[SuchFriendsAreDangerous]

WASHINGTON -- President Obama, putting his executive pen in his left hand to overrule eight years of Bush administration policy, signed "several" executive orders Thursday, including ones affecting national security.
The national security orders mandate that interrogation techniques in the Army Field Manual be used by all intelligence and law enforcement services; call for a task force to look at closing the detention center in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, within the year; and orders a strategy to be developed for handling detainees in the future. The presidential directive also orders a stay in the case of Ali Al-Marri, the only person being held by the military as an enemy combatant on U.S. soil.
Click here to see the first executive orders signed by Presidents George W. Bush and Clinton.
"We intend to win this fight. We're going to win it on our terms," Obama said as he signed the orders and the directive in the Oval Office. Obama explained each order before he put his pen to them, in some cases reading them in full, and occasionally solicited input from White House counsel Greg Craig to make sure he was describing them correctly.
The executive order says everyone in custody should be questioned under the Army Field Manual, which is intended for honorable combatants, meaning POWs in a military conflict. The rule would prevent trained interrogators at the CIA from using lawful interrogation techniques against terrorists who have been trained to withstand Army Field Manual techniques.
"The message that we are sending the world is that the United States intends to prosecute the ongoing struggle against violence and terrorism and we are going to do so vigilantly and we are going to do so effectively and we are going to do so in a manner that is consistent with our values and our ideals," the president said.
According to sources in the law enforcement community, the executive order on interrogation does not declare "enhanced interrogation techniques" to be torture; the order is silent on that.
"This allows for a lot of flexibility, a lot of wiggle room," said one source.
While the administration has insisted on one interrogation standard, one source says they are thinking about assembling a group within the next 60 days to make recommendations on a set of separate techniques for the intelligence community to use.
White House counsel Greg Craig acknowledged late Wednesday that the administration will have to establish a panel to make recommendations to address intelligence community concerns.
Separately, according to a draft of the Guantanamo order, "the prompt disposition" of detainee cases should "precede" the closure of the Guantanamo Bay prison. Whether that means the detainees have to be tried if possible before the closure is still unclear.
The draft also appears to indicate that Obama will leave open a back door in the order ending the military tribunals.
Obama has said he wants to end the military commissions process but does not have anything to replace it. So, sources say, the administration will seek recommendations within the next six or seven months on how to try them.
Administration officials indicated they do not want detainees outside of the U.S. to get habeas corpus rights or rights similar to those enjoyed by U.S. citizens. The Obama administration will likely go to Congress for what it wants to accomplish.
The order directs all information regarding the remaining 245 detainees be consolidated in a central repository and will create a panel to review those cases and split the detainees up into three categories.
Category one is comprised of the 70 detainees that President Bush sought to repatriate but couldn't because no country wants them, and they would likely be tortured at home. The Obama administration believes they can get foreign countries to take them.
Category two is the group of detainees that can be prosecuted under war crimes in Article III courts federal courts designed to address cases that involve citizens of other countries or tried in modified military commissions. This includes Sept. 11 planner Khalid Sheikh Mohammad. The administration would seek a stay on habeas petitions in Article III courts and continuances on the ongoing military commissions.
Category three is made up of detainees who can't be released and can't be tried. The thought is to create a panel, which could turn into a national security court, to handle these future highest-value detainees to determine prospective policy since terrorists like Al Qaeda chief Usama bin Laden will continue to be caught.
As for Al-Marri, whose case is before the Supreme Court, the intent is to try to make sure the detainee is tried according to the same rules as others who will be subject to the new orders.

Al-Marri was arrested in Peoria, Ill., a couple of months after the Sept. 11 attacks and is accused of being an al Qaeda operative sent to the United States on Sept. 10, 2001, to take part in another attack.
In 2003, President Bush signed an executive order labeling Al-Marri an "enemy combatant" and removing him from civilian custody. The order made the Defense Department responsible for Al-Marri who has been kept in isolation at the Navy brig in Charleston, S.C. His lawyers argue that the president has no "inherent authority" to hold him without charge for an unlimited time.

Separately, the administration was set to issue a reversal of a ban on federal funding for non-governmental organizations working outside the U.S. that offer abortions or abortion counseling.
Obama was to sign the executive order on the 36th anniversary of the landmark Roe v. Wade Supreme Court ruling that legalized abortion in all 50 states.

 

[SuchFriendsAreDangerous]

good first step. so now people, let us all chant down jericho walls, there are many many many more of these places to shut down.


JUAN GONZALEZ: The Associated Press has revealed CIA and FBI agents have been interrogating hundreds of detainees at secret prisons in Ethiopia. Many of the prisoners were recently transferred there secretly and illegally from Kenya and Somalia. They’re being held without charge or access to lawyers or their families.
At least one of the prisoners held in Ethiopia is an American citizen. 24-year-old Amir Mohamed Meshal was detained in Kenya, then transferred to Somalia, then to Ethiopia. On Monday, Congressmember Rush Holt of New Jersey called on Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice to demand his release. Meshal’s parents live in Tinton Falls, New Jersey.


old news, but not for me, I am moving there remember? regardless, they are all over the world, and every so often someone gets caught with their hand in the cookie jar revealing these things, so there is much more work to be done. Let us not let our guard down just because we are supposed to trust the new guy, trusting the new guy is how we have found ourselves in so much shit across the world to begin with..

[demonrail666]

I think the clause that he wants it shut 'within the year' is sensible given the legal nightmare of having to deal with those suspects still detained. Although I can still see real problems when certain individuals that sections of the media will continue to describe as 'terrorists' or a 'major security risk' end up being released from any kind of detainment because of legal technicalities.

[SuchFriendsAreDangerous]

Originally Posted by demonrail666

I think the clause that he wants it shut 'within the year' is sensible given the legal nightmare of having to deal with those suspects still detained

that sounds nice to us here in internet land, but to the folks sitting in prison right now, they are saying, "gee, thats nice, 120 MORE DAYS without a trial..." and "within a year" is not concrete enough for i-man (hence the "..soon.. hopefully?"

we want equal rights and justice, which is the only foundation for true peace.

[demonrail666]

I totally agree. All I'm saying is that what might seem like a popular decision from Obama could end up turning into a real media shit-storm for him. Those currently detained will likely have their cases thrown out by a proper US court, not necessarily because of their innocence but because proper procedures weren't followed while they were at GB (through no fault of Obama, of course). To quote, 'the administration will seek recommendations within the next six or seven months on how to try them.' Either way, images of suspected terrorists walking out of US courtrooms is only going to look bad for Obama when spun by the media into looking like the result of him softening up on the war on terror.

[afterthefact]

It will take more than signing a piece of paper to get this done of course, but it is nice to see somebody follow through on their word for once.

[pbradley]

Only if it suits the powers that be.

[SuchFriendsAreDangerous]

You must spread some Reputation around before giving it to afterthefact again.

so lets continue this work, and set the captives free

Rastafari is a liberation movement, so excuse me if I take all of this very seriously and very personally, but as the shitstem's rhetoric has explained, a threat to freedom anywhere is a threat to freedom everywhere, and if the shitstem can put these in chains, what is to stop them from you?

chant your for your freedom daily

[SpectralJulianIsNotDead]

Great news.

[SuchFriendsAreDangerous]

Originally Posted by SpectralJulianIsNotDead

Great news.

well it is definitely a mixed bag of politricks, because they are going to close the camps, but just transfer all the inmates to other facilities, carrying on as ever...

its all as the navy says, "the big game"

[shentov]

yeah, good first step. hope you guys (US boardies) have more luck with your president than the last 8 years. really.

I kinda like this dude, and so does a huge percent of the rest of the world, I guess.

go, Barack, go .... haha.

PS You must spread some Reputation around before giving it to barack obama again.