Bush Administration Developing Plan To Empty Guantanamo Bay

Washington Post :

The Bush administration is developing a long-range plan to empty the Guantanamo Bay military prison that could include asking Congress to spell out procedures for scores of suspected terrorists whom the government does not plan to bring to trial, administration officials and others familiar with high-level White House discussions on the issue said yesterday.

Under one scenario being considered by President Bush's Cabinet, about 80 detainees would remain at the facility in Cuba to be tried by military commissions, and about 65 others would be turned over to their native countries, according to several sources familiar with the talks, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the issue.

Read the whole story: Washington Post

Comments

[batguano]

Some posters have shown astonishing ignorance about the GITMO prisoners, who they are, how they have been treated. If we are to understand who the criminals are and who the victims, we should read about just who the GITMO prisoners are and what has been their treatment, before making ignorant statements........start with the blogs of Andy Worthington, who has been the voice of conscience on Huffpo for GITMO justice.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/andy-worthington/military-judge-dashes-hop_b_77957.html
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/andy-worthington/who-are-the-ten-saudis-ju_b_80458.html
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/jonathan-hafetz/the-coverup-continues_b_43588.html
http://www.theage.com.au/news/national/a-trial-that-was-uncomfortably-close-to-stalinist-theatre/2007/03/31/1174761817919.html
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/h-candace-gorman-/i-promise-not-to-talk-ab_b_44695.html

[gorgol]

But, but, Bush is a born again Christian. He disregarded hiring laws to put evangelical Christians in his administration....he fired judges to replace them with Jesus loving Born Again Christians....and all this poor man wants to do now..is insure these prisoners are given a fair a just trial...and those that are known to be innocent..he wants to free....How else would a "Jesus is my Hero", "God talks to me", Christian behave?? HMMM??...Oh, the suffering of that man as he tries to do the right thing..and bring democracy to other countries...
Now...PUT HIM IN PRISON..AND THROW AWAY THE KEY..SOLITARY...NO TRIAL...JUST DO IT..
AND PUT HIS HENCHMEN IN THE SAME PLACE...DO IT FOR ALL THOSE THAT ARE DEAD BECAUSE OF THIS RUTHLESS SOCIOPATH..

[MagisterLudi]

But, but, Obama is a born again Christian

[RTIII]

What the article says, when boiled down to its essence, is that we have 120 people that Junior has kidnapped and held prisoner illegally.

The man is evil and is blatantly anti-constitution. Impeachment is too good. Prison is necessary, if not more.

[loki]

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/05/17/world/asia/17detain.html?ref=world
Prison being built in Afghanistan

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/story/2008/04/04/ST2008040400220.html

Increase in Taliban attacks and support in Afghanistan and Pakistan.

Which means it would be harder to protect the prison where they are going to torture and maybe kill people. So they need to quell the surge of the taliban.

[loki]

Ok, is everyone blind or just stupid. Bush has been spending millions in tax payer money building the new prison in Afghanistan. More recently he has upped the troop levels there to fight back Taliban fighters who have grown in great numbers over the last 4 years. I would guess those "65 others would be turned over to their native countries," will be shipped to Afghanistan where the US justice system can never control how they are tortured, how their trials should be conducted, or what rights they have.
New lies to cover old lies, and more deception. But hey, they know most of us are dumb enough to lap this up. At least that is what I think from the information that is out there, or as they say, the chatter.

[batguano]

One thing is sure; when Bush,Cheney, Rummy, Gonzales, the depraved John Yoo, & the Neocon traitors who committed treason against our Republic, trashed our Constitution & Bill of Rights, & any notion of justice, are brought to account, they will demand all the protections of the law they so casually denied to others. The mostly innocent victims....many sold to us for bounty.... of GITMO, "extroardinary rendition", prison ships, Abu Ghraib, torture & murder under interrogation........victims of the Bush/Neocon Regime have been used as political window-dressing for 6 years & more under the most abusive conditions. We all should all stand ashamed.

First they came for the Jews
and I did not speak out
because I was not a Jew.
Then they came for the Communists
and I did not speak out
because I was not a Communist.
Then they came for the trade unionists
and I did not speak out
because I was not a trade unionist.
Then they came for me
and there was no one left
to speak out for me.

Pastor Martin Niemöller

When we deny protections of our laws to these accused "Illegal Combatants" & "terrorists".........when we deny them basic representation & a fair trial without secret Star Chamber "evidence", we walk down a fascist road. We have met the enemy, & he is us.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/andy-worthington/six-in-guantanamo-charge_b_86231.html

http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=885659

http://law.shu.edu/center_policyresearch/reports/urban_legend_final_61608.pdf

[MagisterLudi]

Pastor was speaking about German citizens.
I assure you Pastor did not intend to include Soviet soldier prisoners in this paradigm.
P.S. Don't argue, I know more about it than you do.

[batguano]

I wouldn't presume to argue with one of your astute understanding and knowledge. I am sure you know more about this than I do.

Niemöller was talking about the act of remaining silent in the face of despotism and tyranny and about the eventual loss to our own freedom for that failure. The fact remains that when we allow a class of people........"German citizens", "terrorists", "military age men in A-Stan", or any other, to be imprisoned under secret or "classified" evidence, sold for bounty, tortured to confess, or have no effective representation and are proclaimed guilty by their jailers and the rulers propaganda, we begin yet another decent into Fascism......the kind Niemöller was writing of. It is not that obtuse.

Regardless of your superior knowledge, you show an astonishing lack of empathy or respect for truth and justice for the accused. I see the numerous, well documented blatant crimes of the jailers and their bosses and wonder why.

[Destin]

I don't see anything where Soviet soldiers got mentioned in that post, wtf?? You gotta remember, Adolf was a devout anti-communist. That's why he had always intended to invade Russia even before he made that pact with them. Same with Stalin, who was never a fan of communists, since that would have meant surrending his authoritarian rule.

[Destin]

And before you Bush-bot get into the "but.... but... but...." stuff.... just remember, when the Reichstag fire happened/was staged, it was promptly blamed on the Communist Party of GERMANY. That's how Adolf managed to eventually wipe Germany clean of all political parties, except his own, imagine that. ;)

As far my comments about Stalin, consider this, the German Communist Party leaders that fled to Russia thinking they were safe, imagine that, were in turn "purged" by Stalin himself who was never gonna give up his rule to communist ideology. Check up on German Communist Party leaders like Heinz Neumann, Hermann Remmele, Fritz Schulte and Hermann Schubert, to name a few. ;)

[jmcon]

I think we should arrange to have all the Gitmo detainees transferred to live in those formaldehyde, Fema trailers we'll move and park together on the several hundred acres of land the Bush family recently purchased in Paraguay (where all failed, disgraced dictators go to rot) for the benefit of their idiot son when he's finally forced into exile, rather than be poetically imprisoned (or hanged) by the same American justice system he illegally tried to make his own. Hell was created for people like George W. Bush and Dick Cheney.

[BadCompany]

Empty.
That's an interesting new euphemism!

[Graywolf48]

Very reminiscent of how the Nazi's tried to empty and dismantle the concentration camps in the last months of the war to keep the world from discovering the depth of their crimes. The Bush regime must get rid of as much of the evidence of their war crimes as possible, since there is a good chance that not only will there be a Democratic President, but a Democratically controlled Congress next year. You can pretty much count on all of the detainees disappearing before January. America will eventually pay a very dear price for our activities at Gitmo and our rendition policies. We are actually making enemies faster than we can kill them. Enemies who I assure you have also sworn an oath "to never forget".

[batguano]

Excellent comment Greywolf....if you didn't see this piece, it is worth the read;

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2008/06/09/pentagon-told-guantanamo_n_105992.html

"The Pentagon urged interrogators at Guantanamo Bay to destroy handwritten notes in case they were called to testify about potentially harsh treatment of detainees"

"The mission has legal and political issues that may lead to interrogators being called to testify, keeping the number of documents with interrogation information to a minimum can minimize certain legal issues"

I believe our nation and the world has been done irreparable harm by the treason and crimes of the Bush/Neocon regime of liars, depraved torturers and murderers.

"when lenity and cruelty play for a kingdom, the gentler gamester is the soonest winner"

[NoSillyName]

Too bad you've made however many men are in there REALLY hate us, even if they didn't before. I'm sure they will waste no time spreading the stories of what you torturers put them through.

Way to Make Friends and Influence People!!!

fools.

[escobar]

Seems they wish to deny Obama's administration the symbolic victory of closing this torture camp by out -sourcing their horrific legacy.

[dezzertguy]

Did you hear that Sc-FI Channel is bringing Scare Tactics back? In that show, people are put in situations where they are scared. Should this show be cancelled for torture? Seems it falls in your definition. Loud noises, scary actions, dark. Check out the Sc-Fi Channel webiste. Maybe you should file a complaint with the FCC.

[escobar]

HA HA
YOU really need to turn the TV OFF
IT isn't real.

[jsinclair]

Congress should stop them from destroying evidence of their crimes.

Millions of emails deleted without protest, many of them in complete violation of the LAW that presidential documents and related materials MUST be preserved.

I would like to see Guantanamo emptied--then filled with Rove, Libby, Cheney, Rice, Bush, Gonzales, Ashcroft, Hadley, Rumsfeld and all of the neocon flunkies who've done the dirty work for and with them.

[paixa3]

You are correct about congress not letting evidence be destroyed. HOWEVER, look at the more than dismal, disgraceful performance of congress and hope for a better future. The entire congress have let the people down, with exception of a very few.

[Destin]

Look around anywhere in the world, facilities such as embassies and military bases are considered sovereign by the owning nation. An extension of their sovereignty, their soil, etc. Also their laws are considered to be in effect anytime someone is within those boundaries. Also, persons residing within the confines of these facilities, are not subject to local/national laws applicable to the host country. In effect, it's legal for the embassy in Saudi to serve alcohol to it's employees, even tho it's against the law off the embassy grounds. ;)

Now then, someone wanna explain how this affects Gitmo?? I can't believe not a single lawyer has ever questioned it. ;)

Obviously, Article 3, Section 2 has the answer. ;)

[Paul]

Exactly.

How can a federal facility be byond the reach of federal law?

[Destin]

Yep, and they have to realize, if the UCMJ (which had to be approved by Congress) is allowed to be in effect at Gitmo, then they no choice but to allow the Constitution to retain it's effect on US SOIL.

[MadJeffersonian]

Because Bush, The Decider, said so. And Congress rolled over and played dead.

[steamboat]

Keep them in Cuba. Let them walk out of the base. Let Castro feed them.

[Destin]

I got a better idea, make the US taxpayers pay for their airline tickets to be sent back to the country they were kidnapped from, oops, i mean, "found" in.

[julianne]

In order to cover their tracks and wipe the ledger of the names of the inmates and the future whereabouts of the majority of inmates confined to Gitmo - who were never guilty of anything. They'll do it in a manner so that, for "national security purposes", no one will be able to backtrack or track into the future each inmate's location on the planet. They don't want anyone else "closing" Gitmo, in order to cover-up and deflect their cold blooded, murderous, law breaking butts. Of course, the majority of our lawyer-traitors-with-a-plan-for-nothing in Congress will go along with the coverup because it will cover their butts, too. You know, the same members of Congress that allow our children to rot in labor camps on pot charges. There are no words to describe all these scum.

[Destin]

Good post and I agree.