Guantanamo Bay

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Reid: We Still Need Details; McCain: Obama Is 'Punting'

(Newser) - Leading Democrats praised President Obama's speech today while making clear that they still need details about closing Gitmo, Politico reports. “We’re all awaiting the details of the plan and the president is going to come up with one,” said Harry Reid, echoing the sentiment of fellow senators....

Obama: Gitmo Made Us Less Safe

(Newser) - Standing in front of the Constitution, President Obama today delivered a watershed speech on terrorism, arguing that President Bush’s approach to war was, “quite simply, a mess.” He outlined his plan to clean up, saying he’ll try Guantanamo detainees in both federal court and military commissions...

Obama Meets With Human- Rights Leaders

Under fire for recent moves, holds 'probing' pre-speech discussion

(Newser) - Dogged by criticism over recent decisions, President Obama invited a crew of human-rights and civil-liberties leaders and academics to discuss Guantanamo, tribunals, and transparency ahead of today’s speech on similar themes, the Huffington Post reports. Obama said he was unhappy with Congress’ denial of funds to close Gitmo and...

Easy to Find Middle Ground on Gitmo: Klein
Easy to Find Middle Ground on Gitmo: Klein
OPINION
May 21, 2009 10:20 AM CDT

Easy to Find Middle Ground on Gitmo: Klein

Military courts wouldn't allow torture evidence, get civilian review

(Newser) - Lawyers and soldiers are divided on how to deal with enemy combatants, but “it shouldn’t be too hard to find a middle ground,” writes Joe Klein in Time, because both arguments “are being made by unappealing extremists.” It’s unrealistic to try detainees in open...

Mouthy Cheney Gains Popularity: Poll

He and Bush more popular now than when leaving office

(Newser) - A new poll shows that Dick Cheney, currently making headlines for his stance on torture, is gaining popularity. 37% of those polled by CNN hold a favorable opinion of the former vice president, up 8% from when he left office; 55% still view him unfavorably. Former president Bush, who’s...

Obama, Cheney Ready Dueling Gitmo Speeches

(Newser) - In what’s becoming a much-hyped political showdown, Barack Obama and Dick Cheney will deliver back-to-back speeches on national security this morning, CNN reports. Obama’s 10am speech will lay out a framework for closing Guantanamo Bay, offering a high-minded defense of his decisions so far regarding it and its...

First Gitmo Detainee Coming to US for Trial

He's linked to 1998 embassy bombings

(Newser) - A top al-Qaeda suspect held at Guantanamo Bay will be sent to New York for trial, an Obama administration official said. Ahmed Ghailani would be the first Guantanamo detainee brought to the US, and the first to face trial in a civilian criminal court. Ghailani has been indicted in the...

Pentagon: 1 in 7 Gitmo Prisoners Rejoin Fight

(Newser) - A Pentagon report concludes that 74 of 534 prisoners released from Guantanamo Bay returned to militant activity—a recidivism rate of 14%, or about 1 in 7, the New York Times notes. The report, still under review, could complicate President Obama’s goal of shutting the facility by January because...

If You Care About Freedom, Free the Gitmo 60
If You Care About Freedom, Free the Gitmo 60
OPINION
May 20, 2009 1:32 PM CDT

If You Care About Freedom, Free the Gitmo 60

(Newser) - About 60 of the inmates at Guantanamo haven't committed any crime. The courts cleared them of all charges, and the military declared them not dangerous. Yet they’re entering their eighth year in custody, because Congress apparently doesn’t give a damn, Sabin Willett writes in the New York Daily ...

Senate Blocks Funds for Gitmo Closure

(Newser) - In a major rebuke to President Obama, the Senate voted overwhelmingly today to block the transfer of Guantanamo detainees to the United States and denied the administration the millions it sought to close the prison. The 90-6 Senate vote, paired with a similar House action last week, was a clear...

Dems Won't Fund Gitmo Closing
 Dems Won't Fund Gitmo Closing 
May 19, 2009 12:33 PM CDT

Dems Won't Fund Gitmo Closing

(Newser) - President Obama's allies in the Senate will not provide funds to close the Guantanamo Bay prison by January, a top Democratic official said today. With debate looming on Obama's spending request to cover military and diplomatic operations in Iraq and Afghanistan, the official says Democrats will deny the Pentagon...

Famous Gitmo Detainee Released to France

(Newser) - Lakhdar Boumediene, the Guantanamo detainee who took on the Bush administration in a landmark Supreme Court case, was released today and flown to France to be reunited with relatives, the Washington Post reports. He was named the plaintiff in Boumediene v. Bush, the Supreme Court case that extended the right...

Obama to Restart Gitmo Tribunals
Obama to Restart Gitmo Tribunals
May 15, 2009 6:21 AM CDT

Obama to Restart Gitmo Tribunals

But this time, suspects will have more rights, legal protections

(Newser) - President Obama will restart military tribunals for a small number of Guantanamo detainees—reviving a trial system he once said the Bush administration had abused—but with new legal protections for terror suspects, officials said. The trials will remain frozen for another 4 months as the administration adjusts the legal...

Democrats Lose Patience Over Wars, Gitmo

Support ebbs on left as Obama's security plans look uncertain

(Newser) - Democrats are having misgivings about the war in Afghanistan and the shuttering of Guantanamo Bay, particularly in the more liberal House, the New York Times reports. Though Congress is sure to approve another $96.7 billion in war funding, the House took out $80 million to close Guantanamo, saying the...

Gitmo Inmates May Be Held Indefinitely in US

Detainees may be held without trial under authority of national security court

(Newser) - The Obama administration is considering moving the remaining detainees at Guantanamo Bay to US soil and holding them in prisons indefinitely without trial, the Wall Street Journal reports. The proposal would take place under the authority of a new national-security court, according to Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham, who has met...

Obama to Revive Gitmo Military Tribunals

(Newser) - The Obama administration will reinstate the military tribunal system for trying Guantanamo Bay detainees, after moving the proceedings onto American soil and instituting several changes, including barring evidence obtained by techniques like waterboarding, officials tell the Washington Post. Human rights groups had hoped Obama’s 120-day suspension of the tribunals,...

Dems Deny Obama Funds to Close Gitmo

House Democrats say president needs to come up with a plan first

(Newser) - President Obama's request for $80 million to close Guantanamo Bay was cut from the House version of a war spending bill unveiled yesterday, CNN reports. Democratic lawmakers, whose bill totaled $94.2 billion, said if the president wants money to close Guantanamo Bay then he'll first have to come up...

Obama May Bring Back Military Terror Courts

(Newser) - Barack Obama is leaning towards reinstituting military commissions as a way of trying Guantanamo detainees, and could begin publicly doing so as soon as next week, officials tell the New York Times. Obama has been a staunch critic of the system, but the administration is increasingly worried about the hazards...

Fleischer: Subpoena Me —I Dare You

Ex-Bush spokesman would 'be proud to testify' about torture

(Newser) - Bush press secretary Ari Fleischer doesn’t think there should be an investigation of his boss’s torture program. But “I’ll be proud to testify if I get a subpoena,” he said during a panel discussion yesterday. “I’m proud of what we did to protect...

On Gitmo, Obama Has a NIMBY Problem

Congress balks at funds, authority to move detainees to US

(Newser) - President Obama has ordered that Guantanamo be closed by the end of the year, but finding a place for the prisoners the administration can neither try nor export is turning into a political nightmare. A Pentagon request for $50 million to relocate the prisoners is running into crossfire in Congress,...

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