The Republican Party is trying to make this a campaign issue, but when was the last time someone broke out of a maximum security facility?
Enough on that one.
The White House plans to announce Tuesday that a rural Illinois prison will be acquired by the federal government to become the new home for a limited number of Guantanamo Bay detainees.
Administration officials as well as Illinois Sen. Richard Durbin and Gov. Pat Quinn will make the official announcement on Tuesday at the White House.
Officials at both the White House and in Durbin's office confirmed the news Tuesday night.
They said President Barack Obama has directed the government to acquire Thomson Correctional Center in Thomson, Ill., a sleepy town near the Mississippi River about 150 miles from Chicago. A spokesman for Durbin's office said the facility would house federal inmates and no more than 100 detainees.
Call it what you want. Dick Cheney does not, in the end, help the Republican Party's argument. The GOP has always been the party of National Security, but under the Bush Administration and their disastrous handling of both wars it became apparent that many were just incompetent and we had a leader that listened to NO ONE. This killed the GOP in the end at the ballot boxes.
As people have listened to both speeches, read transcripts, it is clearly obvious that Dick Cheney wishes this administration to fail. Hopes that another terrorist attack will prevail. Even though all of his arguments have massive holes in them, or just down right lies. I am with Lawrence O'Donnell on this one, if you are using former CIA Director George Tenet as evidence and backup to your claims, the one who manufactured the Iraq evidence, your whole argument has major problems. A must read is from McClatchy Newspapers which dissects and destroys Cheney's argument, definitely worth a read.
Former Homeland Security Secretary Tom Ridge told CNN Thursday that former Vice President Dick Cheney's repeated charge the Obama administration has made the country less safe is wrong.
"Yeah, I disagree with Dick Cheney," the Pennsylvania Republican and former Bush administration official told CNN's John King, adding he "does not" think the country is more vulnerable to an attack under President Obama.
Ridge appears to agree with a majority of Americans, according to a recent CNN/Opinion Research Corporation poll. In that survey, taken last month, 72 percent of registered voters said they did not think the country was less safe under President Obama.
Ridge's comments came the same day both Obama and Cheney gave dueling speeches on national security, during which the president sharply condemned Bush administration interrogation practices while Cheney vigorously defended them.
In the interview with CNN, set to air in full on State of The Union with John King Sunday, Ridge said he disagrees with "the approach both men are taking."
"It's just the whole notion of a Republican vice president giving a speech after the incumbent Democratic president," he said. "It's gotta go beyond the politics of either party."
And from Keith Olbermann's guest, former Colin Powell aide, Ret. Lt. Col. Lawrence Wilkerson:
He is right. The torture happened there. It ruined our international standing there. It needs to be closed. And he backs up EVERYTHING that has been said about fear mongering and the ridiculous notion that these detainees or terrorists will all of a sudden be released and/or escape. Again, is Charles Manson walking around here? Is Sirhan Sirhan at your neighborhood grocer? Was Timothy McVeigh pumping gas around your corner? The obvious answer is no. This is a fear mongering argument, trumped up by the Republicans and the public knows it, or should know it.
I just want to make sure we are all on the same page.
Dick Cheney's performance today was all about what is coming down the road and it does not look good for him. Liz Cheney's performance is all about helping her father's legacy, at any cost.
Right now we are at a crossroads in this country. A serious one. We are either going to be a country that stand by our rules and laws, which means we will follow the rules and laws. Or a country that will ignore our laws, justify breaking our laws and bear the consequences. We must decide what we want to do.
There's a lot of moving parts going on here and let me tackle them.
First, Dick and Liz Cheney.
Dick Cheney broke the law, period. He stood on that stage today and justified torture. He did not waiver, he was clear, he was concise. He stands behind the program that has put this country in more harms way than ever. It was a strong argument that Cheney gave and he needed, too. Why? As all of this is unraveling he needs to justify what happened during the Bush/Cheney years as deserved and rational. During his speech, Cheney continues to associated 9/11, WMDs and Iraq as the reason for the invasion, when he knows that it is a blatant lie.
Transcript
Right now there is considerable debate in this city about the measures our administration took to defend the American people.
Today I want to set forth the strategic thinking behind our policies.
Nine-eleven caused everyone to take a serious second look at threats that had been gathering for a while, and enemies whose plans were getting bolder and more sophisticated.
We could count on almost universal support back then, because everyone understood the environment we were in.
Everyone expected a follow-on attack, and it was our job to stop it. We didn’t know what was coming next, but everything we did know in that autumn of 2001 looked bad. This was the world in which al-Qaeda was seeking nuclear technology.
We had the training camps of Afghanistan, and dictators like Saddam Hussein with known ties to Mideast terrorists.
Foremost on our minds was the prospect of the very worst coming to pass - a 9/11 with weapons of mass destruction.
We turned special attention to regimes that had the capacity to build weapons of mass destruction, and might transfer such weapons to terrorists.
In the years after 9/11, our government also understood that the safety of the country required collecting information known only to the worst of the terrorists.
I was and remain a strong proponent of our enhanced interrogation program.
They were legal, essential, justified, successful, and the right thing to do.
To call this a program of torture is to libel the dedicated professionals who have saved American lives, and to cast terrorists and murderers as innocent victims.
You cannot keep just some nuclear-armed terrorists out of the United States; you must keep every nuclear-armed terrorist out of the United States.
For all the partisan anger that still lingers, our administration will stand up well in history - not despite our actions after 9/11, but because of them.
Dick Cheney and his daughter Liz are continuing to beat the drum of justification for the Torture Program under the Bush Administration.
Lastly, never in over 40 years has a previous administration, President or Vice President complained, criticized and voiced strong opinions about a new administration. Viewing Cheney's speech, his demeanor, body language is one of do it my way or the high way. Obviously, Cheney is finding it difficult to rationalize that Barack Obama won the election and not by a slither but by 8 percentage points. That is mandate numbers and Cheney and the Republicans are having a difficult time dealing with it.
Talking Points for the GOP
Various television shows in the past week or so have hammered home the closing of Guantanamo Bay, coupled with the Nancy Pelosi comments on the lack of truth from the CIA. While this banter is going on, the Democrats removal of the closing of Guantanamo Bay monies and falling for the "terror scare" of the Republicans had many scratching their heads with WTF? The following crafted by Senator John Thune (R-SD):
The American jail system is designed for American systems, for criminals. It's not designed to handle the types of threats and risks and dangers that having terrorists housed in some of these prisons would pose to communities and neighborhoods in this country, Andrea.
And I think what you saw in the Senate today was a vote. It was 90 to six, Democrats and Republicans coming together. And actually it was an about-face for the Democrats in the Senate because earlier they had put funding into the bill that would have gone toward closing Guantanamo, but they recognized that that was a losing proposition, particularly given the fact that the president has not put forward any kind of a plan or detailed what he would do with these detainees.
Let's be clear here. The United States of America has more prisons and people incarcerated than any other country, period. The notion that we can not harbor and incarcerate 200+ detainees/terrorists in maximum security prisons is just preposterous.
But remember, this is going to be the argument for 2010 mid-term election. Get ready for the boogey man ads to the public. Be prepared for the "terrorist is moving into your neighborhood". That is the card the GOP will play as they try to regain the trust of the American public. Yes, they are going to try it.
In Barack Obama's speech he made it clear that he is closing Guantanamo Bay and that his number one priority is the safety of this nation. He also addressed the politicization of the national debate issue:
Obama accused the Bush administration officials of acting from "fear rather than foresight" in the days after the 9/11 attacks, with "hasty decisions" that undermined U.S. efforts in the war against Islamic terrorism.
He inherited "a mess," Obama said. Bush-era officials "trimmed facts and evidence to fit ideological predispositions" with policies "neither effective nor sustainable."
And now, "we have seen a return of the politicization of these issues," Obama said. "We will be ill-served by ... the fear-mongering" that has "more to do with politics than protecting our country."
Ask General Petraeus. Wars on terror are inherently different. The brutal techniques of unbridled warfare can be counterproductive when employed against groups like the Taliban and al Qaeda.
"They serve as a recruitment tool for terrorists, and increase the will of our enemies to fight us, while decreasing the will of others to work with America," Obama said. "They risk the lives of our troops by making it less likely that others will surrender to them in battle, and more likely that Americans will be mistreated if they are captured.
"In short, they did not advance our war and counterterrorism efforts—they undermined them."
Today we heard two speeches, one from the President of the United States and one from the former Vice-President of the United States. This country must decide if we are going to be a country that stands by the rule of law and moral ground, or are we just going to by pass it and do what we want as we see fit, no matter what the consequences may be.
The latter has put us in the mess we are in now and has forced President Obama to reach out and broker destroyed relationships created by the Bush Administration. We voted for Barack Obama and change, but change does not come by pulling a lever, punching a card or filling in a circle. Change is what you fight for. We have every right to question and take Barack Obama to task when we disagree, but we must stand with him and give him time to fix the long laundry list left by the Bush Administration. It won't happen over night, but we owe him the chance to do it his way. This is what we voted for.
As for the mid-term elections in 2010? Get ready it is not going to be nice.
Protecting Our Security and Our Values National Archives Museum Washington, D.C. May 21, 2009
Note: Barack Obama is the President of the United States. Why the media is giving Dick Cheney any time on television is utter bullshit. Yes, I am throwing the bullshit around a lot today. Calling it the way I see it. Anyway, some will like to see how Dick Cheney is attempting to clean up his legacy, his speech here. Cheney transcript, here.
A top al-Qaida suspect held at Guantanamo Bay will be sent to New York for trial, an Obama administration official said Wednesday.
Ahmed Ghailani would be the first Guantanamo detainee brought to the U.S., and the first to face trial in a civilian criminal court.
An official, speaking on condition of anonymity because the person was not authorized to disclose the decision, told The Associated Press the administration has decided to bring Ghailani to trial in New York. He was indicted there for the 1998 bombings of U.S. embassies in Africa — attacks that killed 224 people, including 12 Americans. read more here....
I don't know what the real deal is, but I do agree with morning joke that this was political, especially by Harry Reid. Reid is not looking too good right now, but before morning joke jumps for eternal joy, it is going to be very hard to beat Reid in Nevada.
Anyway, the funds to close Guantanamo Bay were stripped from the bill by the Democrats.
U.S. Senate Democrats stripped from a war spending bill $80 million that was allocated for the closing of the Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, military prison.
The move Tuesday came the same week President Barack Obama was scheduled to outline his plan for the 240 terrorism suspects still detained in the facility, The New York Times reported Wednesday.
Pressure from Republicans and concern about relocating terrorism suspects to U.S. soil led the Democrats to remove the funding, part of the emergency Iraq and Afghanistan spending moving through the Senate.The Washington Post reported. The bill cleared the House last week without funding for the Guantanamo shutdown.
"Guantanamo makes us less safe," Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid of Nevada told a news conference. "However, this is neither the time nor the bill to deal with this. Democrats under no circumstances will move forward without a comprehensive, responsible plan from the president. We will never allow terrorists to be released into the United States."
My thing about these detainees is this, we have mass murders, pedophiles, domestic terrorists, mentally criminally insane folk, gang bangers, drug lords, right here in the United States of America and guess what? They are all on lock down. When was the last time you saw Charles Manson walking around here? Was Timothy McVeigh at your local gas station before he was executed? The answer is NO.
Let me be clear here. One damn good thing that the United States of America does well is lock folks up in maximum security prisons and they don't break out. We have more prisons than any other country, we are experts at this. So the Democrats broke down, again, by the scare tactics of the Republicans? Example, listen to Senator Richard Shelby (R-AL) on morning joe:
Did you get all that?
One word for the Democrats: inexcusable.
Guantanamo Bay is the one place where the international community have taken issue with us. Those images of torture coming out of that place have killed our international standing. The movement by Barack Obama to start moving these prisoners and closing Gitmo got standing ovation worldwide. Now, the Democrats who are the majority in the congress strips the money from the bill?
For one, the photos should be released, a lawsuit was won to have these photos released. On the other, it is these images that have killed our standing internationally. In the end, it is about transparency and the photos will eventually be released, I believe.
Defense and military officials tell NBC News that President Obama will seek to delay the release of hundreds of photos which reportedly depict the abuse of prisoners by U.S. military in Iraq and Afghanistan.
White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs is expected to announce Obama's decision.
The Pentagon has said it will release the pictures this month.
Gen. Ray Odierno, the top U.S. military commander in Iraq met with Obama at the White House Tuesday to ask the administration not to release the photos. Defense officials say Odierno is "vehemently opposed" to the release because he fears it could create a widespread "backlash" against military forces in both war zones.
According to one official, "It would put a bullseye on the backs of our forces."
According to military officials many of the photos are similar to the infamous prisoner abuse photos out of Abu Ghraib prison, but some of these photos reportedly include mug shots of prisoners who appear to have been badly beaten during their capture or interrogation.
The photos were gathered in the course of dozens of military investigations of prisoner abuse between 2001 and 2006. Pentagon officials say 400 individual servicemembers have faced disciplinary action, either criminal convictions or non-judicial punishment as a result of the investigations.
The American Civil Liberties Union has sought the release of the photos and won a lawsuit against the U.S. government before the federal appeals court in New York. The only legal option left to the government was to appeal the decision to the Supreme Court. Instead the Obama administration had earlier made the decision to end the appeals and release the photos.
Army Pvt. Brandon Neely was scared when he took Guantanamo's first shackled detainees off a bus. Told to expect vicious terrorists, he grabbed a trembling, elderly detainee and ground his face into the cement — the first of a range of humiliations he says he participated in and witnessed as the prison was opening for business.
Neely has now come forward in this final year of the detention center's existence, saying he wants to publicly air his feelings of guilt and shame about how some soldiers behaved as the military scrambled to handle the first alleged al-Qaida and Taliban members arriving at the isolated U.S. Navy base.
His account, one of the first by a former guard describing abuses at Guantanamo, describes a chaotic time when soldiers lacked clear rules for dealing with detainees who were denied many basic comforts. He says the circumstances changed quickly once monitors from the International Committee of the Red Cross arrived. read more here.....
Expect more of this as the Obama Administration sets policy and those who were "Bushified" try to run for cover. For those who think investigations will not commence, expect different, it will as information is forthcoming. And those like, i.e., Alberto Gonzales, who don't have a "pardon card", should be very worried going forward.
The judge in the Sept. 11 war crimes case at Guantanamo has agreed to President Barack Obama's request to suspend the case pending a 120-day review.
The defendants opposed the delay. All have said they want to plead guilty to charges that carry a potential death sentence.
Army Col. Stephen Henley issued the ruling Wednesday after a brief hearing at the U.S. base in Cuba.
Prosecutors sought the suspension to give the Obama administration time to review the special system for prosecuting alleged terrorists set up by former President George W. Bush and Congress.
Gitmo has been an embarrassment from start to finish. Obama, within his first week of office will issue an executive order to start the process of closing down Guantanamo Bay. Another reason for closing Gitmo does not take a rocket scientist to figure out, the whole operation of Gitmo has been a failure from beginning, up to now. We have detainees who have been just sitting there with no charges against them, some under suspect, some who probably or may have done something, but just a bunch of folks picked up because the US military did not understand the conditions, culture, and everything else about Arab culture. Lastly, if the guilt by association argument could be used, it was ratcheted up by throwing many behind bars in Gitmo.
President-elect Barack Obama is preparing to issue an executive order his first week in office — and perhaps his first day — to close the U.S. military prison at Guantanamo Bay, according to two presidential transition team advisers.
It's unlikely the detention facility at the Navy base in Cuba will be closed anytime soon. In an interview last weekend, Mr. Obama said it would be "a challenge" to close it even within the first 100 days of his administration.
But the order, which one adviser said could be issued as early as Jan. 20, would start the process of deciding what to do with the estimated 250 al Qaeda and Taliban suspects and potential witnesses who are being held there. Most have not been charged with a crime.
Does Bush & Co. like this move? I don't think so, after watching Bush's last presser, he was highly upset and all over the place trying to defend his disastrous legacy as President of the United States.
subscribe here icebergslim on Daily Kos Share Note: If you are viewing this in Firefox, on 17" monitor or smaller, the left panel may be blown. This is a firefox issue, if you view this in IE, Safari, Opera, Google Chrome, no issue. FYI.
Share
