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Obama moves swiftly on Guantanamo

By Ben Fox, Associated Press

Wednesday, 21 January 2009

US President-elect Barack Obama has pledged to close Guantanamo Bay

REUTERS

US President-elect Barack Obama has pledged to close Guantanamo Bay

The US moved today to halt the Guantanamo war crimes trials, filing motions to suspend proceedings for 120 days until President Barack Obama's administration completes a review of the system for prosecuting suspected terrorists.

The motions, made at the direction of Obama and Defense Secretary Robert Gates, will be considered early Wednesday by the military judges hearing the cases of five men charged in the Sept. 11 attacks and of Canadian Omar Khadr, who is accused of killing an American soldier with a grenade in Afghanistan in 2002.

In the motion filed for the Sept. 11 case, US military prosecutor Clay Trivett says a continuance is necessary in all pending cases because the review may result in significant changes to the system.

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"The interests of justice served by granting the requested continuance outweigh the interests of both the public and the accused in a prompt trial," Trivett wrote. He said the motion was written at the direction of the president and defense secretary.

"It will permit the newly inaugurated president and his administration to undertake a thorough review of both the pending cases and the military commissions process generally," he added.

Human rights group at Guantanamo to observe this week's session of the war crimes court welcomed what appeared to be the looming end of the special tribunals.

"It's a great first step but it is only a first step," said Gabor Rona, international director of Human Rights First. "The suspension of military commissions so soon after President Obama took office is an indication of the sense of urgency he feels about reversing the destructive course that the previous administration was taking in fighting terrorism."

Jamil Dakwar, director of the human rights program at the American Civil Liberties Union, said it was a positive step but "the president's order leaves open the option of this discredited system remaining in existence."

Relatives of victims of the Sept. 11 attacks, who were also at the base to observe the hearings, have said they oppose any further delay in the trials of the men charged in the case.

The motion for a suspension came on the day a military judge adjourned the war crimes court just before Obama was sworn in by noting the future of the commissions is in doubt. The hearings were dismissed until Wednesday "unless otherwise ordered."

There are war crimes charges pending against 21 men, including the five charged with murder and other crimes in the Sept. 11 case. Judges will be required to suspend the other cases as well though hearings may not be necessary.

Obama has said he will close Guantanamo, where the US holds about 245 men, and had been expected to suspend the widely criticized war-crimes trials created by former President George W. Bush and Congress in 2006.

The president's nominee for attorney general has said the so-called military commissions lack sufficient legal protections for defendants and that they could be tried in the United States.

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Give them all a taste of "OLE' SPARKY"
[info]cowboycool wrote:
Wednesday, 21 January 2009 at 08:23 am (UTC)
Any enemy insurgent that has conspired to kill Americans need to be tried for murder and then exucted. I think bringing back the electric chair "OLE' SPARKY" would definately send a message to these middle east mal-contents and their followers. American soldiers have trained to be the best soldiers in the world so the enemy can die for their country. GOD BLESS AMERICA and to hell with anyone that compromises the safety of even one American anywhere on this planet.
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Re: Give them all a taste of "OLE' SPARKY"
[info]neil_mcgowan wrote:
Wednesday, 21 January 2009 at 09:05 am (UTC)
If you're dusting-off "Ol' Sparky", let's take a test-run on your neo-Nazi freak Donald Rumsfeld - the war-criminal neoNazi FREAK who devised the Gitmo Gulag.

If you want to restore America's popularity in the world, Rumsfeld's trial and execution will restore a belief in American justice to an unprecedented extent.

I don't hear so much from him these days - where is that war criminal hiding?
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Re: Give them all a taste of "OLE' SPARKY"
[info]nav01 wrote:
Wednesday, 21 January 2009 at 09:43 am (UTC)
Only if all with your views were 'cleansed' from this world, the rest of us could just get on. As for US soldiers being "the best", look at the armed forces of Bangladesh,Albania,Gambia,Afghanistan, the list goes on, I think you will find that they are far superior. Now let's have a yee-haw as you ride off into an endless desert.
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[info]ajwimble wrote:
Wednesday, 21 January 2009 at 08:45 am (UTC)
I think it is important that the people who were responsibe for 9/11 are tried, convicted and punished, but for the process to have anything to do with Justice, rather than simple revenge, it is essential that they are given a fair trial. If there is the evidence to prove that they are guilty then why not convict them in a court of law ? If there is no proof then who is to say that it is even the right people being punished.
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re: ol' sparky
[info]aleppochili wrote:
Wednesday, 21 January 2009 at 10:32 am (UTC)
Is this person aware of the eagerness for death that inhabits so many of our enemies? They seek names they can use to inspire others to join them. They want us to do things that would prove what they say about us. We are supposed to be the good guys, which means that we need to keep to the rules we claim to espouse, otherwise we are no better than these hateful gangs who would burn the world, as long as they can rule the ashes. We can get these people but we must do so in the right way. If nothing else, this will confuse the haters. It will frustrate those who want to go out in a "blaze of glory," and instead have to face the next 40 years or so killing nothing but time, and being forgotten by history. This is what they deserve.
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GUANTANAMO CONCENTRATION CAMPS
[info]valigia1 wrote:
Wednesday, 21 January 2009 at 10:48 am (UTC)
I don't think anyone here has any idea about the kind of cruelties that ar e happening in the camps in Guantanamo. The US has manage to infringe just every possible international law concerning the fair treatment of prisoners of war. The abuses both psychological and physical inflicted to the so labelled "terrorists" are unspeakable and hidden from the world. We were shocked when we saw images of Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq, well Guantanamo is not any better. But the fundamental question here is, how can we possibly condone the fact that detainees are not granted a just trial are held undefinitely without seeing a lawyer and later prosecuted by a military tribunal? Are these the principles of democracy and freedom that president Bush likes to reiterate so much in his speech? Well done Obama, but tclosing Guantanamo would only be the beginning. The new administration should bring the detainees in front of US courts with all the rights granted to prisoners. Obama should also open an inquiry on the crimes committed by the Bush's administration if we want to give back any credibility to the US.
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Re: GUANTANAMO CONCENTRATION CAMPS
[info]grandpanorway wrote:
Wednesday, 21 January 2009 at 12:01 pm (UTC)
Once Gitmo is sorted out, I hope Obama will read Israel the riot act so we can have a stop to their war crimes too.
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[info]eddieiscool wrote:
Wednesday, 21 January 2009 at 11:42 am (UTC)
Anyone who can't even SPELL the word "execute" should not be commenting on anything as complicated as the legality of military tribunals. And although I understand that this is a fragile concept, too large for your tiny little mind, but surely killing one person as revenge for another defeats the whole purpose of justice? How can you say that one person is a murderer for killing people from one section of the population and advocate killing another person from a different section of the population before they have even been tried and convicted? And isn't it common knowledge that the electric chair doesn't really act as a deterent; and that the military action undertaken by the US in Iraq has led to the radicalization of the Iraqi people...?

Someone should really learn to read and start looking at the newspapers, don't you think?
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Squandered opportinuty
[info]cronyblatcher wrote:
Wednesday, 21 January 2009 at 12:03 pm (UTC)
A great opportunity, to use the military and economic might of a solitary superpower, to pacify the world and spread universal education (and consequences thereof including democracy), was hijacked and squandered by enemies of the people.

If Guantanamo is closed immediately, it will be a signal that the intelligent face of America is replacing the grunt face of 'Murka - and that maybe the planet will not be forced to toast all of us after all.
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Re: Give them all a taste of "OLE' SPARKY"
[info]zahradelaplata wrote:
Wednesday, 21 January 2009 at 12:04 pm (UTC)
See, cowboycool, the problem is not giving them a taste of old sparky, as much as having the right guys and having enough proof against them for a FAIR trial. Confessions under torture (yeah, waterboarding IS torture) are not, can't ever be valid. Firs, because they are illegal. See, you don't spread justice and the rule of law by violating justice and the rule of law. I saw that movie here, already, in the '70 and early '80 (I'm Argentine), so pal, I know it doesn't work. You might catch a *very few* actual terrorists with the extraordinary renditions, and in the meanwhile, you have a bunch of innocent people being tortured. Even if they sympathized with Taliban, you being an upstanding American citizen as I think you are, know pretty well that there is a tiny little thing called freedom of speech. They have the right to express their views, and I'm afraid through the experience of my country's past, they probably were reported and illegally kidnapped just because they talked the wrong words. At least the huge majority. Some of them, like the Chinese Uighur kept in Guantanamo have committed the sin of being of the wrong ethnicity. They are innocent, but are kept in Guantanamo because if they go back to China, they'll go to sure death. Europe doesn't want them, America doesn't want them. In the meantime, the guys were abused, imprisoned, separated from country and family. That's what Guantanamo is. If the US can't use the legal standards to bring people to trial, then those people had nothing to do in a court of law to begin with. As I said before, if we stand for the rule of law, if we stand for civilization, we can't behave as those who want to destroy those things. Because it's not just hypocritical, it simply erodes the social fabric, and the very society, law and freedoms we are trying to protect. I know that first hand, after 30 years, we haven't recovered here yet.
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"Obama moves swiftly on Guantanamo"
[info]syedsalamahali wrote:
Wednesday, 21 January 2009 at 12:18 pm (UTC)
So far so good!
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Looks promising.
[info]penny_reese wrote:
Wednesday, 21 January 2009 at 12:42 pm (UTC)
I've been sick and tired of the cult-like quality much of the press has taken on where Barack Obama is concerned, but this looks like a good move on the surface. I hope we see more positive steps from him in the near future.
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What's the hold up?
[info]bobav wrote:
Wednesday, 21 January 2009 at 12:56 pm (UTC)
What's the hold up? Shut the place down and send these guys home. 120 days? Sounds like a reason to figure out a way to do nothing but court press and public approval. Certainly enough information has been tortured out of these "combatants" to determine if they need to be moved on to more reasonable prosecution or just released. Perhaps now the fear is these people will incite more anti-US hatred, Obama or no Obama?
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Who am I talking about?
[info]the_kegs wrote:
Wednesday, 21 January 2009 at 01:06 pm (UTC)
Racist, illiterate, no nothing ignoramuses, warmongers, violent minded morons, they lack principals, decorum and dignity. No idea? OK, here's a clue, they just elected a new president.
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Big Deal
[info]tim_bee wrote:
Wednesday, 21 January 2009 at 02:14 pm (UTC)
They are just going to move them to some other secret place.
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Yep, 'CowboyCool' is a good name.....
[info]fumanchuria wrote:
Wednesday, 21 January 2009 at 03:38 pm (UTC)
.....for a moron like you. You give cowboys a bad name. I've worked with septic tanks like you in the oil industry and all yanks can do is shout loud and be dimwitted; it's the Brits who get on with it and do the job.
A previous writer had it right, you can try out your stupid electric chair on rumsfeld and, now that Donkey bush and that evil cretin cheney have been stopped from ruining civilisation, they should be cooked as well.
With twerps like cowboycool around, 'tis no wonder there is such trouble in the Middle East.
Somebody else said, the World's gene pool should be cleared of Morons like them.
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oh dear! hahaha
[info]z1m0n wrote:
Wednesday, 21 January 2009 at 03:46 pm (UTC)
the_kegs wrote:
"illiterate, no nothing ignoramuses"


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Gitmo
[info]geoam wrote:
Wednesday, 21 January 2009 at 04:10 pm (UTC)
It's a good start. Credit to our new Pres.
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Oh no......
[info]the_kegs wrote:
Wednesday, 21 January 2009 at 04:45 pm (UTC)
From the BBC:- 'Barack Obama begins his first full day as US president at a prayer service'. Just what the world needs, get rid of one superstitious, irrational clown and bring in another. Oh woe to us all!
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Dig out the electric chair, quick...
[info]kuma2000 wrote:
Wednesday, 21 January 2009 at 11:16 pm (UTC)
...we need to free up some cells for the fresh batch of war criminals coming in from Israel... oh, and a couple of nice comfy cells for GWB and Tony Blair (I'm sure they'll have a great time in the prison showers together)!
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