Finally
some new Obama developments other than news of Barack's greying
hair or Michelle's bare arms. Where did all the time go? On one
hand the Obama Administration is dropping a well-known Bush buzz
term; "enemy combatants," on the other hand the Center
for Constitutional Rights calls it a case of "old wine in new
bottles." They feel President Obama still supports detaining
them without charge.
Of
course the chief purpose President George W. Bush created the moniker
was for the purpose of arresting and holding terror suspects who
were not on the battlefield fighting against US soldiers or allies
or engaged in a hostile act against the same target. For example
a Nazi or North Vietnamese captured during WW ll or the Vietnam
War obviously wouldn't have to be labeled an "enemy combatant"
any more than you call McDonald's a hamburger restaurant. It's already
self-evident. But when it comes to arresting suspects at an airport
as in the case of the Chicago gang-banger Jose Padilla, "enemy
combatant" became a bad jacket forced upon certain individuals
in Bush's shopping mall of lies.
What
Obama is bringing is a reversal of the right to hold detainees from
the president's wartime power back to Congress and the International
laws of war (War Powers Act, Geneva Convention). Although this won't
mean a change in the immediate term for detainees, there is a light
at the end of the tunnel for many of them. In the long-term there
is the anticipated Guantanamo Bay shutdown and the Obama Administration's
investigation into the CIA torture tapes-many of which were destroyed
by the agency-News outlet's note Obama's latest move to drop "enemy
combatant" as a continuation of his distancing himself from
the former Bush Administration. They will be construed in the eyes
of the public as terrorist-sympathizer-Obama leaving the nation
defenseless by the right and still-not-good-enough by hard critics
on the left.
The
simple fact is, all of the some 250 prisoners at the US Naval Base
in Cuba aren't Khalid Sheik Mohammed; the man who claims he master-minded
9/11. His trial was suspended before a judge the day after Obama's
Inauguration. The chief prosecutor of the Office of Military Commissions
(OMC) was directed to seek a continuance of 120 days for Mohammed.
All-in-all perhaps Obama should have dismantled the OMC, this is
actually it's fifth anniversary. OMC was established back in 2/04
specifically as a vehicle to try terror suspects at Guantanamo.
Bush probably came up with this idea shortly after 9/11, he already
had his officers selected before word of the OMC made news. You
haven't heard much about the commission, in '05 there was a scandal.
One
of the underlining reasons for the Gitmo shutdown is the reports
of rigged Guantanamo trials through leaked emails by Bush insiders.
ABC was said to have obtained 2 emails; one from prosecutor Major
Robert Preston to his supervisor which disclosed in part: "after
all, writing a motion saying that the process will be full and fair
when you don't really believe it is kind of hard." The 2nd
email was from prosecutor Captain John Carr and was even more revealing:
"You have repeatedly said to the office that the military panel
will be handpicked and will not acquit these detainees." Hmmm,
sounds like a Buffalo court, what's the problem?
Of
course the obvious issue is, if these detainees were really enemy
combatants what's the need of rigging their trials? Needless to
say both prosecutors were reassigned. What I just gave you was only
a brief example of how dirty the Office of Military Commissions
was told to play. Spiking Bush phrases like "enemy combatants"
or "Axis of Evil" are just the beginning. It's the corrupt
apparatus that enables them to be detained and prosecuted that must
be eliminated.
BlackCommentator.com Guest Commentator Chris Stevenson is a columnist for the Buffalo Challenger.
Click here
to contact Mr. Stevenson. |