President Obama on Terrorism and Human Rights

Posted on 05/20/2009 at 11:39 pm by Bob Cesca

The details of an off-the-record human rights meeting at the White House are very revealing, and hopefully encouraging for the hyperbolic He’s Bush! crowd.

According to an attendee, Obama expressed frustration with Congress’ decision to remove funding for the closure of the U.S. prison at Guantanamo Bay. The president declared that his hands were tied in some ways regarding the use of reformed military tribunals, though he pledged to try as many detainees as possible in Article III federal courts.

With regards to that, the AP is reporting:

A top al-Qaida suspect held at Guantanamo Bay will be sent to New York for trial, an Obama administration official said Wednesday, a major step in President Barack Obama’s plan to close the detention center by early next year. Ahmed Ghailani would be the first Guantanamo detainee brought to the U.S. and the first to face trial in a civilian criminal court.

And finally…

Speaking to human rights officials on Wednesday, the president also left the door open for the future release of detainee abuse photos…

These are not the actions of someone who’s “just like Bush” or any similar nonsense.

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  • http://zirgar.blogspot.com ZIRGAR

    Well, this certainly is encouraging, to say the least!

  • http://www.southofstrange.com Proud Kool-Aid Drinker™

    Next manufactured outrage: “he’s defying the will of the people!”Immediate reply: “hey, he’s got all those wartime powers and stuff. Don’t you trust the president? Don’t you think those $50 million supermax prisons can handle a few terrorists? Why don’t you think America can do this, huh? YOU THINK WE’RE WEAK?? WHY DO YOU HATE AMERICA!!!”

  • J

    This really is excellent. I’m curious: is NYC a part of the NIMBY crowd? ’cause i’d think we’d get first crack at these assholes, and I’m pretty sure our courts and prisons can handle them just fine. Colorado doesn’t need to worry (except for Moussaui, but shh.)I would love to know how seriously fucked up the government is, currently. Like, what did Obama and his admin (the newbies) walk in to? Because what’s happening lately is madness. I don’t even mean the decisions being made by Reid, etc. Those suck, but the rudiculous reasoning is really scary. Did we really teach them that we’re that stupid??

  • Allison

    Hey Kool-Aid, I live in NYC and I don’t think we are an NIMBY town – we’ve got too many sexual predators living in our neighborhoods to worry about shackled unarmed locked up alleged terrorists.As for the Dems: I have no explanation. But when they get stupid like that it has nothing to do with their constituents – just politics.

  • http://www.osborneink.com Matt Osborne

    To me, the intriguing thing here is that this is the first fight Obama has picked with Democrats: he’s going to follow through on his first decision in office and make them like it.

  • Erin

    The Huffington Post article is a bit more balanced than the Newsweek/NYT accounts of the event (which used un-named sources, unlike the Huffington article, so I’m not sure if they are the same source), I’m sure more will come out in the coming days, even though it was technically “off the record”.

  • MatthewN

    Seems like some pretty weak tea.He’s continuing many of the same policies, but he’s frustrated about it so that makes it okay?Poor president. Congress is being mean to him and not letting him close GITMO. It’s really hard to imagine why the Democratically controlled congress didn’t fall in line with what he wanted to do, especially given how hard he pushed this issue; both in public speeches and private meetings.Wait, what? He hasn’t mentioned it much since he signed the EO, or had anyone really advocating for (or even articulating) his plans concerning the closing?His hands are tied regarding comissions? Really? Hands are tied? By whom? By what? What exactly is forcing him to not allow fair trials for these people? Because even under the new rules, comissions aren’t even close to fair. Look at the rules and ask yourself if YOU would agree to be tried that way. But his hands are tied I guess… so that makes it better.I’m not saying he’s Bush. I’m mad because he said things during the campaign that he’s abandoning now; in some cases doing the exact opposite.

  • http://www.southofstrange.com Proud Kool-Aid Drinker™

    MatthewN,You do realize that Obama has banned torture, thrown out the military commissions system the Bushies used, and begun bringing them to New York for trial…right?So you’re saying, what…that there’s no time for Obama to come up with a better way to do the commissions? In other words:”WHY HASN’T HE SEALED THE DEAL YET??!!”He’s got this.

  • MatthewN

    Kool-Aid,He did stop torture, and I gotta give him Kudos for that.I don’t think he has thrown out the military commissions system bush used. He modified it some. If he needs time to come up with a different system then he should take it. But that’s not what he said. He made changes to some of the evidentiary rules and is moving forward.He’s gone against his stated beliefs (or refused to act on his stated beliefs) on:Don’t Ask Don’t TellMilitary CommissionsFOIA and transparencyState Secrets claimsIndefinite detentionand he’s starting to waver on closing GITMO.In what way has he “got this”?He’s bringing one prisoner to NY to be tried. Great start. Seriously. I’m not taking that away from him. When the 2nd, 3rd and 4th trials start, I may even believe it means something.

  • ceu

    Isn’t it interesting that just as the “terrorists walking loose on our streets if we close Gitmo” meme is reaching a cresendo, the FBI announces it’s broken up a plot to plant C-4 in a synogogue? According to a radio newscast blurb, the plot included shooting Stinger missiles at military jets….huh??BTW, the guy being brought to NYC is to be tried in connection to the embassy bombings…

  • http://www.osborneink.com Proud Kool-Aid Drinker™

    MatthewN, the evidentiary rules were entirely what was wrong with tribunals. And we have the first suspect coming to New York to be tried for the embassy bombings. This is progress; it starts with a first.And while he’s doing that, Obama’s also dealing with a brewing crisis in the Middle East (will Israel bomb Iran?), the health care debate, etc., etc., ad nauseum. I’ll make allowances for the fact he’s multitasking.

  • http://arkytek.blogspot.com/ ∇•B=0  Silly Ratfaced Git  ∇•D=ρ

    ceu -<snark>Any chance those arrested terrorists were right wing extremists that the Department of Homeland Security unfairly warned us about?</snark>

  • jenski42

    So, these terrorists that were going to bomb the synagogue, it’s all good to torture them, right? We have a standard, now.(snark, obviously…but I want someone to ask everyone who thinks torture is okay this question.)

  • jasperjava

    I like Obama, but I never had any illusions that he was Michael Moore.I understand people who are disappointed by some of the foot-dragging on DADT, on removing troops from Iraq, on closing Gitmo, on releasing the torture evidence, etc.But I think Obama plays the long game. I have confidence in his instincts and his basic values. He’s not B*sh, not by a long shot. But he knows he can’t butt his head against every brick wall. He sometimes has to circumvent the wall. He sometimes has to patiently dismantle it brick by brick. He sometimes can sledgehammer a doorway in it.Obama is making huge changes just by not being a narrow-minded arrogant moron like his predecessor. Operating with tact and caution is simply another hallmark of the difference.

  • J

    Correct me if I’m wrong (entirely possible), but when the whole military tribunal thing came up when Obama was a senator, wasn’t his position that he was fine with the system, but not with the way it was set up under Bush?