The repugicans are finally making their opposition to Obama’s policies on
Gitmo and civilian trials very public, after the President decided to
arraign Sulaiman Abu Ghaith, the son-in-law of Osama bin Laden, in New
York City. He was extradited on Thursday.
A civilian trial? The repugicans are not pleased.
Naturally, John McCain led the repugican charge against the
President’s policy, claiming in a statement that the American people
don’t want terror suspects brought here for trial, “The American people
and their representatives in Congress have been clear that they do not
want foreign members of al Qaeda brought to the United States. The Obama
administration’s decision to try Abu Ghaith in a New York district
court clearly contravenes the will of the American people. This decision
by the Obama administration will not go unchallenged.”
Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (r-KY) made clear the repugican support for Gitmo in a statement, “What has not changed since
the issuance of the president’s executive orders is that terrorists
working to attack the United States are enemy combatants, and if
captured should be placed in military custody where they can be
interrogated. The decision of the president to import Sulaiman Abu
Ghaith into the United States solely for civilian prosecution makes
little sense, and reveals, yet again, a stubborn refusal to avoid
holding additional terrorists at the secure facility at Guantanamo Bay
despite the circumstances.”
It’s as if repugicans don’t believe in our judicial system. If
that’s so, then perhaps they ought to set about fixing that much larger
problem. Also, had they actually managed to capture Osama bin Laden
using torture, they might have a leg to stand on – but as it is, they
did not keep us safe, they did not capture bin Laden, and they were
wrong about torture.
It’s beyond frustrating that Americans elected President Obama twice,
in part due to his approach to our foreign policy and national
security, and yet they are getting shrubish/repugican policies on Gitmo
and military tribunals shoved down their throats because repugicans refuse to fund Obama’s executive order.
Contrary to what you may have read for the last four years, President
Obama really did sign an executive order to close Guantanamo Bay, Cuba
(aka, Gitmo) and bring terror suspects to the continental US for
civilian trials instead of military tribunals, per his understanding of
our Constitution.
On January 22, 2009, as one of his first official acts in office,
Barack Obama signed an executive order to close Gitmo within one year.
On that day Obama said, “This is me following through on not just a
commitment I made during the campaign, but I think an understanding that
dates back to our founding fathers, that we are willing to observe core
standards of conduct, not just when it’s easy, but also when it’s
hard.”
That hasn’t happened, due to repugicans who managed to obstruct the President’s executive
order.
While repugicans are opposed because they tend to support the repugican ideology/fear tactics that led to Gitmo and military
tribunals, there is also the issue that representatives don’t want
terror suspects in their home states because they don’t want the
political liability. It’s called cowardice.
They make this clear every year when the Senate Armed Services
Committee drafts the NDAA, and the neo con war hawks make sure they
specifically prohibit the funding of the transfer of prisoners to US
soil, thereby nullifying Obama’s executive order by defunding it.
The President has made clear his objections to their actions, most notably in his signing statement clarifying how he instructed his administration to carry out the NDAA (emphasis mine):
In the second paragraph of his NDAA signing statement,
Obama stated, “The fact that I support this bill as a whole does not
mean I agree with everything in it. In particular, I have signed
this bill despite having serious reservations with certain provisions
that regulate the detention, interrogation, and prosecution of suspected
terrorists. Over the last several years, my Administration has
developed an effective, sustainable framework for the detention,
interrogation and trial of suspected terrorists that allows us to
maximize both our ability to collect intelligence and to incapacitate
dangerous individuals in rapidly developing situations, and the results
we have achieved are undeniable. Our success against al-Qa’ida and its
affiliates and adherents has derived in significant measure from
providing our counterterrorism professionals with the clarity and
flexibility they need to adapt to changing circumstances and to utilize
whichever authorities best protect the American people, and our
accomplishments have respected the values that make our country an
example for the world.”
This has all gone on under the radar as the public chased other less than savory aspects within the yearly NDAA.
For years, progressives have blamed Obama for the repugican
obstruction, which was easy to miss as it was buried in the fine print
of bills. However, here it is, out in the light of day and yes, it’s
just as you suspected. The party of torture has deliberately obstructed
the President’s executive order carrying out repugican fear based policies.
The President did sign an executive order to close Gitmo and it has been carefully obstructed by Congress every year since. The President is taking a stand now
(another perk of not having to run for office again; second term
revelations of character), which is forcing repugicans to come out of
the closet and publicly defend their love for Gitmo and military
tribunals.
The repugicans are objecting to the President’s policy of civilian
trials because they see it as another way to obstruct the President from
carrying through on a promise he made, and also because they still
believe in their vision of national defense in spite of its lack of
effectiveness: Torture, military tribunals over civilian trials, and a
general atmosphere of fear, instead of considering our higher
obligations to justice.
The repugicans fell down on upholding our values when they lied about
weapons of mass destruction, and they continue down that same failed
path to this day.
What
do you lay awake at night worrying about? Are your worries different than
those far smarter than you? Perhaps.
Barry
Watson has been many things: teacher, bus driver, financial advisor ...
but in a small village in India, he's royalty.
We
all know it: women are a minority among scientists. Journalists love to
write about them, but stories of women scientists tend to focus on the
fact that they are women to the detriment of the actual science they are
doing. Media profiles often put female scientists on a pedestal, as in
"OMG, she's juggling her research career with raising kids!"
In
the ongoing search to find a cure for HIV/AIDS, scientists believe they
have come up with a groundbreaking new procedure to help stop the
spread of the global pandemic.
