Obama’s 250 Tough Calls: What will he do

[CrimsonWhite]

Interesting read.

He should not be stampeded into appeasing his global constituencies on Guantánamo Bay.

What should Barack Obama do with the 250 men who are still locked up in the Guantánamo Bay prison camp? Of the many problems the new president will face, this is one of the most difficult, and one he must get right. Along with it, he must answer equally tough questions about how his administration will deal with suspected terrorists in the future: Where will they be held and what legal rights will they have? Which interrogation methods will President Obama allow—and which will he forbid?

He made some of the answers to these questions clear in his campaign promises, and he would be wise to announce his intentions on or before Inauguration Day. Obama should and probably will renounce all brutal interrogation methods, not just those that the Bush administration defines as torture. He should and probably will discontinue or overhaul the widely derided and largely failed system of "military commissions" that President Bush created in 2001 to try suspected terrorists for war crimes. And he should and probably will announce a detailed plan to close Guantánamo, possibly within a year.

In my view, that plan should include promptly appointing a bipartisan, blue-ribbon commission to evaluate the prisoners. The commission's mandate should include an exhaustive study of each prisoner: how he has been treated at Gitmo; whether there is enough admissible evidence to prosecute him in a federal court or by a regular military court-martial; whether he appears to be dangerous; whether to release or continue detaining those who do appear to be dangerous but cannot be tried; and whether to pay compensation to some or all of those who have been wrongly detained. The commission's proceedings and final report should be public, except to allow for the protection of intelligence sources and methods. Those who are found not to be dangerous should be released or transferred to other countries. As soon as possible, Obama should move the remaining detainees to prisons inside the United States to erase Guantánamo's ugly symbolic stain on America's image.

Obama's Tough Call on Torture | Newsweek Politics | Newsweek.com

 

[matty]

No pressure, though, right?

 

[jillian]

Interesting read.

It is interesting. On one hand, he has to do something to restore human rights to people who were denied habeas corpus.

On the other hand, if a single (now radicalized and angry) prisoner from Gitmo gets released and even smells like he had something to do with a terrorist act, that will be the new Willie Horton and it is all we will see in the 2012 eleciton.

 

[CrimsonWhite]

It is interesting. On one hand, he has to do something to restore human rights to people who were denied habeas corpus.

On the other hand, if a single (now radicalized and angry) prisoner from Gitmo gets released and even smells like he had something to do with a terrorist act, that will be the new Willie Horton and it is all we will see in the 2012 eleciton.

Yep, Catch 22. Its a hell of a catch.

 

[dilloduck]

Yep, Catch 22. Its a hell of a catch.

No sweat---he's more than qualified to handle anything.