Obama Makes Plans To Close Guantanamo
CBS Evening News: President-Elect Looks To Fulfill Campaign Promise; But What To Do With The Prisoners?
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Obama Moves To Close Gitmo
President-elect Obama's transition team has started looking into what it will take to move prisoners at Guantanamo to a Navy base in South Carolina, but it may not be that easy. David Martin reports.
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Eye To Eye: Closing Gitmo
"Only On The Web": Brookings Institution's Benjamin Wittes discusses three possible ways the Obama administration could close the prison at Guantanamo Bay.
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Gitmo Tribunals
Detainees on trial, photos and a history of the naval base.
CBS News national security correspondent David Martin has exclusively learned that the president-elect's transition team has already asked the Pentagon what it would take to move the prisoners at Guantanamo to the Navy base at Charleston, S.C.
It's a clear sign that the new president intends to make good on one of his most emphatic campaign promises.
One high profile terrorist, Jose Padilla, was held at the Charleston brig before facing trial. But major construction and extraordinary security would be required to house all 250 Guantanamo inmates there. Other military bases, including Camp Pendleton, Calif. are also being considered.
Whatever the location, moving the prisoners to the U.S. will open a Pandora's box of legal issues, says Benjamin Wittes of the Brookings Institution.
"The real question is what is our detainee policy in the war on terrorism and that's a question that is, you know, is going to be very wrenching," Wittes said.
Would prisoners held in the U.S. be tried by military commissions as they would at Guantanamo or by civilian courts? The waterboarding of 9/11 mastermind Khalid Sheik Mohmmed could jeopardize even that case in a civilian court, warns former federal prosecutor David Laufman.
"Everything that comes out of a detainee's mouth afterward is likely to be tainted," Laufman said.
More than 100 of the inmates are considered too dangerous to release but not guilty enough to prosecute because the evidence against them can not be used in court. Would an Obama administration hold those prisoners without trial?
"There is going to be a sobering moment when they get into office and they actually look at these files," Wittes said.
The real question facing Obama: Will he change the rules under which captured terrorists are held, or just their address?
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See all 196 CommentsIf he does close GTMO and the prisoners are released by US courts and THEN the prisoners are caught again fighting against US forces..... well, so much for Obama.
This error and failure would be all Obama''s if the remaining hardcore extremists do another attack against the US after release.
Yeah, that''s a problem ain''t it?
One of the foundations of U.S. justice is being able to prove a crime has been committed and that the person being charged is guilty. What you know isn''t good enough; it is only what you can prove that counts.
Obama has two options...Charge those "...100 of the inmates..." with something and prosecute to the hilt or let the buggers go.
Of course nothing said above addresses the other 150. Aren''t they "dangerous" also? If they are, throw them in with the rest. If they aren''t then why are we keeping them?
If they were apprehended in the U.S., then they should be given trials as is required by the constitution. If they are illegal, then they should be deported immediately after trial or their sentence. They may face more charges in their homelands.
If they were apprehended in Iraq or Afghanistan, then they should be handed over to those local officials to face trials in their homeland.
Ya, how to clean up yet another one of boosh''s failures?
The US Supreme Court ruled that the prisoners resisted the US invasion of Afghanistan when hostilities occured, and ruled against the Bush Administration''s claim that the prisoners were acting solely for the defense of their beligerent selves.
Closing Guantanamo is a symbol of ending the double-standard conveniently created when another foreign policy failed.
The prisoners have the right to stay in the USA and request refugee status if they can convince the immigration service that return to their homeland will lead to their own death. Similar scenarios were faced with Vietnamese, Korean, Guatemalans, and Nicaraguans who fought Communism.
Reguardless of what extremists say, the Supreme Court already has advocated and spoken for the rights of these prisoners. The extremists need to take up their differences with their conservative Supreme Court, not Barack Obama.
The remarks by Maj. Gen. Antonio Taguba, who''s now retired, came in a new report that found that U.S. personnel tortured and abused detainees in Iraq, Afghanistan and Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, using beatings, electrical shocks, sexual humiliation and other cruel practices.
"After years of disclosures by government investigations, media accounts and reports from human rights organizations, there is no longer any doubt as to whether the current administration has committed war crimes," Taguba wrote. "The only question that remains to be answered is whether those who ordered the use of torture will be held to account."
errr...straight form the horses mouth ..
McClatchy interviewed 66 released detainees, more than a dozen local officials %u2014 primarily in Afghanistan %u2014 and U.S. officials with intimate knowledge of the detention program. The investigation also reviewed thousands of pages of U.S. military-tribunal documents and other records.
This unprecedented compilation shows that most of the 66 were low-level Taliban grunts, innocent Afghan villagers or ordinary criminals. At least seven had been working for the U.S.-backed Afghan government and had no ties to militants, according to Afghan local officials. In effect, many of the detainees posed no danger to the United States or its allies.
The investigation also found that, despite the uncertainty about whom they were holding, U.S. soldiers beat and abused many prisoners." lets thefacts speak , not that that deters the nuts here .like the 23% in my state who think obama is a muslim ..there is no cure for ignorance .. sadly
Posted by yankeerebel7 at 12:25 AM : Nov 15, 2008 those bleedinhearts include colin powell , williamm gates who is the current secretary of defence . gen taguba , most generals still in current service. oh right you listen to rush .and rush served where? ...and you? .you know better ..cough ..
Yay! to closing Gitmo!
We finally have a "real" US President again - one that actually RESPECTS the US Constitution.
After 8 long years of the exact opposite, that alone is a VAST improvement!
I love it when you, your party and your media try to equate these animals with the US Constitution but then again, you, your party and your media are animals and belong in Gitmo as well !
Posted by pelosilover at 12:45 AM : Nov 15, 2008
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The "principles" embodied in the US Constitution are supposed to be universal, aren''t they? Aren''t they, in fact, exactly what we are "exporting" abroad when we say we want to "bring American-style ''democracy'' to the rest of the world"?
Maybe you simply don''t know that, or understand it?
We either live by those principles that we espouse as a nation, or we''re just a bunch of hypocrites, aren''t we?
Gitmo is the best place I can think of to prove to ourselves and the rest of the world that we Americans don''t just "talk the talk" - we actually "walk the walk".
Posted by pelosilover at 12:49 AM : Nov 15, 2008
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Oh, right! That must be why President Obama chose Rahm Emanuel as his Chief of Staff - to "side with the Muslims".
LOL...silly Repug retards...give it up; you''re just not smart enough to come up with a consistent, intelligent, common-sense argument for anything.
Posted by pelosilover at 12:52 AM : Nov 15, 2008
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I have no doubt at all that President Obama will leave that issue just as it is right now -- UNLESS the US Supreme Court decides to reinterpret that part of the Constitution at some point in the future.
Until that day comes, I think your gun collection is perfectly safe. Try not to be SUCH a paranoid schizophrenic, my friend. ;-)
LOL! Just listen to these poor Repug losers whine!
Y''all want some cheese to go with that?
Paranoid, irrational fear-mongers. They see terrorists everywhere, even in the Oval Office! It''s hilarious!
You retards don''t seserve to live in this country at all. You should move to some place that thinks like you think - maybe North Korea, Iran, China or Russia?
On second thought...they''d probably line all the whiners like you up gainst a wall and shoot you. Maybe you''d better stay here, where morons, nut cases and Republicans are at least "tolerated".
I''m curious tho; don''t you think that US prisons can hold those Gitmo guys? Do you think they''ll have any more luck escaping than any other prisoner has? Lol...
Irrational paranoia is treatable these days, you know. Get some professional help.
Posted by pelosilover at 01:20 AM : Nov 15, 2008
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Well, I don''t live next to a federal penitentiary, so no worries there!
Actually - if we move them to the US, the very LAST thing any terrorist would EVER want was to be let out on a legal technicality.
If that happened they would be totally at the mercy of gun-loving nuts like you - and they probably wouldn''t last a day, I don''t think.
This truly is a very scary country when it comes to scenarios like that one, LOL!
Anyway - ask your doctor for some Valium - a lifetime supply. And: don''t panic!
How about with McCain as well since he wanted this too
Posted by DJ_IL
Yawn. He lost.
Ok, sounds good. Regretably, there are only so many of those guys to spread around. Otherwise, everyone whose heart is bleeding for them could have one of their own. These are bade dudes, period. I know, I have seen them throw sh#t, urine, puch, and spit on young American guards. Second, they are not guaranteed any rights under the constitution. Third, as long as they are in custody in Cuba, they aren''t causing problems elsewhere. Many of those relesed went right back to causing issues. But they won''t be back...it seems they either killed themselves or were killed by a well aimed shot in A-Stan. They are b@ttholes and there is only a couple of hundered of them...what is the big deal? B. Hussien should concentrate more the 30,000 Americans killed every year by other Americans with guns than the plight of these J@rk offs. And please, no speeches about America setting the example and all that bill of rights stuff applying. Most Americans can''t even find their own state on a on a map let alone Cuba.
Posted by rangerdahl at 01:30 AM : Nov 15, 2008
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Oh, look! A rare and elusive "Hussein" name hater! They supposedly went extinct on Nov. 4th 2008 - but apparently one is still alive!
Has anybody seen all the "I Am Hussein" shirts that many of the big-box stores are selling this Christmas? "Hussein" actually means "Beautiful".
For a while some people posting here were using screen names like "sky-HUSSEIN-soldier" (for example) just to help the xenophobic Repug imbeciles get over that big scary name a little bit. Apparently some Repugs are still bothered by it though, lol.
Thankfully, though, most of us sane people have come to like it. I personally think everybody should have a Hussein in their name somewhere.
Eventually, the ever-paranoid and fearful Repugs would have to get over it.
I appreciated your ad hominem diatribe greatly! I be your need a cigareete now since your bombast probably caused you to spew. In any case, why don''t you make yourself useful and go and get me a beer. I will be back from in June 09...you can have it waiting for me when I step off the plane.
By the way, you seem to e emotional about me using his middle name...I think it''s funny that we desposed a guy named "beautiful" in 2003 and the liberals elected one. In your next posting, please address the issue of the prisoners rather than my use of the name. I know you can''t wait to send your thin, pasty, manicured hands flying across the keyboard to answer my words. In the meantime, get me that beer SkyHusseinSoldier.
I''ll have something waiting for you, all right! A nice red "I Am Hussein" t-shirt! From me to you!
Just send me your address!
If you want to buy ME one, you can send it to "skyHUSSEINsoldier" in care of Havoc (D Co) 1st Battalion, 503rd Infantry (Airborne), 173rd Airborne Brigade.
You know where we are, right, poser?
Lol...
I wonder if you ever sit down and think to yourself: "man, I am just one conceited fool diot and I am so full of krap, it''s amazing"?
No? Well, now you can.
the 173rd is not the Rangers, never has been, never will be. Now go and get me that beer! I will bring you a t-shirt too. I bet it will need to be narrow in the shoulders. big in the waist, and small in the neck. Just like a typical prartroopers t-shirt. By the way, please telll me you are not on of thsoe poers who wears a mustard stain from that so-called "combat jump" into Iraq. Now that was a typical airborne community joke.
rudy6543: You can bring pretzels.
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Posted by rangerdahl at 02:20 AM
And I will gladly shove them up your nostrils.
*********************
Learn to speak English, would you?
The stock market is going south, our military is going to take a hit. WHAT"S NEXT!!!
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Bush leaves office and executives get prosecuted for ripping off the taxpayers.
If your daddy (assuming you ever even knew who he was) had been a Ranger, I''d have tab time on him too! LOL!
Why do you think I keep the number 75 at the end of my name? It was my very first permanent duty station, and I''ve been back to it more than a few times since then. It''s kind of like a home away from home, to me.
But that''s neither here nor there. If you want a beer, get off your fat, lazy pogue *** and fetch it yourself, boy! You probably need the exercise, Hussein Ranger buddy!
Sua Sponte and ta-ta, poser!
A terrorist is far safer in Gitmo than he will ever be right here in the good old US of A.
Bring them here, so that we may look upon them, and sneer.
If they escape incarceration or are released on some technicality while here on US soil, then poor them! I wouldn''t want to be in their shoes. Better to take you chances with the sharks off Gitmo than on the streets of the US, any day.
I assume that from the ta-ta you are leaving. What a shame to have a wit such as yours depart from this intellectual forum. I made the assumption that the 75 was the score on your last PT test. And who is to say I was wrong about that?
I will have the x-small t-shirt sent to you as soon as I can find one that tiny. I think they have some for spouses and children that run that small.
Until then, have my beer ready and cold. I have earned it.
By the way using LOL and all that text message and computer lingo speaks volumes about you SkyhusseinSoldier...you''re probably just a kid. If you were of any age at all or experienced you wouldn''t still be in a company, you would be retired or at a higher level of unit. You must be wet behind the ears or just not a good Soldier.
By the way, making my name into doll was clever, my hat is off to you. Dahl means valley in Norway. Hence the meaning "rangervalley". It''s not my name paraturder, nice try. Do you actually have that mustard stain?
The LOL''s are just ''cuz the outstanding home-brewed hootch they make here is just kickin'' in. Fear not! Tomorrow they will all be transformed into groans! But, for now at least, life is good!
Seeing as you''re getting short now, you better think about your future, you know? First tour for you? First enlistment?
Either way, best you just stay in boots Ranger buddy, ''cuz there''s nothing open, job-wise, for a guy with your (okay; our) particular job skill set in THIS economy, that''s for damned sure! Bush definitely saw to that!
Seeing as they''re shutting down Iraq, Blackwater, DynCorp, Triple Canopy and the other PMC''s, and the police and fire departments at home are laying people off in droves now, not hiring more, things are especially tight job-wise for ex-grunts like you and me in this new rapidly crumbling economy.
Wall Street is flat broke, you won''t even be able to even buy an American-made car in a while, and the unemployment rate is sky-rocketing, the military is really your only hope for continued employment, since you really have no "marketable" skills to speak of. None that anybody at home needs, anyway.
You''re in for a truly interesting homecoming come July, Ranger buddy. Hope you''re prepared, and can handle it. Next time don''t vote for a loser Republican, and your prospects may be a bit better.
Sua Sponte, and good luck! I really do have to run along and play now. My Hussein buddies are missing me!
Posted by curse914 at 12:33 AM : Nov 15, 2008
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Sorry, but Obama has to wait till January to activate that particular unit.
Posted by DJ_IL at 01:48 AM : Nov 15, 2008
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True...we are overdue some thermonuclear testing....
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