Obama Team Crafts Plan To Close Gitmo

Team Of Legal Advisers Hopes To Release Many Detainees, Try Others In U.S., But How?

(CBS/AP)  President-elect Barack Obama's advisers are making plans to close the Guantanamo Bay prison and prosecute terror suspects in the United States, a plan that the Bush administration said Monday was easier said than done.

Under the plan being drawn up by Obama's advisers, some detainees would be released and others would be charged in U.S. courts, where they would receive constitutional rights and open trials. But, underscoring the difficult decisions Obama must make to fulfill his pledge of shutting down Guantanamo, the plan could require creation of a new legal system to handle the classified information inherent in some of the most sensitive cases.

Many of the about 250 Guantanamo detainees are cleared for release, but the Bush administration has been unable to find a country willing to take them.

Advisers participating directly in the planning spoke on condition of anonymity because the plans are not final.

The plan being developed by Obama's team has been championed by legal scholars from both political parties. But as details surfaced Monday, it drew criticism from Democrats who oppose creating a new legal system and from Republicans who oppose bringing terror suspects to the U.S. mainland.

Obama foreign policy adviser Denis McDonough said the president-elect wants Guantanamo closed, but no decision has been made "about how and where to try the detainees, and there is no process in place to make that decision until his national security and legal teams are assembled."

Obama seeks a break from the Bush administration, which established military tribunals to prosecute detainees at the Navy base in Cuba and strongly opposes bringing prisoners to the United States. At the White House, spokeswoman Dana Perino said Monday that President George W. Bush has faced many challenges in trying to close the prison.

"We've tried very hard to explain to people how complicated it is. When you pick up people off the battlefield that have a terrorist background, it's not just so easy to let them go," Perino said. "These issues are complicated, and we have put forward a process that we think would work in order to put them on trial through military tribunals."

Obama has been critical of that process, and his legal advisers said finding an alternative would be a top priority. One of those advisers, Harvard law professor Laurence Tribe, acknowledges that bringing detainees to the United States would be controversial but said it could be accomplished.

"I think the answer is going to be, they can be as securely guarded on U.S. soil as anywhere else," Tribe said. "We can't put people in a dungeon forever without processing whether they deserve to be there."

"The Obama plan for the eventual closing of the detention facility at the military base - what we know of it, anyway - is a practical, reasonable solution to the problem the Bush administration created for itself in the aftermath of the terror attacks upon America," said CBS News legal analyst Andrew Cohen.

"If done properly, with foresight and cooperation with the other branches, such a system would break the logjam over the rights of the terror detainees.

"This is no small matter. We are now more than seven years removed from September 11, 2001 and still there has been no completed military trial of a serious al Qaeda leader under tribunal rules initially set up by President Bush within months of the terror attacks."

The tougher challenge will be allaying fears by Democrats who believe the Bush administration's military commissions were a farce and dislike the idea of giving detainees anything less than the full constitutional rights normally enjoyed by everyone on U.S. soil.

"I think that creating a new alternative court system in response to the abject failure of Guantanamo would be a profound mistake," Jonathan Hafetz, an American Civil Liberties Union attorney who represents detainees, said Monday. "We do not need a new court system. The last eight years are a testament to the problems of trying to create new systems."

Senate Judiciary Committee member John Cornyn, a Republican, said it would be a "colossal mistake to treat terrorism as a mere crime."

"It would be a stunning disappointment if one of the new administration's first priorities is to give foreign terror suspects captured on the battlefield the same legal rights and protections as American citizens accused of crimes," Cornyn said Monday. He noted that the Senate overwhelmingly passed a nonbinding Senate bill last year opposing bringing detainees to the United States.

Obama did not vote on that measure. He has said the civilian and military courts-martial systems provide "a framework for dealing with the terrorists," and Tribe said the administration would look to those venues before creating a new legal system. But discussions of what a new system would look like have already started.

An Obama administration will want to avoid the criticisms that have marked the Bush administration's military commissions. Human rights groups and defense attorneys have condemned the commissions for lax evidence rules and intense secrecy. Some military prosecutors have even quit in protest.

"It would have to be some sort of hybrid that involves military commissions that actually administer justice rather than just serve as kangaroo courts," Tribe said. "It will have to both be and appear to be fundamentally fair in light of the circumstances. I think people are going to give an Obama administration the benefit of the doubt in that regard."

Some were not so sure.

"There would be concern about establishing a completely new system," said Democratic Rep. Adam Schiff, a member of the House Judiciary Committee and former federal prosecutor who is aware of the discussions in the Obama camp. "And in the sense that establishing a regimen of detention that includes American citizens and foreign nationals that takes place on U.S. soil and departs from the criminal justice system - trying to establish that would be very difficult."

Although a hybrid court might be unpopular, other advisers and Democrats involved in the Guantanamo Bay discussions say Obama has few options.

Prosecuting all detainees in federal courts raises many problems. Evidence gathered through military interrogation or from intelligence sources might be thrown out. Defendants would have the right to confront witnesses; that means undercover CIA officers or terrorist turncoats might have to take the stand, jeopardize their covers and reveal classified intelligence tactics.

That means something different would need to be done if detainees could not be released or prosecuted in traditional courts. Exactly what remains unclear.

"I don't think we need to completely reinvent the wheel, but we need a better tribunal process that is more transparent," Schiff said.

According to three advisers participating in the process, Obama is expected to propose a new court system and may appoint a committee to decide how such a court would operate. Some detainees probably would be returned to the countries where they were captured for further detention or rehabilitation. The rest probably could be prosecuted in U.S. criminal courts, one adviser said. All spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss the continuing talks, which have been private.

One challenge will be to figure out what to do with the 90 or so Yemeni detainees, the largest group in the prison. The Bush administration has sought to negotiate the release of some of those detainees as part of a rehabilitation plan with the Yemeni government. Talks have so far been fruitless.

Waleed Alshahari, who has been following Guantanamo issues for the Yemeni Embassy in Washington, said the plan being discussed by the Obama team was an improvement over the current system. But he said he expects most detainees to be released rather than stand trial.

"If the U.S. government has any evidence against them, they would try them and put them in jail," Alshahari said. "But it has been obvious they have nothing against them. That is why they have not faced trial."

Whatever Obama decides, he should move quickly, Tribe said.

"In reality and symbolically, the idea that we have people in legal black holes is an extremely serious black mark," Tribe said. "It has to be dealt with."

[msubulldogtx]

What? Oprahma didn''t vote on the nonbinding Senate bill last year opposing bringing detainees to the United States? What a surprise. Some of them are probably his relatives and the only way he can get them into the country legally is to bring them in himself.

It''s nice having an African American president. It really is. But couldn''t we have nominated one WITH SOME BRAINS?!

[smurfcrusher]

AWESOME! Finally a leader who believes that folks are innocent until proven guilty. No more kangaroo courts. No more subversion of the Constitution. No more indefinite prison terms because evil people turned innocent men in for a $4,000 bounty.

Looks like the terrorists are about to lose one of their most powerful recruiting tools - President Elect Obama is taking the wind out of their sails.

[babooph]

"Too difficult" for the Bush bunch-I bet sensible people clear his "difficulties" up fast !How did that idiot get the White House???!!!

[tmittelstaed]

The US has a history of NOT prosecuting criminals where it would possibly jepordize intelligence gathering. Look at all the Nazi''s spirited out of Germany at the end of the war to work on the rocket program. The only answer to this problem is to release everyone they aren''t willing to publically try, and pretend they were innocent. Since these people were picked up in Iraq, they can be released in Iraq and ignore any complaints from the Iraq provisional government. If that government wants to arrest/shoot/whatever any of the released detainees on their way out of the country, oh well!

I gotta believe that 99% of that "classified" nonsense is nothing more than the idiot-sons covering his arse from war crimes charges..

[brianbwb-2009]

"Does the territory he was captured in even have a constitution?" Posted by william2512

Iraq was a fully functioning society, with a working constitution, at the time of the US invasion.

"Is that a normal thing for a war? If yer captured by the enemy yer tried in their courts?" Posted by william2512

Unless Bush can charge these people with specific crimes, then they should be repatriated as released prisoners of war. Resisting an illegal invasion is not a crime, nor are they "enemies", except to Bush, and to the handful of suckers that still think Saddam had WMDs.

"I will bring charges against the person who signed the release paper for the killer and bring impeachment charges against the abettor President who released that killer." Posted by ThatGuy56

You would fail. Bush is the one who illegally invaded, they were, at the time of capture defending themselves, or resisting the invasion, or just student demonstrators, which is their right under the laws of sovereign nations. Some just unlucky victims of reward scams.

[brianbwb-2009]

"The closing of Guantanamo and the release of the detainees is more a thing to do with relinquishing that territory back to Cuba, and closing down that base for good. There''''s not enough money for it." Posted by william2512

And about time, it has been a pointless base since the end of the missile crisis.

[skeezix06]

Good. It''s about time.

[brianbwb-2009]

"I gotta believe that 99% of that "classified" nonsense is nothing more than the idiot-sons covering his arse from war crimes charges..." Posted by hadenough43

Now that both Rumsfeld and Bush have admitted conspiracy to violate international, and US laws, also in light of the fact that there were no WMDs, it is clear that not enough arse was covered.

I do think, however, that Mr. Obama is still trying to appease the right wing neocon-derthals, and therefore won''t have the stones to bring Bush to justice, unless we the people let him know in no uncertain terms that we demand it.

[slim1h2o]

some detainees would be released and others would be charged in U.S. courts, where they would receive constitutional rights and open trials.
-----------------------------------------------

How do you extend "constitutional rights" to non-citizens?

[evian_ycnan]

some detainees would be released and others would be charged in U.S. courts, where they would receive constitutional rights and open trials.
--------------------------------------
---------

How do you extend "constitutional rights" to non-citizens?

Posted by slim1h2o at 05:28 AM : Nov 11, 2008

You don''t. You call them to "persons" and "people" and the "accused" and don''t concern youself with the Constitutional rights that specifically mention "citizen" (starts with the 14th). Nowhere in the bill of rights does it say "citizen".

[evian_ycnan]

I do think, however, that Mr. Obama is still trying to appease the right wing neocon-derthals, and therefore won`t have the stones to bring Bush to justice, unless we the people let him know in no uncertain terms that we demand it.

Posted by brianbwb at 05:19 AM : Nov 11, 2008

All things in time; Justice grinds slowly but it does, nonetheless, grind. When someone in the soon-to-be-cleansed DoJ gathers enough evidence, and when someone in The Hague exerts enough international pressure, then Bush will become grist. Until then, Mde. LaFarge knits.

[closethippy1]

Skeptics need to be reminded that Mr. Obama was a professor of Constutional law so he knows what he''s doing.
Please give the man the benefit of the doubt.

[formrusmcsgt]

At the White House, spokeswoman Dana Perino said Monday that President George W. Bush has faced many challenges in trying to close the prison.
----

And in his customary fashion, simply shied away from those challenges....

[sly_64]

If anyone thinks you have rights in this country , you''re really fooling yourself. Rights are made up , and can be taken away in one shot.

In 1942 there were 110,000 Japanese-American citizens, in good standing, law abiding people, who were thrown into internment camps simply because their parents were born in the wrong country. That''s all they did wrong. They had no right to a lawyer, no right to a fair trial, no right to a jury of their peers, no right to due process of any kind.

[sly_64]

Rights aren''t rights if someone can take em away. They''re priveledges. That''s all we''ve ever had in this country is a bill of TEMPORARY priviledges; and if you read the news, even badly, you know the list get''s shorter, and shorter, and shorter.

I think it would be very important that before anyone makes comment they should view two programs by PBS Frontline.
Number one is Frontlines: Bush%u2019s War and two; Bill Moyer%u2019s: Torturing Democracy. {Sorry I could only find the transcript.}

Links: http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/bushswar/talk/index2.html
http://www.pbs.org/moyers/journal/10102008/transcript2.html

After viewing these Tell me if bush is not a war criminal.
Yes President Obama has a massive task ahead and it is made harder with arm-chair presidents that can%u2019t wait to say they know better. So if you think you know tell us and maybe you could take the job and just see how easy it is.

President Obama has my full support and I think it will be best if we all sit back and watch and just remember that if not for the Constitution, which bush did everything to subvert, bush would have been our next hitler.

[skyhawk761]

If even one of these detainees kills another American, I will bring charges against the person who signed the release paper for the killer and bring impeachment charges against the abettor President who released that killer.


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Posted by ThatGuy56 at 04:43 AM : Nov 11, 2008
+ report abuse


I''m sure that Barak is craping in his pants as we speak. After eight years of a President that said the Constitution was nothing but a "*******" piece of paper this is nothing.

[irmcvet97]

Does anyone here realize that many of the detainess that were released have been killed or been recaptured while trying to kill Americans AGAIN. What does it take to wake up you a-holes.

Posted by guyfrompa49 at 07:26 AM : Nov 11, 2008


Look you either BELIEVE in our very soul, our justice system, or you do NOT! What has become so clear over the last 8 years is that fascist haven''t change any since the last time we gave them control. They STILL do not believe in it. IF people have done wrong, put together the evidence and put them on TRIAL! If you can not do that then release them and move on! The thing we can NOT do is show two faces to people in the world. One system is okay for American''s but NOT okay for others? Equal but different? Just doesn''t work people and our position in the world shows that.

[brianbwb-2009]

"All things in time; Justice grinds slowly but it does, nonetheless, grind. When someone in the soon-to-be-cleansed DoJ gathers enough evidence, and when someone in The Hague exerts enough international pressure, then Bush will become grist. Until then, Mde. LaFarge knits." Posted by evian_ycnan

True, but there is another consideration, one of time.

The establishment that the military aggression in Iraq was based on lies lays the foundation for the US to demand the return of billions of dollars from the war profiteers, especially the billions that went missing without proper accounting.

We need that money at home, and we need to take it before the thieves make all of it disappear.

[earache4]

Send the detainees to a red state like Texas....I know, I know, cruel and unusual punishment, but hey, they''re terrorists....

[brianbwb-2009]

Posted by guyfrompa49

So quick to call someone "the enemy" who has never attacked you, the 9/11 perps were 17 Saudis, one from Qatar, and one from Bahrain, no Iraqis in the lot.

Since you have no reason to, but continue to refer to the victims of Bush''s lies as "the enemy", it is clear that you lack the ability to understand that these people are innocent of any charge, because defending your land is not illegal.

They did not make themselves our enemy, you, and the other Bush suck-ups call them so.

[brianbwb-2009]

Not to forget that the largest number of kidnap victims are from Yemen, neither Saudi Arabia, Afghanistan, or Iraq.

[sly_64]

Rights aren''''t rights if someone can take em away. They''''re priveledges. That''''s all we''''ve ever had in this country is a bill of TEMPORARY priviledges; and if you read the news, even badly, you know the list get''''s shorter, and shorter, and shorter.

In 1942 there were 110,000 Japanese-American citizens, in good standing, law abiding people, who were thrown into internment camps simply because their parents were born in the wrong country. That''''s all they did wrong. They had no right to a lawyer, no right to a fair trial, no right to a jury of their peers, no right to due process of any kind.

[earache4]

Posted by guyfrompa49 at 07:53 AM

So how''s that Bin Laden "dead or alive" thingy going?

[eclecticman1]

Seeing that most of the prisoners were purchased from various Afghanistan militias, it is about time we discovered if they are really dangerous. A lot have already been freed, showing that the Bushies jailed them wrongly. It is about time we go back to our principals, both written and unwritten. We are not a dictatorship, but a democracy where law rules.

[jaybill07]

What in the hell is this guy talking about? That is the most unintelligible garbage that I''ve ever heard. No one has put too lofty of expectations on his shoulders. YOu have misinterpreted the magnitude and the popularity of this election with great expectations. Also, I think that lofty expectations are pretty commonplace when a non-incumbant president comes into office. People mostly expect a fresh positive start. I do not see anything wrong or flawed with that approach.

[earache4]

What in the hell is this guy talking about?
Posted by jaybill07 at 08:01 AM

Justice?

[formrusmcsgt]

Gitmo is a black eye for America.

It''s formation erased our moral authority to deal with others on human rights.

They respond, "you jail people indefinitely without charging them as well, so ****!"

[mccain08nc]

Put Bush and Cheney in Guantanamo!

Posted by arlvabear

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

People like you are a disgrace to america you listen to the left leaning news propaganda and think you know so much about what Bush did. You border on treason with you acusations of our president and not one of you have first hand knowledge of what has happened.

You are just extremly lucky soldiers have faught and died to give you the right to be a disgracful american.

[get_it_str8]

Let''s get these guys out on the street and give them a driver''s license and a gubment check so they can buy some diesel and fertilizer and a van and go wherever they want.

[rational_1]

''Many of the about 250 Guantanamo detainees are cleared for release, but the Bush administration has been unable to find a country willing to take them.''

Does anyone else find this paragraph troubling? They''re cleared to be released but their countries of origin won''t take them? Why not? If they''re innocent , what''s the problem?

And the part about rehabilitation is laughable - you really think you can rehabilitate an Islamocrazy into becoming a Birkenstock-wearing, tree-hugging, Kumbaya-singing peacenik? ROTFL! If you buy that I suggest you volunteer rehabilitating a child molester while he moves in with you and your kids.

[washcapitals]

R.I.P America

[docpeter1953]

From the above article, "Many of the about 250 Guantanamo detainees are cleared for release, but the Bush administration has been unable to find a country willing to take them."

__________________--

So there is no country willing to accept these fine individuals, even their own. Why? Because they are such good upstanding citizens, or just common thugs?

A small life raft comes to mind, in the middle of one of the oceans, 8 oz. bottle of water and one day supply of MRE. If they survive and make it to land they can stay.

[used2bfedup1]

Look at that a President doin something.

GO Obama

[used2bfedup1]

Tex u are on here b!tchin 24-7 you evidently dont have a job.

Biting the hand that feeds you?

[nothappyatall]

Forget that these prisoners have not been CHARGED with anything yet held offshore for years to skirt US laws.

"We can''t put people in a dungeon forever without processing whether they deserve to be there."

Why not? thru the church history it not only jailed people w/o cause other than having ablack cat, being suspected as "witches" or "heretics", it also executed them.

[used2bfedup1]

Ol Tex is a bitter little wo-man. Poor upbringing if you ask me. Parents never tought her/him/it to play nice or to be able to lose so it gets on here and throws temper tantrums 24-7.

grow up Rush.

[antoniof123]

About time!

Try them or let them go!

[used2bfedup1]

Tex likes his tax money to go to BS wars and bs prisons.

Tex its ok Ill let you pay more if you want. Why dont u personally pay for the next multimillion dollar Blackhawk that gets shot down in Iraq. Im sure GWB would appreciate it.

[washcapitals]

Why? Because Heabeus Corpus has returned to our country? Because we have the reinstated the rights of 16th century Serfs.

Idiots like you are those who would destroy democracy.


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Posted by curse914

Wow who p-issed in your corn flakes this morning? You''ve been on here name calling, shouting about things you have no clue about all morning. And you want to know something?? Your the same f-uckhead who will complain when one of these prisoners is released and commits a terrorist act on the U.S. or some other country. Take your liberal, conspiracy theory *** somewhere else. your nothing but a little p-enis behind behind a monitor.


On a side note: Thank you to all our veterans on here liberal, conservative, blue, green, or purple. Thanks! Its because of you that curse914 can get on here and speak his views.

[hitoyou1]

This guy is scum. He will run the U.S. in the ground. We had 8 years now we will have 4 maor years og an idiot running around in the white house. I hope all you that voted for this scum are happy.

[indivthinker]

From the above article, "Many of the about 250 Guantanamo detainees are cleared for release, but the Bush administration has been unable to find a country willing to take them."

__________________--

So there is no country willing to accept these fine individuals, even their own. Why? Because they are such good upstanding citizens, or just common thugs?

A small life raft comes to mind, in the middle of one of the oceans, 8 oz. bottle of water and one day supply of MRE. If they survive and make it to land they can stay.

Posted by docpeter1953 at 08:54 AM : Nov 11, 2008

Lol, perhaps we should just stick them on an uninhabited island in the Pacific... tell them their vacation is a consolation prize for having to leave their comfortable residence in Guantanamo.

[britpatjax]

Who cares HOW you do it? When you have a bad stain on a favorite garment you get rid of it the best you can period. And you take more care in the future not to run the risk of staining the treasured item so easily again?

[jamster31]

Keep it open as a deterant. I''m sure the terroists all fear that place. Find ahome for the ones that are to be released but ot here. If no one wants them I''m sure it''s for a god reason. Let them go somewhere good and cold.

[jamster31]

I just checked my spelling, sorry!

[fiteit1]

This guy is scum. He will run the U.S. in the ground. We had 8 years now we will have 4 maor years og an idiot running around in the white house. I hope all you that voted for this scum are happy.
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Posted by Hitoyou1

Obviously 8 years of driving this country into the ground wasn''t enough for you. This country could be run better by Bart Simpson. And McSame would have been just as bad.

[bizzybirdy]

THANK GOD! These torturous prison camps are an embarrassment to America, who always believed that EVERYONE should have a fair trial. Many of these people are NOT terrorists and have been held for YEARS and tortured, driven insane and even killed. We have become a barbaric nation under Bush/Cheney and now we scream about such treatment when it happens to us but we have become as sick as those that do it. We need to get back to being civilized and setting an example for the rest of the world. Torture and illegal confinement is NOT a good example.

Am so happy that OBAMA is ridding America of these dastardly places! One more way of saving our tax $$.

[barbaram99]

I can''t wait for that day. I am waiting for 1/20/09 at noon EST and since I live in Seattle 9 am that day. I hope the President shuts the doors that awful place. I voted. Now America bring the troops homes where they belong. Bush won''t and President Obama I hope will.

[fiteit1]

WashCapitals, TexwLove

You%u2019re probably not old enough or educated enough to know about or understand what the Japanese intern camps were. The only difference was Bush leaned you can bribe people to lie about someone%u2019s involvement in something they didn''t do. And to be locked up for 7 years with no charges, no trial and no evidence other than an over priced informant and torture. Bush and company should be locked up and tried for war crimes. We are no safer than the day before 9/11, just more broke and we lost our integrity in the world community.