Joint Chiefs chairman: close Guantanamo

AP Via Yahoo! News ^ | Jan 13, 2008 | Robert Burns

[MichMash]

GUANTANAMO BAY NAVAL BASE, Cuba - The chief of the U.S. military said Sunday he favors closing the prison here as soon as possible because he believes negative publicity worldwide about treatment of terrorist suspects has been "pretty damaging" to the image of the United States.

"I'd like to see it shut down," Adm. Mike Mullen said in an interview with three reporters who toured the detention center with him on his first visit since becoming chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff last October.

[SE Mom]

I disagree. Huckabee looks worse as each day passes.

[Mr Rogers]

How about the ADM let the POTUS decide policy, while he provides confidential advice and works implementation?

Of course, I’ve only got 24 years in and will never make General, so what do I know?

[jwalsh07]

So because Gitmo is on Cuban soil, then local law applies and all the detainees should have Cuban lawyers? Nonsense.

Not at all, what it means is that no US court has jurisdiction, period. Is there any place that you think US courts can't reach?

[Mr Rogers]

Everybody is always saying that the military commanders in the field should make the decisions on how to run the war. They’re right!

They're WRONG! The President is the Commander in Chief, not ANY General or Admiral. That has been one of my beefs with GWB all along - the buck stops in the Oval Office, not the Pentagon. It is up to the President to figure out the strategy and goals and acceptable costs - not the military.

[Mr Rogers]

Gitmo is not US soil, and I’m sure Cuba and a host of international lawyers would strongly agree. THAT is why we put prisoners there to begin with.

[Fox_Mulder77]

since image matters so much i guess we should set them all free, buy them homes, cars, and rugs, and give them a pension.

[HuntsvilleTxVeteran]

He also is for the Law Of Sea Treaty and using our Navy as an arm of foggy bottom!

[dbacks]

OK, smartass, just what would we do with legitimate prisoners?

We sure as heck can’t bring them to US soil, else the dims (ACLU) will clamor for civil trials and free lawyers.

Oh, I know. We can turn them over to one of our numerous friends for interrogation and torture and then accidental?? death. Works for me.

[Don Corleone]

"I'd like to see it shut down," Adm. Mike Mullen

Get back to sea Popeye...and sink a few of those little boats in the Strait of Hormuz.

[Fox_Mulder77]

“OK, smartass, just what would we do with legitimate prisoners?”

make them u.s. senators and let them run for President

[Mr Rogers]

From http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gitmo:

The long-term lease of this territory by the United States has been unpopular with the current Cuban government since 1959. The present sovereign's of the territory covering Guantanamo Bay, the Republic of Cuba, led by the Communist Party of Cuba, claim that as sovereign land owners they may evict the people who live and work there, pointing to article 52 of the 1969 Vienna Convention on the Law of Treaties which declares a treaty void if its conclusion has been procured by the threat or use of force — in this case by the inclusion, in 1901, of the Platt Amendment in the first Cuban Constitution.

The United States warned the Cuban Constitutional Convention not to remove the Amendment, and stated U.S. troops would not leave Cuba until its terms had been adopted as a condition for the U.S. to grant independence. However, the United States argues that Article 4 of the Vienna Convention on the Law of Treaties prohibits retroactive (after the fact) application of said Convention to already existing treaties such as the ones concluded between the US and Cuba in 1903 and 1934.

The Platt Amendment was dissolved in 1934, and the treaty re-affirming the lease to the base was signed after Franklin D. Roosevelt dispatched 29 US warships to Cuba and Key West to protect U.S. interests following a military coup.

[Tlaloc]

You think no US court has jurisdiction over our US base at Gitmo!? Not even the Supreme Court!? What dream world do you live in?

RASUL V. BUSH
Whatever traction the presumption against extraterritoriality might have in other contexts, it certainly has no application to the operation of the habeas statute with respect to persons detained within “the territorial jurisdiction” of the United States. Foley Bros., Inc. v. Filardo, 336 U.S. 281, 285 (1949). By the express terms of its agreements with Cuba, the United States exercises “complete jurisdiction and control” over the Guantanamo Bay Naval Base, and may continue to exercise such control permanently if it so chooses. 1903 Lease Agreement, Art. III; 1934 Treaty, Art. III. Respondents themselves concede that the habeas statute would create federal-court jurisdiction over the claims of an American citizen held at the base. Tr. of Oral Arg. 27. Considering that the statute draws no distinction between Americans and aliens held in federal custody, there is little reason to think that Congress intended the geographical coverage of the statute to vary depending on the detainee’s citizenship.10 Aliens held at the base, no less than American citizens, are entitled to invoke the federal courts’ authority under §2241.

[sgtyork]

The German prisoner’s status was not in doubt both German and the US were signatories to the document. Last I heard, Al Queda had not signed and each prisoner at Guantanamo has to have his status determined by a tribunal.

Additionally, in case you hadn’t noticed, in WWII there was a unity of purpose, e.g. generally the entire nation wanted to win a war against an enemy that it saw as threatening to their freedom and way of life. Fifty years later, we indiputably have enemies who want to use our legal system against us.

Liberals once again do not see the law of unintended consequences. You don’t want detainees that possibly have information about terrorist threats held in a place like Guantanamo? Then they will be executed on the battlefield as mandated by the Geneva Convention.

[gusopol3]

it was a non-story, just to create the impression that there was disarray and disagreement between Bush and the professional military, a favorite theme of MSM . For Mullen, it may have just been PC window-dressing as it was for Bush a year and a half ago.

[Tlaloc]

I get it Cuba is sovereign over Gitmo, they just can't kick us out and we'll kick their ass if they try. Funny definition of "sovereignty" if you ask me.

[Fox_Mulder77]

yeah these gitmo is considered u.s. soil legally when it comes to court jurisdiction.

whats scary is that these prisoners are going to get the best lawyers money has to buy, as saudi arabia has been paying millions to get lawyers for these guys. and want to pay millions more to defend them all.

what a perversion of our democracy.

[Tlaloc]

Exactly! CLUB GITMO is a fraud! It’s time to shut down this country club for terrorists!

[jwalsh07]

It's not surprising that a liberal supports liberals on the SCOTUS while conservatives support the conservatives and common freaking sense on the SCOTUS.

Here is some common sense and conservative jurisprudence from Justice Scalia, Rehnquist and Thomas.P>A preview:

"The Court today holds that the habeas statute, 28 U.S.C. § 2241 extends to aliens detained by the United States military overseas, outside the sovereign borders of the United States and beyond the territorial jurisdictions of all its courts. This is not only a novel holding; it contradicts a half-century-old precedent on which the military undoubtedly relied, Johnson v. Eisentrager, 339 U.S. 763 (1950). The Court’s contention that Eisentrager was somehow negated by Braden v. 30th Judicial Circuit Court of Ky., 410 U.S. 484 (1973)–a decision that dealt with a different issue and did not so much as mention Eisentrager–is implausible in the extreme. This is an irresponsible overturning of settled law in a matter of extreme importance to our forces currently in the field. I would leave it to Congress to change §2241, and dissent from the Court’s unprecedented holding."

You stick with Justice Stevens and Admiral Mullen, I'll stick with General Pace and Justice Thomas.

[Polybius]

Bringing them to the US does not mean they will have any more rights than they do at Gitmo. Gitmo is US soil and US laws apply there just as much as they would at a military base here.

I was stationed at GTMO for one year.

U.S. Naval Base, Guantanamo Bay, Cuba is Cuban soil that, by a 1903 treaty that was renegotiated in 1934, is leased to the U.S. until .... here is the kicker .... BOTH sides agree to end the lease.

Castro wants to end the lease. The U.S. does not. Since both sides do not agree on canceling the lease, the lease is still in effect. Every year, the U.S. sends Castro a check for the lease payment. Each year, Castro symbolically refuses to cash it.

Under U.S. law, any Cuban rafter that makes it all the way to U.S. soil and is not intercepted at sea is given political asylum. (The "Wet Foot-Dry Foot" law). During the Clinton Administration, when Cuban rafters were intercepted at sea in large numbers, they were detained at GTMO until Cuba took them back.

Why GTMO?

Because GTMO is, legally, Cuban soil and therefore did not fulfil the legal requirement of "setting foot on U.S. soil" of the "Wet Foot-Dry Foot" law.

[Virginia Ridgerunner]

From the JCS Link

Admiral Mullen was sworn in as the 17th Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff on October 1, 2007. He serves as the principal military advisor to the President, the Secretary of Defense, the National Security Council, and the Homeland Security Council.

A native of Los Angeles, he graduated from the U.S. Naval Academy in 1968.

He commanded three ships: the gasoline tanker USS Noxubee (AOG 56), the guided missile destroyer USS Goldsborough (DDG 20), and the guided missile cruiser USS Yorktown (CG 48).

As a Flag Officer, Admiral Mullen commanded Cruiser-Destroyer Group 2, the George Washington Battle Group, and the U.S. 2nd Fleet/NATO Striking Fleet Atlantic.

Ashore he has served in leadership positions at the Naval Academy, in the Navy's Bureau of Personnel, in the Office of the Secretary of Defense and on the Navy Staff. He was the 32nd Vice Chief of Naval Operations from August 2003 to October 2004.

His last operational assignment was as Commander, NATO Joint Force Command Naples/Commander, U.S. Naval Forces Europe.

Admiral Mullen is a graduate of the Advanced Management Program at the Harvard Business School and earned a Master of Science degree in Operations Research from the Naval Postgraduate School.

Prior to becoming Chairman, Admiral Mullen served as the 28th Chief of Naval Operations.