Report: Gates Pushed To Shut Down Gitmo

(CBS/AP)  In sharp contrast to his predecessor, Defense Secretary Robert Gates reportedly tried to shut down Guantanamo.

Gates, who succeeded Donald Rumsfeld last year, pushed in his first weeks as defense secretary for closing the detention center at the U.S. naval base in Cuba, arguing that its image was so tainted that any military trials there would be viewed as illegitimate, according to The New York Times.

He was overruled, however, after Attorney General Alberto Gonzales and other government lawyers objected to moving detainees to the United States, the Times said in a report posted on its Web site Thursday night. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice agreed with Gates, but Vice President Dick Cheney's office took the same position as Gonzales, the report said, citing unidentified senior administration officials.

One senior administration official told the newspaper that Gates' battle may get a second life, now that Gonzales' future has become uncertain in the wake of the controversy over the U.S. attorney firings.

"Let's see what happens to Gonzales," the official, who favors closing Guantanamo, said. "I suspect this one isn't over yet."

Administration lawyers fear an explosion of civil litigation if the terrorism suspects are moved onto U.S. soil, the Times reports.

Two former detainees are suing Rumsfeld and other military officials, accusing them of mistreating and imprisoning them for years despite knowing they weren't enemy combatants.

The men joined three other Guantanamo Bay detainees in a federal lawsuit late Wednesday against Rumsfeld, former Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Richard Myers and several officials at the military prison.

Nearly 400 people are detained at Guantanamo Bay.

Like other such lawsuits pending in the Washington federal court, the complaint accuses the government of torturing detainees. Military officials kicked and beat prisoners, suspended them from ceilings, humiliated them and desecrated their Qurans, the lawsuit contends.

What is unique about this case, however, is that two of the detainees — identified as Abu Muhammad and Zakirjan Hasam — say they underwent the military's Combatant Status Review Tribunals and were ruled not to be enemy combatants. Despite that, they said, their mistreatment continued for nearly two years before they were released.

Both Muhammad, an Algerian, and Hasam, a native of Uzbekistan, now live in a refugee camp in Albania, according to the lawsuit. Both men filed the lawsuits under the pseudonyms they have used since being released.

The Center for Constitutional Rights, the group providing legal services for the men, says the military violated the men's constitutional and human rights.

"Defendants failed in their command obligation to prevent these abuses and investigate and punish those responsible," attorneys wrote.

The Pentagon has said it thoroughly investigated allegations of misconduct at Guantanamo Bay and disciplined officials when appropriate.

The lawsuit faces an uphill battle. A federal appeals court recently agreed with the Justice Department, which says foreigners held at Guantanamo Bay have no constitutional rights.

Also, government officials are normally immune from lawsuits filed in connection with their jobs. A federal judge is considering whether that immunity is valid in a similar case involving allegations of torture at the Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq.

[montraville]

The reason we ban torture is because we don't want other armies torturing our people. The honored the Geneva Convention during WWII, and so did the Germans, at least with regard to Brit and US prisoners, not Russians.

What about the terrorists, who are not part of a regular army? Well, there is still the matter of world opinion. The terrorists who kidnapped Americans in Lebanon treated them poorly, and it turned western opinion in favor of Israel more than it already was.

America doesn't NEED to torture, EVER. More importantly, it's against the principles of democracy, which upholds the dignity of all human beings. We have to stand up for our principles , or people around the world will cease to see America as a model for democracy.

[radiob-2009]

Constitution section 9: The Privilege of the Writ of Habeas Corpus shall not be suspended, unless when in Cases of Rebellion or Invasion the public Safety may require it.


This is probaly what they are using do deny habeaus corpus.

[book54552134]

Some of the gibberish coming from the Extremist Right on this subject is absurd.
No reasonable person is opposed to the detention of terrorists. However, the US legal system (not to be confused with the military court-martial) designed to establish guilt or innocence should be maintained and upheld.
If a suspect is found guilty, after an appropriate and Internationally accepted trial by independent jurists, then he should be detained for as long as it is deemed necessary to protect the public.
But if a suspect is found innocent, he/she should be released to their home country & compensated for lengthy & false imprisonment.
Torture is another issue. Whether a suspect is guilty or innocent torture is a war crime & should be treated as such. Those responsible for initiating or engaging in torture must be held accountable for their actions regardless of how high up the ladder of government such instructions came from. But for this to occur, the GOP revised War Crimes Act will have to be revisited by Congress.

[dustfullman]

Guantanomo is a cancer eating at the very existence of all that The United States stands for. For the first time in history the end justifies the means as a statement of National Policy. Every true American should turn his back on this evil and disgusting doctrine. George Bush and The Republican Party can only be compared to The Nazifification that took place in Germany. Not one American is safer because of these policies.

[inventagod]

400 'detainees'

$400,000,000,000.00

Bu$hCo Math in action

[macusweil]

Nice try Bobby !!

Shot down by "Torture Boy" Gonzales and our heroic chicken hawk VP, Cheney who thinks water boarding is just alright!!

Breaking our longstanding US military standards & international law on US soil is far too controversial, could even lead to more Congressional subpoenas.

[dilluminati]

I saw Gates on Meet the Press or another Sunday show and was impressed with his answers and his decorum, in short leadership abilities. His answer to the general's comments on don't ask and don't tell were well parsed and illustrative of the fact that he was running the military and not a political attache'.

It is such a *** shame that he was not put in that post years earlier. It was refreshing to get a break from what had been hubris, arrogance, and obstinant sound bites from that office previously.

This guy is not dumb and that is good for all americans.

[shingles1]

According to wingnut logic, by suggesting that Gitmo be closed down, Gates must be a pro-terrorist traitor.

[grumpas]

'how come we can prosecute our own soldiers, expeditiously, with zeal, but when it comes to these enemy combatants that americans have died to get, we stall, consult, advise, talk, stall, wait, consult, and in the end still never serve justice???????' posted by usadvisor101. The answer to that should be obvious! I have little doubts there are some terrorist's in custody there! But, at the same time I have little doubts a lot of them were victims of circumstances! They are in the wrong place at the wrong time! What other reason could our government possible have for keeping these trials such a secret! Except to make certain the public doesn't get a chance to judge our government! They have taken every right these people have as a human being away already! This is not the American way of doing things only the same old Bush way!

[montraville]

I think for a couple years, 9-11 knocked all of us for a loop. The anger that resulted from that made us all a little stupid. That's why our corrupt leaders were able to foist Guantanamo and Iraq on us, and then they were able to swank around on horseback and call themselves Wartime Leaders.

I think the US has returned to its senses, people from both parties. Moderates are discovering that we have to stay engaged in the world, and we can't make foreign policy decisions based on rage, willful blindness, and studied ignorance. Hopefully we've matured.