Video: NYC Mayor, NY Democratic Senators Flop & Don't Want Terror Trials In NYC Anymore, Claim Danger, Cost Is Too High...Um Duh!

Mayor Bloomberg of New York City and the Democratic New York Senators all echoed the same sudden concern in this video for having the terror trials in New York City. Where was all this concern for the safety, cost, and economic disruption a few months ago, when Obama first tabled the idea? There was not one peep out any of those three. Where did did this revelation come from? Ed Morrissey thinks that he knows:

Until the attempted bombing of Northwest 253 on Christmas Day, Obama appeared to have some momentum on the law-enforcement approach.  However, the outrage over reading a terrorist his rights and providing him an attorney rather than a lengthy interrogation to discover what we could about any impending attacks has seriously derailed both the trial process and the closure of Gitmo.  After all, if the terrorists can’t get tried in federal court, they will have to be both tried and held in military custody — which means Gitmo, at least for the foreseeable future.

Now, they remember that there are those out there that want to kill us. I swear that I've heard that from someone else. I can't remember where. Oh yeah!

It seems that Obama might be finally caving into bipartisan pressure to keep KSM out of NYC:

White House officials have told the Justice Department to consider other venues for the 9/11 terror trial that was to be held in lower Manhattan, the Daily News has learned.

The decision came after Mayor Bloomberg and other politicians across the state railed against President Obama's plan to try Khalid Sheikh Mohammed in Manhattan Federal Court.

Attorney General Eric Holder now has to think of other places where the trial could take place, officials said.

It was not immediately clear if the reassessment means the trial will definitely be moved out of the city.

Where can we move them? Maybe (this may be a crazy thought)...Gitmo?

Well, that is probably wishful thinking but not entirely out of the realm of possibility. If New York City doesn't want them there, I'd be hard-pressed to think of a city that would want to take on that albatross.

It's good to see that Obama and some of the Democrats have come to their senses a bit. Hopefully, they'll do their trials in Gitmo where they belong.

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.

Gitmo Alum Graduates to Become Leader Against US in Afghanistan

A Gitmo alum has graduated to become a leader in the fight against the US in Afghanistan:

A former Guantanamo Bay inmate is leading the fight against U.S. Marines in the Helmand province of Afghanistan, a senior U.S. defense official confirmed to FOX News on Tuesday.

Another Gitmo releasee is found fighting our troops. This is getting old.

What Could Go Wrong? Bermuda: Recently Released Gitmo Prisoners Roam Without Security

This is smart:

Four of the Chinese Muslims, or Uighurs, released to Bermuda from the Guantanamo Bay prison appear to be getting used to life in paradise.

FOX News spotted the newly freed detainees at a guest cottage complex on the island without security or electronic monitoring, but their attorney said they will have to periodically check in with local police.

What could they be thinking? Why would you EVER let known terrorists roam around without any supervision?

Administration Official: US Kept Britain In the Dark About the Gitmo/Bermuda Deal Intentionally

The Gitmo/Bermuda story is getting more and more interesting:

A senior US official has told the BBC Washington decided not to tell London ahead of time about a deal to resettle four Guantanamo detainees in Bermuda.

Why would Obama intentionally keep this from England and risk a rift in between the two countries?

Washington was attempting to shield the UK from Chinese anger.

Beijing has demanded the return to China of all 17 Uighurs held by US forces but Washington says they could face persecution in China.

This sounds like spin control to me. If it is true, it shows how little Obama knows about how foreign diplomacy works. You don't keep thing like this from your closest ally when it directly affects their national security. Since Bermuda is under British control and they handle foreign affairs for the island, they should have been the first to be called not left in the dark. They should not be finding out about this for the first time through the press. It's just another example of how the One's actions shows how little he cares about and/or respects our allies.

Now a senior US official has told the BBC it was a deliberate decision not to consult London on the resettlement, after other countries came under pressure from China not to accept the Uighurs.

In a highly unusual move, a senior US official said Washington opted to keep details of the deal from London until the last minute to enable Britain to deny all knowledge of the deal and thus avoid China's anger, says the BBC's Washington correspondent Kim Ghattas.

The official said they expected London to be upset but added he felt the deal was made on solid ground, in direct talks with the Bermuda government, who accepted the men as part of guest worker programme.

"Upset" seems to a bit understated. According to one report, the British were downright "pissed".

That excuse is pathetic. Even if that was the real reason, China probably won't fully believe that Britain had no idea that this deal was going down. They may believe that the British are "playing dumb" and really knew about the deal even if they did not.

More "Smart" Diplomacy: Brits "Pissed" Over Obama's Transer of Gitmo Detainees to Bermuda

Obama does it again. At this pace, England will be our bitter enemies by the end of his term. In his haste to get the prisoners out of Gitmo by early next year, he made an arrangement with one governing body of the island without consulting with the other government in charge:

ABC News' Kirit Radia reports: The U.S. may be happy to see four more detainees leave the Guantanamo Bay detention facility. Those Uighurs -- Chinese Muslims -- were sent to Bermuda today, but close ally Great Britain is seething because they say they were not adequately consulted about the move.

"They're pissed," admitted a senior State Department official, speaking on condition of anonymity.

The UK provides for Bermuda's defense and foreign affairs, but the State Department today said it dealt directly with the government of Bermuda, who then informed the British Governor General on the island.

How can they move these dangerous individuals into a country without notifying the local military contingent. That would be like moving a convicted child molester into a neighborhood without notifying the local police or sheriff's office.

What in the world was the Obama Administration thinking? We wouldn't like it if France made a deal with Puerto Rican governor Luis Fortuño to send some of their serial killers to live in the American territory without contacting Washington. Obama, Gibbs, Clinton, and basically everyone else in the administration would be appalled at their audacity and arrogance of the French because we were not informed of the move.

Good News: 4 Gitmo Terrorists Transferred to Bermuda

Gitmo terrorists, you have been caught trying to kill Americans. Let's see what you've won. It's an all-expense paid trip to the tropical island of Bermuda paid for by the American government and Barack Obama:

Four Uighur detainees from Guantanamo Bay have been sent to Bermuda, officials said Thursday.

Four trained terrorists bent on killing westerners especially Americans are sent to a heavy trafficked by Americans tourist destination. What could go wrong?

Eric Holder echoes the sentiment that closing Gitmo will make Americans safer without giving any proof. I fail to see how moving terrorists to tourist spots frequented by Americans will make us safer.

Someone in the admonistration tried to make us feel better with this statement:

An Obama administration source told ABC News that "the Uighurs will not be able to travel to the United States unless the U.S. government consents in advance."

Somehow, I don't feel comforted. I know that I don't have any urge to visit Bermuda any time soon.

Also, I wonder why the US would ever consider consenting to the admittance into this country. It should be off the table for life. Letting the terrorists now that it is a possibility makes Obama seem a bit soft.

Obama: Maybe Those Man-Made Disaster Makers Will Be Our Guests Indefinitely

The ACLU will be thrilled:

The Obama administration is weighing plans to detain some terror suspects on U.S. soil -- indefinitely and without trial -- as part of a plan to retool military commission trials that were conducted for prisoners held in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.

Obama's possible adoption of this stance further signals to the world that he is realizing that Bush guy may have been on the right after all. Although, he will never actually go right out and admit it.

First, Obama admits that closing Gitmo is much harder than first thought. Then, he brings military tribunals back and he fights the release of the "torture" photos.

What's next? Maybe he'll realize that Gitmo ain't really that bad, and keep it open for the next few years.

Hey, after all of the lack of change in between the Bush and Obama policies on foreign policy, it is a real possibility.

Democrats Refuse Obama's Request for Money to Move Gitmo Prisoners

Even though they claim that they want Guantanamo Bay to be closed, they will not put their money where their mouths are:

Amid complaints that terror suspects could be brought to the U.S., House Democrats on Monday rebuffed the Obama administration's request for $50 million to relocate prisoners from the detention facility at Guantanamo, Cuba.

When lawmakers unveiled a bill to pay for military and diplomatic efforts in Iraq and Afghanistan through the fall, the money to implement President Obama's executive order to shut down the prison within a year was missing from it.

Administration Official: Gitmo Military Tribunals "Don't Look As Bad" Than We First Thought

According to an unnamed administration official, Obama is thinking about reviving a staple of the Bush Administration that drew criticism from every lefty loony around the dial:

The Obama administration is moving toward reviving the military commission system for prosecuting Guantánamo detainees, which was a target of critics during the Bush administration, including Mr. Obama himself.

Officials said the first public moves could come as soon as next week, perhaps in filings to military judges at the United States naval base at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba, outlining an administration plan to amend the Bush administration's system to provide more legal protections for terrorism suspects.

Continuing the military commissions in any form would probably prompt sharp criticism from human rights groups as well as some of Mr. Obama's political allies because the troubled system became an emblem of the effort to use Guantánamo to avoid the American legal system.

In fact, some administration officials might be wondering why the Liberal-in-Chief stopped the tribunals in the first place:

"The more they look at it," said one official, "the more commissions don't look as bad as they did on Jan. 20."

Translation: Maybe that Bush guy had the right idea all along. Oops, sorry!

Isn't it weird how liberals often have to reject how they believe things should be and face the reality of the way things actually are?

Obama called the commissions an "enormous failure" and said that he would "reject the Military Commissions Act" when he became President. Now, in just a few short months, he realizes that is the best possible option, after all.

Who could have known that beforehand?

Oh, yeah! Bush did.

Ed Morrissey had at interesting thought pertaining to the timing of the media leak about the revival of military tribunals:

Does anyone else find it fascinating that the Obama administration leaked this on a Friday night?  I suspect that they know just how much flak they will take over this reversal, especially in the media.  This seems designed to bury the story in a weekend cycle, with a prayer that a big event occurs between now and Monday to keep it buried.

Fascinating! Indeed!

Is Gitmo Worse Under Obama?

Exclusive: Lawyer says Guantanamo abuse worse since Obama

Wed Feb 25, 2009 6:23pm EST
By Luke Baker

LONDON (Reuters) - Abuse of prisoners at Guantanamo Bay has worsened sharply since President Barack Obama took office as prison guards "get their kicks in" before the camp is closed, according to a lawyer who represents detainees.

Abuses began to pick up in December after Obama was elected, human rights lawyer Ahmed Ghappour told Reuters. He cited beatings, the dislocation of limbs, spraying of pepper spray into closed cells, applying pepper spray to toilet paper and over-forcefeeding detainees who are on hunger strike.

The Pentagon said on Monday that it had received renewed reports of prisoner abuse during a recent review of conditions at Guantanamo, but had concluded that all prisoners were being kept in accordance with the Geneva Conventions.

"According to my clients, there has been a ramping up in abuse since President Obama was inaugurated," said Ghappour, a British-American lawyer with Reprieve, a legal charity that represents 31 detainees at Guantanamo.

"If one was to use one's imagination, (one) could say that these traumatized, and for lack of a better word barbaric, guards were just basically trying to get their kicks in right now for fear that they won't be able to later," he said.

"Certainly in my experience there have been many, many more reported incidents of abuse since the inauguration," added Ghappour, who has visited Guantanamo six times since late September and based his comments on his own observations and conversations with both prisoners and guards.

He stressed the mistreatment did not appear to be directed from above, but was an initiative undertaken by frustrated U.S. army and navy jailers on the ground. It did not seem to be a reaction against the election of Obama, a Democrat who has pledged to close the prison camp within a year, but rather a realization that there was little time remaining before the last 241 detainees, all Muslim, are released.

"It's 'hey, let's have our fun while we can,'" said Ghappour, who helped secure the release this week of Binyam Mohamed, a British resident freed from Guantanamo Bay after more than four years in detention without trial or charge.

"I can't really imagine why you would get your kicks from abusing prisoners, but certainly, having spoken to certain guards who have been injured in Iraq, who indirectly or directly blame my clients for their injuries and the trauma they have suffered, it's not too difficult to put two and two together."

FORCE-FEEDING

Following a January 22 order from Obama, the U.S. Defense Department conducted a two-week review of conditions at Guantanamo ahead of the planned closure of the prison on Cuba.

Admiral Patrick Walsh, the review's author, acknowledged on Monday that reports of abuse had emerged but concluded all inmates were being treated in line with the Geneva Conventions.

"We heard allegations of abuse," he said, asked if detainees had reported torture. "And what we did at that point was to go back and investigate the allegation... What we found is that there were in some cases substantiated evidence where guards had misconduct, I think that would be the best way to put it."

Walsh said his review looked at 20 allegations of abuse, 14 of which were substantiated, but he did not go into details. Generally he said the abuse ranged from "gestures, comments, disrespect" to "preemptive use of pepper spray."

Ghappour said he had spoken to army guards who, unsolicited, had described the pleasure they took in abusing prisoners, whether interrupting prayer or physical mistreatment. He said they appeared unconcerned about potential repercussions.

He also saw evidence of guards pulling identity numbers off their uniforms or switching them once they were on duty in order to make it more difficult for them to be identified.

Ghappour said he had filed two complaints of serious detainee abuse since December 22 but received no response from U.S. authorities. In one case his client had his knee, shoulder and thumb dislocated by a group of guards, Ghappour said.

In one of the six main camps at Guantanamo, the lawyer said all the detainees he knew were on hunger strike and subject to force-feeding, including with laxatives that induced chronic diarrhea while they were strapped in their feeding chairs.

"Several of my clients have had toilet paper pepper-sprayed while they have had hemorrhoids," Ghappour said.

Another area of concern was evidence that detainees were being abused on the way to meetings with their lawyers -- sometimes so badly that they no longer wanted to meet with counsel for fear of the beatings they would receive, he said.

"Some detainees are convinced they are going to be locked up there forever, despite the promises to close the camp," he said.

(Additional reporting by Randall Mikkelsen and Andrew Gray in Washington, editing by Mark Trevelyan)

© Thomson Reuters 2008

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http://www.reuters.com/article/newsOne/idUSTRE51O3TB20090225?sp=true
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My Thoughts
 
Is this the kind of "hope and change" were going to continue to expect? This could be inmates and their lawyers trumping up abuses or just making them up to get favor for themselves especially if think that Obama and the new administration will be pushovers.

I am highly suspect of the charges, but I'll keep tracking this story.

Pentagon: Gitmo Doesn't Violate Geneva

Guantanamo Meets Humane Standards, Report Finds

The conditions of confinement at the Guantanamo Bay detention facility in Cuba meet the standards set forth in Common Article 3 of the Geneva Conventions, according to a Pentagon report.

By Justin Fishel FOXNews.com
Monday, February 23, 2009

The Pentagon concluded in a report that the conditions of confinement at the Guantanamo Bay detention facility in Cuba meet the standards set forth in Common Article 3 of the Geneva Conventions, a top naval officer announced Monday. 

While the conditions do meet he standards, the report offers five major areas in which the detention center needs to improve in order to "go beyond a minimalist approach to compliance."

The review was requested in an executive order handed down from President Obama in the first days of his administration.

Vice Admiral Patrick M. Walsh presented the report's findings Monday to the Pentagon press after a 13-day investigation that included interviews with more than 100 guards, leadership staff, interrogators, and a dozen captives held at the detention facility.

Recommendations include the need for increased socialization among the detainees, improved access to health care services, and the practice of video archiving of all interrogations. 

The goal of the report, he said, was not to look at past instances of alleged abuse but rather to look at what the standards are now. 

Video archiving is an issue that has come up for the Pentagon in the past, and many have argued certain videos were destroyed because they held evidence of torture. 

Walsh said that not all videos were kept on file due to "technical limitations," but the report recommends all interrogations be recorded and archived going forward.

"It's very important to be able to put everyone on notice in terms of accountability... and the root issue, as far as we're concerned, is being able to have undeniable proof as to the events that took place," Walsh said. 

Social interaction was the top on the list of necessary improvements.

"The ability to interact, person to person, is critically important for folks to be able to socialize and to be able to be intellectually stimulated," Walsh said. But different detainees are being held for different reasons, and mingling them could pose a risk.

Camp 7, which Walsh described as the equivalent of super-maximum security prison that holds high profile detainees such as the alleged 9/11 co-conspirators, will not allow its members to interact with other camps. They will be permitted to have more access to recreational activities -- giving them more than the 2 to 4 hours they get now.

Detainees in lower security areas like Camp 4, where one third of the detainees are held, have access to recreation 20 hours a day and are often held in communal spaces with a television.

Among the low security prisoners are 17 Chinese Uighurs whose pending case for release is causing  "increased tension and anxiety within the detainee population," according to the report. The review calls for their case to be solved as soon as possible in order to reduce those tensions.

The fifth major recommendation suggests as many cases as possible should be decided in order to suppress the uncertainly and anxiety that detainees are experiencing. "Understandably, these detainees continue to express their extreme frustration with their continued detention ... and it complicates conditions of detention."

It's mental health issue, according to Walsh. 

"So what we're doing here in this report is we're saying there's another dimension to this that we have to look at, and that's mental welfare, and we think that's critically important," Walsh said. 

He said 8 percent of the detainees suffer from a mental illness that requires medication, and although that's less than that of the general U.S. population, its still cause for concern. Maintaining a good mental health record among the population is a major part of achieving the standards of humane treatment set forth in the Geneva Conventions.

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http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2009/02/23/guantanamo-meets-humane-standards-report-finds/
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My Thoughts

I believe the word that Left is looking for is "sorry". It turns out that the conditions of the military prison might not have been that bad under then Pres. Bush.

They spent the last few years claiming that war crimes were going on at Guantanamo Bay under the orders of Pres. Bush. Their propaganda machine was incesnsed by the horrible conditions that the inmates were living under at the prison in Cuba. Now, the Pentagon under the Obama administration says that it isn't that bad.

It's amazing what a difference that a different president can make.

Obama: Gitmo Isn't As Easy As I First Thought

"It is more difficult than I think a lot of people realize," the president-elect explained. "Part of the challenge that you have is that you have a bunch of folks that have been detained, many of whom may be very dangerous who have not been put on trial or have not gone through some adjudication. And some of the evidence against them may be tainted even though it's true. And so how to balance creating a process that adheres to rule of law, habeas corpus, basic principles of Anglo-American legal system, by doing it in a way that doesn't result in releasing people who are intent on blowing us up."

But Obama said unequivocally that it will close. "I don't want to be ambiguous about this. We are going to close Guantanamo and we are going to make sure that the procedures we set up are ones that abide by our Constitution. That is not only the right thing to do but it actually has to be part of our broader national security strategy because we will send a message to the world that we are serious about our values."

Obama said that he is not ruling out prosecution for crimes committed by the Bush administration and left open the possibility of appointing a special prosecutor or commission to independently investigate abuses of power and illegal activity.

Obama's comments came in response to the most popular question on his own Web site, www.change.gov, which has received 23,000 votes on the "Open for Questions" portion of the site. Bob Fertik of New York who runs the Democrats.com Web site asks Obama, "Will you appoint a special prosecutor -- ideally Patrick Fitzgerald -- to independently investigate the gravest crimes of the Bush administration, including torture and warrantless wiretapping?"

"We're still evaluating how we're going to approach the whole issue of interrogations, detentions, and so forth. And obviously we're going to be looking at past practices and I don't believe that anybody is above the law." Obama said. "But my instinct is for us to focus on how do we make sure that moving forward we are doing the right thing. That doesn't mean that if somebody has blatantly broken the law, that they are above the law. But my orientation's going to be to move forward."

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http://abcnews.go.com/ThisWeek/Economy/story?id=6619291&page=1
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My thoughts

Maybe that Bush guy had it right all along.