Patterico's Pontifications

1/11/2009

Obama Won’t Immediately Close GTMO

Filed under: Obama,Terrorism — DRJ @ 6:25 pm



[Guest post by DRJ]

Barack Obama told George Stephanopoulos he will eventually close Guantanamo Bay but not 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.

“It is more difficult than I think a lot of people realize,” the president-elect explained.”

It was easy for candidate Obama to talk about closing Guantanamo. It’s not so easy now that he’s responsible for detainees like Ali al-Marri, an alleged al Qaeda sleeper agent considered “exceptionally dangerous” who was detained in December 2001 and is being held in a Navy brig as an unlawful enemy combatant. In a case legal experts believe will affect the Guantanamo detainees, the Supreme Court announced on December 5, 2008, that it had agreed to hear al-Marri’s case in the coming term:

“The Supreme Court said yesterday it will decide whether the president may order the indefinite detention of suspects living lawfully in the United States, one of the broadest claims of executive power the Bush administration has asserted in the nation’s anti-terrorism efforts.”

Obama will have some sleepless nights ahead of him now that al-Marri and the GTMO detainees are his problem. I hope he guesses right.

H/T SPQR.

— DRJ

41 Responses to “Obama Won’t Immediately Close GTMO”

  1. I can’t wait to hear what he’s going to do with the prisoners whose home countries want nothing to do with them – which means we’re stuck with them, like it or not. Release them into the general prison prop? Don’t think so. Interesting when campaign rhetoric slams up against reality.

    Dmac (eb0dd0)

  2. I thought all those foreign detainees were innocent goat herders minding their own business who were sold into U.S. captivity for bounties by unscrupulous bad guys according to conventional liberal wisdom. Surely that narrative is not in the process of revision now that a Democrat will be in the White House! How can our basic national security policies and antiterror protection be subjected to crass political considerations when the safety of the nation is at stake?

    Tell me it ain’t so!

    daleyrocks (5d22c0)

  3. Obama: “So this is what all those bitter guns-and-religion-clingers meant when they said I couldn’t keep voting ‘present’ like I did in the state Senate.” *slaps attractive, slow-on-the-uptake forehead*

    no one you know (1ebbb1)

  4. Release them into the general prison prop?

    Hell, no!

    The crowd that Obama hangs out with, or that hang out with him, will want the prisoners — here’s the magic word — r-e-h-a-b-i-l-i-t-a-t-e-d.

    And once they’re turned into upright, outstanding American citizens, they and everyone else then can hold hands and sing a round of kum-ba-yah.

    I have a hunch that if Obama listened to his inner voice, and he wasn’t worried about not looking over his shoulder, the US would be out of Iraq by early March, GTMO would be closed down in mid-February, and taxes would rise in late January (certainly for those who, in Obama’s words, need to make a sacrifice).

    Mark (411533)

  5. Code Pink and Larry Tribe will not be happy.

    Dreadnaught (e0ec4f)

  6. If I remember correctly, McCain also promised to shut the place down. They both agreed on that. It seemed like the politically correct thing to say then. I think we need to judge these politicians more on merit of what they intend to do, which we can only know when they are elected. I am not among those who say it should be shut down without weighing the effect it may have. As President, Obama has to do what is best for the security of Americans. Even if it has to conflict with campaign promises.

    love2008 who will now be known as Emperor7 (1b037c)

  7. I suppose Ali & Co. could move into the White House, too.

    Patricia (89cb84)

  8. love2008,

    McCain wasn’t elected. Maybe GTMO is more complicated than Obama realized, but I suspect his campaign promises were designed to say what his followers wanted to hear. Either way, it’s Obama’s problem and, for now, he’s backtracking on his promise to close GTMO.

    DRJ (345e40)

  9. love2008,

    BTW, if McCain had been elected and he did this, I’d be criticizing him, too. I’d also take more pleasure in it because I know he has strong views on the subject and could take the heat of criticism. Sometimes I wonder if Obama has strong views on anything other than abortion.

    DRJ (345e40)

  10. Obama supporters must be in stitches, so far the hope and change has really been
    lets change back to a the former Clinton administration and hope nobody will notice!

    ML (14488c)

  11. Comment by DRJ — 1/11/2009 @ 7:34 pm
    I agree with you entirely. But hey, were you shocked? Gitmo is a very complicated matter as you have said. Just like Iraq. There are no easy options.

    love2008 who will now be known as Emperor7 (0c8c2c)

  12. love2008,

    I am shocked. It’s pathetic to see a politician says something just to get elected that he almost surely knew was wrong. The fact that virtually all of them do it doesn’t make it right. People are either so cynical or so naive that they willingly ignore or overlook things like this.

    Don’t you get it, love2008? Politicians do this because they know people like you will let them get away with it. They wouldn’t do it if they were ridiculed and suffered for it at the ballot box.

    DRJ (345e40)

  13. Sometimes I wonder if Obama has strong views on anything other than abortion.

    Comment by DRJ — 1/11/2009 @ 7:34 pm
    The above statement ought to win this blog’s quote of the day! Classic. 😉

    love2008 who will now be known as Emperor7 (0c8c2c)

  14. Sometimes I wonder if Obama has strong views on anything other than abortion.

    Comment by DRJ — 1/11/2009 @ 7:34 pm

    Interesting to hear you put it that way because I’ve thought exactly that myself. Bill Clinton struck me the same way – not positive but wasn’t it the only issue on which he kept all his campaign promises or some such?

    Don’t know why it seems so important to each of them. But singularly important it is IMO – to both of them.

    no one you know (1ebbb1)

  15. Comment by DRJ — 1/11/2009 @ 7:48 pm
    Hold it DRJ!! First, he is not President yet and secondly, he never said he wasn’t going to shut it down at all. He just said, not as soon as I thought I could. Yes I am frustrated that politicians sometimes don’t mean what they say. But I am comforted by just knowing that they have the best of intentions at heart. I feel you.

    love2008 who will now be known as Emperor7 (0c8c2c)

  16. Don’t know why it seems so important to each of them.

    Short answer: Michelle & Hillary.

    Dana (137151)

  17. “Sometimes I wonder if Obama has strong views on anything other than abortion.”

    DRJ – The strength of his views depends on what the polls are saying, just like Bill Clinton. As he has consistently said…….

    daleyrocks (5d22c0)

  18. love2008:

    First, he is not President yet and secondly, he never said he wasn’t going to shut it down at all.

    Obama clearly led his supporters to believe he would undo everything Bush did on subjects like Iraq, GTMO, FISA surveillance, and [prosecuting re:] waterboarding. He’s already waffled on every one of these issues and more, such as his promise to use public campaign financing.

    Obama isn’t stupid. He had to know he couldn’t or wouldn’t carry through on these issues. But he must think his supporters are very stupid if he really believes they won’t realize what he’s done.

    DRJ (345e40)

  19. From Newsweek 7-23-08:
    A few years ago, the specter of Gitmo terrorists moving in next door might have invoked fear and panic on Capitol Hill. But no Democrat took Mukasey’s dire warnings seriously enough to address them. Instead, they asked the A.G. about everything from the Justice Department’s refusal to release internal legal opinions about harsh interrogations to overcrowding in the federal prisons and airline mergers.
    Nadler, for one, offered an explanation for the snub: few if any Democrats now accept any of the Bush administration’s basic premises on terrorism issues. “Most of them are guilty of nothing,” he said about the Gitmo detainees, noting that one group of them, Chinese Uighurs (persecuted Muslim dissidents) would be considered “freedom fighters” by most Americans. “I think it’s appalling that the president is still asking for the right to point the finger at anybody anywhere and say, `You’re an enemy combatant,’ and keep them locked up indefinitely,” he said.

    [object]

    If the prisoners in Gitmo are guilty of nothing, why can’t they be released immediately? If not, it indicates Democrats have been willing to sacrifice the security of the country to make cheap political points against President Bush.

    ROA (c2df25)

  20. “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.

    “It is more difficult than I think a lot of people realize,” the president-elect explained.”

    Translation:

    “Get back with me after my first 100 days. I’ll then give you my new! improved! oh-so-nuanced-and thoughtful! position explaining why, gosh darn it, it would be more prudent to appoint a blue-ribbon commission to further study the Gitmo issue until, oh say, 2013. Mustn’t make any hasty decisions now! ”

    In short, His Obamaian Majesty is voting “Present” again. 😉

    MarkJ (7fa185)

  21. Translation:

    I lied to you dumbasses in the primaries to beat Hillary and I lied to you again in the general election to beat McCain. I can’t believe you fuckers were dumb enough to believe all that crap I said or all the shit the media has been sating about George Bush the past eight years. You people need help.

    daleyrocks (5d22c0)

  22. This is great. I knew all along that there would eventually come a moment when Barack Obama, sitting in the Oval Office, would not be able to help but think to himself, “You know, this is a really difficult job and I guess George Bush was right about a whole lot more things than I was willing to give him credit for.” I just didn’t think it would come before he was actually inaugurated.

    JVW (bff0a4)

  23. But he must think his supporters are very stupid if he really believes they won’t realize what he’s done.
    It must be tough for those “supporters”. I did not support him for the reasons his supporters did. I prayed about it and was told he was going to be the next President of the US. I was also told that he was not going to be as liberal as many thought. Call it voter’s instinct. So I am not disappointed. He is acting exactly as we hoped he would on some of these critical issues. Obama will do well and God will bless America under his administration. You just watch.

    love2008 who will now be known as Emperor7 (0c8c2c)

  24. Translation:

    I lied to you dumbasses in the primaries to beat Hillary and I lied to you again in the general election to beat McCain. I can’t believe you fuckers were dumb enough to believe all that crap I said or all the shit the media has been sating about George Bush the past eight years. You people need help

    ROFLMAO!!

    Horatio (55069c)

  25. In fairness to the President-Elect, I’m not sure he actually made any specific commitments or promises to immediately close GITMO. Most of what I recall from his campaign speeches and debate performances was his ability to say stuff which sounded firm and concrete, but actually wasn’t.

    Thus, the foolishness of his supporters wasn’t so much to believe that he would do what he said, but rather to believe that he had said anything at all. Remember what Obama wrote in The Audacity of Hope:

    I serve as a blank screen on which people of vastly different political stripes project their own views.

    He works very carefully not to disabuse the voters of their projection, while usually being fairly careful not to actually promise anything.

    PatHMV (653160)

  26. “It is more difficult than I think a lot of people realize,” Barack Obama

    Well no ****! I am glad you picked up on that Mr. President Elect.

    You are going to make Andrew Sullivan cry, however.

    Joe (17aeff)

  27. Time to break out your old vinyl of Freak Out and listen to it. Because that is what the left is doing about Obama.

    Joe (17aeff)

  28. Would it have killed Democrats to actually admit this during Bush’s term?
    Obama also mentioned that Cheney had given him the good advice that before he declares he will stop any particular intelligence program, he should find out why it was put in place. Well, duh.

    PatHMV- I’ll look for the quote, but I’m pretty sure he said he’d close Gitmo in his first 100 days.

    MayBee (5b642f)

  29. MayBee… he may have. I was commenting more on his general tendency, not saying whether that was true for this particular policy. But he did it often enough to warrant tracking down a specific quote.

    PatHMV (653160)

  30. Comment by love2008 who will now be known as Emperor7 — 1/12/2009 @ 2:00 am
    “It must be tough for those “supporters”. I did not support him for the reasons his supporters did.”

    HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA

    BULLSHIT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

    daleyrocks (5d22c0)

  31. “This process of election affords a moral certainty that the office of President will seldom fall to the lot of any man who is not in an eminent degree endowed with the requisite qualifications.”

    –Alexander Hamilton, Federalist No. 68, 14 March 1788

    I wonder what AH would think today, and I don’t think he was talking about age and place-of-birth when he says “requisite qualifications”?

    AD (17695a)

  32. “It is more difficult than I think a lot of people realize,” Barack Obama explained.”

    Not me, not hardly anyone I know. We all understood, years ago this was a difficult situation. I guess this is just one more issue that is above Mr. Obama’s pay grade. I hope he listens to the right people after he takes the oath of office.

    tyree (158c98)

  33. It appears that Obama intends (so say aides) to close GTMO within his first week…

    Scott Jacobs (a1c284)

  34. “It appears that Obama intends (so say aides) to close GTMO within his first week…”

    Scott – Are those aides suggesting Obama was lying to Steffie on national TV?

    daleyrocks (5d22c0)

  35. Comment by daleyrocks — 1/12/2009 @ 9:05 am
    Yeah, bullshit. What else can you say?

    love2008 who will now be known as Emperor7 (1b037c)

  36. Comment by daleyrocks — 1/12/2009 @ 12:19 pm

    No one seemed to care he lied about running for President, or taking public funds for the campaign, why would they care if he lied about this?

    Scott Jacobs (a1c284)

  37. May he have 4 solid years of sleepless nights and age dreadfully. It’s what presidents do.

    Peg C. (48175e)

  38. Lovey – No one is as Irish as Barack O’Bama and you know how full of blarney they are:

    http://www.oneeyedparrot.org/obama.html

    daleyrocks (5d22c0)

  39. What do you do with a bunch of guys who, once released (if they are released) are sure to sue, tell horrific stories, and even if they are innocent goat herders can now be picked up by al-quaida operatives (or any other group)and pumped for information on exactly what happens in Guantanamo, i.e. interrogation techniques…. maybe the problem is that these guys know too much?

    EdWood (11b593)

  40. It doesn’t matter if Obama guesses right or wrong. If the terrorist gets released and kills again, Obama will just say that isn’t the Al Marri I’ve come to know, or nobody I’ve talked to or who’ve talked to me could have foreseen what Al Marri did.

    eaglewingz08 (ad2cae)

  41. I read Obama planned to sign an executive order in his first week ordering the closure of GTMO, but the timeframe for closing it would remain open-ended. In other words, it’s the same as his plan for Iraq. He will ‘talk the talk’ of pulling out but he won’t ‘walk the walk.’ This isn’t my first choice but it’s better than an immediate pull-out.

    DRJ (345e40)


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