Nov 26th, 2008
Posted by Glenn Greenwald at 3:23pm	National Security

The Obama Administration, Guantánamo, and Restoring America’s Standing

Last week, Barack Obama was interviewed by Steve Kroft of 60 Minutes and the following exchange occurred:

Kroft: There are a number of different things that you could do early pertaining to executive orders. One of them is to shutdown Guantanamo Bay. Another is to change interrogation methods that are used by U.S. troops. Are those things that you plan to take early action on?

Obama: Yes. I have said repeatedly that I intend to close Guantanamo, and I will follow through on that. I have said repeatedly that America doesn’t torture. And I’m gonna make sure that we don’t torture. Those are part and parcel of an effort to regain America’s moral stature in the world.

Obama’s statement was widely celebrated as evidence that he intends to act swiftly and decisively to end the Bush administration’s most controversial detention and interrogation policies. But that reaction overstates the meaning and importance of what Obama actually said.

Obama’s response to the question that was asked was perfectly satisfactory as far as it went. He was asked whether he intends to close Guantanamo and “change interrogation methods” and he answered “yes” to both. It would have been rather shocking if he had answered any other way. Could one even imagine Obama proclaiming that he intends to leave Guantanamo open or that he intends to leave unchanged Bush’s interrogation programs?

But his answers, adequate though they may be, actually tell us relatively little about how Obama intends to address the most vexing and important questions in these areas. The intention to close Guantanamo and to ban torture are not policies; they are mere generalities, concepts, aspirations. Even George Bush paid lip service to both goals: “I would like to close the camp and put the prisoners on trial," Bush said. "We do not torture," Mr. Bush told reporters.

Obama’s 60 Minutes statement leaves unresolved many of the overarching questions about the policy changes he will mandate in order to reverse the most extreme Bush abuses, including:

• Will he quickly order Guantanamo closed by Executive Order or merely implement an incremental policy designed ultimately to culminate in the closing of Guantanamo — months or even years from now — once all detainees there are tried and/or released?


• Will he abolish the military commissions established by the Bush administration and ensure that all Guantanamo detainees are entitled to full due process in American federal courts or proceedings governed by the Uniform Code of Military Justice?


• Will he take the advice of people such as Brookings Institutions’ Benjamin Wittes and The Washington Post Editorial Page and create a wholly new, separate court for detainees with severely limited due process safeguards, or will he order that they receive the full panoply of due process rights?


• When Obama says that he will make sure that “we don’t torture,” how will “torture” be defined? Will all of the Bush OLC memos re-defining “torture” be withdrawn? Will Obama issue an Executive Order and/or continue to support a law compelling all agencies — including the CIA — to adhere to the interrogation guidelines set forth in the Army Field Manual?

Obama has previously signaled that he would take aggressive and positive action in all of these areas, though there are also some conflicting signs that create some uncertainty. As but one example, earlier this year, Obama expressed clear support for a bill that passed the Senate, but was vetoed by Bush, which would have compelled the CIA to abide by the Army Field Manual. Similarly, Obama unambiguously vowed to The Boston Globe’s Charlie Savage late last year as follows:

As President I will abide by statutory prohibitions, and have the Army Field Manual govern interrogation techniques for all United States Government personnel and contractors.

Yet since then, John Brennan, Obama’s top intelligence adviser (and until yesterday, the leading candidate to lead the CIA), explicitly questioned whether such a measure was desirable.

Moreover, Obama was one of the few Senate Democrats who not only opposed the Military Commissions Act — which authorized Bush's military commissions — but also went to the floor of the Senate to sponsor amendments that would have limited its reach and, if passed, would have likely caused the Bush administration to veto it. Obama's opposition to these military commissions was thus reflected not only by his words, but also his past actions. Yet key Obama adviser Cass Sunstein has, in the past, expressed support for Bush’s military commissions.

Perhaps most encouragingly of all, Obama was one of only 15 Senators who voted against the confirmation of Gen. Michael Hayden as CIA Director, a confirmation that passed the Senate with 78 votes. In opposing the nomination, Obama cited the fact that Hayden was “the architect and chief defender of a program of wiretapping and collection of phone records outside of FISA oversight” and that “this is a program that is still accountable to no one and no law.” Obama said he was voting against Hayden “to send a signal to this Administration that even in these circumstances President Bush is not above the law.”

And, Obama explicitly told The Boston Globe’s Savage that the President does not have the authority to eavesdrop outside the parameters of FISA. Yet here, too, his leading advisers — including Sunstein and Brennan — have a history of supporting Bush’s wireptapping programs.

With some significant exceptions — most notably his reversal on FISA and telecom immunity earlier this year — Obama has evinced very good instincts on issues of executive power, torture, Guantanamo, the rule of law, and related matters. Merely holding him to the vows he made during the campaign will go a long way to restoring America's standing in the world and reversing many of the worst Constitutional abuses of the last eight years.

But closing Guantanamo should be the first step taken, and it should be taken very quickly and decisively. It is true that merely closing Guantanamo without further reforms — particularly the abolition of the military commissions — would be woefully insufficient. As the ACLU’s Anthony Romero put it recently in an interview I did with him:

Shut it down, and shut down the military commissions, because it won't be good enough if you shut down Guantanamo, and then transfer the detainees and charge them under these trials, and use the same screwed-up rules of the military commission at Fort Bragg or Fort Myers or anywhere else. You've got to shut down the existing military commissions as well.

Still, though it would be a symbolic step above all else, and would by itself be inadequate, closing Guantanamo is a powerful and necessary signal to the world about the path the U.S. intends to take under an Obama administration, and it is the one most easily and most quickly effectuated. As the ACLU’s Romero put it:

First day in office, George Bush passed an executive order repealing the Clinton executive order and imposes a global gag rule. So we got it; while the tool is there, I think we ought not to mistake the power of the president being able to exert that power.

President Bush opened up Guantanamo with a stroke of his pen. Do we really want to have to get into a morass of partisan politics and horse trading to close Guantanamo when one president with impunity and with bad motivations opened a prison camp with no legal rights, and now we're going to be squabbling over the procedural details to do the right thing?

There are many steps which President Obama will need to take to put the U.S. back on the path of basic liberties and human rights. But closing Guantanmo — decisively and immediately — will signal to the world that he is serious about fulfilling the multiple pledges he made to restore America’s standing in the world.

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Tags: Close Guantanamo

1. luzmejor Says:
   Nov 26th, 2008 at 7:07pm

   It took The Bushites 8 years to get America to this awful place and it is going to take at least that long to get us out of it and probably more!

   Give Obama a little slack, at least until we get the money damages corrected and the Justice system back in gear somewhat.

   But in the meantime, our so-called representatives can be at least investigating and trying to get the evidence on the wrecking crews of the past 3 Republican administrations!

2. Gary Smay Says:
   Nov 27th, 2008 at 10:17am

   I believe Obama is going to renege on the vast majority of his campaign pledges just as he did on FISA.
   If we want to restore American prestige we will need to insist on the resignation of Speaker Pelosi, House majority leader Stenney Hoyer and Senate President Harry Reid and insist on replacing them with people who will stand up to the power interests, protect and restore our constitution and prosecute the people who are responsible for these Bush policies as well as those responsible for the global financial melt down and stop using the tax dollars of ordinary Americans to bailout the super rich.

3. James Worthy Says:
   Nov 27th, 2008 at 12:48pm

   Since I first learned of the Military Commissions Act and its use by our government to abuse civil and human rights, I have felt anguish for my country. The specific abominations are bad enough but I feel that in the morass of detailed injuries and insults a fundamental good of our people has been diminished and its distress obscured: Justice.

   I don't think there is one path to justice but I do think that if justice is our goal and we don't waver, we could get there through this thicket of revelations, recriminations, and excuses. The commitment to justice, more so than freedom, more so than liberty, is what the rest of the world and our own people appreciate about us. We could do more for our own well-being and restore the goodwill of the world if, before we act, we ask ourselves "Is this just?" and then acted to pursue justice.

4. Vic Livingston (scrivener) Says:
   Nov 28th, 2008 at 7:50pm

   Glen: Torture is not limited to Guantanamo. A campaign of domestic terror apparently committed by vigilante citizens hiding behind government-funded community policing and anti-terrorism programs, are the street muscle of an epidemic of extrajudicial targeting that's destroying the lives and livelihoods of untold thousands of Americans.

   I, a longtime mainstream media journalist, am one of them.

   My communications are being intercepted and tampered with. I was turned away at the door twice at the ACLU NYC offices by doormen wearing interesting lapel pins. I tried to post here a few minutes ago and the posting disappeared from my computer.

   Please read my reporting on this at:
   members.nowpublic.com/scrivener

   If the link is disabled, please try to access my work through the nowpublic.com main page using my posting name, scrivener.

   I'd like to meet with you and with ACLU officials. I've been one of the few victims of extrajudicial targeting at the hands of organized community gang stalkers who has been able to get out the story.

   Now I need immediate help, because a suspected stalker today called the police on me in a continuing campaign of persecution and harassment, including affronts to the my health and that of my family.

   Please try to get in touch. If we fail to connect, please post here and perhaps we can arrange to meet. Thank you.

   Vic Livingston, columnist, nowpublic.com/scrivener
   Former business reporter, Fox TV Phila., N.Y. Daily News, Phila. Bulletin, St. Petersburg Times; former editor, CableVision, TV/Radio Age magazines

5. Vic Livingston (scrivener) Says:
   Nov 28th, 2008 at 7:57pm

   Please use corrected post, below:

   Glen: Torture is not limited to Guantanamo. A campaign of domestic terror apparently is being committed by vigilante citizens hiding behind government-funded community policing and anti-terrorism programs.

   These citizen vigilantes, many of them from the ranks of retired public safety and military officers, are the street muscle of an epidemic of extrajudicial targeting that's destroying the lives and livelihoods of untold thousands of Americans.

   I, a longtime mainstream media journalist, am one of them.

   My communications are being intercepted and tampered with. I was turned away at the door twice at the ACLU NYC offices by doormen wearing interesting lapel pins. I tried to post here a few minutes ago and the posting disappeared from my computer.

   Please read my reporting on extrajudicial targeting at the hands of this "American Gestapo" at:
   members.nowpublic.com/scrivener

   If the link is disabled, please try to access my work through the nowpublic.com main page using my posting name, scrivener.

   I'd like to meet with you and with ACLU officials. I've been one of the few victims of extrajudicial targeting at the hands of organized community gang stalkers who has been able to get out the story.

   Now I need immediate help, because a suspected stalker today called the police on me in a continuing campaign of attempted entrapment, persecution and harassment, including affronts to the my health and that of my family.

   Please try to get in touch. If we fail to connect, please post here and perhaps we can arrange to meet. Thank you.

   Vic Livingston, columnist, nowpublic.com/scrivener
   Former business reporter, Fox TV Phila., N.Y. Daily News, Phila. Bulletin, St. Petersburg Times; former editor, CableVision, TV/Radio Age magazines

6. US Patriot Says:
   Nov 29th, 2008 at 3:22pm

   Hey Guys!
   What do you think of your hero Obama retaining Bush's secretary of war Robert Gates? Now, there's change you can believe in, huh? Oh, and what do all of "youse guys" think of Obama's little private civilian army idea? Great idea isn't it? Why Freedom will be marching through the streets of our nation once again, huh? I wonder what color uniforms the little Obambies will wear? Brown would be too obvious, wouldn't it, guys?

7. lynda unterthiner Says:
   Nov 29th, 2008 at 8:07pm

   The abuses of Guantanamo are uppermost in the mind of the public, but a recent opinion piece in the LA Times reminds us that injustice and prisoner abuse takes place on other fronts as well:
   In November, 2001, a man from Qatar, Ali Marri, who was studying at Bradley University in Peoria, Illinois was detained as a "material witness" and later charged with credit card fraud and lying to the FBI. Since that time he has been held in a military prison as an "enemy combatant",denied the right to a trial and contact with his family, and brutally interrogated. We have so much to be ashamed of.

8. AlexLawyer Says:
   Nov 30th, 2008 at 2:47am

   Bush doesn't need to issue a de jure pardon for his accomplices, because Obama has already issued a de facto pardon. The new president will not pursue war and human rights criminals because that would implicate members of his new team, plus the husband of his secretary of state.

   Bill Clinton's administration invented "extraordinary rendition," more prosaically known as kidnapping, forced disappearance, conspiracy to violate human rights and torture by proxy.

   Any investigation, and subsequent prosecutions, cannot rely on a de facto statute of limitations for offenses prior to 20 January 2001, so Obama will scuttle the whole concepts of rule of law, accountability and respect for human rights. While he might halt the outrages, he will neither regain the respect of the world and the tolerance of our potential enemies by prosecuting the guilty, nor deter future wrongdoing.

9. Syed Says:
   Nov 30th, 2008 at 9:20pm

   Thus far Obama has shown signs for adherence to the rule of law and justice for all including the President. Will he look into the causes which has emboldened the extremists into violence throughout the globe protesting against American lopsided dealings with some nations tantamounting to strong arm tactics. I believe if the murderous Bush had paid any heed to the early calls of the extremist leaders, we could have been much safer and threr would have been more fraternal relations between America and the rest of the world. We eagerly await to see Obama's actions.

10. Federale Says:
    Nov 30th, 2008 at 9:25pm

    They are not "Bush's military commissions', but the established law of the land for trials of war criminals. Do you refer to the Nuremberg trials as "Truman's trials?" I think not. Congress passed legislation establishing the military commissions and the Obamessiah cannot repeal an act of Congress. You whine when Bush used signing statements, but not when the Clintong Administration did. You are not much of an attorney. Or maybe you are an attorney like Vishinski was an attorney.

11. scrivener Says:
    Dec 1st, 2008 at 1:16am

    Why was my post about extrajudicial targeting and domestic terrorism taken down? Did the ACLU take it down, or is a third party hacking the site?

    Glen and others: Please read my articles about extrajudicial targeting and the nationwide vigilante network hiding behind government-funded programs connected to various government agencies. I am a mainstream media journalist who has been a victim of this officially-sanctioned abuse of power for nearly five years, and I cannot communicate freely due to pervasive surveillance and interception/tampering of my internet traffic.

    I believe I am but one of untold thousands of victims of unconstitutional and abuse extrajudicial targeting. There is torture going on coast to coast right here in America, and the victims are being silenced and slowly eliminated.

    Please read my articles. I will continue to seek the ACLU's assistance. Why can't domestic victims of torture get through? The answer is a pervasive abuse of power and vicious smear campaigns that marginalize, neutralize and eliminate those who read to speak out. Here is the link:

    http://members.nowpublic.com/scrivener
    RE: "American Gestapo"; "Extrajudicial Targeting"; "Directed Energy Weapons".

12. scrivener Says:
    Dec 1st, 2008 at 1:21am

    (corrected post. PLEASE do not take down!)

    Why was my post about extrajudicial targeting and domestic terrorism taken down? Did the ACLU take it down, or is a third party hacking the site?

    Glen and others: Please read my articles about extrajudicial targeting and the nationwide vigilante network hiding behind government-funded programs connected to various government agencies. I am a mainstream media journalist who has been a victim of this officially-sanctioned abuse of power for nearly five years, and I cannot communicate freely due to pervasive surveillance and interception/tampering of my internet traffic.

    I believe I am but one of untold thousands of victims of unconstitutional and abuse extrajudicial targeting. There is torture going on coast to coast right here in America, and the victims are being silenced and slowly eliminated.

    Please read my articles. I will continue to seek the ACLU’s assistance. Why can’t domestic victims of torture get through? The answer is a pervasive abuse of power and vicious smear campaigns that marginalize, neutralize and eliminate those who dare to speak out. Here is the link:

    http://members.nowpublic.com/scrivener
    RE: “American Gestapo”; “Extrajudicial Targeting”; “Directed Energy Weapons”.

13. Randy Moffitt Says:
    Dec 1st, 2008 at 3:49am

    THE RESTORE AMERICA ACT

    It is estimated that over 100 prisoners under American control have been tortured to death since the beginning of the War on Terror, a heavy burden that America and every American must bear.

    On Nov. 10, 2008, the American Civil Liberties Union ran a full-page ad in the New York Times exhorting Barack Obama to honor his pledge to close Guantanamo on day one, reject the Military Commissions Act, and adhere to the Geneva Conventions. Bravo for a good beginning! I propose the Restore America Act, an omnibus bill that, with the cooperation of the new President, addresses the Bush/Cheney assaults on the Constitution and the rule of law.

    A never ending War on Terror in one form or another is a grim reality, but the President did not assume permanent dictatorial whim nor did the Constitution become obsolete with the advent of the War on Terror.

    The President cannot torture, he cannot kidnap, he cannot confine without judicial redress, and he cannot eavesdrop or invade privacy without a court order.

    The President with a signing statement. cannot ignore the will of congress.

    The integrity of the Justice Dept. must be restored. The Executive Branch cannot use the Justice Dept. for political chicanery.
    The integrity and independence of the Office of Legal Council must be restored.

    It’s time for congress to rise from its knees and stand for the rule of law, to stand for a country of laws not of men. To stand for the idea that no man, including the President is above the law.

    Congress and the President need to be reminded that their oath of office obliges them to preserve, protect and defend the Constitution.

    Close Guantanamo, reject the Military Commissions Act, adhere to Geneva, do more.

    Randy Moffitt

14. The Savage Nation Says:
    Dec 1st, 2008 at 11:52am

    OMG, I hope we caged these terrorist BASTARDS for as long as it takes to KILL all of them!!!!!!! Why don't you card carrying members of the ACLU go to other countries and preach your agenda. I'm thinking China, Pakistan, Saudia Arabia, or Iraq. I'm sure they would welcome you with open arms.
    How come there is no news about the ACLU helping the victims of the people you represent (you know-the murders, rapists, robbers, etc..)????????

15. The Savage Nation Says:
    Dec 1st, 2008 at 12:41pm

    WOW, the ACLU is actually honoring my 1st Amendment.

    SHOCKED!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

    Big A** Idea of the Day! The ACLU should have a drive to have the religion of peace (Islam) push for a march or demonstration against TERRORISM. Now that's Pro-American!!!

16. scrivener (Vic Livingston) Says:
    Dec 2nd, 2008 at 12:37pm

    Glenn Greenwald:

    If you are still monitoring this thread...

    Now I am having trouble posting to political sites. My email is being intercepted and often goes unanswered.

    For nearly five years I have been the victim of government extrajudicial targeting, relentlessly "gang stalked" by citizens who apparently are affiliated with federally-funded community watch groups, and my family's finances have been sabotaged.

    I have written extremely about this at http://members.nowpublic.com/scrivener

    Now the noose is tightening, just as my articles have achieved global attention.

    As mentioned above, I'm a mainstream journalist and longtime business/investigative reporter whose career has been destroyed by this government targeting. I have tried and failed to get through to the ACLU. I believe I have been slandered, and that peopple who could help have been dissuaded by an official campaign of character assassination. This has gone on for nearly five years -- a covert campaign of personal destruction. I am but one example of this extrajudicial targeting campaign. The mainstream media has been AWOL on this story of America's descent into a police state.

    What's happening in America is that untold thousands are being "sentenced" to this fate without benefit of due process, totally outside the protections afforded by the Constitution and the judicial system.

    Please help. my telephone calls are being intercepted, and as I have mentioned, I was turned away at the ACLU's door by men in suits with interesting lapel pins.

    I'm hoping that the change in administrations will finally restore justice. But in the past couple of weeks, conditions have gotten worse, almost as if the forces of oppression are sending a message that nothing is going to change.

    I would like to meet with you and ACLU officials at ACLU offices. Can you make this happen? The only way I seem to be able to communicate is by making public posts on boards like this. So please respond to me here. Thanks again.

17. Rosemary Cancellieri Says:
    Dec 21st, 2008 at 6:12pm

    Hey - listen to Scrivener -- it's happening to me too in New York Westchester County. Same stuff - emails, phone, lots of manipulations and lots of lies about the who I really am - the "target". What ever negatively will influence the person the lie is being delivered to. I'm not even political -- It is torture - it is happening here in New York and it is referred to as Mobbing, Psychological Manipulation, Gang Stalking and it is a covert killer of human life. We need to clean up our own house first - America and Americans. Learn more about me - at my web site www.rosieandthecat.com -- I've lightened up the situation for my own benefit. But, it is torture and we need your help -- now. To get the word out.

    Thank you