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Wednesday, January 21, 2009

Obama Requests Suspension of Military Commissions

OK, THIS, I have a problem with. 

Hours after taking office on Tuesday, U.S. President Barack Obama ordered military prosecutors in the Guantanamo war crimes tribunals to ask for a 120-day halt in all pending cases.

Military judges were expected to rule on the request on Wednesday at the U.S. naval base in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, an official involved in the trials said.

The request would halt proceedings in 21 pending cases, including the death penalty case against five Guantanamo prisoners accused of plotting the September 11 hijacked plane attacks that killed nearly 3,000 people.

Prosecutors said in their written request that the halt was “in the interests of justice.”

The previous administration went down this path with a Democrat Congress and a judiciary that had all of the checks and balances available to challenge it.  Obama should adhere to the agreed upon process with the consent of Congress and the Judiciary and let justice proceed.

(4) Comments
Posted by Owen at 0105 hrs
Foreign Affairs + Military + Politics + Politics - General

  1. The previous administration went down this path with a Democrat [sic] Congress and a judiciary that had all of the checks and balances available to challenge it.

    Wrong on two counts:  The Military Commissions Act was passed by the still-Republican Congress in 2006, and it was ruled unconstitutional by SCOTUS in Boumediene v. Bush.

    Posted by folkbum on January 21, 2009 at 0657 hrs


  2. Obama should adhere to the agreed upon process with the consent of Congress and the Judiciary and let justice proceed.

    The whole point of suspending the military tribunals is the belief of the incoming administration that justice was playing no part in the proceedings. My understanding is that when President Obama speaks of closing down Guantanamo, he means the whole sorry mess, including the unconstitutional military tribunal process.

    Posted by .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) on January 21, 2009 at 0925 hrs


  3. He is fixing the mess of a process that several courts have ruled against.  Why not put a temporary hold on moving forward until the new process is put into place?  All of these people are going to be brought to justice.

    Posted by .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) on January 21, 2009 at 1107 hrs


  4. There is a new concept that conservatives will need to understand now that President Obama is in the White House.

    It really is quite simple.

    The act of defiance to both American and international law will no longer be tolerated under the new administration in Washington.

    I think that after Obama quite clearly stated in front of George Bush yesterday that the policies of the past 8 years have led to failure made it quite clear.

    He did not look pleased to hear this.

    And it seems that some conservative bloggers do not yet understand either.

    But America is going to be taken back from those who dragged us down.

    The international community finds that Gitmo a source of disgust.  It is a tool that we have given to our enemies to use against us.  It is time for the whole mess to be cleaned up.

    And the first part was to stop the cases from moving forward until the new administration can look at them with objectivity, and a law book.

    Now that is change!

    Posted by .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) on January 21, 2009 at 1816 hrs


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