Note: The following text is a quote:
http://www.defenselink.mil/news/newsarticle.aspx?id=52940
Navy Admiral to Lead Review of Guantanamo Detention Facility
By Gerry J. Gilmore
American Forces Press Service
WASHINGTON, Feb. 3, 2009 – Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates has selected a Navy four-star admiral to lead an assessment of operations at the U.S. detention center at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, a senior Defense Department official said here today.
Adm. Patrick M. Walsh, the vice chief of Naval Operations, will head the review, Pentagon Press Secretary Geoff Morrell told reporters.
The White House has tasked the Pentagon to assess the detention operations at Guantanamo Bay as part of President Barack Obama’s decision to close the facility, Morrell said.
Obama issued an executive order Jan. 22 that directs the closure of the Guantanamo detention center within a year. Obama signed another executive order that day directing the stand-up of a special interagency task force that will study the future disposition of present Guantanamo detainees who cannot be transferred to other countries and who pose a serious danger to the United States.
Another presidential executive order issued Jan. 22 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 at the signing ceremony. The directive, Obama added, highlights the importance for the United States to comply with the Geneva Conventions.
The Walsh-led appraisal of detainee operations at Guantanamo “is a subset of the executive orders that the president signed a couple of weeks ago,” Morrell said.
The admiral’s review of Guantanamo’s detention operations is to be completed within 30 days, Morrell said.
Pentagon officials believe that detainee operations at Guantanamo “have been in compliance with Common Article 3 of the Geneva Conventions for some time and are still so,” Morrell said.
“But, we take this tasking from the White House very seriously,” Morrell said, “and that’s why the secretary has asked a four-star flag officer to go down there, and put fresh eyes on the situation down there, and come back with the most up-to-date assessment of detention operations.”
Obama directed Gates on Jan. 20 to pause legal proceedings involving alleged terrorists being held and tried there, pending further guidance from the White House. 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.
Biographies:
Navy Adm. Patrick M. Walsh
Related Sites:
Military Commissions Act of 2006
Military Commissions Fact Sheet
Joint Task Force Guantanamo
Related Articles:
Military Commissions Must Obey President’s Directive, Official Says
Defense Officials Address Detainee Concerns
Gates Cites Positive Response to Pending Guantanamo Closure
Obama Calls for Closing Guantanamo Bay, Changes in Detainee Treatment
President Directs Suspension of Guantanamo Bay Commissions
http://www.onenewsnow.com/Security/Default.aspx?id=406382
“Gitmo’s inmates on U.S. soil - a ‘magnet for jihadists’”
Chad Groening - OneNewsNow - 2/3/2009 8:55:00 AM
SNIPPET: “Lt. Colonel Gordon Cucullu (USA-Ret.) has written a new book entitled Inside Gitmo: The True Story Behind the Myths of Guantanamo Bay. He has some serious concerns about housing the detainees anywhere on U.S. soil.
“What I think is a very dangerous option would be outright release [of the prisoners] — and I think that the activists would settle for no less, frankly,” says Cucullu. “Any location on the mainland of the United States is going to be a magnet for jihadists from around the world to try to either break these guys out, or even more dangerously to take hostage or to inflict casualties among the local communities.”
Cucullu says the same critics who refer to Guantanamo as the “Gulag of our times” will refer to any facility on the mainland in the same manner. The retired Army officer believes heated debate will surround the detainees’ status — and that it will probably take much longer than a year to resolve.”
I wonder if that was 7 hours or less into Inaugeration Day that Obama moved to run to the rescue of al Qaeda Gitmo prisoners, shouting "I got your back," no doubt.