Obama revives Gitmo Tribunals

[Savonarola]

Damn, the ACLU is taking a beating this week:

Obama revives Gitmo tribunals
By LARA JAKES • Associated Press • May 15, 2009

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WASHINGTON — President Barack Obama today restarted a Bush-era military trial system for a small number of Guantanamo prisoners, reviving a method of prosecution he once assailed as flawed but with new legal protections for terror suspects.

In a three-paragraph White House statement, Obama announced the decision that already has drawn criticism from liberal groups, arguing that it will ensure a legitimate forum to prosecute alleged terrorists being held at the detention center at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.


"This is the best way to protect our country, while upholding our deeply held values," the president said in a statement.


Obama had criticized the system established by President George W. Bush, and in his statement, he said it had only succeeded in prosecuting three suspected terrorists in more than seven years.


Answering liberal complaints, White House press secretary Robert Gibbs told reporters: "First and foremost, the president does what is in the best security interest of the United States."


For now, the military trials will remain on hold, as they have been since the beginning of his administration, as Obama changes the legal system that is expected to try fewer than 20 of the 241 people now being held at Guantanamo.


The president said that immediate rule changes governing the trials will begin to bring them in line with the rule of law, most significantly by altering some rules of allowable evidence. Obama also is asking Congress to change the 2006 law creating the current, on-hold tribunal system to enact more sweeping changes.


"Military commissions have a long tradition in the United States. They are appropriate for trying enemies who violate the laws of war, provided that they are properly structured and administered," Obama said.


Thirteen men held at Guantanamo — including five charged with helping orchestrate the 9/11 attacks — are already in the tribunal system.


Pentagon lawyers were filing a continuance request with the military commissions judge seeking a 120-day delay in trials to give it time to enact at least the initial rule changes.


The tribunal system was established after the military began taking detainees from the battlefields of Afghanistan in late 2001. But it immediately came under repeated challenges from human rights and legal organizations, because it denied defendants most of the rights they would be granted in a civilian courtroom or even in a traditional military court martial.


Obama voted for one version of the tribunal law that gave detainees additional rights, but then voted against the more limited 2006 legislation that ultimately became law.


Liberal groups, already stung by Obama's decision on Wednesday to try to block the court-ordered release of photos showing U.S. troops abusing prisoners in Iraq and Afghanistan, were angered again.


"It's disappointing that Obama is seeking to revive rather than end this failed experiment," said Jonathan Hafetz, a national security attorney at the American Civil Liberties Union. "There's no detainee at Guantanamo who cannot be tried and shouldn't be tried in the regular federal courts system. Even with the proposed modifications, this will not cure the commissions or provide them with legitimacy. This is perpetuating the Bush administration's misguided detention policy."


However, the changes Obama ordered are consistent with his past criticism of the Bush system.


They include:


• Restrictions on hearsay evidence that can be used in court against the prisoners.


• A ban on evidence obtained through cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment. This would include statements given from detainees who were subjected to waterboarding, a form of simulated drowning.


• Giving prisoners greater leeway in choosing their own military counsel.


• Protecting those who refuse to testify from legal sanctions or other court prejudices.

Michael Dukakis would be disappointed. 

[The Minsky Moment]

The problem wasn't using military tribunals.  The problem was using the ridiculous kangaroo court military tribunals they tried to use the first time around.

[The Brain]

A bit late in the day to try to save America's reputation.

[DontSayBanana]

I don't get it. The lobbyists are screaming "they don't work, they don't work." Obama's pointed out WHY they don't work and taken steps to address it. I fail to see a reason to get all excited. What I AM curious about is if he's got anything on the slate to address charging the other 220-odd detainees.

[Strix]

He is bringing hope and change. People just need to let him do what he wants than thank him afterwards. 

[Hansmeister]

As I predicted before the election Obama will in the end validate everything Bush did.

[jimmy olsen]

As I predicted before the election Obama will in the end validate everything Bush did.

As you predicted? Really?

[Hansmeister]

As I predicted before the election Obama will in the end validate everything Bush did.

As you predicted? Really?

Yep.  Because the position of Obama and the fringe left was never feasible in the first place.  Obama has now run head-first into reality and now realizes tha the Bush policy is really the only practical approach.

Just as it is with Iraq he's learning that sanctimonious preaching works much better when you bear no responsibility.

[KRonn]

Correct me if I'm wrong, but military Tribunals have been used for a long time and a good and valid course of action. WW2 and before and after that. Problem is how the Bush admin, or some of the current Gitmo detainee cases were handled, or not handled.

[Berkut]

Correct me if I'm wrong, but military Tribunals have been used for a long time and a good and valid course of action. WW2 and before and after that. Problem is how the Bush admin, or some of the current Gitmo detainee cases were handled, or not handled.

The "problem" is that it was the Bush administration doing it, period. Obama can do the exact same thing, and he will be praised for it, because it will be somehow different.

[jimmy olsen]

Correct me if I'm wrong, but military Tribunals have been used for a long time and a good and valid course of action. WW2 and before and after that. Problem is how the Bush admin, or some of the current Gitmo detainee cases were handled, or not handled.

Yes, but all military tribunals are not created equal. It all depends on the legal procedures concerning admissible evidence, appropriate interrogation, etc.

[grumbler]

Correct me if I'm wrong, but military Tribunals have been used for a long time and a good and valid course of action. WW2 and before and after that. Problem is how the Bush admin, or some of the current Gitmo detainee cases were handled, or not handled.

The initial problem was the Bush Administration's claim that it had extra-constitutional powers t create courts.  The folllow-on problem was that the tribunal process (when finally established by Congress) had deep flaws with regard to the protection of the rights of the accused.

No matter how much the Bush apologists scream that the objections to the Bush admin procedures were motivated by partisan opposition to Bush, miliary tribunals have, as you note, long-standing legitimacy.  They were not a Bush admin invention.

[Hansmeister]

The funniest thing was when Obama attacked Bush over the military commissions during the campaign and promised to set up a system more like the Nuremberg trials.   

[grumbler]

The funniest thing was when Obama attacked Bush over the military commissions during the campaign and promised to set up a system more like the Nuremberg trials.   

Yeah. 

Wow. 

That was a howler. 

[Savonarola]

Michael Dukakis would be disappointed. 

I set up the thread for a picture of the-card-carrying-member-of-the-ACLU in his tank and got nothing.  Languish has failed me.