Obama will break his promise to close Guantanamo Bay

Obama's top counterterrorism adviser appears to have ruled out any last minute dramatic move by the president to close down Guantanamo Bay before he leaves office.

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Obama has continually promised to close the facility since he has become president but Lisa Monaco, Assistant to the President for Counter-terrorism and Homeland Security, said:

"At the end of the day, the domestic transfer restriction remains in place, so until Congress lifts that we’re not able to bring detainees here even to serve a life sentence, even to undergo prosecution to render a life sentence, so those restrictions remain in place. There will be some number that remain, absent an ability and a lifting of the Congressional restrictions to bring them to the Unuted States, they will remain in Guantanamo."She made the remarks at a discussion promoted by the Christian Science Monitor. This in effect acknowledges that prison at Guantanamo Bay will not be closed during Obama's term as president in spite of his continual promises that it would be.

Some advocates of closure have claimed that Obama can use his executive authority to transfer the remaining prisoners to the US, including two lawyers who had worked on the issue for Obama. They claim he can simply ignore the Congressional ban on transfers. Obama is expected to sign into law a defense spending authorization bill that will maintain a prohibition to transfer Guantanamo prisoners to the US, as well as put limits on transfers abroad as well. Republicans in Congress were concerned that Obama might use his executive powers to override the ban but Monaco said that Obama has no intention of doing so even though he disagrees with the restrictions.

Monaco said that the Obama administration would continue to try to shrink the prison population at Guantanamo. It has shrunk from 240 when Obama became president to 59 now. Monaco said that Obama would transfer as many as he could before leaving office on January 20th. Monaco complained that the Congress would not act on the Obama plan to close Guantanamo submitted in February of this year.

The most recently planned transfer is of a prisoner accused of bombing an Israeli hotel in Kenya. However, the transfer is being held up by the refusal of US authorities to release documentation used to show his guilt. The prisoner is being transferred to Israel to be prosecuted and Israel obviously wants evidence the US has of his guilt.

Far from closing Guantanamo Bay, President-elect Trump might even make it bigger. Trump's pick for head of Homeland Security is retired general John Kelly. Kelly was opposed to Obama's plans to close the base while he was in command of the area of which Guantanamo Bay was part. Under Trump Guantanamo Bay could thrive. Obama's plans would still have retained the worst feature of Guantanamo, imprisoning people indefinitely without benefit of any trial and with no charges being laid. Instead of injustice being perpetrated in Guantanamo Bay it would occur within the US itself.

Vice president Joe Biden expects Guantanamo to close by end of Obama's term

United States Vice President Joe Biden said today (August 25) that he expected the military prison in Guantanamo Bay Cuba to be closed before President Obama left office in January of 2017.

At a news conference in Sweden, Biden said: "That is my hope and expectation." Obama promised to close the base when he first campaigned for president. The US Congress has opposed Obama''s plans including passing legislation to ban him from moving Guantanamo prisoners to the US mainland.

Obama sent a plan for closing the facility to Congress back in February: "Obama outlined a blueprint that involves transferring the bulk of remaining detainees to other countries and moving the rest — who can't be transferred abroad because they're deemed too dangerous — to an as-yet-undetermined detention facility in the United States."

When Obama first ordered Guantanamo closed, there were still 242 detainees. This has dropped to 61. Fifteen were transferred just recently. However several dozen detainees are not eligible for transfer and the Congress has banned their transfer to the US. If Congress revoked the ban then Obama could likely transfer all the detainees out and close it down. However, there is no sign that this will happen. Republican Senator Tom Cotton of Arkansas said: “As far as I'm concerned, every last one of them can rot in hell, but as long as they don’t do that, they can rot in Guantánamo Bay.”

Obama could claim that under the US constitution he has the power to transfer Guantanamo detainees to the US. There are already convicted terrorists held in a Colorado prison. Although this move would allow Obama to close the prison, it would no doubt cause political fireworks. Under Trump probably the prison would stay open. Hillary Clinton has suggested ways that would "chip away at the ban" and ultimately allow her to close the prison. However, it is not certain that this would even be a priority for Clinton.

There are a number of signs that there are no plans to close the facility soon. Quite the opposite, there are budgets being allocated to repair old facilities and build new ones for those operating the prison as described in an earlier Digital Journal article. Even if Guantanamo does close, the worst feature of the prison will remain in force. Some of those transferred to the US can still be kept imprisoned indefinitely without trial should the US authorities decide to do so.

Guantanamo unlikely to close before Obama's term ends

A sign that Guantanamo Bay is not set to close anytime soon are new construction contracts to build new facilities and repair old buildings at the naval base in Cuba.

There has been $240 million budgeted for improvements and repairs to buildings used by personnel assigned to work on the base. Contracts awarded to five different firms stretch over five years.

One contract awarded to Munilla Construction Management of Miami is for $63 million to build a new school for children of civilians and military working on the island. Even though there are already two schools for those at the base, U.S. officials claim that the facilities are not enough for the 6,000 people at the base.

Base Commander Captain David Culpepper said: "The quality of life for our residents and their families is of the utmost importance and the new school will provide a great opportunity for our children for many years," Construction at the base would indicate that the prison is not to be closed soon or there would not be the need to build a new school. If the base were being closed soon one would think that the present two schools would be more than enough for those who remained working at the base. Cuba has repeatedly asked for the return of the territory as part of normalizing relations between the two countries but there is no sign of that happening. Obama promised to close the base during his 2008 presidential campaign but has yet to do so.

Donald Trump has condemned Obama's plan to close the base and claimed he would keep it open. In February Obama outlined his plans to Congress for closing the base but it immediately was criticized by many Republicans and even some Democrats mostly because it involves bringing some of those held to the continental United States. Congress is vehemently against such a move even though as Obama points out on the appended video, there are a number of convicted terrorists already held in the continental United States without any problems. However, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said he was not willing to accept bringing suspected terrorists to the US. He said: “The bipartisan will of congress has already been expressed against that proposal.” The plan does not set out exactly where the prisoners might go but even the suggestion to where they might go brought rejections and outcry from the areas named.

Hillary Clinton, who claims to support the closing of Guantanamo, said that she backed Obama's effort to close the prison but also stressed that terrorist suspects would not necessarily be transferred to a military jail here. She is obviously trying to avoid the fact that Obama is intending to relocate some prisoners to the continental U.S.

Senator John McCain, who has been generally supportive of Obama in his attempt to close Guantanamo, was nevertheless critical of his plan. “What we received today is a vague menu of options, not a credible plan for closing Guantanamo, let alone a coherent policy to deal with future terrorist detainees. The president has missed a major chance to convince the Congress and the American people that he has a responsible plan to close the Guantanamo Bay detention facility.”

Some have pointed out that Obama could simply use his executive power to close the base and transfer the prisoners to the U.S. However, such a move is too politically dangerous for him to try. It could damage the chances of Hillary Clinton to be elected president and create a huge outcry in Congress, and even give rise to court challenges. An article earlier this year in Time,goes through the reasons why Obama will not be able to close Guantanamo and concludes:... expect the President and his Team to publicly anguish over closing Guantanamo unilaterally; expect them to decide in the end that the rule of law — which the President holds dear and will play up in his memoirs — forbids it; and expect fifty or so dangerous terrorists to be locked up in indefinite military detention in Guantanamo when the next President assumes office on January 20, 2017.

In the appended video, Obama speaks of Guantanamo violating American values. However moving the suspects to the US and closing down the facility does not change the fact that he is still violating the basic right to be charged if you commit a crime and be able to defend yourself in a court of law. Obama's plan continues the scheme of indefinite detention of those thought a danger to the US with no charge being brought against them and no way for those accused to prove their innocence. If you are a terror suspect you are guilty until those who arrested you think you are no longer a danger and can be released.

Obama still trying to close Guantanamo Bay prison in spite of Congressional roadblocks

Obama is poised to present his plan for closing the prison facility at Guantanamo Bay, a plan that involves transfer of some inmates to the US. The plan may be revealed as early as today, Friday the 13th of November.

 

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The transfer of any inmates to U.S. soil is prohibited by the U.S. Congress by provisions in a recently passed defense bill. The provisions also place restriction on transfers of inmates to other countries. The Obama plan suggests seven facilities in the U.S. to which inmates could be transferred. The list includes two in Colorado one of which has a Supermax facility for very dangerous inmates. The report indicates the advantages and disadvantages of each facility but does not rank them. No doubt Obama would probably choose a facility in a location that has the least local resistance to the transfer or even had local support.

Guantanamo now holds 112 detainees with 53 eligible for transfer to another country. The other 59 will either face trial by military commission or the government has decided that they are too dangerous to release but are not facing charges. A key aspect of the shame of Guantanamo was that it held prisoners indefinitely without charge. Yet Obama's plan retains that feature while closing the facility. As a Guardian article notes:The administration claims they cannot charge and hold a trial for dozens of detainees (in many cases, because torture will likely taint any evidence), but they also say they consider them “too dangerous” to release from US custody. So the plan appears to be to let them rot in jail forever – in clear violation of the fifth amendment – in a supermax prison somewhere inside the United States.

Those who oppose Obama's plan appear not to even take notice of this aspect of his plan. They worry that the inmates might pose a danger to Americans even though there are already many terrorists locked up in the U.S. quite safely it would appear. Ben Carson, the frontrunner in the Republican presidential nomination race, probably speaks for many Republicans when he says on his Facebook page that the Guantanamo detention facility must be kept open even though many observers think that it is a prime recruiting tool for jihadists. Even George W. Bush thought it should be closed.

There are difficulties too in transferring the 53 cleared for transfer to another country. U.S. Defense Secretary Ash Carter must be certain that the detainees will not return to terrorism or the battlefield. Many of those cleared for transfer are from Yemen now in the midst of a civil war in which Al Qaeda is making great gains. Carter is not about to repatriate any Yemeni inmates.

Many analysts and legal experts argue that Obama could easily use his executive power as commander in chief to transfer Guantanamo inmates to the US without congressional approval. The main argument is relatively straightforward. The former special envoy overseeing Guantánamo’s closure, Cliff Sloan, and a former White House counsel, Gregory Craig, wrote a commentary on Nov. 6 in the Washington Post arguing that, under his powers as commander in chief outlined in Article II of the Constitution, “the president has exclusive authority to determine the facilities in which military detainees are held.”

A similar argument has been made by Harold Koh, a former top legal advisor at the State Department.

It would be somewhat ironic if Obama does use his executive power and ignore the U.S. Congress. In 2007 as a senator Obama accused the G.W. Bush administration of "clear abuse of power" for claiming sweeping authority to ignore Congress. However as president Obama has moved in the same direction of extending executive privilege: He has invoked commander-in-chief authorities to justify the widespread use of lethal drone strikes abroad and the secrecy surrounding them, despite criticism that in many cases the individuals targeted did not represent an “imminent threat” to the United States.When he wants to claim and use executive power Obama does so, but when he has it but does not want to use it he claims he cannot act because Congress is preventing him.

The problem for Obama with using his executive power is that he could face not just a legal challenge but challenges to cut funding for government priorities or even a shut down, as well as refusal to approve nominations for key positions. Obama may not be willing to face such a political battle even if this means not being able to carry out a key promise that he has continually said he will keep. Perhaps Obama might wait until after the November election to carry out the transfer of detainees to the U.S. by executive order. Already, the Republicans are making the plan to close Guantanamo a joint Obama-Clinton operation as shown on one appended video.

Over $600 billion US defence bill bans Guantanamo inmates from US.

The US Senate on Tuesday approved a $607 billion defense spending bill that includes provisions that will make it difficult for Barack Obama to close the detention center at Guantanamo Bay.

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While Obama had vetoed an earlier version of the bill, the new version passed by a 370 to 58 vote in the House of Representatives and 91 to 3 in the Senate. Bernie Sanders, who is running to be the Democratic presidential candidate, was one of the three senators voting against the bill.

Even the new bill has provisions in it that would ban transfer of prisoners from Guantanamo Bay to the U.S. The administration has been studying possible locations for prisoners in the U.S., includeing a "Supermax" facility in Florence, Colorado, designed for very dangerous inmates. The restrictions in the bill would prevent transfer of detainees to the U.S. even for prosecution as well as continued detention. There are also tighter restrictions on transferring detainees to other countries. Obama's plan was to transfer 53 of those remaining in the facility to other countries and to send the 61 remaining prisoners to the U.S. In spite of the roadblocks put in place by the U.S. Congress, the White House press secretary, Josh Earnest, insisted the Obama administration would continue to work towards closing the prison. Closing Guantanamo has been a key unfulfilled promise of Obama from the beginning of his term of office. Earnest was optimistic:“I don’t think this has any material impact on our ability to put together and send to Congress a thoughtful, carefully considered plan for closing the prison at Guantánamo Bay, and a plan that we believe merits the strong support of both Democrats and Republicans.”Senate Republicans such as Kelly Ayotte from New Hampshire were critical and warned Obama against any attempt to circumvent Congress saying: “Even when the Democrats controlled the Senate, there have been provisions that have prohibited the transfer of the terrorist detainees at Guantánamo to the United States of America. So this discussion that you’ve seen from the administration to say that the president is contemplating an executive order on this issue clearly would violate the law.”

Josh Earnest commented on the executive order issue:"I'm not aware of any ongoing effort to devise a strategy using only the president's executive authority to accomplish this goal. But I certainly wouldn't, as I mentioned last week, take that option off the table."The new bill cuts less than 1 percent from the previous bill. There was bipartisan agreement that the U.S. needed to spend the money to maintain and upgrade U.S. military capacities due to threats against American interests throughout the globe. As Republican Senator John McCainput it: “We must champion the cause of defense reform, rigorously root out Pentagon waste, and invest to maintain our military technological advantage, and that is what this bill is about."

Among the specific expenditures authorized were $300 million for military aid in Ukraine. The bill also grants a request from Obama for $715 million to be used to fight the Islamic State in Iraq. There was also a further expenditure of $80 billion in a separate bill that passed 93 to 0. The bill was for veteran's programs and military construction projects. The White House has affirmed that Obama will sign the bill in spite of the retention of provisions that make it difficult for him to close Guantanamo as well as minimal spending reductions. Both houses have sufficient votes to overcome a veto in any event.

Pentagon seeks funding for new facility at Guantanamo

The US Southern Command wants $69 million for a new facility where high-value detainees will be kept. The money is included in an appropriation for the 2017 portion of a four-year plan according to Rear Adm. Kyle Cozad commander of Guantanamo Bay.

At present, high value prisoners are kept at Camp 7, a camp that reporters have not been allowed to visit. Marine General John Kelly told the US Congress last February that Camp 7 had become "increasingly unsustainable due to drainage and foundation issues". However, on a recent interview last Friday, Cozad insisted to reporters: “Quite frankly, there’s no operational issue with that facility today.Otherwise we wouldn’t have folks in there.”
The $69 million was included in an omnibus defense bill earlier this year but was rejected by the Senate that was then controlled by the Democrats and was rejected also by the Defense Department. Cozad would not speculate as to whether the new Republican-controlled Senate would be more likely to grant approval for the funding. Given his position, it is not surprising that Cozad would not express an opinion on the issue, but it seems to me much more likely for the funding to go through now.
 The fiscal year 2017 actually begins on Oct. 1, 2016. The new building and enclosures are clearly intended to house detainees after Obama leaves office in January of 2017. There is obviously no plan for the facility to be closed by then. Cozad claimed it would not be possible to move the 14 or 15 high value captives being held at present to a segregated wing of another camp "based on higher level policy" although he did not explain that reason further. He also said such a move would not be "space prudent".
 The commander of the prison itself Colonel David Heath confirmed that the facility would be unlikely to close during Obama's term of office. Heath's term runs out in mid 2016. Heath told reporters closing the facility before he left was an unrealistic hope. Amnesty International has described Guantanamo as a " symbol of injustice and abuse in the US administration's war on terror" and added "it must be closed down". UN head Ban Ki-Moon also urged closure of the facility.
Yet the US public has never been in favor of closing the facility if it means transferring some detainees to the US. In 2007 51 per cent of Americans polled were in favor of keeping Guantanamo open. By 2009 the number had risen to 65 per cent and that figure now is roughly 66 per cent still. One Kuwaiti cleared for release recently has been returned to his home country However, there are 79 detainees cleared for release still being held. A US Department of Defense official claimed that a dozen more could be released in the coming few months. But there are 148 prisoners left in the facility. Their fate still appears to be that of indefinite detention although a few may eventually face charges before military tribunals.

Obama to issue order to close Guantanamo in first week as president

This is a bit of an about face given that recently Obama was talking about the difficulty in closing the facility. Of course he can issue the order but at the same time giving plenty of lead time to close Guantanamo. By acting immediately Obama will restore his credibillity not only with many of his leftist supporters but internationally as well. It still remains to be seen how Obama will manage to deal with the problem of what to do with the prisoners! Presumably any tribunals in play such as that with Omar Khadr will be halted.


Obama to issue order to close Guantánamo in first week as president
• Pledge follows acknowledgment of difficulty of closing facility• More than 200 detainees remain at Guantánamo Bay
Ewen MacAskill in Washington
guardian.co.uk, Monday 12 January 2009 20.30 GMT
President-elect Barack Obama is to issue an order to close the Guantánamo detention centre in his first week in office, according to his advisers.
Obama, who takes over the presidency next Tuesday, will make closure one of his first decisions, two of his advisers told the AP news agency.
The pledge comes only the day after Obama appeared to row back from campaign promises by saying closure was more complicated than he had realised and it would be a challenge to do so in his first 100 days in office.
Guantánamo has become a touchstone for the new administration. Democrats and liberal lawyers, as well as European governments, have repeatedly called for its closure, seeing it as an affront to human rights. Some of the detainees have been tortured.
There were about 700 detainees after a sweep of countries throughout the world as part of George Bush's "war on terror". While most have been released, more than 200 are still held.
There is no consensus yet on what to do with them. Some will be released, and some could be transferred to other countries, while the remainder could face trial on the US mainland.
Five human rights groups today urged Obama to stop a war crimes trial at Guantanamo of a Canadian, Omar Khadr, now 22, who is accused of killing a US soldier in Afghanistan when he was 15.