Closing down Guantanamo Bay

Cohn says habeus corpus denied alleged terrorists. Gitmo is a legal black hole etc

Submitted by ElizaQ on January 22, 2009 - 1:06pm.

Obama Signs Order for Closure

Quote:

US President Barack Obama has ordered the closure of the Guantanamo Bay prison camp within one year.

The order fulfils a long-standing pledge by Mr Obama.

At Mr Obama's request, military judges have already suspended several of the trials of terror suspects at the Guantanamo detention centre.

He has also ordered a review of the military trials and a ban of harsh interrogation techniques that many consider to amount to torture.

I think the news said there's going to be a press conference about it, in about an hour.

Submitted by Fidel on January 22, 2009 - 4:02pm.

Tripoli seeks repatriation of Libyans held in Guantanamo

Quote:

TRIPOLI (AFP) — Libya said Thursday it has asked the United States to repatriate nine Libyans held since 2002 in the Guantanamo Bay detention camp.

The request came as new US President Barack Obama ordered the closure of the Guantanamo prison within a year, in a dramatic repudiation of his predecessor George W. Bush.

"We are very concerned by the lack of information on the nine Libyans held in Guantanamo and we have asked for their repatriation many times," said Salah Abdessalem, head of a human rights association affiliated with the Kadhafi Foundation, a charity led by Libyan leader Moamer Kadhafi's son. . .

Despite his order to close Guantanamo, Obama has not resolved the question of what to do with terror suspects who have been there for years, some without being charged

Some without being charged? All "charges" by Kangaroo court systems are illegal period. Geneva conventions have been violated.

The US National Lawyers Guild urged Oabama to shut down this abomination of justice the day he takes office

Six Algerians have been held at Guantanamo for seven years and who were residing in Bosnia-Herzegovina at the time . They were arrested in Bosnia(1000 miles from Afghanistan battlefield and the phony war) in 2001 for allegedly plotting to bomb the US embassy in Sarajevo. They were released from Sarajevo due to a lack of evidence implicating them and were sent to Guantanamo. A US judge ordered their release - no if's and's or buts - Bush admin setup two kangaroo courts - one to declare them "enemy combatants" 2nd to try them for war crmes - total hypocrisy.

And if the only evidence against Khalid Sheihk Mohammed is a confession extracted under torture after five years of denying any guilt whatsoever and in fact accusing his accusers of violating international law - and he is not found guilty beyond a reasonable doubt by a fair trial in the US - then that would mean that this current phony war on terror in Asia and Middle East are about as legitimate as Saddam's guilt for allegedly possessing weapons of mass destruction "WMD" I wonder how many of them will die mysteriously in the meantime or be rushed to execution?

Submitted by Fidel on January 23, 2009 - 6:16am.

Chaos in the 9/11 courtroom

In Guantánamo, the alleged 9/11 "mastermind" and his four co-defendants don't know the rules -- and neither does the judge

Quote:

When alleged 9/11 mastermind Khalid Sheikh Mohammed and his four co-defendants entered the Guantánamo Bay courtroom Monday, they came armed with a plan to martyr themselves at the hands of a tainted legal system. By the afternoon, the plan was in disarray.

The five defendants wanted to plead guilty, but only if it brought them their desired outcome. "If we plead guilty, can we still be sentenced to death?" Mohammed asked U.S. Army Col. Stephen Henley, the military commission judge responsible for trying the men.

No one in the courtroom knew the answer, including Col. Henley. In perhaps the most important terrorism trial in American history, the rules of the game are still being made up along the way.

The judge then revealed the dilemma. All five defendants faced the death penalty, but in the seven-plus years since the military commissions were first announced, the government had obtained just three guilty verdicts. No one had attempted to plead guilty in a death penalty case. And the judge did not know whether or not he could accept a guilty plea in a death penalty case.

Forever tainted

Submitted by M. Spector on January 29, 2009 - 9:20pm.

Quote:

The chief judge for US military commissions at the Guantanamo Bay detention center rejected Thursday the request of government prosecutors to delay the proceedings against alleged USS Cole plotter Abd al-Rahim al-Nashiri.

Prosecutors had sought the delay in response to an executive order issued last week by President Barack Obama ordering the closure of the Guantanamo Bay military prison within one year, and instructing Secretary of Defense Robert Gates immediately to halt the military commission proceedings pending a comprehensive review of all Guantanamo detentions under the supervision of the Attorney General.

In his order, US Army Colonel James Pohl wrote:

Quote:

On its face, the request to delay the arraignment is not reasonable. The public interest in a speedy trial will be harmed by the delay in the arraignment. Granting the continuance do [sic] not serve the interests of justice. The government request for a continuance in the arraignment until after 22 May 2009 is DENIED.

Pentagon officials were stunned by Pohl's ruling and indicated that they were reviewing the ruling.

Source

Submitted by Fidel on January 30, 2009 - 4:49pm.

Obama’s Torture Loopholes

Quote:

Like many reacting to the president’s orders, ACLU Executive Director Anthony Romero expressed unbridled enthusiasm:

These executive orders represent a giant step forward. Putting an end to Guantanamo, torture and secret prisons is a civil liberties trifecta, and President Obama should be highly commended for this bold and decisive action so early in his administration on an issue so critical to restoring an America we can be proud of again.[1]

Torture by US officials has long been illegal, but the president’s executive order entitled “Ensuring Lawful Interrogations” seems to clarify, to some extent, what activities are proscribed. Disappointingly, though, this order contains loopholes big enough to drive a FEMA camp train through them..

So any US government agency can carry on abducting and torturing by "counterterrorism" operations except the CIA and ferret them off to secret US military gulags other than Gitmo.

===

Fidel Castro demands unconditional return of Guantanamo [9]

Submitted by Fidel on March 14, 2009 - 1:18am.

This is somewhat related to the torture and renditions. Apparently the US military has taken on these menial tasks, or what the CIA used to do covertly and is now focussed on more indirect methods of political interference in other countries, and thusly creating some minor separation of powers between various shadow government bureaucracies and cosmetic leadership

Investigative reporter Seymour Hersh describes 'executive assassination ring'

Quote:

At a “Great Conversations” event at the University of Minnesota last night, legendary investigative reporter Seymour Hersh may have made a little more news than he intended by talking about new alleged instances of domestic spying by the CIA, and about an ongoing covert military operation that he called an “executive assassination ring.”

Hersh spoke with great confidence about these findings from his current reporting, which he hasn’t written about yet.

In an email exchange afterward, Hersh said that his statements were “an honest response to a question” from the event’s moderator, U of M Political Scientist Larry Jacobs and “not something I wanted to dwell about in public.”

Hersh didn’t take back the statements, which he said arise from reporting he is doing for a book, but that it might be a year or two before he has what he needs on the topic to be “effective...that is, empirical, for even the most skeptical.”

The evening of great conversation, featuring Walter Mondale and Hersh, moderated by Jacobs and titled “America’s Constitutional Crisis,” looked to be a mostly historical review of events that have tested our Constitution, by a journalist and a high government official who had experience with many of the crises. . .

At the end of one answer by Hersh about how these things tend to happen, Jacobs asked: “And do they continue to happen to this day?” . . .

Submitted by M. Spector on April 1, 2009 - 5:03pm.

Re the preceding post:

Seymour Hersh: Secret US Forces Carried Out Assassinations in a Dozen Countries, Including in Latin America - Democracy Now.

Quote:

AMY GOODMAN: One question: Is the assassination wing continuing under President Obama?

SEYMOUR HERSH: How do I know? I hope not.

Submitted by Fidel on April 20, 2009 - 12:18am.

Five years and 183 waterboardings later, KSM confessed to everything Easy as pie. So now we know exactly who plotted and schemed the 9/11 attacks, besides the fact that KSM was one mentally and physically tough human being. Well, at least he once was. No need for evidence or a real trial. And never mind reconsidering the phony war on terror in Iraq, Afghanistan, and around the world, because it's all out in the open now. "No one expects the inquisition."

Submitted by Fidel on May 6, 2009 - 2:29pm.

U.S. has a 45-year history of torture

California Students' Call for Condi War Crimes Probe [14]

Initiative of Stanford Anti-War Alumni and Students

Submitted by Fidel on May 21, 2009 - 2:48pm.

"Rumblings about the impossibility of closing Guantanamo": Action, cut!

Quote:

Pornography, feminisation of the enemy? Confused over what Obama's view on Guantanamo and the backlog of torture images from Abu Ghraib? Join the club.

The centrepiece of United States President Barack Obama's PR campaign to show the world the US is the nice cop was to end the military tribunals, which he called "an enormous failure" during last year's presidential campaign, and close the infamous Guantanamo prison. This was Obama's first major "achievement" upon assuming office.

Rumblings about the impossibility of closing Guantanamo were being heard even as Obama took office. It appears there's no place to send the prisoners, most of whom are innocent of anything other than fighting invaders, if that. Congress does not want to allow them to come to stay in equally notorious US jails, where overcrowding, violence, drugs and AIDS are endemic. Nor is Congress willing to fork over any money to close Guantanamo. Of course this is nonsense. Venezuela's president offered to take them all, but Obama dare not accept any favours from someone so principled, lest his house of cards come tumbling down...

Theyre bringing in McChrystal to head up the torture program in Afghanistan. Wonderful. The struggle for democracy continues

Submitted by Debater on May 21, 2009 - 3:25pm.

Obama said today he still plans to go ahead and close it:

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090521/ap_on_go_pr_wh/us_obama

Submitted by Fidel on May 21, 2009 - 4:00pm.

Debater wrote:

Obama said today he still plans to go ahead and close it:

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090521/ap_on_go_pr_wh/us_obama

He insisted the transfer would not endanger Americans and promised to work with lawmakers to develop a system for holding detainees who can't be tried and can't be turned loose from the Navy-run prison in Cuba.

"There are no neat or easy answers here," Obama said

Yes there are easy answers to the criminal regime's American inquisition, Obomba:

Quote:

"It's disappointing that Obama is seeking to revive rather than end this failed experiment," said Jonathan Hafetz, a national security attorney at the American Civil Liberties Union.

"There is no detainee at Guantanamo who cannot be tried and shouldn't be tried in the regular federal courts system. This is perpetuating the Bush administration's misguided detention policy." [18] Kenneth Roth, head of Human Rights Watch, said: "By resurrecting this failed Bush administration idea, President Obama is backtracking dangerously on his reform agenda."

USsA still backsliding on democracy after all this time.

Submitted by Unionist on September 26, 2009 - 6:14pm.

Debater wrote:

Obama said today he still plans to go ahead and close it:

Sure he does. When all the detainees are dead, perhaps:

The prison at Guantanamo Bay will not be closed by President Barack Obama's deadline of January 22, according to reports.

Khadr lawyer not surprised by Gitmo delay [20]

But don't worry, everything is legal:

President Obama Reaffirms Power of Indefinite Detention [21]

Submitted by Ghislaine on September 26, 2009 - 7:27pm.

Hope and change, unionist, hope and change! Next on his list is 30-40 k more troops in Afghanistan and nudging us towards staying past 2011.

Submitted by kropotkin1951 on September 26, 2009 - 7:37pm.

Hope and change

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=etv8YEqaWgA&

Submitted by Stargazer on September 26, 2009 - 9:02pm.

Obama is not going to do squat about gitmo. He continues to pander to the Rethuglicans and he does what he is told. He needs to grow a spine and stop with this nonpartisian stuff. He didn't get voted in to work with the neo-Cons.

Submitted by Fidel on September 26, 2009 - 9:17pm.

He's a cosmetic leader like all those before him.

Submitted by Frmrsldr on September 30, 2009 - 4:14pm.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/09/29/AR200909...

Retired military officers push to close Guantanamo Bay prison.

Submitted by Diogenes on September 27, 2009 - 4:57am.

I am astonished at how much Obama has capitulated to the forces resisting him. It shows how he little power he really has.

Submitted by Stargazer on September 27, 2009 - 9:22am.

Sadly, it shows the power the far right has.

Submitted by abnormal on September 27, 2009 - 12:08pm.

Unionist wrote:

Debater wrote:

Obama said today he still plans to go ahead and close it:

Sure he does. When all the detainees are dead, perhaps:

The prison at Guantanamo Bay will not be closed by President Barack Obama's deadline of January 22, according to reports.

Khadr lawyer not surprised by Gitmo delay [20]

But don't worry, everything is legal:

President Obama Reaffirms Power of Indefinite Detention [21]

Everything is legal (not quite what he said during the campaign but hey, who believes politicians anyways).

But it looks like they will end up closing Gitmo - doesn't mean anyone will be released, just that they'll close Gitmo and open Son of Gitmo [30] in it's place. Mission accomplished and one campaign pledge honoured.

Submitted by NDPP on September 27, 2009 - 2:06pm.

Former Guantanamo Prisoner Binyam Mohamed Speaks: (vid)

http://www.andyworthington.co.uk/2009/09/27/former-guantanamo-prisoner-b...

Submitted by M. Spector on September 27, 2009 - 10:11pm.

Diogenes wrote:

It shows how he little power he really has.

It shows nothing of the sort. Obomba is the most powerful man in the world.

It's all a matter of how he chooses to exercise that power.

Submitted by Frmrsldr on September 30, 2009 - 5:51pm.

Here's a (tastefully) humorous take:

http://www.heraldsun.com.au/news/breaking-news/bin-laden-sports-i-love-g...

Submitted by kropotkin1951 on September 30, 2009 - 7:04pm.

Oh well I never drank the Obama kool-aid and I keep saying that with him America has merely put the velvet glove back over the iron fist. Bush was just not subtle enough but one has seen this from Democratic Presidents before. They are all imperialists no matter what language they use.

Submitted by Diogenes on September 30, 2009 - 11:03pm.

M. Spector wrote:

It shows nothing of the sort. Obomba is the most powerful man in the world.

It's all a matter of how he chooses to exercise that power.

That's a little cynical I think. I believe he would like to fulfill his stated intentions. Are you suggesting he says one thing and does another because that's the way he is?

Submitted by abnormal on October 2, 2009 - 5:54pm.

M. Spector wrote:

Diogenes wrote:

It shows how he little power he really has.

It shows nothing of the sort. Obomba is the most powerful man in the world.

It's all a matter of how he chooses to exercise that power.

If you accept that the career politicians in the Democratic Party are eating his lunch I suppose you can talk about "his" choice. But reality is that he's coming across as someone in full election campaign mode who not only doesn't understand the difference between campaigning for President and being President but is so far out of his depth it'd be laughable if he wasn't President.

Submitted by M. Spector on October 4, 2009 - 1:44am.

Quote:

In four years of researching and writing about Guantánamo, I have become used to uncovering shocking information, but for sheer cynicism, I am struggling to think of anything that compares to the revelations contained in the unclassified ruling in the habeas corpus petition of Fouad al-Rabiah, a Kuwaiti prisoner whose release was ordered last week by Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly (PDF). In the ruling, to put it bluntly, it was revealed that the U.S. government tortured an innocent man to extract false confessions and then threatened him until he obligingly repeated those lies as though they were the truth.

Andy Worthington [38]

Submitted by Fidel on October 4, 2009 - 2:21am.

M. Spector wrote:

Quote:

. In the ruling, to put it bluntly, it was revealed that the U.S. government tortured an innocent man to extract false confessions and then threatened him until he obligingly repeated those lies as though they were the truth.

Khalid Sheihk Mohamed said similarly that he gave them false information under torture. It's what they wanted and were determined to extract from him and others.

Canadian Michel Chossudovsky said:

Quote:

The lies underlying 9/11 are accepted by the mainstream antiwar movement. US foreign policy is condemned, but the "Global War on Terrorism" is upheld. Wittingly or unwittingly, this endorsement of the GWOT by those who claim to be opposed to the US administration, provides a legitimacy to the inquisitorial order, which underlies the actual practice of US foreign policy.

On the other hand, those who have serious doubts regarding the official 9/11 narrative, including the 9/11 Truth Movement, are branded as heretics and nonbelievers. The lies underlying 9/11 are accepted by the mainstream antiwar movement...

"Heresy cannot be destroyed unless heretics are destroyed and ... their defenders and [supporters] are destroyed,..." Pope Gregory IX, 1232

Submitted by Frmrsldr on October 30, 2009 - 12:16am.

Obama's Defense Bill restarts GTMO Tribunals:

Jason Ditz wrote:

With less than three months left to make good on his promise to close the detention facility at Guantanamo Bay within one year and virtually no effort made so far to do so, President Barack Obama has signed the military funding bill which will effectively restart military tribunals at the facility.

Today's move finalizes a plan concocted by the president in May, which would make a handful of cosmetic changes to the tribunal system, giving detainees a little control over their legal counsel and barring certain types of hearsay evidence.

Though some have praised the moves, many insist they don't go nearly far enough, and that the tribunals continue to have features, including the possibility of trying children, which violate international law.

Despite the move, President Obama insists that he is "serious" about eventually closing the Guantanamo facility, though he no longer appears to be touting his January 22, 2010 deadline and this is widely expected to have fallen by the wayside.

http://news.antiwar.com/2009/10/28/obamas-defense-bill-restarts-gitmo-tr...

Submitted by Unionist on November 19, 2009 - 12:22am.

abnormal wrote:

But it looks like they will end up closing Gitmo - doesn't mean anyone will be released, just that they'll close Gitmo and open Son of Gitmo in it's place. Mission accomplished and one campaign pledge honoured.

No kidding. Hope springs eternal. Change comes with the fall:

Guantanamo won't close by January - Obama [42]

Of course, given that this joker hasn't kept one single promise (at least, not the good ones), he might be lying this time too... Watch for Guantanamo to close in December!

ETA: Oh, hang on - this is really cool - look at this smug group of thugs, last January, when Obama signed an "executive order" to close Guantanamo by this January:

Submitted by al-Qa'bong on November 19, 2009 - 12:28am.

It looks as if the good ol' boys approve of what their token colored fella has done.

Submitted by abnormal on November 19, 2009 - 11:22am.

al-Qa'bong wrote:

... what their token colored fella has done.

Easily summarized:-

Submitted by Fidel on November 20, 2009 - 6:07am.

McKeon Asks For Information On 9/11 Terrorists

Ya good luck with that, Bucky boy.

"Heresy cannot be destroyed unless heretics are destroyed and ... their defenders and [supporters] are destroyed,..." Pope Gregory IX, 1232

Submitted by no1important on November 20, 2009 - 6:13am.

Obama really is a lot of talk but not much action. Very disappointing.

Submitted by NDPP on January 4, 2010 - 4:58pm.

Guantanamo: The Definitive Prisoner List (Updated 2010)

http://www.andyworthington.co.uk/2010/01/04/guantanamo-the-definitive-pr...

"I hope that the list and its references provide a useful antidote to the current scaremongering regarding the failed Christmas plane bomber, Omar Farouk Abdulmutallab, and his alleged ties with one - just one - of the 574 prisoners released from Guantanamo, in a Yemen based al-Qaeda cell.

This purported connection is being used by those who want the evil stain of Guantanamo to endure forever...but also to argue that no more of the Yemenis - who make up nearly half of the remaining prisoners - should be released even though the ex prisoner in question is a Saudi, even though no more than a dozen or so of the 574 prisoners released have gone on to have any involvement whatsoever with terrorism, and even though all of these were released during the presidency of George W Bush.."

Submitted by Fidel on January 4, 2010 - 9:21pm.

Andy Worthington wrote:

Quote:

In the case of Khalid Sheikh Mohammed [49], for example, the decision to prosecute him in a federal court comes over six years late. Despite having confessed to his involvement in the 9/11 attacks [50] to an al-Jazeera reporter before his capture by US forces in March 2003, he was held for three and a half years in secret prisons run by the CIA, where he was subjected to torture (including...

Worthington condemns the inquisition and torture etc. But he doesn't mention the fact that confessions obtained by torture are worthless and not to be confused with legally obtained evidence. Such nuances of democracy are difficult concepts for most on the political right to grasp.

And then there is tidbit about Khalid Sheikh Mohammed's obvious guilt after having confessed to Al Jazeera's Yosri Fouda. It's a foregone conclusion at that point. Except that Chaim Kupferberg [51] says KSM was one of several patsies fitted up for masterminding 9/11. And apparently Yosri Fouda is a self-admitted prolific liar.

"I do not really believe there is such a thing as al-Qaida, the organization; there is al-Qaida, the mind-set" -Yosri Fouda

Submitted by Unionist on January 8, 2011 - 10:55pm.

abnormal, on September 27, 2009 wrote:

It's not good to believe professional liars. Reality check:

Obama signs law to keep Guantanamo open [53]

Quote:

Making plain he would fight to repeal language in the law obstructing civilian U.S. trials for Guantanamo terrorism suspects, Obama said he was left with no choice but to sign the defense authorization act for fiscal 2011.

"Despite my strong objection to these provisions, which my administration has consistently opposed, I have signed this act because of the importance of authorizing appropriations for, among other things, our military activities in 2011," Obama said in a statement.

Translation for decent human beings: "If I don't agree to sign this law, they won't let me send more soldiers to murder people in Afghanistan."

Thanks, Obama. Imagine, we could have had McCain.

Submitted by Frmrsldr on January 19, 2011 - 11:42am.

There seems to be no end to the nuttery on this issue:

http://news.antiwar.com/2011/01/18/rep-mckeon-vows-to-keep-gitmo-open/

Submitted by Fidel on January 19, 2011 - 12:55pm.

Frmrsldr wrote:

There seems to be no end to the nuttery on this issue:

http://news.antiwar.com/2011/01/18/rep-mckeon-vows-to-keep-gitmo-open/

Rep. McKeon was so enthused that he vowed to keep Guantanamo Bay open at any cost, and that he would use all the powers of his new position to prevent any efforts that might lead to it even theoretically being closed at some point.

Certifiable imo. Didn't the Nazis at least allow the Red Cross to inspect the luxurious living conditions in the holiday camps for Jews and other terrorists? They could at least put on a show for the sake of propagandizing the issue. Operating on a need to know basis, and the world doesn't need to know apparently.

Submitted by Boom Boom on March 8, 2011 - 8:32am.

Guantanamo military trials resume

excerpt:

President Barack Obama approved Monday the resumption of military trials for detainees at the U.S. prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, ending a two-year ban.

It was the latest acknowledgement that the detention facility Obama had vowed to shut down within a year of taking office will remain open for some time to come.

"I strongly believe that the American system of justice is a key part of our arsenal in the war against al-Qaeda and its affiliates, and we will continue to draw on all aspects of our justice system — including Article III courts — to ensure that our security and our values are strengthened," the president said in a statement. Article III courts are civilian federal courts.

Under Obama's order, Defence Secretary Robert Gates will rescind his January 2009 ban against bringing new cases against the terror suspects at the detention facility. Closure of the facility has become untenable because of questions about where terror suspects would be held.

Submitted by josh on March 8, 2011 - 8:37am.

Another in a long line of broken promises.

"It is virtually impossible to imagine how one closes Guantanamo in light of this executive order," said Anthony Romero, executive director of the American Civil Liberties Union. "In a little over two years, the Obama administration has done a complete about-face."

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2011/03/07/AR201103...

Closing down Guantanamo Bay

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