 158 detainees, approximately half of whom were cleared for transfer to their home or third-party countries by U.S. national security officials four years ago. Also, periodic review boards have recently started reviews of detainees who have not been charged with a crime and had not been cleared in the earlier reviews. While the legislation eases the transfer restrictions for sending detainees to countries abroad, it continues to prohibit the transfer of detainees to the United States for any reason, including for trial or medical emergencies.
"There has been a sea change on the Guantánamo issue, both in Congress and at the White House. With the presidents renewed commitment to closing it, and the support of Congress, there now is reason to hope that the job of closing Guantánamo and ending indefinite detention can get done before the president leaves office," said Anders. "As big as this win is, there is more work left to be done. The Defense Department has to use the new transfer provisions to step up transfers out of Guantánamo, and Congress needs to remove the remaining ban on using federal criminal courts to try detainees."
President Obama is expected to sign the defense bill into law before the end of the year.
https://www.aclu.org/national-security/senate-eases-transfer-restrictions-guantanamo-detainees
By Julian E. Barnes
WASHINGTONThe Pentagon said it has transferred the last three ethnic Uighur Chinese nationals from the U.S. military prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, to Slovakia in what it called "a significant milestone in our effort to close the detention facility at Guantanamo Bay."
Pentagon press secretary Rear Adm. John Kirby said in a written statement that Yusef Abbas, Saidullah Khalik and Hajiakbar Abdul Ghuper are "voluntarily resettling in Slovakia," leaving 155 detainees at Guantanamo.
The three men were the last of 22 ethnic Uighurs captured in Afghanistan in 2001 and ordered released from Guantanamo under an Oct. 7, 2008, federal court ruling. The 22 men have ended up being resettled to six different countries, the Pentagon said.
Andrea Prasow, senior counterterrorism counsel for advocacy group Human Rights Watch, said the transfer was an important moment. "The Uighurs had nothing to do with any conflict with the United States," she said. "It is a stark symbol of what was wrong with Guantanamo, with what was wrong with just sweeping people up and detaining them in an offshore facility."
- more -
http://online.wsj.com/news/articles/SB10001424052702304361604579292270871879140
Fortunately and finally, at the end of 2013, the Uighurs--a persecuted religious minority from China--have left Guantanamo.
https://www.aclu.org/national-security/free-uighurs
Cha
(297,026 posts)Some other shit you may not be aware of..
1000words
(7,051 posts)Pterodactyl
(1,687 posts)1000words
(7,051 posts)Hell no!
okaawhatever
(9,461 posts)at some point last year, shortly after the SOTU all the rhetoric stopped. I know Obama appointed another person to head the closure so all he needed was the money for the move and a country willing to take the 160 whose birth countries wouldn't allow them to come back.
lonestarnot
(77,097 posts)struggle4progress
(118,268 posts)Luminous Animal
(27,310 posts)struggle4progress
(118,268 posts)are still on an "indefinite detention" list
About half of the 155 are "cleared for release"; Mahmud Mujahid recently convinced the parole board to move his name from the "indefinite detention" list to the "cleared for release" list
I think the rest are on a trial list: the desirable outcome, of course, would be civilian-court trials rather than trial by the military commissions W proposed
So there are three separate problems: the "indefinite detention" problem, the problem of actually relocating those "cleared for release"; and the problem of obtaining civilian-court trials for the rest
None of these are solved by continuing to hold anyone at Guantanamo
Luminous Animal
(27,310 posts)And yes, there is the "indefinite detention" tragedy.
But hey! Wherever these human beings are warehoused will be a success for Obama to "progressives"."
struggle4progress
(118,268 posts)different subjects indiscriminately together
You and I can probably agree on what we think about many US prisons, state or federal, but the reality is that no one will really give a flying fuck what either of us thinks -- if one wants to works towards (say) prison reform, one needs to be able to lay out facts accurately and understandably, in order to convince other people that there are precise issues that need to be addressed
A similar remark applies to Guantanamo: to discuss the matter cogently with members of the public, one must be able to explain the issues accurately and understandably, and I have here tried to point out three rather different issues at Guantanamo, which I think require solution
hughee99
(16,113 posts)which based on your numbers (45 on "indefinite detention", another 75 "cleared for release" with no country to release them to) affects about 30-35 of the 155 people that are on neither list and just awaiting trial. If congress gives the president everything he wants on this, there's still going to be 120 people (80%) the government is holding and has no idea what to do with. They'll keep the base open until they figure out what to do with those 120 people, and the president (this one and the next one) will continue to blame congress for blocking them from "fixing" a problem they have no idea how to fix.
VanillaRhapsody
(21,115 posts)IIRC...
pscot
(21,024 posts)believe it now. And I'll probably believe it in 2016 when Hillary says it.
Pterodactyl
(1,687 posts)Luminous Animal
(27,310 posts)Which is the real tragedy.
Rex
(65,616 posts)nt.