Obama's Gitmo "gotchas" continue

Flopping Aces ^ | 05-09-09 | Mataharley

[Starman417]

With Obama's 120 day "pause" on military commissions about to expire on May 20th, and detainees still languishing away in the Cuban facility, the POTUS is preparing first to buy a vowel... er, more time.

Task #1 is to punt.... kick the issue further down the field by asking for another 90 day extension. While the first thought is that Obama - renowned for his penchant for voting "present" and straddling fences when pressed on issues - is just trying to make up his mind about the course of action, it's actually necessary to comply with the mandate that the CIC must provide Congress with 60 days' notice of any rule changes in the way the commissions function. And... assuming he doesn't change his mind in the next 30 days... he's doing just that. Revamping the military commission with a twist.

The most recent rumblings with details of "da plan" come via WaPo's Peter Finn today...

The Obama administration is preparing to revive the system of military commissions established at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, under new rules that would offer terrorism suspects greater legal protections, government officials said.

The rules would block the use of evidence obtained from coercive interrogations, tighten the admissibility of hearsay testimony and allow detainees greater freedom to choose their attorneys, said the officials, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak publicly.

~~~

Under the administration's rule changes, hearsay evidence would be admissible if a judge determines it is reliable, officials said. That provision would allow the government to introduce some intelligence material that would ordinarily be barred in federal court or military courts martial, the officials said. There is precedent for admitting hearsay evidence in international courts, including at the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia.

~~~

The Obama administration's plan to reinstate the commissions with modifications reflects the fear that some cases would fail in federal courts or in standard military legal settings.

"It looks a lot more difficult now than it did on Jan. 20," said one government official.

This kinder/gentler version of military trials isn't winning the hearts and minds of the ACLU, who vows to meet any attempt to put a nicer face on military trials with legal challenge.

"This is an extraordinary development, and it's going to tarnish the image of American justice again," said Tom Parker, a counterterrorism specialist at Amnesty International.

~~~

Civil liberties advocates, who insist that federal courts can handle terrorism cases, vowed to challenge any new process.

"We'll litigate this before they can proceed, absolutely," said Anthony D. Romero, the executive director of the American Civil Liberties Union. "Any effort to tinker with military commissions would be an enormous mistake. There is no way to fix a flawed process that has not rendered justice."

~~~

Romero said allowing hearsay in any U.S. courtroom is a "greater travesty than Bush administration justice."

In the meantime, it should come as no surprise that both sides of the aisle are trading barbs and criticisms via their respective party Saturday radio addresses.

The summary? The GOP calls closing Gitmo and releasing detainees "dangerous". For the Dems, it's all about America's "reputation" and saving face.

Sen. Kit Bond of Missouri, delivering the Republicans' weekly radio and Internet address, said Saturday that Obama's plan "is a dangerous case of putting symbolism over security," and he called on the president to disclose where the terrorists held at Guantanamo Bay will be sent.

"The American people have a right to know exactly what the White House plans to do with these terrorists," said Bond, the ranking Republican on the Senate Intelligence Committee. "Americans don't want these terrorists in their neighborhood."

Rep. Pete King, R-N.Y., told FOX News that Obama should keep the prison open.

"These are very dangerous people," he said. "I think the president is caving into world opinion and he's attempting to fulfill a campaign pledge without having any real idea what the consequences are or where these detainees are going to go."

Rep. Jim Moran, D-Va., countered the Republican criticisms in an opinion article Saturday in the Washington Post. Moran noted that both Obama and Sen. John McCain pledged on the presidential campaign trail last year to close the prison because they realized detaining suspects indefinitely had damaged America's reputation around the world and fueled "terrorist recruitment and anti-American sentiment."

"While closing Guantanamo would go a long way toward removing this stain on our national character, the decision to do so was the easy part," he wrote. "What to do with the detainees who remain of the more than 700 sent there since 2001 is much more difficult."

Rep. Joe Sestak, D-Pa., who is considering challenging Sen. Arlen Specter in next year's Democratic primary, told FOX News that the president could have kept Guantanamo opened as long as due process and habeas corpus were instituted.

"But as a symbol around the world, the decision was made which I can support to close it," he said. "Now what do we do with the detainees? The issue now is how do we abjudicate under due process, making sure they're prosecuted appropriately?"

Obama... still busy trying to find homes for the Gitmo grad homeless... was reported to have a 25-minute discussion with Yemen's President, Ali Abdullah Saleh, about the fate of about 100 Yemenis. Saleh wants them to come home to Yemen. Obama wants to send them to a Saudi terrorist rehabilitation school. [Uh, why does employer mandated "anger management" and "tolerance" classes come to mind here....]

[Pan_Yan]

I’d love to see what the recreation facilities of a Saudi terrorist rehabilitation camp are like.