Gitmo Not Closing Yet

By Jeralyn, Section Terror Detainees
Posted on Fri Jun 22, 2007 at 07:20:00 PM EST
Tags: Guantanamo, Detainees (all tags)

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Despite reports to the contrary, the Bush Administration is not planning to close Guantanamo any time soon. Gordon Johndroe, a spokesman for the National Security Council, issued a statement last night:

“The President has long expressed a desire to close the Guantanamo Bay detention facility and to do so in a responsible way,” Mr. Johndroe said. “A number of steps need to take place before that can happen such as setting up military commissions and the repatriation to their home countries of detainees who have been cleared for release. These and other steps have not been completed. No decisions on the future of Guantanamo Bay are imminent and there will not be a White House meeting tomorrow.”

Gitmo got a new prisoner this week.

More...

Haroon al-Afghani, who was captured as a result of our ongoing efforts in the Global War on Terror, is known to be associated with high-level militants in Afghanistan, and has admitted to serving as a courier for al-Qaeda Senior Leadership (AQSL).

....Due to the continuing threat this terrorist represents and his high placement in the Hezb-e-Islami/Gulbuddin, he has been transferred to the DOD Detention Facility at Guantanamo Bay. The detainees being held at Guantanamo have provided information essential to our ability to better understand how Al Qaeda operates and thus to prevent future attacks.

The Administration plans to call al-Afghani before a Combatant Status Review Tribunal.

As of today, 375 detainees remain at Guantanamo.

And Mitt Romney wants Gitmo to stay open.

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Gitmo Not Closing Yet | 6 comments (6 topical)

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Also not closing... (5.00 / 4) (#1)
by desertswine on Fri Jun 22, 2007 at 03:08:23 PM EST

is the School of Assasins.

: Vote results (none / 0) (#6)
by dutchfox on Sat Jun 23, 2007 at 10:31:43 AM EST

What's the excuse of these Dems for not voting? -
Bordallo
Costello
Cramer
Johnson (GA)
Meehan
Melancon
Napolitano
Rangel
Sanchez, Loretta
Scott (GA)
Weiner

Every time I hear Guantanamo ... (5.00 / 4) (#2)
by Meteor Blades on Fri Jun 22, 2007 at 03:25:50 PM EST

...the alarm bell on my irony meter goes off. There the U.S. has created a hellhole on a forcibly leased few square miles of land that rightfully belong to the sovereign nation of Cuba, which has been run by the same dictator for longer than any other place on earth. That dictator is so vilified in Washington that our country willingly allows terrorists like Luis Posada and Orlando Bosch free rein among us, yet men - many of whose connections to terrorism are tenuous at best - rot and are tortured at the behest of a leadership without a conscience. Can there be any better example of the upsidedownism that has plagued America since Nine-Eleven?

Gitmo Panel Flawed (5.00 / 1) (#4)
by john horse on Sat Jun 23, 2007 at 01:30:16 AM EST

Per the AP, "An Army officer who played a key role in the "enemy combatant" hearings at Guantanamo Bay says tribunal members relied on vague and incomplete intelligence while being pressured to rule against detainees, often without any specific evidence."

We are ruled by a conspiracy of dunces. The system that was set up at Guantanamo is a joke. It may seem to some that the US court system works at a slow pace but compared to the glacial pace of the Guantanamo military commissions, they are a model of efficiency. Had these prisoners been tried in the US court system they would have had their cases resolved by now with the added bonus that we would be relatively certain that we were punishing the guilty, not the innocent.

The goddamnwaronterror (none / 0) (#3)
by Madison Guy on Fri Jun 22, 2007 at 04:52:51 PM EST

Trivial but far from unimportant reason not to elect (another) conservative GOP businessman president.

hmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm (none / 0) (#5)
by cpinva on Sat Jun 23, 2007 at 02:52:37 AM EST

i wonder if devil's island is available for lease? better yet, keeping it in US territory, the dry tortugas would be an excellent location for these people.

hey, it was good enough for dr. mudd, it's damn well good enough for these people! :)