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Obama is using the only avenues that Congress has left open to him.
I think the handling of Sulaiman Abu Ghaith demonstrates the Obama Administration's preferred method of handling newly captured individuals. Many in Congress are complaining that Obama didn't send him to Guantanamo.
Has Obama actually sent anyone to Guantanamo? I don't believe he has.
By his own power, he could take significant steps to close the prison, or he could issue a so-called signing statement that supersedes the law preventing federal money from being used to transfer prisoners.
Zachary Katznelson, a senior attorney at the American Civil Liberties Union, said Obama can release 87 Guantanamo prisoners who have been cleared, and start proceedings for trials for the other 169 detainees.
"President Obama has enough control and power that he can get these men out today if he has the political will to do so," Katznelson said. "It is a political decision."
Someone should remind Obama that he promised to close Guantanamo - Oh, like he cares!
Quote:
Originally Posted by Kramercat
In frustrated response to inaction by the Obama administration and a harsh February shakedown of cells, the hunger strike at Guantanamo is spreading, with as many as 100 of 166 prisoners refusing food for the last month.
Red Cross workers arrived this week ahead of schedule to check on strikers, force feedings are on the rise, fainting spells are common - though dismissed as fake by prison officials - and many say an inmate death is inevitable.
By his own power, he could take significant steps to close the prison, or he could issue a so-called signing statement that supersedes the law preventing federal money from being used to transfer prisoners.
Zachary Katznelson, a senior attorney at the American Civil Liberties Union, said Obama can release 87 Guantanamo prisoners who have been cleared, and start proceedings for trials for the other 169 detainees.
"President Obama has enough control and power that he can get these men out today if he has the political will to do so," Katznelson said. "It is a political decision."
Obama has been issuing signing statements. They don't negate Congressional power.
Today I have signed into law H.R. 4310, the "National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2013." I have approved this annual defense authorization legislation, as I have in previous years, because it authorizes essential support for service members and their families, renews vital national security programs, and helps ensure that the United States will continue to have the strongest military in the world.
...
Our Constitution does not afford the President the opportunity to approve or reject statutory sections one by one. I am empowered either to sign the bill, or reject it, as a whole. In this case, though I continue to oppose certain sections of the Act, the need to renew critical defense authorities and funding was too great to ignore.
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Sections 1022, 1027 and 1028 continue unwise funding restrictions that curtail options available to the executive branch. Section 1027 renews the bar against using appropriated funds for fiscal year 2012 to transfer Guantanamo detainees into the United States for any purpose. I continue to oppose this provision, which substitutes the Congress's blanket political determination for careful and fact-based determinations, made by counterterrorism and law enforcement professionals, of when and where to prosecute Guantanamo detainees. For decades, Republican and Democratic administrations have successfully prosecuted hundreds of terrorists in Federal court. Those prosecutions are a legitimate, effective, and powerful tool in our efforts to protect the Nation, and in certain cases may be the only legally available process for trying detainees. Removing that tool from the executive branch undermines our national security. Moreover, this provision would, under certain circumstances, violate constitutional separation of powers principles.
The first blow to Ali’s release came in early January when President Obama signed the 2013 National Defense Authorization Act, which contained a number of provisions to prevent the closure of Guantánamo, including language that has made it virtually impossible for cleared detainees like Ali to be transferred. The president was urged by human rights organizations to follow through on his veto threat so as to fulfill his promise to close the prison. But for the second year in a row, Obama failed to exercise his veto and instead signed the bill into law.
Congress needs to be convinced to stop adding support for Guantanamo to critical bills.
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Someone should remind Obama that he promised to close Guantanamo - Oh, like he cares!
