Wikileak show Congress prevent Gitmo closing to screw Obama

[barbiegeek]

Wikileaks has released cables about how Congress prevented the detainees in the US to screw over Obama & force Gitmo to stay open.

http://www.mcclatchydc.com/2011/01/22/107255/how-congress-helped-thwart-obamas.html

Excerpt:
Two years after the newly minted Obama administration moved to undo what had become one of the most controversial legacies of the George W. Bush presidency by ordering the closure of the prison camps at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, a trove of State Department documents made public by the website WikiLeaks is providing new information about why that effort failed.

Key among the factors, the cables suggest: Congress' refusal to allow any of the captives to be brought to the United States.

In cable after cable sent to the State Department in Washington, American diplomats make it clear that the unwillingness of the United States to resettle a single detainee in this country — even from among 17 ethnic Muslim Uighurs considered enemies of China's communist government — made other countries reluctant to take in detainees.

Many factors worked to thwart Obama's plans to close the camps — from a tangled bureaucracy to fears that released detainees would become terrorists. But Congress' prohibition on resettling any of the detainees in the United States hamstrung the administration's global search for countries willing to take the captives in.

The U.S. refusal to take in the captives "comes up all the time," acknowledged a senior Obama administration official of U.S. efforts to find homes for released detainees.

"Were we willing to take a couple of detainees ourselves, it would've made the job of moving detainees out of Guantanamo significantly easier,'' said the official, who agreed to speak only anonymously because of the delicacy of the diplomacy.

Read more: http://www.mcclatchydc.com/2011/01/22/107255/how-congress-helped-thwart-obamas.html#ixzz1BuvhdvWh

It is all to make Obama supporters be made at him if you ask me.

[Clio the Leo]

1. not exactly a "scoop" but I guess it's good that the news is getting out there..

.... except that it's not, because of the BS way in which the info was obtained.

[barbiegeek]

2. Proof of Repug corruption is good

[davidwparker]

4. Leaked info doesn't change the facts of the info itself

to me.

[lunatica]

14. In what other way would this become public knowledge?

I'm not being critical when I ask. In my view, the truth is always a good thing to know, even if it hurts. And in my view this puts a very different light on this subject. It turns out Obama isn't "just caving" and it shows what some of us suspected all along. The political coups at any cost are destroying us, not some outside enemy.

I'm very grateful for what Assange is doing.

[barbiegeek]

27. list of Articles below show how they did it

Sorry I can't edit this Discussion anymore so here is How the Repugs did it:

Repugs blocking the budget for Transfer prisioners:
http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2010/dec/8/congress-deals-death-blow-gitmo-closure/

http://usahitman.com/senate-aims-to-follow-house-in-blocking-gitmo-detainees-transfer/

Repugs pass State Legislation to prevent Transfer to there Home districts

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2009/feb/16/guantanamo-republicans-prisons

excerpt:

"Republicans in at least six states are seeking to block the White House from transferring Guantánamo Bay detainees to their districts, in what critics call an effort to stymie Barack Obama's efforts to close the prison.

Congressional Republicans have introduced bills that would bar the government from moving any of the 250 inmates to some of the most prominent military and civilian detention centres in the US, including a "supermax" high-security federal prison in Florence, Colorado, which holds at least 16 convicted international terrorists, and a South Carolina naval brig that holds the only enemy combatant jailed in America."

[davidwparker]

3. Do you know what?

If any Democratic LEADER thought otherwise, I want him or her defeated at the next election because that person has no clue and should not be representing anyone. I don't need to see this to know what's up.

These games are ALL to make the Dems look incompetent and the republicons are playing the game masterfully.

[barbiegeek]

6. People need to know Repugs do stuff to make US lose faith in our Party & Leaders

Rallying the base isn't the only way they win. They make us mad at our own leaders when we can't get around a republican block. Then we stay home or don't work for the campaign. Disappointment is their other strategy. It works EVERY time.

[mkultra]

23. this propaganda move worked like a charm on some of the weaker minded among us

[stevenleser]

30. +9999999 of course, most Obama critics on the left will ignore this n/t

[zulchzulu]

5. Another Wikileaks leak that proves we have jackshit for reporters in mainstream media

Captain Obvious could have told you if he had a news show on the teevee.

[Supersedeas]

9. the media is proving to be an impediment to the exercise of democracy

[rhett o rick]

7. The pres of the USofA should be able to overcome this. He has a lot of resources at his disposal. nm

[MadBadger]

8. Like What? Overthrow Congress?

[Hydra]

10. He could have changed the rules of the game

And the fact that he didn't is either an act of political cowardice or agreement with previous policies.

It could have gone like this:

President Obama: "The Guantanamo Facility is a symbol of the previous Administration's contempt of the Constitution of the United States and of the laws we signed onto as part of the Geneva Conventions. We will investigate the legal basis by which these people are being held, and if it is shown that there is not enough evidence to charge them in a court of law, or that the evidence has been tainted by methods such as torture, they will be released to their home countries or to a neutral 3rd party such as the Red Cross or the UN to find resettlement as individuals subject to political persecution."

"I would like to remind the American people that these people are, in all likelihood, not terrorists. They are people like you and me who were captured and possibly abused in a misguided policy of a war that should never have been. The Bush Administration would have you think that they were 'fighting evil,' even as they were doing evil. This situation needs to be redressed immediately, and I would remind those who would play upon our fears, even those in Congress, that by upholding this lie, you are attacking the very thing that make America different from other nations- our dedication to the truth and our dedication to the principles laid out in the Constitution. These people are being held without charge, and it cannot continue. They must be charged, or released."

[barbiegeek]

12. Or maybe he just got out maneuvered & he had to focus on a FAILING Economy

[Hydra]

18. He's talented, and he said he was up to all of this

Nothing I suggested was anything different than what he campaigned on, and he could have done it while getting us a real stimulus, rather than something to blunt the damage for a year.

[barbiegeek]

13. Blame Obama instead of the Repugs. Good one, right into a repug playbook.

They made him look like he was endangering Americans by bringing the Gitmo prisoners here & Now you blame him. Boy he can't win for anything. Repugs make him look bad through THEIR obstruction.

If Repugs hadn't blocked it, it would be over. But it's Obama's fault because the REPUGS block it. Yea Right.

[Hydra]

19. The Republicans were irrelevant at the time

And as I showed, he could have shifted the focus to the idea that these people were not only not a threat, but not being held legally, and that the Republicans were lying to cover their complicity.

Instead, Obama decided to accept the "War on Terror" meme and at that point, he owns it too.

[barbiegeek]

25. 51 majority counting cross over blue dogs was not a majority

it was a battle. Congress has control over the budget not the President. The Repubs blocked the defense bill provision and threw it out. You still have to pass a defense budget--VA, war, soldier's pay. It passed without the Gitmo provision.

[barbiegeek]

26. Not at the State Level: Repub Governors & legislators block it, Article link below

If you read the article they blocked the money to house them in the States

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2009/feb/16/guantanamo-republicans-prisons

"Republicans in at least six states are seeking to block the White House from transferring Guantánamo Bay detainees to their districts, in what critics call an effort to stymie Barack Obama's efforts to close the prison.

Congressional Republicans have introduced bills that would bar the government from moving any of the 250 inmates to some of the most prominent military and civilian detention centres in the US, including a "supermax" high-security federal prison in Florence, Colorado, which holds at least 16 convicted international terrorists, and a South Carolina naval brig that holds the only enemy combatant jailed in America."

[Arkana]

17. "Changed the rules of the game"?

He's one man against 535 cowards who decided that there would be no funding. What did you think was going to happen?

[Hydra]

20. Did someone force him to accept all of Bush's bad policies?

And all 53% of 535 congresscritters could not be pointed in the right direction, when we had that for Romneycare? I'm confused.

[Arkana]

32. No, they could NOT be pointed in the right direction,

especially when both the then-Speaker and the Senate Majority Leader have already declared "Not in my backyard!" And the Blue Dogs who reluctantly got on board for the health care bill were so steadfastly against this that their positions were indistinguishable from their Republican counterparts. They made sure it didn't happen.

Obama can't move mountains. Get over it. It's unfortunate, but it is not his fault that Gitmo isn't closed.

[rhett o rick]

15. You think that's his only option? If he wanted it done he should have been able to do it. nm

[lumpy]

21. Like how ?

What other options ?

[Arkana]

16. He's not a dictator--what exactly did you want him to do?

One of his first acts as President was to order the closing of Guantanamo Bay, but the prisoners have to go somewhere--and thanks to our craven NIMBY Congress, there was no money or alternate locations provided.

He can't overthrow Congress--they're written into the Constitution.

[Cali_Democrat]

11. Here's a novel idea

Put them on the next military plane to Afghanistan and let them go.

Continuing to violate somebody's human rights should not be an option. If Congress wants to play hardball then let them scream and cry about it like the babies they are.

[brooklynite]

22. The would be the DEMOCRATIC congress, right?

The one that was in charge for the first two years of the Administration? They're the ones who want to screw the President?

[barbiegeek]

24. Repugs blocked it in the Defense Budget bill

Congress does the budget and with a slim majority in the Senate with the Blue dogs they can block provisions in it. The President does not control the budget.

[JuniperLea]

28. Obstructionism? Whaaaa?

No shit? Whodathunk?

[SpartanDem]

29. Cheney recent comments are a part of it

Cheney commenting on the anniversary of Obama signing the EO wasn't a coincidence. Cheney knew nothing would further rile up some on the left than "praising" Obama, implying Obama's inability to close Gitmo equaled agreement with his worldview. Nevermind that he and his daughter led the fear mongering campaign that turned Congress and the public against closing Gitmo; plenty on the left bought it hook, line and sinker. All over the liberal blogoshere you basically had people taking Cheney at his word without the least bit of analysis.

That said I kinda understand why so many blame Obama. When you elect someone you want action and this particularly true if your a part of base/activist, being told you can't get that you worked so hard for is upsetting. I think alot people who blame Obama, think Obama not some power he has and it's easier for them to think Obama must agree with Cheney than get into weeds of funding and the power Congress, etc

[Divine Discontent]

31. good to know this. Dems would be wise to hammer the GOP in commercials about their attack on what

Americans voted for in '08, and how the GOP-Corporation did all they could to stifle everything.