Obama Continues to Channel Bush 43 Concerning Gitmo Despite Campaign Promises

Another surprising and welcome sign from the Obama administration came down the pike yesterday. Since his declaration that Guantanamo Bay will be closed as soon as possible just days after his inauguration, he has slowly but surely backpeddled into a policy that is hard to distinguish between the Bush policy on terrorism and Obamas:

The Obama administration said Tuesday it could continue to imprison non-U.S. citizens indefinitely even if they have been acquitted of terrorism charges by a U.S. military commission.

Jeh Johnson, the Defense Department's chief lawyer, told the Senate Armed Services Committee that releasing a detainee who has been tried and found not guilty was a policy decision that officials would make based on their estimate of whether the prisoner posed a future threat.

Like the Bush administration, the Obama administration argues that the legal basis for indefinite detention of aliens it considers dangerous is separate from war-crimes prosecutions. Officials say that the laws of war allow indefinite detention to prevent aliens from committing warlike acts in future, while prosecution by military commission aims to punish them for war crimes committed in the past.

We have seen too many times before people that were detained in Gitmo immediately return to the battlefield and kill our soldiers. This will save American lives as it will be one less enemy combatant on the battlefield shooting at our troops. For example: here and here.

If only, he could find his backbone against N Korea and Iran.