Obama Resumes Military Tribunals for Detainees
But…but…but… I thought Bush was eeeeeevil and stuuuuuuuuuuupid?
What about CHANGE?
Obama will continue the military tibunal system for Gitmo detainees. This was a point of contention for Obama and part of the Bush administration that he brought up and campaigned against last year. However, Obama has flip-flopped (yet again) and will be resuming these activities.
President Obama is planning on Friday to resume the Bush administration’s controversial military commission system for some Guantanamo detainees — which he suspended in his first week in office — according to three administration officials.
Some of the high-profile terror suspects who are being charged in the military commission process include Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, the self-confessed mastermind of the 9/11 attacks.
The administration officials stressed that the updated system will include expanded due-process rights for the suspects, which administration officials note is consistent with what Obama pushed for as a senator in 2006 in order to improve upon the widely criticized approach created by the Bush administration.
The move could increase tensions with liberal groups, led by the ACLU, which are already furious about Obama’s shift this week to block the release of photos showing prisoners allegedly being abused by U.S. personnel in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Anthony Romero, executive director of the ACLU, called the expected new approach on military commissions “fatally flawed” despite the changes.
“The military commissions are built on unconstitutional premises and designed to ensure convictions, not provide fair trials,” Romero said in a prepared statement released earlier this week after speculation about the restart of military commissions surfaced. “Reducing some but not all of the flaws of the tribunals so that they are ‘less offensive’ is not acceptable; there is no such thing as ‘due process light.’ ”
Two of the administration officials said the president will also leave open the option of starting civilian trials on U.S. soil for some of the detainees. But that, too, is a fiercely debated issue on Capitol Hill because of concerns by lawmakers in both parties about where the terror suspects will be kept during such trials.
BWAHAHAHA!
