Not the President, but the Policy: Obama Administration Blows Gitmo Deadline

by Damozel |  So much for that promise.

The Obama administration's task force on Guantanamo detentions has requested, and been granted, a six-month extension to "flesh out" its plans for closing Gitmo.  (CNN)  The interrogation task force got a two-month extension.  Civil libertarian and attorney Jonathan Turley sums up pretty well the thoughts of this progressive.

In yet another failure to honor its promises to civil libertarians, the Obama Administration has failed to honor its own deadline for the submission of a report on its policy for the detention of terror suspects. The report was expected to give details on Obama’s promise to shutdown the U.S. military prison at Guantanamo Bay...

The delay occurs at a time when the Administration has been adopting, and in some cases expanding, Bush terror policies. This includes the statement of Administration officials that, even if a detainee is acquitted in court, President Obama retained the right to hold the detainee indefinitely under his own authority....

[W]hen combined with the failure to order an investigation into the torture program (without outcome determinative limitations), the delay is seen as additional evidence of the reluctance of the Obama Administration to follow its clear legal obligations in this area.

Wish I could say I was surprised. But then I never took Obama for a progressive or even really a liberal.  The best I could say of him was that he was more liberal than the opposition.  It's a shame that he's living up to my worst fears because I want to support him.

Newsweek has the story on why the administration has missed this key deadline.  Here are a couple of snippets that interested me. 

While publicly saying they remain committed to next January's deadline, officials privately acknowledge that a host of political and diplomatic problems—including the reluctance of foreign countries to accept detainees and fierce opposition from members of Congress to moving them to the United States—has made closing the facility far more daunting than they had anticipated. 

But with all due respect, they should have anticipated these issues.  If I could -- even without access to special or privileged information -- they could. 

Oh and er, what's wrong with this picture?

[O]fficials say that, as much as the concept of indefinite detention is distasteful to the president and his legal advisers, there is simply no alternative for dealing with potentially dozens of detainees whom the administration doesn't want to release because they are thought to be too dangerous, but can't bring to trial for lack of evidence.  (Newsweek; emphasis added)

Back to you, Jonathan Turley, with emphasis added!

These detainees should not have been placed in a make-shift legal system in the first place. They should be transferred to our legal system and charged with ay crimes alleged by the Administration. Instead, the Administration continues the Bush approach of rigging the system — creating special rules for detainees who would likely prevail in a fair trial.

And the ACLU's Executive Director, Anthony D. Romero,  says:

The Obama administration must not slip into the same legal swamp that engulfed the Bush administration with its failed Guantánamo policies. Any effort to revamp the failed Guantánamo military commissions or enact a law to give any president the power to hold individuals indefinitely and without charge or trial is sure to be challenged in court and it will take years before justice is served. The only way to make good on President Obama's promise to shut down Guantánamo and end the military commissions is to charge and try the detainees in established federal criminal courts. Any effort to do otherwise will doom the Obama administration to lengthy litigation. A promise deferred could soon become a promise broken.

More news and blogger discussion at Memeorandum.

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