Obama: Gitmo Not Likely To Close In First 100 Days (VIDEO)

In an interview with George Stephanopoulos on ABC's "This Week," President-elect Barack Obama said that he was committed to closing the prison at Guantanamo Bay but was not sure it would be possible to do so in his first hundred days.

"I don't want to be ambiguous about this. We are going to close Guantanamo and we are going to make sure that the procedures we set up are ones that abide by our Constitution," Obama said. "That is not only the right thing to do but it actually has to be part of our broader national security strategy because we will send a message to the world that we are serious about our values."

However, Obama explained, "it is more difficult than I think a lot of people realize." "Part of the challenge that you have is that you have a bunch of folks that have been detained, many of whom may be very dangerous who have not been put on trial or have not gone through some adjudication. And some of the evidence against them may be tainted even though it's true. And so how to balance creating a process that adheres to rule of law, habeas corpus, basic principles of Anglo-American legal system, by doing it in a way that doesn't result in releasing people who are intent on blowing us up."

Watch:

The full exchange:

STEPHANOPOULOS: You also agreed on Guantanamo when you say you want to shut it down. You say you're still going to shut it down. Is it turning out to be harder than you expected, will you get that done in the first 100 days?

OBAMA: It is more difficult than I think a lot of people realize and we are going to get it done but part of the challenge that you have is that you have a bunch of folks that have been detained, many of whom who may be very dangerous who have not been put on trial or have not gone through some adjudication. And some of the evidence against them may be tainted even though it's true. And so how to balance creating a process that adheres to rule of law, habeas corpus, basic principles of Anglo American legal system, by doing it in a way that doesn't result in releasing people who are intent on blowing us up.

STEPHANOPOULOS: So not necessarily first 100 days.

OBAMA: That's a challenge. I think it's going to take some time and our legal teams are working in consultation with our national security apparatus as we speak to help design exactly what we need to do. But I don't want to be ambiguous about this. We are going to close Guantanamo and we are going to make sure that the procedures we set up are ones that abide by our constitution. That is not only the right thing to do but it actually has to be part of our broader national security strategy because we will send a message to the world that we are serious about our values.

Comments

[TJCole]

Did I say change...?

Actually it's all a matter of what your definition of change is, is..

[Shadow08]

No, change means change. You just don't know it when you see. For example. Methodical leadership as the constitution provides compared to knee jerk, presidendial signing statements meant to subvert the constitution and by-pass congress. That's change. If your not smart enough to recognize it that's your own curse.

[CranialRectalLoopback]

Say hello to the new boss, same as the old boss.

[BarackstarObama]

Nonsense, knock it off.

[AliMB]

in terms of how to proceed in guantanmo, they are pretty much the same... the president (and the republican candidate in 2008 mccain) argued that the GTMO detention center needed to be closed but in an orderly manner (hence the 100 days comment)... i think if bush had a third term in office, he would probably do the same.

[Shadow08]

So, you repeat a tired old line and feel you have revealed something new? How childish.

[dagdavid]

Try to get it done in as close to 100 days as possible before it becomes just another forgotten issue.

[Shadow08]

Every humanitarian eye on the planet is watching, it will not be forgotten.

[williamina]

wasting time

[Grellet]

Something that Obama could do right now, something that is a real no-brainer, is mandate that the 30 desperate prisoners who are on a hunger strike not be force-fed. Force feeding is against international human rights standards. See:

http://www.mcclatchydc.com/homepage/story/59284.html

But perhaps Obama might ask himself why those prisoners are despairing instead of worrying about how to make himself not look too soft on terror by creating some new form of court trial that admits evidence obtained by torture...

Why is it always a matter of what's "difficult" for US? Why is it always about saving AMERICAN lives? Why is our first thought never about saving the innocent prisoners --most of the 250 or so at Guantánamo are not charged with ANYTHING. Many were "cleared for release" years ago by the military tribunals yet are still rotting away there. Seven years in that hell hole (that Rumsfeld called a "tropical resort". Maybe he'll spend his next vacation there...)

We need to think of others before ourselves ...just once in a while.

[ayc]

the bush administration was great at starting things; not so clear on how to end them. Clueless as to legal issues, and impact.

[MissKaren]

I don't think that 100 days are enough to (a) find out what is doing at Gitmo, (b) set up a structure whereby prisoners can be moved to the US and confined there until their cases are disposed of (c) arrange for lawyers and judges to be recruited that are free of taint (d) set up trials for those who are not going to be set free and returned where possible to their home countries (e) find homes for those who can't because they are going to be in danger if they go back and (f) make sure that this never happens again. I think it can be STARTED in the first 100 days but I would not be horrified if the procedure was underway but not yet completed.

[HappyHank]

ROFLMAO...Obama is absolutely clueless as to what to do. Is there anything he hasn't backtracked, hedged, flip-flopped, or flat-out lied about?

[mcantwell]

Quote: "We are going to close Guantanamo and we are going to make sure that the procedures we set up are ones that abide by our Constitution," Obama said.

The article and video state it very clearly.

[Shadow08]

...you call someone like Barcack Obama clueless? Here's tip, people are ROTFL, only at you.

[Ergon]

Keep it open, waterboard Cheney

[pitbull53]

Maybe we can get him to reveal what really went on during his energy task force meetings; no doubt they were just working out a "fair and equatible" way to divide the spoils of the Iraq conquest already in the pipeline.

[OliverTwist]

"And so how to balance creating a process that adheres to rule of law, habeas corpus, basic principles of Anglo-American legal system, by doing it in a way that doesn't result in releasing people who are intent on blowing us up."

It simply isn't possible. Obama is smart enough to know that.

The idea of preemptive legal consequences for people who are judged on some extra-legal basis to have bad intent in the absence of evidence even of the easily proven crime of conspiracy is what got us doing the monstrous things we have been doing.

The fact is we need to accept some risk of releasing some people with bad intentions in exchange for the benefits of releasing people who haven't done anything wrong.

[MissKaren]

The people who bombed the World Trade Center in 1993 were tried in open court with lawyers and in front of a jury of 12 people. They are now spending the rest of their lives in Florence, CO in Administrative Max. It can be done according to our laws.

[SinisterK9]

There is a slight difference in realistic expectations when you are talking about trying a "few" people who came onto American soil, versus a great many people who are yanked out of another country during a time of war, and all the sudden we give them American rights. The sheer number of suspects, plus the ones we collect daily while at war create a logistical and procedural nightmare.

Then there is the question of what to do with those who are released. Like Obama says, some of them may be guilty, but according to the way the evidence was collected it may be thrown out in an American court. If their country of origin will not accept them back, we might have to release them on our own population. Many things to consider here.

[ccclj]

So we should wait until after they commit the terrorism so we will have the evidence to convict in open court? Wake up!

[Indie2008]

Expectations are so high! I hope the American people will be realistic and give him time.

[Takae]

Yes, it's rather sad to see how many forget that having something done in haste almost always results with a lasting regret. Example? Bush's 'Get 'em, Cowboys!'-style Iraq invasion.

Obama has always been cautious, so it makes sense that he'd be cautious in this case.

[Shadow08]

We are. What you see here are people who are either not grounded in reality or sore loser republicans. Obama's popularity is sky high.

[gbrooks]

You know what else says that we are serious about our values? Prosecuting Bush/Cheney et al for war crimes, for misleading the American people and for war profiteering.

[AliMB]

check out the main thread and its pretty obvious that the outgoing administration isn't going to be prosecuted for anything... as for the "war profiteering" claim, that is most likely a myth or heavily exaggerated (if you are talking about the President and the VP)

[gbrooks]

It's not exaggerated. You do know that Cheney bought land in Dubai for his businesses, don't you?

He ran Halliburton. He profits off of the incarcerated in Texas. I could go on.

[AliMB]

First of all, to be accurate no one is talking about "closing Guantanamo" because what is being refered to is the T e r r o r i s t detention center, not closing the base and handing it back over to Cuba. Second, while admittingly a sore-eye for the US vis-a-vis its international public image, i think another principle reason is that the detention center has outlived its usefulness; i think US intelligence has pretty muched gotten everything out of the detainees that they possibly can, and after several court rulings (particularly Boumediene vs. Bush) it is clear that the US has to transition those detainees off the island. Right now Obama is going to focus on where to send these detainees and what procedures to set up, but i think in the end if it was President Bush in office i.e. a third term the GTMO detention center would likewise be closed.

[JulieSA]

Yes. Both Bush and McCain have said they wanted to close it, as have Secretary Gates, and General Petraeus. The only problem is HOW to do it., and it's not simple.

[AliMB]

i agree

[colibri1]

Because it'll take longer than 100 days to fly all the prisoners to other US torture centers, like the ones in Afghanistan or the ones on US military bases or the ones on Diego Garcia and other remote islands. That is what the US will do, y'know, rendering the closing of Guantanamo completely meaningless.

[LeftLeaner]

The follow-up question should have been, Will Gitmo close during your 1st term?

[bodo]

So long as millions of Americans are unemployed, Americans must be the first priority of the President. The poor terrorists in Gitmo will just have to await their turn.

[MsFeminist]

Its' been established that some Gitmo prisoners were innocent .

Gitmo prisoners have nada to do with our unemployment.

In Texas, state employment offices mandated to help folks get jobs are playing with two faces.

They require applicants use computers to apply for/search the data base for jobs. . Many applicants walk out BECAUSE THEY ARE NOT COMPUTER LITERATE, ARE HORRIBLY HUMILIATED, AND FEAR PUBLIC EMBARRESSMENT.

Front counter folks are taught to hold job referrals back from folks if they don't SPECIFICALLY MATCH DOWN TO THE SMALLEST DETAIL employers' listed requirements. So it's up to the sometimes intimidated clerk to decide on the spot which applicants get precious job referrals. "No" is easeir than "yes."

"Please, send me on anything. I have four kids. I'll take anything. It's
standing on my feet for eight hours a day cutting up frozen chickens? I don't care. I'll do anything."

"It's in a foundry where I have to stand on my feet for twelve hour shifts in heat hotter than hades.. I dont' care; I'm young. I can take it. Please send me . "

I heard these words said. I saw the first man's tears. I saw the thick callouses on his hands.

On Jan 20th, Obama gets sworn in; we voted him in. Now we need to push for what we voted for. Stephanopolous missed the right question: "Will Gitmo be closed during your first term? "
If not, we've been hustled again.

[naijaman]

Wow....some of my fellow Americans are really reactionaries! How many of you attacking Obama even bothered to WATCH the clip? He clearly says he will close Gitmo, just not in the first 100 days because unlike BLOGGING, it's a complicated mess that needs to be done in a proper and legal manner. Some of you are acting as if Obama said he wouldn't close Gitmo...what is the matter with you people? I guess the next thing will be to attack Obama for not pulling all our troops out of Iraq within the first 100 days? Are you people serious?

Ugh...

[rmetz74]

Thank you.

This 'first 100 days' is a meaningless, arbitrary measuring stick. In an article about all the of the possible priorities Americans want him to focus on, I suspect economic recovery would be the overwhelming favorite, not GITMO. And even if it were our #1 priority, as Obama says, it's too complicated to rush. Thank god we finally have a President who understands that concept.

The outgoing president spent his administration neglecting domestic needs in favor of international policy, we certainly don't want - and would be foolish to expect - more of the same from Obama.

[mcantwell]

I agree.

[hapiday]

"Watch Rachel Maddow show she has been saying how Bush is tying Obama's hands in the last few weeks and no one has been paying attention to it. She is the only one".

Yes, Carol I saw that show. Rachael does bring different information than the other news shows. People can no longer see Bush because they are so focused on PE Obama's every move. This is not an coincidence, but by design. The right has been demoralized by the Bush administration and the state this country has been left in. At this point all they have left is to take the attention off of Bush and focus on finding fault with PE Obama. The shame the right is feeling is deep, real deep! They are going to keep attack.ing so people won't see their shame. SORRY TOO LATE, THE WORLD SEES IT!