Here is more change we can believe in.
From a White House press statement:
Executive Order regarding Guantanamo Bay detainees
Executive Order requires closure of the Guantanamo detention center no later than one year from the date of the Order. Closure of the facility is the ultimate goal but not the first step. The Order establishes a review process with the goal of disposing of the detainees before closing the facility.
The Order sets up an immediate review to determine whether it is possible to transfer detainees to third countries, consistent with national security. If transfer is not approved, a second review will determine whether prosecution is possible and in what forum. The preference is for prosecution in Article III courts or under the Uniform Code of Military Justice (UCMJ), but military commissions, perhaps with revised authorities, would remain an option. If there are detainees who cannot be transferred or prosecuted, the review will examine the lawful options for dealing with them. The Attorney General will coordinate the review and the Secretaries of Defense, State, and Homeland Security as well as the DNI and the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff will participate.
The Executive Order directs the Secretary of State to seek international cooperation aimed at achieving the transfers of detainees.
The Order directs the Secretary of Defense to halt military commission proceedings pending the results of the review.
Finally, the Executive Order requires that conditions of confinement at Guantanamo, until its closure, comply with Common Article 3 of the Geneva Conventions and all other applicable laws.
Executive Order regarding Detainee Policy
Executive Order creates a Special Task Force, co-chaired by the Attorney General and the Secretary of Defense, to conduct a review of detainee policy going forward. The group will consider policy options for apprehension, detention, trial, transfer, or release of detainees. Other Task Force participants include the Secretary of State, the Secretary of Homeland Security, the Director of National Intelligence, the Director of the Central Intelligence Agency, and the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. The Special Task Force must submit its report to the President within 180 days.
Executive Order regarding Interrogation
Executive Order revokes Executive Order 13440 that interpreted Common Article 3 of the Geneva Conventions. It requires that all interrogations of detainees in armed conflict, by any government agency, follow the Army Field Manual interrogation guidelines. The Order also prohibits reliance on any Department of Justice or other legal advice concerning interrogation that was issued between September 11, 2001 and January 20, 2009.
The Order requires all departments and agencies to provide the ICRC access to detainees in a manner consistent with Department of Defense regulations and practice. It also orders the CIA to close all existing detention facilities and prohibits it from operating detention facilities in the future.
Finally, the Order creates a Special Task Force with two missions. The Task Force will conduct a review of the Army Field Manual interrogation guidelines to determine whether different or additional guidance is necessary for the CIA. It will also look at rendition and other policies for transferring individuals to third countries to be sure that our policies and practices comply with all obligations and are sufficient to ensure that individuals do not face torture and cruel treatment if transferred. This Task Force will be led by the Attorney General with the Secretary of Defense and the Director of National Intelligence as co-Vice Chairs.
Presidential Memorandum on Review of the Detention of al-Marri
The President instructed the Attorney General, the Secretaries of Defense, State, and Homeland Security, and the Director of National Intelligence to conduct a review of the status of the detainee Ali Saleh Kahlah al-Marri who is currently held at the Naval Brig in Charleston, South Carolina. This will ensure the same kind of legal and factual review is undertaken of the al-Marri case that is being undertaken of the Guantanamo cases.
Whaddaya think about that?
Great news!
The next step is for him to close the door on the idea that, specifically for the CIA, the White House might be open to allowing the use of methods other than the 19 techniques allowed for the military.
The final stake has not definitively been driven through the heart of the monsters called torture and indefinite imprisonment. But we are one step closer to their final welcome death.
yeah, my feeling is that the Army Manual is perfectly good and applicable to all cases. And if there is to be any exceptions, those exceptions should remain, strictly-speaking, illegal and subject to prosecution at the discretion of the Justice Department.
I think that’s the obvious solution to the fake dilemma. If there really is a time when illegal interrogation can prevent a real and immediate disaster, let the interrogators go out of bounds and risk the personal consequences. If the threat is seen as real and immediate, there will be no prosecution. Seems to me this strikes a nice balance between urgent need and abuse.
I’m not persuaded that torture is ever justified or useful, but if it is ever used, let those who authorized it make their case with the prosecutors and the courts.
Exactly.
I don’t like this part:
I think I understand why it’s there, but the military commissions are a sham. Anything less than the process we used to try the Nazis should be rejected.
I know the bind they’re in – the Bush Admin has made a clusterfuck of this whole thing. But if we can’t deal with these guys without using kangaroo courts we can’t deal with them.
I should add – overall this looks really, really damn good. Much better than I’d hoped for within the first 30 days, actually. I think that makes the wiggle room they’ve left themselves stand out more.
But overall I’m happy with this direction. I hope they keep it up.
At last, it’s really happening.
The al-Marri case is critical. IMHO, this case was intended to become the wedge through which domestic right to habeas corpus could be reduced/defeated. Not sure why else he was kept stateside under such terrible conditions and in such an ill defined legal state.
I’m wondering if the administration is using its soft power to get 3rd countries to take some of these prisoners so the administration doesn’t have to resort to the military commissions (that it insists is still an option).
I also wonder how many prisoners are getting free (gps) sandals on the way out the door.
Seems like there will be an inevitable crisis down the road when it becomes clear that high-profile prisoners will either have to walk free or continue to be illegally detained (or possibly summarily executed). This measure seems to be a mechanism to clear the system of most of the prisoners (many of whom are entirely innocent) and delay the day of reckoning for at least a year on the high-level “detainees”.
But, hey, that’s great we’re clearing the system of some of our illegally held captives.
And I should add it’s much more sporting to chase these evildoers in their own lands via gps sandals than hold them in violation of law–and that way maybe we can make sure they actually were evildoers (if we haven’t made them that way).
Well, yeah. That’s the clusterfuck that the Bush administration set up. By doing what they did they created a situation where the decision had to be made to either let people we have a strong suspicion of being murderers go free, or keep them in prison indefinitely without any chance at a trial. If we let them go free we run the risk that they’ll kill again and it will be on the head of whoever let them go. If we keep them in prison indefinitely without trial we shit upon the ideals that this country was founded on and might as well start printing up toilet paper with the Constitution printed on it.
And the administration compounded it by torturing prisoners – both those who have a high likelihood of probable guilt and those who were totally innocent. Cue more orders from the toilet paper factory.
Bush chose to order boxes and boxes of toilet paper. And now he’s gone and the incoming administration really only has two options – keep ordering more toilet paper or give some kind of fair trial and take the chance that dangerous criminals are going to walk because of the former Idiot in Chief. So far it looks like Obama doesn’t want to be ordering any more toilet paper. We’ll see a year from now if he ends up making the hard decision or just buys more stock in Charmin.
Am I do understand that it is ok to punish the innocent lest the guilty go free? Why this is turning the Constitution upside down. I for one vote for our sacred document and the values that it protects and preserves