Biden Administration Launches Review To Close The Military Prison At Guantanamo Bay

How it is now: This is the current military prison at Guantanamo Bay where detainees from the war on terror are held 

Daily Mail: Joe Biden launches review to let him close Guantanamo Bay's infamous military prison and could take action within 'weeks' 

 * Biden administration orders formal review of the future of the high-security prison at the military base in Cuba

 * Just 40 detainees are held there but they include alleged 9/11 architect Khalid Shaikh Mohammad who is still awaiting trial

 * Review could lead to closure plan within weeks or months but it is unlikely closure would happen quickly after that

 * Biden said on campaign trail he wanted to close the facility but did not advance a concrete plan; Obama's attempts to close it failed

 * Trump said he would 'load it up with bad dudes' but in fact added no new detainees 

The Biden administration has launched a formal review of the future of the U.S. military prison at Guantanamo Bay with the goal of closing the controversial facility in Cuba, a White House official said on Friday. 

Aides involved in internal discussions are considering an executive action to be signed by President Joe Biden in coming weeks or months, two people familiar with the matter told Reuters, signaling a new effort to remove what human rights advocates have called a stain on America's global image. 

Read more .... 

Update: Biden administration weighing shutting of Guantanamo Bay prison (Al Jazeera) 

WNU Editor: Progressives and many in the Democrat Party have been pushing for the closing of the military prison at Guantanamo Prison for years. With control of the US government, it looks like they are going to be successful this time.

Will Joe Biden Close Guantanamo Bay?

 

WNU Editor: President-elect Joe Biden committed to the closing of Guantanamo Bay 10 years ago. But will he actually close it? Much of the Democrat base wants to close it, and with Democrats in control of the US government there is really no excuse for Biden to close it. My money is that it will be closed in the coming months, and some of the detainees at this prison will be brought to the U.S.. What happens after that will be court cases, law suits, and the very real possibility that some of these terrorists will be released.

Cuba Is Demanding The Return Of Guantanamo Bay

Reuters: Cuba seeks end to U.S. embargo, return of Guantanamo

Cuban Foreign Minister Bruno Rodriguez said on Monday the historic restoration of U.S.-Cuba relations will only make sense if the United States lifts its comprehensive trade embargo and returns to Cuba the U.S. naval base at Guantanamo Bay in eastern Cuba.

"The historic events we are living today will only make sense with the removal of the economic, commercial and financial blockade, which causes so much deprivation and damage to our people, the return of occupied territory in Guantanamo, and respect for the sovereignty of Cuba," Rodriguez said from the newly rechristened Cuban Embassy in Washington shortly after the Cuban flag was raised outside for the first time in 54 years.

WNU Editor: US Sec. of State John Kerry is saying no to Guantanamo .... U.S. has no intention of altering Guantanamo base lease: Kerry (Reuters).

U.S. Rejects Cuban Demands To Return Back Guantanamo Bay

BBC: US rejects Cuba demand to hand back Guantanamo Bay base

More News On The U.S. Rejecting Cuban Demands To Return Guantanamo Bay

White House to Cuba: No Deal on Returning Guantanamo Bay Base -- Bloomberg
W.H.: No, Castro, you can't have Guantanamo back -- CNN
The U.S. Will Not Return Guantanamo Bay to Cuba, the White House Says -- Time
Obama says returning Guantanamo to Cuba is not on the table -- FOX News/EFE
White House: Giving Guantanamo Bay Back to Cuba Not on The Table -- WSJ
Cuba Wants Gitmo Back -- Joshua Keating, Slate

The Gitmo You Haven't Seen Before

WNU Editor: Oliver North's Frontline series shows you the rest of this important base outside the detention facility. It is a 40 square mile fully self contained base that controls most of US activities in the Caribbean.

The link to the webpage is here.

Hat Tip: Prairie Pundit

Official: Guantanamo Detainee Was Tortured

From FOX News:

Susan J. Crawford says the techniques used on a man allegedly planning to participate in the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks were "overly aggressive and too persistent."

A Bush administration official responsible for reviewing practices at Guantanamo Bay says the U.S. military tortured a Saudi national who allegedly planned to participate in the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, the Washington Post reported.

"We tortured [Mohammed al-]Qahtani," Susan J. Crawford told the Post. "His treatment met the legal definition of torture. And that's why I did not refer the case" for prosecution.

Read more ....

Pentagon: 61 Gitmo Grads Returned to Terror

From Gateway Pundit:

Former Gitmo detainee Abdallah Salih al-Ajmi recently exploded in Iraq.
Abdallah Salih al-Ajmi was released from Gitmo in November 2005.

The WaPo reported that Ajmi left a lengthy martyrdom audio recording before his death. Ajmi implored people to take part in suicide bombings and to attack Americans. He blew himself up in Mosul in the summer of 2008 and was able to take a few Iraqis with him.

And, don't forget Monhammed Nayim Farouq:

Read more ....

Update #1: Pentagon: Gitmo detainees returning to battlefield -- AP
Update #2: Pentagon: 61 ex-Guantanamo inmates return to terrorism -- Reuters

My Comment: These are the number that are publicized .... I can bet that the real number is probably higher. I am also curious to know how many innocents have been killed because of the men who have been released from Guantanamo. My gut tells me that the number is in the hundreds.

Closing Gitmo Requires Tough Judgments On Inmates

The outside of the "Camp Six" detention facility at the US Naval Station in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba in 2008. Barack Obama plans to order the Guantanamo Bay "war on terror" detention camp closed on his first full day in office. (AFP/Pool/File/Mandel Ngan)

From AP:

SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico – President-elect Barack Obama's planned review of Guantanamo Bay prisoners, a prelude to closing the detention center, must weigh the threats posed by an extraordinarily diverse group, from die-hard jihadists to innocent men swept up in war.

Two presidential transition team advisers said Monday that Obama is preparing to issue an executive order in his first day or week in office setting in motion the extensive survey needed to close the U.S. military prison in Cuba.

His team faces a daunting task.

Read more ....

My Comment: This article leaves out the sore point that a number of detainees who were released over the past few years did return to kill Americans and their allies in Afghanistan or Iraq.

Let's face it .... many of these inmates are very dangerous men, who would plot to kill again. The problem is how to convict and punish them. The evidence for a proper trial is not there .... and if it is there it is probably top secret. Regular rules do not apply. The U.S. constitution and its protection .... if applied to these murderers .... would guarantee their release because their accusers are either dead, would be too scared to put their face forward .... or are classified as top secret.

Obama the lawyer is approaching this as a judicial exercise that must accommodate U.S. law .... I am looking forward to what the good law professor turned President can put together.

I am sure that no one is going to be pleased with the result.

Closing Guantanamo Bay Is "More Difficult Than People Realize" -- President-Elect Obama

President-elect Barack Obama sits down for an exclusive "This Week" interview with ABC's George Stephanopoulos. (Lauren V. Burke/ABC)

Obama: Gitmo Likely Won't Close in First 100 Days
-- ABC News

Closing Guantanamo Bay More Difficult Than People Realize, President-Elect Tells George Stephanopoulos in Exclusive Interview on "This Week"

President-elect Barack Obama said this weekend that he does not expect to close Guantanamo Bay in his first 100 days in office.

"I think it's going to take some time and our legal teams are working in consultation with our national security apparatus as we speak to help design exactly what we need to do," Obama said in an exclusive "This Week" interview with George Stephanopoulos, his first since arriving in Washington.

Read more .....

My Comment: Duh!!!!!

Gates Orders Plan Drafted For Closing Guantanamo Prison

US Defense Secretary Robert Gates, pictured in October 2008, has ordered aides to prepare a plan for closing the Guantanamo prison, a declared priority for president-elect Barack Obama, a Pentagon spokesman said Thursday. (AFP/Getty Images/File/Brendan Smialowski)

From AFP:

WASHINGTON (AFP) – US Defense Secretary Robert Gates has ordered aides to prepare a plan for closing the Guantanamo prison, a declared priority for president-elect Barack Obama, a Pentagon spokesman said Thursday.

Gates wanted to be prepared in case Obama decides to take action on Guantanamo soon after taking office next month, said Geoff Morrell, the Pentagon press secretary.

"The request has been made, his team is working on it so he can be prepared to assist the president-elect should he wish to address this very early in his tenure," Morrell said.

Read more ....

Guantanamo Prisoners Tortured By Britney Spears, AC/DC

From The Herald Sun:

BRITNEY Spears and AC/DC songs are being used to torture prisoners in Guantanamo Bay, outraging human rights groups.
The groups are protesting that blasting tracks such as Britney Spears's Baby One More Time, AC/DC's Hells Bells and Bruce Springsteen's Born in the USA into cells at high volumes for hours on end can cause the inmates long-term psychiatric problems.

Now the musicians themselves have joined the fray, furious that their songs are being used to "break" suspected terrorists, reports the Daily Mail.

Musicians including Massive Attack and Tom Morello, guitarist with US group Rage Against The Machine have joined a campaign against the practice.

Read more ....

My Comment: It is torture ....

Bin Laden's Driver To Leave Guantanamo Bay

Salim Hamdan is to be transferred to his home country of Yemen

From Times Online:

Osama bin Laden's former driver is to leave Guantanamo Bay for his home country of Yemen, where he will serve out the remainder of his sentence.

Salim Hamdan was sentenced to 5 1/2 years in prison last August after being convicted of aiding al-Qaeda. His two week trial on the military base in Cuba was the first war-crimes trial held by the US since world War II.

Read more ....

Guantanamo Detainees To Be Freed

From SKY News:

Five Algerians held at Guantanamo Bay must be released, a federal judge has ruled in a setback for the Bush administration.

US District Judge Richard Leon made the decision after the first hearings under a landmark Supreme Court ruling in June that gave Guantanamo prisoners the legal right to challenge their continued confinement.

He said the US government had failed to prove the five men who had been living in Bosnia had planned to travel to Afghanistan to fight against American forces.

Read more ....

Guantanamo Inmates To Be Transferred To U.S. Soil

Barack Obama Plans Quick Transfer Of Guantanamo
Bay Suspects To US -- Times Online

Barack Obama will move swiftly to close Guantanamo Bay as soon as he takes office, his aides said yesterday, in a clear and early sign of how determined he is to break with President Bush.

Mr Obama is planning to ship dozens of terrorist suspects from the camp to face criminal trial in the US. It is a controversial move but one that demonstrates how abruptly he plans to change Washington in terms of policy, personnel and tone the moment he enters the Oval Office.

Mr Obama has said that he wants to hit the ground running, and, already, details of his ambitious agenda are becoming clear as he seeks to turn his back on the Bush era. He has vowed to start removing combat troops from Iraq immediately, although in recent weeks he has become more opaque about the speed of withdrawal.

Read more ....

My Comment: I fail to see how these prisoners can be tried under current U.S. law. The burden or proof, evidence, witnesses .... I completely fail to see how some of these men can be tried by using our criminal justice system against them.

I know that more information will need to be released by a future Obama Justice Department on this matter .... but I fail to see how this can be done.

Easing Of Laws That Led To Detainee Abuse Hatched In Secret

An eight-month McClatchy investigation of the detention system created after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks has found that the U.S. imprisoned innocent men, subjected them to abuse, stripped them of their legal rights and allowed Islamic militants to turn the prison camp at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba into a school for jihad.

Guantanamo Bay Court Room

WASHINGTON — The framework under which detainees were imprisoned for years without charges at Guantanamo and in many cases abused in Afghanistan wasn't the product of American military policy or the fault of a few rogue soldiers.

It was largely the work of five White House, Pentagon and Justice Department lawyers who, following the orders of President Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney, reinterpreted or tossed out the U.S. and international laws that govern the treatment of prisoners in wartime, according to former U.S. defense and Bush administration officials.

The Supreme Court now has struck down many of their legal interpretations. It ruled last Thursday that preventing detainees from challenging their detention in federal courts was unconstitutional.

Read more ....

Previous Posts
Sunday: We got the wrong guys
Monday: 'I guess you can call it torture'
Tuesday: A school for Jihad

Wrongly Jailed Detainees Found Militancy At Guantanamo

An eight-month McClatchy investigation of the detention system created after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks has found that the U.S. imprisoned innocent men, subjected them to abuse, stripped them of their legal rights and allowed Islamic militants to turn the prison camp at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba into a school for jihad.

The McDonalds At Guantanamo Bay

GARDEZ, Afghanistan — Mohammed Naim Farouq was a thug in the lawless Zormat district of eastern Afghanistan. He ran a kidnapping and extortion racket, and he controlled his turf with a band of gunmen who rode around in trucks with AK-47 rifles.

U.S. troops detained him in 2002, although he had no clear ties to the Taliban or al Qaida. By the time Farouq was released from Guantanamo the next year, however — after more than 12 months of what he described as abuse and humiliation at the hands of American soldiers — he'd made connections to high-level militants.

In fact, he'd become a Taliban leader. When the U.S. Defense Intelligence Agency released a stack of 20 "most wanted" playing cards in 2006 identifying militants in Afghanistan and Pakistan — with Osama bin Laden at the top — Farouq was 16 cards into the deck.

Read more ....

Previous Posts: Sunday: We got the wrong guys
Monday: 'I guess you can call it torture'

My Comment: The consequences of poor planning and strategic vision.