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0 Comments For Your Deliberation… Guantanamo & Civilian Trials for Terrorists

Article posted by TheDelibero on 26 Jan 2010 , under

Cited from the Press…

According to a report released by the Pentagon earlier this month, the recidivism rate of former Guantanamo Bay detainees has reached 20%, up from 11% in the winter of 2008 and 14% in the spring of 2009.

The Obama administration has repeatedly claimed that there is no evidence indicating that any of the detainees released under President Obama’s watch have returned to the battlefield.

In the wake of the failed Christmas Day bombing attempt by an Islamic terrorist, Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, who had ties to Al Qaeda and had spent considerable time in Yemen, President Obama has vowed to forge ahead with his policy of closing Guantanamo Bay as soon as possible.

In response to the close call on Christmas Day, the Obama administration has placed a moratorium on the release of Guantanamo Bay detainees to Yemen, citing the Yemeni government’s inability to deal with these detainees and the resurgence of Al Qaeda in Yemen as reasons for the freeze. Currently, there are 90 detainees at Guantanamo who hail from Yemen.

Despite President Obama’s announcement during the first week of his presidency that he would close the detention facility at Guantanamo Bay by January 22, 2010, it now appears that the facility will remain open until at least 2011.

Last month, President Obama announced his plan to buy an unused maximum-security prison in Illinois called the Thomson Correctional Center and use it to house detainees transferred from Guantanamo. But many members of Congress, who would ultimately have to approve the funding necessary to purchase Thomson, remain unconvinced that moving these detainees to US soil issound policy.

The system of military commissions that the Bush administration put in place shortly after 9/11 has produced three convictions in eight years.

Attorney General Eric Holder, responding to questions from Senator Lindsey Graham (R-SC) during a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing in November, reassured legislators that the administration would not release Khalid Sheikh Mohammed and his co-conspirators even if they were acquitted in a civilian trial in New York City. Said Holder, “I certainly think that under the regime that we are contemplating, the potential for detaining people under the laws of war, we would retain that ability.”

According to a recent Rasmussen poll, 71% of those Americans polled believe that the failed Christmas Day airline plot ought to be investigated by the military as a terrorist act. 22% think it should be treated as a criminal act to be investigated by civilian authorities, and 7% are unsure.

The administration’s rationale is that shuttering the detention facility will deprive Al Qaeda of a popular “rallying cry and recruiting tool,” making the policy of closing Guantanamo a “national security imperative.”

Further Reading…

1. “Civilian Courts Are No Place to Try Terrorists.” Wall Street Journal- Opinion, by Michael B. Mukasey: http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704107204574475300052267212.html?mod=rss_opinion_main

2. “Holder’s Decision on Mohammed Trial Defended.” Washington Post- Opinion, by Jim Comey and Jack Goldsmith: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/11/19/AR2009111903470.html

3. “You Can’t Bargain With Terrorists.” The Daily Beast, by Gerald L. Shargel: http://www.thedailybeast.com/blogs-and-stories/2010-01-04/you-cant-bargain-with-terrorists/full/

4. “Gitmo Does Not Cause Terrorism.” National Review Online, by Andrew C. McCarthy: http://article.nationalreview.com/?q=NWJhNjU2YzBlNjE1ZGMzYmU2MzEwZmZkNGI2YzIyY2Y

5. “The Real Price of Trying KSM.” Slate, by David Feige: http://www.slate.com/id/2236146/pagenum/all

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