Showing posts with label foreign policy. Show all posts
Showing posts with label foreign policy. Show all posts
Tuesday, 17 September 2013
Wednesday, 22 May 2013
Wednesday, 8 May 2013
Tuesday, 7 May 2013
Obama versus Congress on Guantanamo | Nicholas Wapshott
As a candidate in 2008, Obama, a distinguished Harvard-educated legal scholar known in the Senate for his common sense and humanity, promised to quickly close the prison for 166 terrorist suspects in the U.S. naval base at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba. The existence of a U.S. detention center that ignores the basic legal right of habeas corpus and the failure to bring prisoners to trial after so many years “erode our moral claims that we are acting on behalf of broader universal principles,” he said. He went on to repeat his pledge, yet five years on, Gitmo is still open for business.
The president’s embarrassment can be blamed, in part, on his naïveté. For a while after his inauguration in 2009 he appeared to be under the impression he had been elected the most powerful man on earth. It has taken four painful years for him to realize that the division of government guaranteed by the Constitution prevents him from doing not only what he wishes but what a majority of Americans have mandated.Under the guise of saving money, Congress has stymied the president’s plan to try those believed guilty of terrorist offenses on U.S. soil and to release the 86 innocents who have been held without trial for years. Despite their insistence that they believe in America’s system of justice, it appears that many congressmen have little faith in it.
Obama versus Congress on Guantanamo | Nicholas Wapshott:
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Dec 2011: Why Obama Can't Close Guantanamo | Foreign Affairs
Why Obama Can't Close Guantanamo | Foreign Affairs:
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Congress has used its spending oversight authority both to forbid the White House from financing trials of Guantánamo captives on U.S. soil and to block the acquisition of a state prison in Illinois to hold captives currently held in Cuba who would not be put on trial -- a sort of Guantánamo North. The current defense bill now before Congress not only reinforces these restrictions but moves to mandate military detention for most future al Qaeda cases unless the president signs a waiver. The White House withdrew a veto threat on the eve of likely passage Wednesday, saying the latest language gives the executive enough wiggle room to avoid military custody.
May 2013: Obama's Renewed Push to Close Guantanamo Faces Test in Congress - WSJ.com
The Gitmo hunger strike has seen Obama renew his attempts to close the detention centre.
Obama's Renewed Push to Close Guantanamo Faces Test in Congress - WSJ.com:
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Obama's Renewed Push to Close Guantanamo Faces Test in Congress - WSJ.com:
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Sunday, 24 March 2013
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