Sunday, January 23, 2011

Never Going To Happen

A McClatchy analysis of WikiLeaks' State Department cables makes it clear that there was no way Congress was ever going to allow a single Gitmo detainee into a prison on US soil despite what President Obama had to say about keeping his first major promise as a new President.


In cable after cable sent to the State Department in Washington, American diplomats make it clear that the unwillingness of the United States to resettle a single detainee in this country — even from among 17 ethnic Muslim Uighurs considered enemies of China's communist government — made other countries reluctant to take in detainees.

Europe balked and said the United States should go first. Yemen at one point proposed the United States move the detainees from Cuba to America's SuperMax prison in the Colorado Rockies. Saudi Arabia's king suggested the military plant micro-chips in Guantanamo captives before setting them free.

A January 2009 cable from Paris is a case in point: France's chief diplomat on security matters insisted, the cable said, that, as a precondition of France's resettling Guantanamo captives the United States wants to let go, "the U.S. must agree to resettle some of these same LOW-RISK DETAINEES in the U.S.'' In the end, France took two.

In the end we sent a couple dozen detainees to other countries in an effort to try to clear Gitmo, but Congress eventually forced Obama's hand.

Under the Defense Department appropriations bill that Obama signed into law two weeks ago, the administration not only can't use Pentagon funds to bring detainees to the United States for trial, but must certify that countries meet a set of security conditions before the U.S. can send detainees to them.

In a signing statement, Obama objected to those restrictions, but he did not say he'd ignore them.

So the bottom line is that since Congress is petrified that trying any of the detainees left in Gitmo...even under military tribunals...may lead to one of them not being found guilty and released, they will never be tried, and kept forever there.

Gitmo will be open for at least my lifetime, and probably your children and your grandchildren too.
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13 comments:

  1. Zandar's Credibility ProblemJanuary 23, 2011 at 11:56 AM

    And here your sin is lie of omission.

    From the McClatchy article:

    "Resettling those that are cleared for release, however, has been difficult, and Congress, concerned by U.S. intelligence estimates that one-fourth of the captives freed over nine years are suspected of having joined anti-American insurgencies, has placed ever stricter limits on their transfers to other countries."

    Anyone released from Guantanamo Bay will try to kill more Americans. Why should any of them see the light of day...unless you can prove the government is arresting people who aren't terrorists and leaving them in Guantanamo Bay without due process, in which case I expect you to support Obama's immediate impeachment.

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  2. AnonymousJanuary 23, 2011 at 12:59 PM

    Here, I do feel that Obama dropped the ball; Gitmo is an aberration of due process, and everyone knows this. Obama hasn't closed it as he promised, though he's facing a lot of resistance to do so, and the issue of 'what shall we do with the prisoners?' is a key one. Because, even people who were not radicalized when they got put in, and it seems from some reports that this is a significant portion of the prisoners, became radical when they got put in.

    So, Obama is now in charge of lots of people, many of whom were innocent at the time of arrest, but picked up in sweeps, and turned over for the lucrative cash rewards available, and there is no where he can place them, and no charges that would stick. So, it's a hard row to hoe, and he has earned a lot of criticism for not keeping his promise from left and right.

    Of course, this was not Obama's fault to start with, as the go ahead for the illegal detainment (and the occasional bit of torture) started under Bush and Cheney, who have not been brought up for war crimes, which is a shame. If Problem truly seeks justice here, which he does not, he would ALSO be asking for Bush, Cheney and much of the previous administration to be put up for war crimes charges. We know this won't happen, because Problem does not actually care about the injustice of these illegal detainees, and how even having them there is an aberration of the democratic tradition, which he also does not care about. He just wants to make Obama sweat over a tough situation created by Bush and made harder by international resistance to housing newly radicalized inmates. Because, and I cannot state this enough times, Problem is quite a horrid asshole.

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  3. SteveARJanuary 23, 2011 at 2:38 PM

    Of course, this was not Obama's fault to start with, as the go ahead for the illegal detainment (and the occasional bit of torture) started under Bush and Cheney, who have not been brought up for war crimes, which is a shame.

    Such violent rhetoric from a Bush-hating leftist.

    Loughner hated Bush too. Boy, I hope your rhetoric doesn't lead to more killings.

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  4. Zandar's Credibility ProblemJanuary 23, 2011 at 2:47 PM

    It's the same argument you fools have been losing for over two weeks now.

    If Beck, Palin, Limbaugh, et al are guilty of contributing to the Tuscon shooting then so is Zandar, Obama, and Keith Olbermann.

    If Bush, Cheney, Gonzales et al are guilty in Guantanamo Bay and "torture" then so is Obama.

    You can't have one without the other. The reverse is true. The Left bears responsibility as does the Right, so under your logic how can anyone support Obama and not be demanding his resignation or impeachment?

    And yet none of you are calling for that.

    Hypocrites. This is why the Left will never and can never win an argument. That is why this blog is nothing more than a collection of half-truths, omissions, propaganda and outright lies.

    You deserved to be called out. I will continue to do so.

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  5. innocent bystanderJanuary 23, 2011 at 4:39 PM

    This is why the Left will never and can never win an argument.

    that's why people like you simply cannot be taken seriously. what ridiculous nonsense. no one is ever right ALL the time. jeez.

    you must be 12 years old. go play video games, or whatever it is kids do nowadays.

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  6. Zandar's Credibility ProblemJanuary 23, 2011 at 4:42 PM

    And yet Zandar can't defend his argument.

    So why do you bother to defend such a poor excuse for a champion then?

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  7. AnonymousJanuary 23, 2011 at 4:54 PM

    "Such violent rhetoric from a Bush-hating leftist. "

    My rhetoric is confined to those who deserve it, Steve. If anyone deserves a trip to a cell, it's Bush and Cheney. It's not violence, it's justice.

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  8. AnonymousJanuary 23, 2011 at 5:10 PM

    To Problem, who I dislike even more than Steve*:

    This is because original blame is held with the people who caused the problem which would be Bush and Cheney, not with Obama because he hasn't managed to solve it. I can ask Obama to try harder, or make the political hard call to do the right thing, but in the end, this is an intractable problem left by Bush.

    It's sort of like blaming the man who has to defuse a mine field for going to slow, versus actually blaming the asses who set it up in the first place. But, this is the political culture we live in; close Gitmo, and where do you put the prisoners? Release the ones with no charges, and risk that they're going to seek vengeance. Keep it open, and watch the problem fester. The right pretty much is content to just let it fester, but doing so is counter to due process, so it's not something that can last in perpetuity, and still say we live by the rule of law.

    I'm willing to give Obama more time to solve a problem I have no clue to begin solving myself, but hell if Bush should get a fucking pass for starting bad policy that defies the rule of law.

    *(Nothing personal, but Steve reminds me of some friends I have in TX, who I no longer talk politics with anymore. You, I have decided are a step above 'spam robot for marked off Cialis')

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  9. AnonymousJanuary 23, 2011 at 5:48 PM

    Sorry, but what a nation of scaredy-cats.

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  10. Zandar's Credibility ProblemJanuary 23, 2011 at 6:07 PM

    "...so it's not something that can last in perpetuity, and still say we live by the rule of law. "

    But that's exactly what Obama is doing. Hell, that's what Zandar is accusing Obama of doing.

    Once again, I expect you to support his impeachment.

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  11. AnonymousJanuary 23, 2011 at 6:45 PM

    And I would expect you to support the Bush administration being held for war crimes - gonna do it? No? Well, there you have it - we're both going to bed disappointed.

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  12. UnknownJanuary 23, 2011 at 9:01 PM

    We only want to see Bush, Cheney and most of their Cabinet executed by lethal injection after a proper trial for crimes against humanity.

    There is nothing violent in that statement.

    This is the essence of the American rule of law.

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  13. AnonymousJanuary 23, 2011 at 9:56 PM

    I don't want them executed - I want a fair trial, and let all the poison out. I want justice and reconciliation.

    I want a lot of things really. I want to have our economy back under control and not left in the hands of gamblers and con men like the big banks and the insurance companies. I want sane policy on science, which is a big fucking deal for me, and not left to End Times enthusiasts and corporate shills.

    I want proper funding for the veterans care and an end to the occupations. I want to see jobs flow to rebuild our damaged infrastructure. I want to see strong unions again, and people who know that they can get a fair shake when they take a hard job.

    I want an end to the predations on the sick, the poor and the disabled by companies that use the advantage of power against them. I want the supposed Christians who seem more interested in gays and abortions pay a bit more attention to the poor and sick for a while. I want objectivists to accomplish their greatest dream and set up a little island where they can go and build their paradise and leave the rest of us the hell alone.

    May as well want a jet pack and a wisecracking robot buddy, but it's a start.

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