Posted on 01/20/2009 2:48:21 AM PST by Cindy
GUANTANAMO BAY NAVAL BASE, Cuba (AP) - Plans to close Guantanamo are not sitting well with the Sept. 11 victims' relatives who sat stunned while two alleged terrorists declared they were proud of their role in the plot.
(Excerpt) Read more at wtop.com ...
And the Gorelick wall of separation between the FBI and CIA will be put back into place.
So the question I have is:
Since the barriers to a terror attack are coming down, which American city can we do without? We are effectively going to lose at least one to an attack in the next four years. I vote for SF.
And protecting the defendants always seems more important to liberals than obtaining justice for the victims.
From FOX News:
“To me it’s beyond comprehension that they would take the side of the terrorists,” said Peter Gadiel, whose son, James, was killed at the World Trade Center on 9/11. “Many of these people have been released and been right back killing, right back at their terrorist work again.”
“There is no need to suspend [the military commissions]. There is no reason why [Obama] can’t conduct a concurrent review at the same time that the military commission process is moving forward to render justice for the terrorists that have murdered thousands of people,” said former Cmdr. Kirk Lippold, who lost 17 sailors during a suicide bombing attack on the USS Cole in 2000. A suspect in the case is being held at Guantanamo.
“It demeans their deaths because we seem to be more concerned with the rights of detainees than we are with the justice that is being denied to my sailors that were killed,” Lippold told FOXNews.com.
““To me it’s beyond comprehension that they would take the side of the terrorists,” said Peter Gadiel...”
Sympathy Ditto.
http://www.jtfgtmo.southcom.mil/
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Note: The following text is a quote:
http://www.defenselink.mil/news/newsarticle.aspx?id=52750
President Directs Suspension of Guantanamo Bay Commissions
By Gerry J. Gilmore
American Forces Press Service
WASHINGTON, Jan. 21, 2009 – Responding to a presidential directive, Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates yesterday ordered a suspension of active military commission proceedings at the U.S. detention center at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, a senior Pentagon official said here today.
President Barack Obama, who had called for the Guantanamo facility’s closure during his campaign, directed Gates to pause legal proceedings involving alleged terrorists being held and tried there, pending further guidance from the White House, spokesman Bryan Whitman told Pentagon reporters.
The president directed the secretary, who then directed the Office of Military Commissions, to cease referring any new cases through the military-commissions process at Guantanamo and to request 120-day continuances on all ongoing active cases there, Whitman said.
Whitman said he anticipates that further White House guidance regarding Guantanamo Bay will follow.
“The president has clearly made his intentions well known” regarding activities at the detention center, Whitman said.
Gates has recommended shutting down the Guantanamo detention center since he was appointed defense secretary more than two years ago. In December, Gates requested a proposal for closing the facility.
Gates has stated that requirements for closing Guantanamo include constructing legislation that provides statutory framework for housing detainees outside the confines of Guantanamo Bay, Pentagon Press Secretary Geoff Morrell told reporters during a Dec. 18 news conference.
The defense secretary “has asked his team for a proposal on how to shut it down [and] what would be required specifically to close it and move the detainees from that facility, while at the same time ensuring that we protect the American people from some very dangerous characters,” Morrell said.
The Military Commissions Act of 2006 established procedures governing the use of military commissions to try alien unlawful enemy combatants engaged in hostilities against the United States for violations of the law of war and other offenses that can be tried by military commission, according to a military-commissions fact sheet.
The detention center at Naval Station Guantanamo Bay has housed nearly 800 suspected terrorists captured in Afghanistan, Iraq and other places since the start of the global war on terrorism that followed the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks on the United States.
About 250 people are being held at Guantanamo today, including Khalid Sheikh Mohammad, the alleged mastermind of the 9/11 attacks.
Related Sites:
Military Commissions Act of 2006
Military Commissions Fact Sheet
Joint Task Force Guantanamo
Related Articles:
Detainee Treatment Remains Key as Officials Weigh Guantanamo’s Future
Guantanamo Solution Remains a Defense Department Priority, Spokesman Says
Gates Requests Plan for Guantanamo Closure
Note: The following post is a quote:
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2169148/posts
Murtha Says He’d Take Guantanamo Prisoners in His District
foxnews.com ^ | January 21, 2009 | Chad Pergram
Posted on January 21, 2009 4:10:17 PM PST by Free ThinkerNY
Rep. Jack Murtha, D-Pa., says he’d be willing to house prisoners from Guantanamo Bay in his congressional district if President Obama makes good on a plan to close the U.S. prison there.
As one of his first acts in office, the president circulated a draft Wednesday that would shut down Guantanamo Bay within a year.
Murtha only has a minimum security prison in his district. But he says he’d have no reservations about holding detainees there in a maximum security prison.
“Sure, I’d take ‘em,” said Murtha, an outspoken critic of the Iraq war. “They’re no more dangerous in my district than in Guantanamo.”
(Excerpt) Read more at foxnews.com ...
http://www.jtfgtmo.southcom.mil/
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Note: The following text is a quote:
http://www.defenselink.mil/news/newsarticle.aspx?id=52771
Obama Calls for Closing Guantanamo Bay, Changes in Detainee Treatment
By John J. Kruzel
American Forces Press Service
WASHINGTON, Jan. 22, 2009 – President Barack Obama today called for the closing of the U.S. detention center at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, within one year.
In a series of executive orders concerning the treatment of detainees in American custody, Obama also ordered the creation of a group tasked with detainee disposition, governmentwide use of the Army field manual’s interrogation rules and the delay of a high-profile hearing.
“The message that we are sending around the world is that the United States intends to prosecute the ongoing struggle against violence and terrorism,” the president said at the signing ceremony here. “And we are going to do so vigilantly, we are going to do so effectively, and we are going to do so in a manner that is consistent with our values and our ideals.”
The directive comes two days after Obama asked Pentagon officials to pause legal proceedings involving alleged terrorists being held and tried at Guantanamo.
Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates, who responded to the presidential request Jan. 20, has recommended shutting down the Guantanamo detention center since early in his two-year tenure.
A thorny legal question surrounding the closure of the detention center is the fate of some of the roughly 250 people currently held there.
Obama today ordered the formation of an interagency task force responsible for providing recommendations on handling such detainees. The group will comprise Gates; Navy Adm. Mike Mullen, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff; Secretary of State Hillary Clinton; the directors of national intelligence and the CIA; and the secretary of Homeland Security and other officials.
“They are going to provide me with information in terms of how we are able to deal in the disposition of some of the detainees that may be currently in Guantanamo that we cannot transfer to other countries, who could pose a serious danger to the United States, but we cannot try because of various problems related to evidence in a [federal] court,” Obama said.
Another directive Obama endorsed today calls for all U.S. interrogations to abide by rules articulated in the Army Field Manual 2-22.3. The manual, released in September 2006, lays out specific guidelines for military members involved in detention and interrogation, and Obama’s order extends the mandate to all U.S. government personnel.
“We believe that the Army Field Manual reflects the best judgment of our military; that we can abide by a rule that says we don’t torture, but that we can still effectively obtain the intelligence that we need,” the president said. “[It’s] an understanding that dates back to our founding fathers, that we are willing to observe core standards of conduct not just when it’s easy, but also when it’s hard.”
Obama also called for a delay in the Supreme Court hearing of Ali Saleh Kahlah al-Marri, a legal U.S. resident detained in Peoria, Ill., in 2001, after then-President George W. Bush deemed him an enemy combatant. A Defense Department news release at the time said Marri received this designation “due to recent credible information provided by other detainees in the war on terrorism.”
Marri’s case has generated attention from news outlets questioning the legality of the enemy combatant designation applied to him.
“He is clearly a dangerous individual,” Obama said of Marri. “His case is currently before the Supreme Court, [and] we have asked for a delay in going before the Supreme Court and dealing with this case so that we can properly review the evidence against him and the various policies that have been presented up until this time.”
Related Sites:
Joint Task Force Guantanamo
Related Articles:
President Directs Suspension of Guantanamo Bay Commissions
Detainee Treatment Remains Key as Officials Weigh Guantanamo’s Future
Guantanamo Solution Remains a Defense Department Priority, Spokesman Says
Gates Requests Plan for Guantanamo Closure
New Documents Outline Detention, Interrogation Policies
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/2169449/posts
“Prez Obama closing Gitmo: 9/11 families object; terrorist attacks likely”
911FamiliesForAmerica.org ^ | September 22, 2009 | Tim Sumner
Note: The following text is a quote:
http://www.defenselink.mil/news/newsarticle.aspx?id=52774
Gates Cites Positive Response to Pending Guantanamo Closure
By Gerry J. Gilmore
American Forces Press Service
WASHINGTON, Jan. 22, 2009 – President Barack Obama’s decision to close the U.S. detention center at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, has made a positive impression in the world community, and that will assist America in its fight against global terrorism, the Defense Department’s top official said here today.
Closing Guantanamo “creates additional opportunities for us in terms of partnering with other countries and other countries’ eagerness to work with us in dealing with violent extremists,” Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates said during a Pentagon news conference.
Some countries apparently are mulling taking in detainees, Gates said, as part of the process of shuttering Guantanamo.
Such a development, Gates said, indicates that news of Guantanamo’s impending closure “is being positively received” across the world.
“As I said, I think that creates opportunities for us,” Gates said.
Obama earlier today signed three executive orders, one of which directs the closure of the U.S. detention center at Guantanamo Bay within the year. Another order signed by the president directs the stand up of a special interagency task force that will study the future disposition of present Guantanamo detainees that cannot be transferred to other countries and that pose a serious danger to the United States.
Obama said at the signing ceremony that his executive order impacting Guantanamo’s detainee operations was issued “to effect the appropriate disposition of individuals currently detained by the [Defense Department] at Guantanamo, and promptly to close the detention facility at Guantanamo consistent with the national security and foreign policy interests of the United States and the interest of justice.”
A process will be developed, Obama continued, to implement closure of the detainee center at Guantanamo “no later than one year from now.”
Obama directed Gates on Jan. 20 to cease referring any new cases through the military-commissions process at Guantanamo Bay and to request 120-day continuances on all ongoing active cases there.
Management of housing and legal proceedings involving Guantanamo’s detainee population has been under the purview of the Defense Department since the detention center was opened shortly after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks on the United States.
Gates has recommended shutting down the Guantanamo detention center since he was appointed defense secretary more than two years ago.
“Clearly the challenge that faces us — and that I’ve acknowledged before — is figuring out how do we close Guantanamo and at the same time safeguard the security of the American people,” Gates said. “And that’s the challenge we will continue to face.
“I believe that there are answers to those questions,” the secretary continued, “but we clearly have a lot of work to do and the executive order spells out, I think, the work that has to be done to get there.”
Gates said he was among the least-qualified people to offer an opinion as to how detainees should or would be handled in the legal system after leaving Guantanamo.
“I think those recommendations will be made by the [U.S.] Justice Department, perhaps with the input of the White House Counsel for the President,” Gates said.
Another executive order that was signed by Obama today directs the U.S. military and other U.S. agencies to follow the Army Field Manual, which bans torture when interrogating detainees “to promote the safe, lawful and humane treatment of individuals in United States custody,” Obama said.
The directive, he added, highlights the importance for the United States to comply with the Geneva Conventions, which ban torture and specify humane treatment of all prisoners during wartime. Some detainees held at Guantanamo have said that they were tortured.
“I think you have to weigh the costs of the more severe interrogation measures with, as the president talked about in his inaugural address, our values and the impact on our values,” said Gates, who has also served as director of the CIA.
Gates added, “We know a lot more about al-Qaida now than we did during the early years” of the war against terrorism. Consequently, the requirement “for measures that go outside the Army Field Manual is dramatically less than it was several years ago,” he said.
“So, based on my experience in both arenas, I am very comfortable with where the executive order places us,” Gates said.
The Military Commissions Act of 2006 established procedures governing the use of military commissions to try alien unlawful enemy combatants engaged in hostilities against the United States for violations of the law of war and other offenses that can be tried by military commission, according to a military commissions fact sheet.
The detention center at Naval Station Guantanamo Bay has housed nearly 800 suspected terrorists captured in Afghanistan, Iraq and other places since the start of global war on terrorism that followed the 9/11 attacks.
About 250 people are being held at Guantanamo today, including Khalid Sheikh Mohammad, the alleged mastermind of the 9/11 attacks.
Biographies:
Robert M. Gates
Related Sites:
Military Commissions Act of 2006
Military Commissions Fact Sheet
Joint Task Force Guantanamo
Related Articles:
Obama Calls for Closing Guantanamo Bay, Changes in Detainee Treatment
President Directs Suspension of Guantanamo Bay Commissions
Note: Video included.
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BLOG:
http://michellemalkin.com/2009/01/22/heres-your-jihadi-recidivism/
“Here’s your jihadi recidivism”
By Michelle Malkin • January 22, 2009 10:42 PM
Note: The following text is a quote:
http://www.defenselink.mil/news/newsarticle.aspx?id=52796
Defense Officials Address Detainee Concerns
By Gerry J. Gilmore
American Forces Press Service
WASHINGTON, Jan. 23, 2009 – As the Defense Department prepares plans to close the U.S. detention center at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, defense officials acknowledge the possibility that released detainees could return to the battlefield.
“It’s something that we’re cognizant of. It’s obviously something that we try to assess at the time of transfer when we are looking at these individuals,” Pentagon spokesman Bryan Whitman told Pentagon reporters today.
President Barack Obama yesterday signed an executive order that directs the closure of the U.S. detention center at Guantanamo within a year.
The detention center has housed nearly 800 suspected terrorists captured in Afghanistan, Iraq and other places since the start of the global war on terrorism that followed the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks on the United States. About 250 detainees are being held at Guantanamo, including Khalid Sheikh Mohammad, the alleged mastermind of the 9/11 attacks.
Of the more than 500 detainees who have been transferred from Defense Department custody, 18 allegedly have resumed terrorist activities and another 43 former detainees are suspected of having resumed their former lives, Whitman said.
Whitman addressed a query from a reporter citing news reports that a former Guantanamo detainee had apparently become an associate leader for al-Qaida in Yemen.
Guantanamo inmates’ cases are reviewed annually, Whitman said, to ascertain whether or not they qualify for release. However, he said, there’s no guarantee released individuals won’t return to terrorism.
“You can’t have absolute certainly,” Whitman acknowledged.
Speaking to Pentagon reporters, Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates yesterday acknowledged there are challenges inherent with shuttering the center.
“Clearly, the challenge that faces us, and that I’ve acknowledged before, is figuring out how do we close Guantanamo and at the same time safeguard the security of the American people,” he said.
There “are answers to those questions,” Gates said, noting there is “a lot of work to do.”
Biographies:
Robert M. Gates
Related Articles:
Gates Positive Response to Pending Guantanamo Closure
Obama Calls for Closing Guantanamo Bay, Changes in Detainee Treatment
"Whitman addressed a query from a reporter citing news reports that a former Guantanamo detainee had apparently become an associate leader for al-Qaida in Yemen.
Guantanamo inmates’ cases are reviewed annually, Whitman said, to ascertain whether or not they qualify for release. However, he said, there’s no guarantee released individuals won’t return to terrorism.
“You can’t have absolute certainly,” Whitman acknowledged."
ZEE NEWS.com - India Edition: Washington - "RELEASED GUANTANAMO DETAINEE NEW YEMEN AL QAEDA COMMANDER" (SNIPPET: "...Said Ali al-Shihri, who was jailed at Guantanamo for six years after his capture in Pakistan, has resurfaced as a leader of a Yemeni branch of al-Qaeda." SNIPPET: "That announcement, which carried the video post of al-Shihri, also included a second video of a second militant who identified himself as Abu al-Hareth Muhammad al-Oufi and claimed he had also been a Guantanamo captive, later released.") (January 24, 2009)
WASHINGTON TIMES.com - exclusive: "OBAMA TO CLOSE TERRORIST 'BLACK SITES'" by Sara A. Carter and Eli Lake (SNIPPET: "President Obama on Thursday will order the closure of so-called black sites, where CIA and European security services have interrogated terrorist suspects, under executive orders dismantling much of the Bush admistration's architecture for the war on terror, according to four individuals familiar with a draft executive order.") (January 21, 2009)
FOX NEWS.com: "MURTHA SAYS HE'D TAKE GUANTANAMO PRISONERS IN HIS DISTRICT" by Chad Pergram (SNIPPET: "But that idea disturbs House Minority Leader John Boehner, R-Ohio. "Most communities around America don't want dangerous terrorists imported into their neighborhoods," Boehner said in a statement.") (January 21, 2009)
Note: The following post is a quote:
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/2171280/posts
A 9/11 family member chides the new President for closing Guantanamo terror camp
911FamiliesForAmerica.org ^ | Janaury 25, 2009 | Michael Burke
Posted on January 25, 2009 3:26:05 AM PST by Sergeant Tim
This morning, the New York Daily News published my op-ed on President Barack Obama’s decision to close Guantanamo and suspend the Military Commissions:
With his shameful order to close Guantanamo Bay, President Obama has perfectly filled the stereotype of the classic clueless ultra-Liberal — the one who can generate great passion for the rights of the guilty defendant and none for the innocent victim.
With a single stroke of the pen, Obama has delayed justice for the victims of 9/11, and in essence granted a reprieve for Al Qaeda mastermind Khalid Shaikh Mohammed, the architect of 9/11.
America does not honor our “rule of law and the rights of man” as he put in his inauguration speech by such an action. Instead, this nation abdicated its duty to justice.
It seems the new President is too far removed from the victims of 9/11. Victims like 11-year-old Bernard Curtis Brown, a passenger on American Airlines Flight 77, which crashed into the Pentagon. Everyone onboard was killed, as well as [125] people in the Pentagon. Curtis was on a trip with several of his classmates to California sponsored by National Geographic.
Obama and the Democrats have had a blind spot for 9/11 and have yet to show they have an ounce of understanding what happened that day.
Here is why we were attacked: Muslim extremists hate Americans and want us dead. Our policies in no way influenced the vitriol perpetuated on innocent Americans on September 11, 2001. ...
(Excerpt) Read more at 911familiesforamerica.org ...
http://www.investigativeproject.org/article/984
“National Security Court? We Already Have One”
by Bill West
IPT News
January 26, 2009
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