It is almost become routine! Having got into the White House as the great hope of righting wrongs, etc. etc. and made countless promises during his quest for the presidency, Obama is now back-tracking on many significant issues. Just the last days have seen him reverse his decision to release more Abu Ghrabb-type photos [go across to Information Clearing House, here - if you must view the grisly and singularly offensive photos released via SBS in Australia] and now that military commissions will, after all, continue at Gitmo, albeit with some safeguards built in.
Glen Greenwald, a lawyer, who writes for Salon, comments and tellingly draws together statements made by Obama and many of his officials over the year:
"It now appears definitive that the Obama administration will attempt to preserve a "modified" version of George Bush's military commissions, rather than try suspected terrorists in our long-standing civilian court system or a court-martial proceeding under the Uniform Code of Military Justice. Obama officials have been dispatched to insist to journalists (anonymously, of course) that Obama's embrace of "new and improved" military commissions is neither inconsistent with the criticisms that were voiced about Bush's military commission system nor with Obama's prior statements on this issue. It is plainly not the case that these "modifications" address the core criticisms directed to what Bush did, nor is it the case that Obama's campaign position on this issue can be reconciled with what he is now doing. Just read the facts below and decide for yourself if that is even a plausible claim.
Let's concede that if the U.S. is going to continue to try accused terrorists in newly-created military commissions -- rather than under our normal, long-standing system of justice -- then it is better to have more safeguards than fewer. That's just true by definition. Let's further concede that many of the past criticisms voiced about Bush's military commissions, including some of Obama's criticisms, focused on the specific rules of those commissions, some of which (though far from all) are addressed by Obama's modifications, including the most important change that coerced statements are no longer admissible. Nonetheless, the overwhelming bulk of the objections to what the Bush administration did was to the very idea of military commission themselves. The controversy -- one of the most intense of the Bush era -- was grounded in the argument that there was absolutely no reason, other than to pervert justice and enable easy and due-process-free convictions, to create a separate tribunal rather than use our extant judicial processes.
There is simply no way to reconcile Barack Obama's embrace of military commissions with the core criticisms made about Bush's system. Just consider what was said in the past about Bush's military commissions by key Obama officials, Bush critics generally and, on occasion, even by Obama himself, and decide for yourself if this is anything other than a replica of one of the worst and most extremist abuses of the Bush era....."
Continue reading here.
Glen Greenwald, a lawyer, who writes for Salon, comments and tellingly draws together statements made by Obama and many of his officials over the year:
"It now appears definitive that the Obama administration will attempt to preserve a "modified" version of George Bush's military commissions, rather than try suspected terrorists in our long-standing civilian court system or a court-martial proceeding under the Uniform Code of Military Justice. Obama officials have been dispatched to insist to journalists (anonymously, of course) that Obama's embrace of "new and improved" military commissions is neither inconsistent with the criticisms that were voiced about Bush's military commission system nor with Obama's prior statements on this issue. It is plainly not the case that these "modifications" address the core criticisms directed to what Bush did, nor is it the case that Obama's campaign position on this issue can be reconciled with what he is now doing. Just read the facts below and decide for yourself if that is even a plausible claim.
Let's concede that if the U.S. is going to continue to try accused terrorists in newly-created military commissions -- rather than under our normal, long-standing system of justice -- then it is better to have more safeguards than fewer. That's just true by definition. Let's further concede that many of the past criticisms voiced about Bush's military commissions, including some of Obama's criticisms, focused on the specific rules of those commissions, some of which (though far from all) are addressed by Obama's modifications, including the most important change that coerced statements are no longer admissible. Nonetheless, the overwhelming bulk of the objections to what the Bush administration did was to the very idea of military commission themselves. The controversy -- one of the most intense of the Bush era -- was grounded in the argument that there was absolutely no reason, other than to pervert justice and enable easy and due-process-free convictions, to create a separate tribunal rather than use our extant judicial processes.
There is simply no way to reconcile Barack Obama's embrace of military commissions with the core criticisms made about Bush's system. Just consider what was said in the past about Bush's military commissions by key Obama officials, Bush critics generally and, on occasion, even by Obama himself, and decide for yourself if this is anything other than a replica of one of the worst and most extremist abuses of the Bush era....."
Continue reading here.
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