Obama Needs Two Years to Close Guantanamo?

[UnrepentantLiberal]

Okay, now he's starting to worry me. Why can't he just transfer the prisoners to American prisons, give them legal council and begin the trial process?

Gates orders development of plans to close Guantanamo

By Jonathan S. Landay and Margaret Talev
McClatchy Newspapers
December 18, 2008

WASHINGTON — The Defense Department is drawing up plans to close the Guantanamo Bay military prison in anticipation that one of President-elect Barack Obama's first acts will be ordering the closure of the detention center associated with the abuse of terror suspects.

Defense Secretary Robert Gates "has asked his team for a proposal on how to shut (the detention center) down, what would be required specifically to close it and move the detainees from that facility while at the same time, of course, ensuring that we protect the American people from some dangerous characters," Pentagon spokesman Geoff Morrell told reporters on Thursday.

The prison, built to hold suspected terrorists after the 2001 U.S.-led military intervention in Afghanistan, now houses about 250 detainees, including Khalid Sheikh Mohammad and others accused in connection with the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.

Obama, who's asked Gates to stay on as his defense secretary, has said that he wants to close the prison within two years of taking office on Jan. 20. Gates also has spoken publicly about the need to close the facility.

"If this is one of the president-elect's first orders of business, the secretary wants to be prepared to help him as soon as possible," Morrell said. "The request (for a closure plan) has been made, his team is working on it so that he can be prepared to assist the president-elect should he wish to address this very early in his tenure."

In a telephone interview, Morrell said that Gates' study is "comprehensive" in nature, but is being conducted only inside the Pentagon and not in concert with the Justice Department or other government agencies.

"If and when the president-elect were to ask the secretary to help him solve this problem, we have done our homework and we are ready to present him with the best advice on the way forward," Morrell said. "We prepare for all sorts of contingencies, so there have been efforts previous to this one to devise solutions to this, should they be needed. The difference here is that the president-elect made it very clear throughout the campaign that this is something that he did want to confront" immediately.

Brooke Anderson, a spokeswoman for the Obama transition team, declined to comment, saying, "There is one president at a time, and we intend to respect that."

Guantanamo has been at the center of allegations that the Bush administration authorized the use of aggressive interrogation techniques that are considered torture under international law.

A Senate Armed Services Committee report published earlier this month blamed senior U.S. officials — including former Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld and retired Air Force Gen. Richard Myers, the former chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff — for the use of those techniques.

An investigation by McClatchy earlier this year found that few detainees were of any intelligence value, that many of them had minor or no involvement with the Taliban or al Qaida, and that some who weren't extremists became radicals at Guantanamo.

Shuttering the Guantanamo Bay facility involves complex issues, including what to do with the tribunals and finding alternative locations to hold detainees, including about 60 who've been approved for repatriation but whose governments don't want to take them.

Last week, Portugal said it was ready to resettle some of the inmates and urged its European Union partners to do so, as well, in a gesture of goodwill to the incoming Obama administration.

Vice President Dick Cheney, a key proponent of interrogation techniques such as waterboarding, which creates the sensation of drowning, said earlier this week in an ABC News interview that Guantanamo should be kept open indefinitely.

http://www.mcclatchydc.com/251/story/58143.html

[Dennis Donovan]

1. I guess being able to "CYA" is more important than restoration of habeas corpus?

:crazy:

[Solon]

2. Well he did say within two years, but really, it shouldn't take more than a couple of months...

at least of the transfer of the prisoners. The facility itself can be torn down in good time after that, as long as no other prisoners are shipped in. 250 people isn't that many, and they can send U.S. marshals down there who are experienced in transferring dangerous criminals if security is an issue. Transportation should also not provide a problem.

[cali]

3. actually he responded to a question about what he hoped to

accomplish within his first 2 years. One of the things he said was that he intended to have shut down Gitmo. Since giving that interview, this has been spun to "it'll take two years to shut down gitmo. Furthermore, the Pentagon is now drawing up plans to shut down the place. I can't remember where the original interview was published. If anyone else can, I'd appreciate the link.

[maddezmom]

4. Time Interview, here is the link

http://www.time.com/time/specials/2008/personoftheyear/article/0,31682,1861543_1865068_1865069,00.html

[cali]

7. Thanks very much.

This is such a clear example of how the MSM spins things.

[HamdenRice]

5. Point of information: Bush has created an immigration nightmare scenario for innocent prisoners

If you think that all the Guantanamo prisoners are guilty or likely to be guilty, then it's easy to transfer all the prisoners to US prisons for trial.

But if you realize that the majority of prisoners at Guantanamo are innocent, then the real solution is repatriating them back to their home countries in a way that will ensure they are not subjected to persecution there, or finding them homes in third countries. From what I've read, most of the prisoners are indeed innocent.

For example, the Chinese Muslim prisoners, who are by all accounts innocent, would be imprisoned or worse if returned to China.

Bringing the innocent prisoners to the US could cause them to get US residence rights under the refugee laws and international conventions. Not that I mind that, but that process would take a whole new round of screening and intelligence investigations.

So ironically, the fact that most of them are innocent makes it harder to close the prison immediately.

[cali]

6. Here is proof that Obama did NOT say that it would take him two years

to shut gitmo.

From the time interview:

When voters look at your Administration two years from now, in the off-year election, how will they know whether you're succeeding?
I think there are a couple of benchmarks we've set for ourselves during the course of this campaign. On policy, have we helped this economy recover from what is the worst financial crisis since the Great Depression? Have we instituted financial regulations and rules of the road that assure this kind of crisis doesn't occur again? Have we created jobs that pay well and allow families to support themselves? Have we made significant progress on reducing the cost of health care and expanding coverage? Have we begun what will probably be a decade-long project to shift America to a new energy economy? Have we begun what may be an even longer project of revitalizing our public-school systems so we can compete in the 21st century? That's on the domestic front.

On foreign policy, have we closed down Guantánamo in a responsible way, put a clear end to torture and restored a balance between the demands of our security and our Constitution? Have we rebuilt alliances around the world effectively? Have I drawn down U.S. troops out of Iraq, and have we strengthened our approach in Afghanistan — not just militarily but also diplomatically and in terms of development? And have we been able to reinvigorate international institutions to deal with transnational threats, like climate change, that we can't solve on our own?

[Clio the Leo]

8. It's the first step that matters most...

..... I'm all for closing GITMO ..... like YESTERDAY .... but I can see the logistical problems of where to put everyone. (It would be a grand thing to just let loose the doors and see them all running out but that's simply not gonna happen even if it was practical.)

Aside from sending them all to live with the Cheneys, I dont know what to do with everyone either.

[jberryhill]

10. I like sending them to live with the Cheneys

Better yet, I know there's a ranch near Crawford, TX that might have room for a facility to process them out.

[WinkyDink]

9. Perhaps the key word is "Gates".

[stillcool]

11. He was asked what he wanted to accomplish..

within two years. It was an article from a while back. Not that it matters.

[AllentownJake]

12. In defense of Barack this isn't exactly an easy task

It's pretty easy to set up a prisoner of war camp. Its rather hard after someone throws anyone into it for any reason to sort out who belongs there and who doesn't. It's also hard to determine what to do with the people who are in there and don't belong there because going back to their country of origin may not be a humane option and there is always the fact that someone might have went in there not a terrorist but after years of being a prisoner with terrorist may become a terrorist if they are released.