Gates: Prospects for closing Guantanamo 'very, very low'

[onehandle]

Source: CNN

Washington (CNN) -- Secretary of Defense Robert Gates said Thursday that congressional opposition makes the likelihood of closing the detention center at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, "very, very low." Gates' remarks at a hearing of the Senate Armed Services Committee was the one of the clearest signs yet of the dim prospects for carrying out one of President Barack Obama's earliest executive orders: to shutter the facility where the U.S. military has detained suspected terrorists since 2002.

"I think we are in the position, frankly, the prospects for closing Guantanamo, the best I can tell, are very, very low given very broad opposition to doing that here in the Congress," Robert Gates told the Senate Armed Services Committee. Asked what the United States would do about holding so-called high-value targets, which presumably would include Osama bin Laden and other al Qaeda leaders, Gates responded, "I think the honest answer to that is, we don't know.

"If we capture them outside the area where we are at war and are not covered by the existing war authorizations, one possibility is for a person to be in the custody of their home government," Gates said. "Another possibility is that we bring them to the United States. Retired Navy Cmdr. Kirk Lippold, Senior Fellow for Military Families United, said in a statement that the admission shows the administration "is finally realizing that Guantanamo Bay remains the only facility suitable for detaining top al-Qaeda operatives and other terrorists."

"It is essential to keep GITMO open as a state of the art intelligence collection facility and terrorist detention center," said Lippold, who was commander of the USS Cole, the Navy destroyer attacked by a suicide bomber, killing 17 and wouding 37, in October 2000. "The nation's security is not something that should be subject to guesswork. A plan must be put into place for terrorists who are captured and that plan must start at Guantanamo Bay."

Read more: http://www.cnn.com/2011/POLITICS/02/17/senate.gates.gitmo/index.html

[gratuitous]

1. The best way to avoid crimes against humanity is not commit them in the first place

But once you're in, you have to stop some time. Even if it was your predecessor who started it. Because when you don't stop carrying out the crimes, they become your crimes. You don't get to just dust your hands off and buy absolution. Side note to Mr. Lippold: our national security is badly compromised by the "guesswork" that keeps people incarcerated at Guantanamo Bay without charge, due process, access to counsel or any other recourse. The United States used to be against meritless, open-ended detention; now we're the world's leading practitioner. Our predecessors in the secret prison game didn't fare too well.

[struggle4progress]

4. Congress has been blocking the President on this. If you have a good workaround,

let us know

[gratuitous]

6. If I recall correctly

According to the Constitution (Article II section 2), the President is commander-in-chief of the armed forces, and the prison at Guantanamo Bay is a military installation. I've heard there are these things call "orders" that can be "issued" by a "commanding officer" that have to be "obeyed" or "carried out" by those "under" the "commander." I could have that completely wrong, though; military matters have never been my strong suit.

[Chris_Texas]

7. Gimme a break.

With all due respect to you, Congress has not blocked a damn thing.

Obama decided to keep GITMO open
Obama decided he needed to expand Patriot rather than eliminating it
Obama decided to go back on his promise to end the Iraq war

I could go on, listing broken promise after broken promise... but there's no point. In any case, I am more irritated by the folks that attempt to deny reality than I am over the lies. If I wanted to read absolutely bullshit and make-believe I would either go to church or turn on FOX news. I expect better from the folks here.

[struggle4progress]

9. Congress will never let Guantanamo close (2010)

The House and Senate both prohibit Obama from transferring Guantanamo detainees to Illinois
BY ALEX PAREENE
http://www.salon.com/news/politics/war_room/2010/05/28/gitmo_closing_never

[struggle4progress]

10. Obama blasts Congress's limits on Guantánamo transfers (2011)

President Obama signs a bill to fund the Defense Department, though he's upset with one provision that prohibits bringing Guantánamo detainees to the US for trial. He vows to fight the restrictions.
http://www.csmonitor.com/USA/Justice/2011/0107/Obama-blasts-Congress-s-limits-on-Guantanamo-transfers

[struggle4progress]

11. How Congress helped thwart Obama's plan to close Guantánamo (2011)

The camps at Guantánamo were supposed to close one year ago, by order of President Obama. Here's the inside story of what happened.
BY CAROL ROSENBERG
Posted on Saturday, 01.22.11
http://www.miamiherald.com/2011/01/22/2029364/how-congress-thwarted-obamas-closing.html

[shanti]

12. broken promises, absolutely right!

welcome to DU, chris_texas! :hi:

[roguevalley]

14. ah yes. no one can do anything. we have shit from bush on our

boots and we can't do the right thing. congress's fault. bush's fault. everyone's fault but the man who can fix it. If there are no cases and evidence, send them home. Do the right thing. Oh wait. this is America ... we just don't do that anymore I guess. :(

[Name removed]

8. Deleted message

Sub-thread removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[Ricepaper]

2. Torture doesn't work as a rule

You get bad information and it destroys your credibility as a fair broker.

[bergie321]

3. Give them trials

Or let them go. I am tired of this BS.

[Solly Mack]

5. K&R

[frylock]

13. gosh i am surprised

[Javaman]

15. My first reaction as well.

we now live in the era of endless war.

we have always been at ware with...fill in the blank.

[bemildred]

16. Translation: we really don't want to, and you will have to force us to do it. nt