Obama Makes Plans To Close Guantanamo

CBS Evening News: President-Elect Looks To Fulfill Campaign Promise; But What To Do With The Prisoners?

(CBS)  After he takes office, Barack Obama wants to close the prison for terror suspects at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. But if it's shut down, what does the government do with all those detainees?

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?

[perk235]

DNA tests are exhonerating American citizens who confessed to crimes they didn''t commit. In Nebraska recently, 5 people have been released from prison regarding a crime they confessed to, but did not commit.

The military knows how unreliable old and forced confessions are.

This was not to gain intelligence on terrorist activities, but rather this administration''s personal prisoner-of-war torture chamber.

[solarrays247-2009]

The first terrorist that was locked up and takes another American life, I will personally make an appeal for the impeachment of your Messiah.

Posted by ThatGuy56 at 08:24 PM : Nov 15, 2008

I would like to see your President Bush impeached and tried for treason! NOW!! The buck stops at the top!!! When the blood hounds were taken off the trail of Bin Laden and his men, and then led into Iraq.....LOL LOL you still don''t get it do ya, guy?

[amaleksouth]

Billy Graham''s Prayer For Our Nation

THIS MAN SURE HAS A GOOD VIEW OF WHAT''S HAPPENING TO OUR COUNTRY!


''Heavenly Father, we come before you today to ask your forgiveness and to seek your direction and guidance. We know Your Word says, ''Woe to those who call evil good,'' but that is exactly what we have done. We have lost our spiritual equilibrium and reversed our values. We have exploited the poor and called it the lottery. We have rewarded laziness and called it welfare. We have killed our unborn and called it choice. We have shot abortionists and called it justifiable. We have neglected to discipline our children and called it building self esteem. We have abused power and called it politics. We have coveted our neighbor''s possessions and called it ambition. We have polluted the air with profanity and pornography and called it freedom of expression. We have ridiculed the time-honored values of our forefathers and called it enlightenment. Search us, Oh God, and know our hearts today; cleanse us from every sin and Set us free. Amen!''


Commentator Paul Harvey aired this prayer on his radio program, ''The Rest of the Story,'' and received a larger response to this program than any other he has ever aired. With the Lord''s help, may this prayer sweep over our nation and wholeheartedly become our desire so that we again can be called ''One nation under God.''

[toolmangler-2009]

We cannot control what others ''do''. We can only stop them from doing ''more'' of it. Habeas Corpus my friends, without proof there is no crime.

[toolmangler-2009]

we want Americans arrested abroad to be treated fairly. How can we not treat others fairly?

The ancient Jews considered Jesus a ''terrorist'' and they tried him and killed him tha same day.

[alanzs]

Nobody says much about the poor Arab guys taken and held without trials for years but what happens when they come for you?
Remember, the NSA can listen into to every phone call and email you send. What if they came after you, how would your opinion change?

[irmcvet97]

The first terrorist that was locked up and takes another American life, I will personally make an appeal for the impeachment of your Messiah.
------------------------------------

Posted by ThatGuy56 at 08:24 PM : Nov 15, 2008

What are you going to do when those who have ON EVIDENCE against them go back into normal life and live as other people do? Are in THEN going to demand that they be paid for the time they spent locked up? We, as American''s, have got to sometime either say we BELIEVE in the System we tell everyone else we want them to adopt or say we only want OTHERS to do that.

[benobana]

These so called innocent untill proven guilty detainees "TERRORISTS" have only one mission in their lives, to kill all of the evel people "AMERICANS" that is now living on this earth!
In doing this great deed of Gods'' work, they will be given 72 virgins "LITTLE GIRLS NOT YET RAPED- 12 or younger" to have for their plasure, then they will get to meet and talk to God, then God will put him in honor with the rest of great EVEL PEOPLE KILLERS of the past!

[kaelinda]

One American value that good ol'' president George has forgotten or ignored is "innocent until proven guilty." He CAN''T take all the Gitmo detainees to court because he has no proof they are guilty of anything except being in the wrong place at the wrong time. Another American value is "follow the Geneva Conventions" - which means no torture for prisoners - or detainees, as they are euphemistically called. Nothing said by a torture victim can be relied on - people will say anything their captors want to hear just to stop the torture. That was proven decades ago, for pete''s sake! Whatever Obama decides to do with the detainees, it has to be a better choice that what good ol'' George has been doing with them - feeding them, clothing them, housing them all - with no charges brought against them - with taxpayer dollars.

[mtminds]

Like during the last couple of great wars, if these people in Gitmo are prisoners of war, they are exonerated from any killing of American Soldiers. The civil courts and prison systems are already over crowed from petty drug charges. How can the courts react in a timely fashion to these terrorists when it takes years to wrap up a single case of a hard solid case of murder?

[mtminds]

Build a prison for them in Alaska so Palin can keep an eye on them from her back yard window.

After being acclimated to the tropics, it''d be good to cool them off. Escape a prison in the frozen months - No Way. Learn from the Russians, next to China, they are the next best experts in incarceration.

[kellyharris5]

Close it after they shoot all those America haters in the back of the head. America first, dirtbags second. www.theseriouspolice.com

[bobgee_1999]

There ARE no terrorists in Guantanamo Bay; there are SUSPECTED terrorists there. That whole thing has been a disgrace from day one.

A difficult transition? Too bad. It''s better to do a difficult thing than a wrong thing. I can''t see the few hundred bombthrowers they''ve got there as being much more of a threat on the loose than the thousands the propaganda of Gitmo helped bin Laden to recruit. The closing of a U.S.-run torture prison with indefinite sentences for uncharged suspects is a resoundingly GOOD thing. Jeez, I was pretty sure that was a whole bunch of stuff America was supposed to be against.

If America itself doesn''t uphold what we call "American values," then why is anyone else going to?

[hedonist3]

Well, who in the world wants to keep feeding these guys even though they are in the *** of Cuba. Why not just deport them to their respective countries and let their own people deal with them. If their countries refuse to accept them, do a fly-over, open the door, and do a high level repatriation. Should work.

Posted by guatom

The problem with your proposal is that these same people will be free to start gunning for your arse again.

Uh - exactly what did BO have in mind to do with the prisoners when he made the campaign promise???

[neo269]

There are plenty of extra bedrooms in the White House. If he really wants to make sure that Terrorists are treated well, he''ll let them live with his family. After all, they''re just poor misunderstood victims of American Imperialism.

[inventagod2]

next, we rid Washington of toe-tappers...

[voidmaster-2009]

Just pack up, leave Cuba and leave the prisoners behind. Raul can deal with them.

[guatom]

Well, who in the world wants to keep feeding these guys even though they are in the *** of Cuba. Why not just deport them to their respective countries and let their own people deal with them. If their countries refuse to accept them, do a fly-over, open the door, and do a high level repatriation. Should work.

[voidmaster-2009]

I have come to the conclusion that waterboarding should be condoned. However it should only be carried out by someone who is licensed to do waterboarding. Part of qualifying for your waterboarding license should necessarily include being subjected to five hours of waterboarding.

[terrorislame]

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