7/21/09

The Administration has extended by six months the deadline for the completion of the task force review on U.S. detention policy – and reconfirmed its commitment to closing Guantanamo. While critics have said that this represents a setback in the effort to close Guantanamo and roll back the failed policies of the Bush administration, in fact it represents a much needed methodical approach. It is essential that the Obama administration takes the time to get the policy right in order to meet our security needs while respecting the rule of law. Despite the delay, the Obama administration insists that it is still on track to close Guantanamo by next January.  Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said the administration was “100 percent committed” to closing the facility. Yet closing Guantanamo has proven difficult. The Obama administration inherited an absolute mess from the Bush administration, in which records were non-existent, detainees remained in legal limbo, and the entire process was ad hoc – resulting in abuse, denial of justice, as well as wrongful detentions. This has imperiled our national security by serving as a recruiting tool for Al Qaeda and staining America’s image around the world. It is understood in the military that, as Prussian Field Marshall Helmuth von Moltke famously said, “no plan survives first contact.” By extending the review, the Obama administration is intent on getting the policy right, closing Guantanamo, and engaging with reality – the opposite of the Bush administration’s failed approach.

Delay by interrogation and detention task forces shows extent of mess left behind by the Bush administration:  “the status quo is not acceptable.”  The postponement of the deadline for a review of U.S. detention practices speaks to the dysfunctional process for treating terrorism suspects left behind by the Bush administration.  According to The Hill, one official involved in the review remarked: “[t]hese are issues frankly that could have been and should have been wrestled with over the last seven years… Regrettably, frankly, they weren't.” The Washington Times reports another statement by an Obama administration official who said “The status quo, incidentally, is not acceptable. Seven years, three prosecutions, endless litigation…”  

Earlier this month, The New York Times described the extent of the problem: “As of this week, lawyers reviewing each detainee’s case have completed the initial sorting process for only about half the total Guantánamo population of 229 men, though officials said that by October they expected to complete the initial evaluations, determining who could be transferred to other countries, prosecuted or detained without charges.”  This morning, NPR justice correspondent Ari Shapiro added that there was “no central file of information on each of the Guantanamo detainees,” and that this information was scattered across multiple government agencies.  An interim report by the detention task force also concluded that the Bush system of military commissions “‘suffered from a perceived lack of legitimacy" due to being created without congressional approval, and because it permitted evidence obtained through cruel and inhuman treatment.  

Beyond Guantanamo, there is also the detention facility at Bagram, which became notorious for abuses during the Bush administration, and whose status is further complicated by the fact that it holds both terrorist suspects and combatants captured in Afghanistan.  All of this explains why a senior administration official observed to the New York Times that they couldn’t rely “on the system that we inherited, which by all indications didn’t deliver on what we all expected it should, namely successful prosecutions.” [The Hill, 7/20/09. Washington Times, 7/21/09. NY Times, 7/14/09. NPR, 7/21/09. ABC News, 7/20/09. NY Times, 7/20/09. NY Times, 7/14/09]

Instead of hastily checking a box, Obama administration is seeking to close Guantanamo Bay responsibly and in accordance with the rule of law.  The Washington Post reports today that, “The Obama administration is delaying completion of reports examining U.S. detention and interrogation policy, officials said Monday, in a sign of the formidable issues it faces in grappling with how to handle terrorism suspects as it prepares to close the military prison at Guantanamo Bay.”  While some may criticize the Administration for not meeting its own deadline, it is important to understand that these are complicated issues, both legally and politically.

“Officials said the administration remains committed to closing the prison in Cuba by January 2010, as Obama ordered, but the delays are an indication of the political and legal complexities of making good on the president's timeline.” Matthew Waxman, Columbia Law School professor who handled detainee issues at the Pentagon and the State Department under President George W. Bush told Politico “he was not surprised that the task force reports weren’t ready. ‘The issue is just extremely complicated... The legal, political and operational terrain keeps shifting.’” On an action as important as closing the detention center at Guantanamo Bay it is important that these decisions be made responsibly. The New York Times reports, “[t]he goal, one senior administration official said, is to build a “durable and effective” framework for - dealing with the detainees at Guantánamo and future detainees captured in the fight against terrorists. The officials said they were on track to review the current detainees’ cases to determine who could be transferred overseas and who could be tried in military or civilian courts in the United States.” To further complicate the issue, the Administration has met resistance from Congress. Politico reports, the “major issues related to the new policies remain unresolved, and Congress has complicated the effort with legislation last month that restricts Obama’s ability to ship detainees out of the prison at Guantanamo Bay, officials said Monday.”  [Washington Post, 7/21/09. NY Times, 7/20/09. Politico, 7/20/09]

Guantanamo Bay needs to be closed correctly, but it needs to be closed: it is in our national security interests.  In September, a bipartisan panel made up of Secretaries Kissinger, Albright, Powell, Baker, and Christopher all agreed that closing Guantanamo Bay is vital for repairing the damage it has caused to America’s image. As James Baker, Secretary of State for George H.W. Bush, said: “Close Guantanamo. We were on a panel together several months ago, and we all agreed, one of the best things that could happen would be to close Guantanamo, which is a very serious blot upon our reputation.”  

Matthew Alexander, the pseudonym of the retired Air Force major and interrogator who located the notorious terrorist Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, believes that Abu Ghraib and Guantanamo were the main reasons fighters came to Iraq to attack Americans.  He said in an interview with Harper’s magazine that, “I listened time and time again to foreign fighters, and Sunni Iraqis, state that the number one reason they had decided to pick up arms and join Al Qaeda was the abuses at Abu Ghraib and the authorized torture and abuse at Guantanamo Bay...  Consequently it is clear that at least hundreds but more likely thousands of American lives (not to count Iraqi civilian deaths) are linked directly to the policy decision to introduce the torture and abuse of prisoners as accepted tactics.”  

Navy General Counsel Alberto Mora made a similar point when he testified before Congress, explaining that the stain on America’s image caused by Guantanamo Bay lead directly to American deaths: “Serving U.S. flag-rank officers... maintain that the first and second identifiable causes of U.S. combat deaths in Iraq – as judged by their effectiveness in recruiting insurgent fighters into combat – are, respectively the symbols of Abu Ghraib and Guantanamo.”  [Harper’s Magazine, 12/18/08. Alberto Mora, 6/17/08. Senate Armed Services Committee,12/08. CNN, 9/20/08.]

What We’re Reading

Amidst the continued post-election strife, Iran’s Revolutionary Guard has emerged as the driving force behind efforts to crush the still-defiant opposition movement. The extensive use of the military has led some commentators to call the election a military coup. Meanwhile, Ayatollah Khamenei warned that continuing post-election divisions would lead to the collapse of Iran’s ruling elite, as ex-president Mohammad Khatami made a fresh call for a referendum on the countries legitimacy.

The US military bombed about 300 tons of poppy seeds in southern Afghanistan on Tuesday in an attempt to break up the Taliban’s connection to the drug trade and limit its income from poppy production.  For voters in the province of Badakhshan, the loss of income from poppy production is poised to be a prominent and perhaps even decisive issue in the upcoming Afghan election. Meanwhile, the deadliest month of the Afghan conflict for coalition forces to date continues as 4 US troops are killed by a roadside bomb in the eastern part of the country.

Eight Taliban militants attacked three government buildings and a U.S. base in two eastern cities Tuesday in near-simultaneous attacks.

As support of religious parties from his Shiite sect wanes, Iraqi Premier Nouri Maliki has attempted to broaden his appeal by reaching out to rival Sunnis in the name of unity.

On the final day of Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s visit to India, the US and India announced an agreement on a series of defense, space and civil nuclear deals and established a high-level dialogue designed to deepen relations between the two countries.

The lone surviving gunman in the Mumbai attacks pleads guilty.

The World Health Organization confirms that the H1N1 virus (swine flu) has killed over 700 people worldwide since the outbreak began four months ago.

Japan's prime minister Taro Aso dissolved parliament to make way for an election next month which is likely to bring to an end more than half a century of his party's near unbroken rule.

Georgian President Mikhail Saakashvili unveils a series of democratic reforms ahead of a visit by Vice President Joe Biden. The proposals include early local elections, the direct election of mayors, and a reduction in presidential powers.

Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates on Monday announced a temporary increase in the size of the Army of up to 22,000 troops to meet what he called the “persistent pace” of operations in Iraq and Afghanistan. The goal of the increase is to ease the strain of deployment, as many troops have faced repeated lengthy rotations in Afghanistan or Iraq.

Commentary of the Day

Roger Cohen analyzes the divide between Iran’s proud sense of itself and its history and the recent conduct of the hard-line Khamenei-Ahmadinejad faction. Meanwhile, Robert Tait asserts that the imprisonment of the frail reformer Saeed Hajarian exposes the “illogical cruelty” of Iran’s leaders.

The LA Times writes that the current state of coalition operations in Afghanistan is beginning to resemble the chaos that gripped Iraq at the height of its insurgency several years ago.

The Times of India praises the “frank and fair” dialogue between the US and India that characterized Secretary Clinton’s visit, but calls for a more substantive acknowledgement on both sides of the importance of bilateral relations between the two states. 

Gregory Rodriguez discusses the importance of President Obama’s recent visit to Ghana and notes the unique history of Africa’s history and future that only he could provide.