White House: Gitmo Detainees' Fate Unclear

Rebuking Obama, Senate Votes 90-6 To Forbid Transfer Of Prisoners To U.S.

(CBS/AP)  In a rare, bipartisan defeat for President Barack Obama, the Senate voted overwhelmingly Wednesday to keep the prison at Guantanamo Bay open for the foreseeable future and forbid the transfer of any detainees to facilities in the United States.

Democrats lined up with Republicans in the 90-6 vote that came on the heels of a similar move a week ago in the House of Representatives, underscoring widespread apprehension among Mr. Obama's congressional allies over voters' strong feelings about bringing detainees to the U.S. The president readied a speech for Thursday on the U.S. fight against terrorism.

For symbolic effect, the speech will be at the National Archives where the Constitution is displayed, reports CBS News chief White House correspondent Chip Reid.

Mr. Obama has vowed to close the prison by January 2010, and the Senate's vote was not the final word on the matter. It will be next month at the earliest before Congress completes work on the legislation, giving the White House time pursue a compromise that would allow the president to fulfill his pledge.

But Obama's maneuvering room was further constrained during the day when FBI Director Robert Mueller told a congressional panel that he had concerns about bringing Guantanamo Bay detainees to prisons in the United States. Among the risks is "the potential for individuals undertaking attacks in the United States," said Mueller, who was appointed by President George W. Bush in 2001 and is serving a 10-year fixed term in office.

Additionally, U.S. District Judge John Bates ruled this week that some prisoners - but not all - can be held indefinitely at Guantanamo without being charged, thus increasing the pressure on the administration to develop a plan for the men held there.

After the Senate vote, White House press secretary Robert Gibbs said, "The president understands that his most important job is to keep the American people safe and that he is not going to make any decision or any judgment that imperils the safety of the American people."

He added Mr. Obama has not yet decided where some of the detainees will be sent. A presidential commission is studying the issue.

There was no suspense in the moments leading to the Senate vote, although Democrats maneuvered to take political credit for denying Obama funds he sought to close the prison. They hoped to negate weeks of Republican warnings about the danger involved.

Sen. Daniel Inouye, a Democrat and chairman of the Appropriations Committee, said he had initially favored keeping Guantanamo open until Obama produced a "coherent plan for closing the prison."

He said he was changing course and "the fact that the administration has not offered a workable plan at this point made that decision easy."

The administration asked for $80 million to close the facility. Obama promised repeatedly as a presidential candidate to shut down the prison, calling it a blot on the international image of the United States.

Even in voting to deny him the funds, Obama's Democratic allies insisted the president was fundamentally correct.

The president's supporters say critics are fear-mongering, reports Reid.

"The reality is we are holding some of the most dangerous terrorists in the world right now in our federal prisons," said Sen. Dick Durbin, D-Ill.

Like the Supermax prison in Colorado which holds among others shoe bomber Richard Reid and al Qaeda member Zacarius Moussaoui, reports Reid.

"It has 490 beds. They are reserved for the worst of the worst," said Sen. Dianne Feinstein of California. "Guantanamo is used by al Qaeda as a symbol of American abuse of Muslims and is fanning the flames of anti-Americanism around the world."

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, who had said on Tuesday he opposed allowing detainees to be transferred to U.S. prisons, issued a statement saying he might change his mind on that point.

The lopsided vote was a victory for the Senate Republicans, who have recently turned their attention to Obama's policies on foreign policy and terrorism after failing to make headway in criticizing his economic program.

Sen. Mitch McConnell, the Republican leader, has delivered numerous speeches in recent weeks raising pointed questions about Obama's plans to close the prison without first explaining where the men held there would be sent. "For months, we have been saying what Senate Democrats now acknowledge: that because the administration has no plan for what to do with the 240 detainees at Guantanamo, it would be irresponsible and dangerous for the Senate to appropriate the money to close it," McConnell said shortly before the vote.

Obama came to office pledging a dramatic change in George W. Bush's terrorism policy. In the months since, he has woven an uncertain course, occasionally angering liberals.

He first backed the cancellation of military tribunals for prisoners, then announced he wanted them resumed with greater legal protections for the accused. Last week, he reversed course on another issue, deciding to appeal a court-ordered release of prisoner-abuse photos taken at Abu Ghraib in Iraq.

Several Republicans praised Obama for those very steps.

"I commend him for being very willing to change his opinion in light of having access to the intelligence he didn't have access to" as a candidate, said Sen. Orrin Hatch.

FBI Director Mueller made his comments before the House Judiciary Committee.

Prodded by Rep. Jerrold Nadler, a Democrat to agree that Guantanamo detainees could be kept safely in maximum security prisoners in the United States, Mueller declined. He noted that in some instances gang leaders have run their gangs from inside prisons.

[sayfud-deen]

people in this country need to think of how they would want to be treated! i keep hearing this word terrorist as the men are called at gitmo bay. the problem is none of these remaining men have proved in any court of law to be terrorist! how do you do this? if anyone in this country was put in jail without charges,cut off from friends and family,and labeled a terrorist,murderer,rapist, or whatever,without having their day in court, there would be chaos in the streets. keep in mind that many of these men have never been charged with any crime! the u.s. in my opinion has stooped to a new low. and the we need to be protected speech is a bunch of bull$___. it's the fools in this country that we need to be protected from!

[number1GI]

I QUIT !!

[number1GI]

I QUIT !

[auto1234abc]

It continues to amaze me the lack of validity of the alleged arguments of those advocating strict-constructionist approaches to the courts. These people argue that the law is the law yet are the first to claim the right to ignore significant portions of the constitution and legal statutes when the find them un-comforting. Like ignoring of Supreme Court rulings they disagree with, the complete refusal to recognize articles of the US Constitution as the SUPREME law of the land including Article 6, the full contents of Article 1 Section 8 while protesting against the ACLU and others that continue to support the AMERICAN TRADITION that we ARE A NATION OF LAWS and not the lawless vigilantes that FALSELY claim to be STRICT-CONSTRUCTIONISTS.

[auto1234abc]

they're being bounced around because there's no VENUE to try them in US courts!
Posted by Rowdy2009 at 8:19 AM : May 21, 2009

MORE BLATANT LIES refited by the MCA, the Supreme Court and at least one appellate court decision - PARHAT
Posted by auto1234abc at 9:25 AM : May 21, 2009

No, no lies, and not refitted by anybody. The SCOTUS opinion merely said, if you want to bring these terrorists up into the US court system you have to provide an alternative venue than habaes corpus...and most of these cases are STILL bouncing around the court systems even thought the ACLU decided to bring them up anyway...
Posted by Rowdy2009 at 9:34 AM : May 21, 2009

ACTUALLY THE SUPRME COURT THREATENED THE BUSH ADMINISTRATION due to the delays and informed them that the prisoners WOULD BE managed in US courts if the Administration did not conduct the necessary actions under military jurisdiction -- COMPLETELY REFUTING YOUR FABRICATIONS -- THE HABEAS RULING was that it MUST BE provided and could not be eliminated or withheld for the lack of an alternate procedure (which the court admitted did not yet exist) -- So the get the same Habeas procedure we have because no one has created a viable alternative.

[auto1234abc]

they're being bounced around because there's no VENUE to try them in US courts!
Posted by Rowdy2009 at 8:19 AM : May 21, 2009

MORE BLATANT LIES refited by the MCA, the Supreme Court and at least one appellate court decision - PARHAT

[chitown639]

Kinda like calling some one a chimp huh?
Posted by Trust_me_

Yeah, the truth hurts sometime doesn't it....but it's time to let go all those nasty things those mean old schoolyard bullies called you back in grade school....just keep telling youself that you're not that much of a Chimp......

[Trust_me_]

even called Obama a MORON!

Kinda like calling some one a chimp huh?

[Trust_me_]

President Obama told human rights advocates at the White House on Wednesday that he was mulling the need for a ?preventive detention? system that would establish a legal basis for the United States to incarcerate terrorism suspects who are deemed a threat to national security but cannot be tried, two participants in the private session said.

[lehnahund]

Yeah, she did, she said his Stinkulus Plan looked like a load of garbage.
Posted by Rowdy2009 at 8:10 AM : May 21, 2009

You said she called Obama a moron. and you didn´t pove that.

an th G 20 France and Germany were only for further stimulus if that was connected with a policy of controlling and regulating banks in the future. she didn`t call the Obamas plan garbage.

you don´t understand a lot, but you talk, talk, talk...

we have a few stimulus plans over here, not small ones, and banking bailouts as well. like a lot of other countries at the moment. some systemic banks are in parts taken over by the state holding shares for the money they handed out.

you don´t understand a lot, but you talk, talk, talk...

the main difference is our social system. just now. when you lose your job here you are not falling into a deep pit, lose your house, your flat, you health insurance, education of your kids. we don´t have tent cities springing up.

you don´t understand a lot, but you talk, talk, talk...

[the74blaster]

At a time when Iran just nuked up, right in the face of this MORON and called him STUPID!! And at a time when North Korea did the same!!! And even at a time when Israel is calling him STUPID!

Jeebus, how naive can you be?
Posted by Rowdy2009 at 7:50 AM : May 21, 2009


So do you care to tell us when these countries obtained nukes? If they did it was under Bush or in response to his cowboy foreign policy.

Geewiz, you need to start paying attention to current events and stop listening to Rush.

[rednomo]

You really can't make this stuff up:

When is Newt going to Apologize to Pelosi - maybe they need to take numbers...

Gingrich: Only Republicans (Like Me) Are Allowed To Accuse The CIA Of Misleading Congress

This morning, former Republican House Speaker Newt Gingrich went on ABC?s Good Morning America and called on Democrats to pressure Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) to resign her position as Speaker. He claimed that she has ?disqualified herself? for the leadership spot, because ?if I were a person trying to defend this country, I?d have very little confidence that the Speaker of the House had any regard for what we were doing.?

Host Diane Sawyer challenged Gingrich, noting that he never criticized Rep. Peter Hoekstra?s (R-MI) repeated criticism of the agency, including this statement in 2007: ?We cannot have an intelligence community that covers up what it does and then lies to Congress.? Gingrich struggled uncomfortably and repeatedly attempted to change the subject:

GINGRICH: Well, in that case, he?s writing a specific letter asking them to change something they were doing. He did not say the CIA routinely lies ?

SAWYER: ?Lies,? he said ?

GINGRICH: ? to the Congress.

SAWYER: Well, he says ?lies.? He says ?what it does and then lies to Congress.?

GINGRICH: And I think they actually had to come back and testify.

[lehnahund]

Your Merkel, even called Obama a MORON!
Posted by Rowdy2009 at 7:58 AM : May 21, 2009

Merkel never called Obama a moron. that is a silly lie. prove it.

she is grown up and has her mind together.

on both topics I can´t say the same for you.

and by the way, it is by far not clear whether Germany is taking up to 16 uigurs, the chinese moslems from Gitmo. the German government is demanding their interrogation files to make up their mind.

you can handle those complicated and messy things quietly and reasonably or with foam in front of your mouth like you.

so go on badmouth your own country.

[rednomo]

Oh boy! We're going to give these terrorists who plotted to murder Americans, all the benefits belonging solely to US citizens!!!

Now he claims a rule of law! There's NO RULE OF LAW that applies to terrorists other than military tribunals! What a numb nut...
Posted by Rowdy2009


Tell me again the latest version of why we HAD to go into Iraq, something about Saddam being a (really bad guy) because he tortured and murdered Iraqis...

So it's fine if we do it?

[rednomo]

Ok, when is John (Boner) going to apologize to Pelosi?


After Claiming He Couldn?t ?Imagine? The CIA ?Would Mislead Us,? Boehner Acknowledges They May Have

Last week, after House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) asserted in a press conference that she believed the CIA had misled her in a briefing on interrogation, House Minority Leader John Boehner (R-OH) scoffed at the idea that the CIA could have been dishonest. ?It?s hard for me to imagine that anyone in the intelligence areas would mislead us,? said Boehner in his own press conference.

But on CNN today, Boehner acknowledged that members of his own party, such as Rep. Pete Hoekstra (R-MI), have previously accused the CIA of lying to Congress. Pressed by Wolf Blitzer, Boehner did not disagree with Hoekstra?s allegation that the CIA lied to Congress in a previous case:

BOEHNER: Pete Hoekstra did say that. And the Inspector General at the CIA did an investigation and it became clear that some CIA operatives did in fact cover this up. This is not, we?re talking about two different issues here. All the facts in this case are on the table and the truth is now known to all, to everyone.

BLITZER: So, based on what you know on that case involving Hoekstra, the case he was interested in. Do you agree that the CIA then lied to Congress?

BOEHNER: I know as much about this case as Pete Hoekstra does and the Inspector General did in fact do an investigation, produced a report and frankly supported, I think, Pete?s claims.

[lehnahund]

I have never before in my life been ashamed of my country...
Posted by Rowdy2009 at 7:14 AM : May 21, 2009

Everyone who saying that to any home country is either partial blind or has a partial conscious way of realizing facts. in every nations history there a good and bad parts.

The second half of your sentence I leave out. even as a German I feel very ashamed about the way you attack you by the people elected president. and the words you are using.

I would never vote for chancellor Merkel. but I would never offend her the way you do your elected head of state. what I read on these blogs remind me in some parts of the German history after 1933.

an adversorry is not an adversory with you. it is the enemy, the devil. you have to drive him out, to burn him, to destroy him. that is mediaval thinking.

in that way you are not a part of a democatic country. because you are not democratic. the world is not wright or wrong, black or wide. it is a bit more complicated.

it turn my stomach and gives me to think about our main allie.

[the74blaster]

I find it hilarious that Dumbama rushed to congress asking for MONEY for a plan that he doesn't even have.

How can he even begin to cost out the closing of GITMO when he hasn't a clue whether he CAN close it or NOT!
Posted by Rowdy2009 at 7:18 AM : May 21, 2009

My guess is congress finallly figured out that not all presidents will tell the truth. Considering the sell job that Bush did using our fears of another terrorist attack they may have figured out that asking critical questions about a policy is their job and not being unpatriotic.

I mean is it any wonder why the repubatardos were voted out when they were nothing more than rubber stamps of approval for every Bush request.

[the74blaster]

I have never before in my life been ashamed of my country...until they elected an arabic/muslim communist whom they don't even know whether he's a US citizen or not to the office of president.

Posted by Rowdy2009 at 7:14 AM : May 21, 2009

I am sorry but to steal a line from the Neocons, if you are so filled with shame then leave.

I for one have to side with the Spice Girls. I heard they are from Texas as well.

[lehnahund]

They're in GITMO because they're terrorists, who received training in extreme terrorist activities. What more do you need to know?
Posted by Rowdy2009 at 6:20 AM : May 21, 2009

a good part of them are terrorist and some of these even very dangerous terrorists. and some of them were just at the wrong place at the wrong time.

but you can be assured after a few years under those condition and in this humanly and legal mess they are all not real lovers of the us. what the us have done to them, to the guily ones or to the not gulty ones, will give them all a feeling of hot revenche. I would have it if they would have thrown me for years in that butchery hole. wouldn´t you?

don´t you americans think that you have to close gitmo alone just because it is one of the top motivations all over the world to file into the terrorist or talibans ranks?

you have made the problems for yourselves. you let bush do that and now you are not grown up enough to solve that mess in reasonable manner.

I feel sorry for obama to have to clear the bush mess up with a frightened, whining nation watching him.

as I wrote yesterday, you americans made this mess. single handed.

you solve it. single handed. and stop whining. that is the problem with ones own history. it stays your own history. you can´t wash it off. whether you like it or not. you have to deal with it. in a grown up way.

I know, what am talking about. I am German, born after the war. what the German generations before me did as Germans, is the history of my country and therefore of me. and I have to deal with it. whether I like it or not.

and you will have to learn to live with all parts of your history. the parts making you proud and the parts making you ashamed.

[YacktyYack]

I say move 'um, try 'um, Imprison 'um or release 'um. Then send them back to their home of origin. We did it with the Mafia. What's the problem? If Yamin or Saudi Arabia wants to kill them or let them walk away that's their business. The UN or anyone else doesn't like it , tough.
The World still doesn't have an answer for how to deal with international terrorist prisoners. Twenty years of talk on how to modify the Geneva Conventions have gone nowhere... and one country's terrorist is another country's hero. Maybe releasing them will get everyone off their butts.
Try them, convict them, imprison them or release them. Next time you can draw a bead on them, shoot them instead. The CIA torturers wanted to fly home at night after a days work so we brought them to Gitmo. Sovern US territory... The US of A. Anyway you cut it, they're already under US jurisdiction. Send them to Montana and try them in the Western District , then lock them up or send them home.
So "One in seven" of 240 prisoners is 37 prisoners likely to return to terrorism. If only one percent of the World's Muslims are radical enough to become terrorists, we're talking "MILLIONS" of terrorist that already exist. Millions! We release child predators, rapist, and killers from prisons everyday. Let's get real. The rhetoric just gets to deep somethimes.