President Barack Obama signaled his intention Wednesday to press forward on his plan to close the prison at Guantanamo Bay, despite a growing challenge from both political parties and a limited set of options to make his detainee policy work.
In a sign of how much momentum he has lost, the Senate voted 90-6 on Wednesday to block funding for the shutdown, a vote taken in a politically charged environment that followed criticism that the administration was backtracking on the security of Americans.
In an effort to retake the political momentum, Obama plans an address Thursday to forcefully defend his proposal for closing the Guantanamo facility — located on a U.S. Navy base in Cuba — by year’s end. In the speech, Obama also will address prospects for a controversial proposal to hold detainees indefinitely without trial, if necessary, and will reassert his argument that closing the prison would advance national security.
“The president signed an order early in his administration to close it, and he intends to keep that promise,” said Robert Gibbs, the White House spokesman.
In one possible sign of a new approach, an administration official said that for the first time, a Guantanamo detainee is being sent to the United States to stand trial in federal criminal court.
Ahmed Khalfan Ghailani, a Tanzanian captured in Pakistan in 2004, was indicted by a grand jury in New York for allegedly participating in attacks on two U.S. embassies in Africa in 1998.
Obama met with leaders of human-rights organizations Wednesday, as Congress debated the issue.
Following Obama’s decision to close the prison four months ago, few new options have emerged to ease the way to a shutdown. To ultimately clear the political logjam, the administration and Congress face difficult and politically unpopular policy choices.
“The president is going to have to spend political capital, he will have to lean on people and call out the political cowards,” said John Hutson, a retired admiral who advised Obama on detention policy during the presidential campaign. “He is going to have to regain the high ground and the initiative. He had the initiative, and it slipped away.”
The administration counterattack began Wednesday, when a top Pentagon official countered the growing congressional opposition to moving detainees to the United States, saying the government must place some detainees in prisons in the U.S.
“This is a case where we need to ask members of Congress to take a more strategic view,” said Michele Flournoy, the undersecretary of defense for policy. “Many of these members called for the closing of Guantanamo, and we need their partnership in making that possible.”
But Republicans seized on remarks Wednesday by FBI Director Robert Mueller, who told Congress that detainees could pose risks in U.S. prisons, such as radicalizing other inmates.
Mueller, appointed by former President George W. Bush, also noted that convicted criminals have run gangs from within federal prisons, suggesting the possibility that terrorists could coordinate attacks from within their cells.
Democratic lawmakers and human rights activists said Obama must use Thursday’s speech to recover ground lost to the Republicans in the debate over Guantanamo.
“One thing he has to do is begin to articulate the specifics of a plan for closing Guantanamo,” said Mark Mellman, a Democratic pollster close to the congressional leadership. “The Hill needs to hear that.”
The administration has been caught up in a series of controversies related to national security in recent weeks. Liberals have criticized its reluctance to punish architects of the Bush administration’s detention policies, its refusal to release photos of harsh interrogations and its decision to stick with the military commissions.
And Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) ignited a firestorm when she accused the CIA of misleading her regarding a briefing on interrogation techniques. On Wednesday, former Speaker Newt Gingrich called for her to resign.
Conservatives have loudly denounced Obama’s policies, charging the president has lowered America’s defenses and made terrorist attacks more likely. Former Vice President Dick Cheney, a frequent critic, is set to speak Thursday to the American Enterprise Institute, a Washington think tank.
Gibbs, the White House press secretary, said Obama would not release a lengthy report Thursday on his plan for Guantanamo. But experts said that resolving the issue likely will require the Obama administration to endorse additional policies unpopular with its political allies.
For instance, with few other nations volunteering to accept prisoners, the administration may have to transfer some detainees back to their home countries. The administration also is considering ways to hold detainees in the U.S. without trial.
– – –
DEBATE OVER CLOSING GITMO
President Barack Obama is weighing plans on how to close the Guantanamo Bay detention center in Cuba and what to do with about 240 detainees still there. Here is a primer into the knotted partisan debate over the issue.
QWhat is the Guantanamo Bay facility and why is it important?
AThe Guantanamo Bay detention camp, at a U.S. military base in Cuba, has been used to house suspects that the United States believes were involved with terrorism. Since 2001, an estimated 775 prisoners have moved through the facility, informally known as Gitmo. Of that group, about 420 have been released without charges and at least 70 were transferred to other nations.
The U.S. is reviewing what to do with about 240 inmates that remain there. About 30 may be released soon, Atty. Gen. Eric Holder said in April. Holder is trying to persuade other countries to accept detainees.
Trials under military commissions were held at the camp, which became a worldwide symbol of opposition to the Bush administration policy that condoned harsh interrogation and what some called the torture of detainees. There also were complaints, from military and civilian defense lawyers, that the commissions violated judicial due process.
QWhat is the Obama administration’s position?
AAs a candidate, Obama opposed the tribunals and condemned the Bush administration’s treatment of detainees. On Jan. 22, Obama announced he had signed an executive order to suspend the proceedings and that Guantanamo would be shut down within a year.
But shutting Gitmo means figuring out what to do with the detainees. Republicans repeatedly have opposed shutting the facility, arguing that it is the best place to house detainees awaiting judicial review. Republicans and Democrats say they have concerns about relocating detainees within the U.S., and foreign governments are reluctant to take them.
QWhat are the politics of the disputes?
AIn general, Republicans have used the issues to argue that Obama is soft on security and unwilling to use tough questioning techniques to get information, and that he ignores the danger of moving terrorism suspects to U.S. soil.
The White House counters that torture has not been shown to get accurate information and that people lie under torture to end the ordeal. Obama also has argued in recent town hall-style meetings that “enhanced interrogation techniques” violate the spirit and morality of U.S. policies.
———–
The life of Guantanamo
See a timeline of the history of the center at chicagotribune.com/gitmohistory
jbarnes@tribune.com
jmeyer@tribune.com
