White House Drafts Executive Order For Indefinite Detention - RawStory/ProPublica

[WillyT]

Great... the terrorists win, yet again.

White House drafts executive order for indefinite detention
By ProPublica
Tuesday, December 21st, 2010 -- 7:40 pm

<snip>

The White House is preparing an Executive Order on indefinite detention that will provide periodic reviews of evidence against dozens of prisoners held at Guantanamo Bay, according to several administration officials.

The draft order, a version of which was first considered nearly 18 months ago, is expected to be signed by President Obama early in the New Year. The order allows for the possibility that detainees from countries like Yemen might be released if circumstances there change.

But the order establishes indefinite detention as a long-term Obama administration policy and makes clear that the White House alone will manage a review process for those it chooses to hold without charge or trial.

Nearly two years after Obama's pledge to close the prison at Guantanamo, more inmates there are formally facing the prospect of lifelong detention and fewer are facing charges than the day Obama was elected.

That is in part because Congress has made it difficult to move detainees to the United States for trial. But it also stems from the president's embrace of indefinite detention and his assertion that the congressional authorization for military force, passed after the 2001 terrorist attacks, allows for such detention.

And...

Jameel Jaffer, a national security lawyer at the American Civil Liberties Association, agreed that "more review is better." But he said that an executive order would only "normalize and institutionalize indefinite detention and other policies," that were set in place by the Bush administration.

<snip>

More: http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2010/12/white-house-drafts-indefinite-detention/

:argh:

:puke:

[villager]

1. but it's, you know, a *hopeful* kind of creeping totalitarianism...

n/t

[WillyT]

3. I Guess What He Meant Was...

Hope, and Change to no hope...

Then Hope again, and Change again to no hope...

Then more Hoping, and... on and on and on...

:shrug:

[Foo Fighter]

11. It was an error at the printing company.

The signs were supposed to read "Chains you can believe in."

[rug]

2. "weigh the necessity of the detention, rather than its lawfulness'

Necessity is the mother of invention - and fascism.

[MisterP]

12. Agamben noted that a "permanent state of emergency" is also paradoxical

in its claim to a law outside the law: it's "force of law without law," or, cleverly, "force-of-law." It's not a legalized anarchy but a vigilantism in service to national security. The concept of a lawlessness approved by a government is significant in considering government-authorized political violence, military rule (where the soldiers are seen as the true members and citizens of the nation, not the masses), and “rogue” actors like Oliver North and his superiors acting in accordance with the White House’s wishes and ideas while under “plausible deniability.”

[Laelth]

4. Is it fascism yet?

Why do I have to ask that question with a Democratic President?

-Laelth

[Better Believe It]

5. If George W. Bush had signed an executive order for indefinite detention what would we have said?

And if President Obama signs such an order what should the reaction on DU be?

[TheKentuckian]

6. The exact same. The government has no such authority.

[Raksha]

15. The exact same thing as I'm saying now - it's fascism.

[jaxx]

7. From WaPo breaking news email:

Breaking News Alert: Obama administration readies order on indefinite detention
December 21, 2010 5:33:16 PM
----------------------------------------

The Obama administration is preparing an executive order that would formalize indefinite detention without trial for some detainees at the U.S. military prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, but allow those detainees and their lawyers to challenge the basis for continued incarceration, U.S. officials said.

Under the system established by the previous administration, Guantanamo detainees could go before military review panels with “personal representatives,” military officers who could explain the process but not act as lawyers. The system envisioned under the executive order now being finalized would be more adversarial and would allow detainees to challenge their incarceration periodically, possibly every year.

(no link)

If you're angry about this you should contact the congressionals who refused to bring them to the US for trials.

[girl gone mad]

17. Just to be sure I have it straight..

Obama gets to take full credit for popular Congressional achievements, while Congress deserves all of the blame for his unpopular executive orders?

[nadinbrzezinski]

8. They WON on 9/12

[Luminous Animal]

9. Yep.

[Johnny Harpo]

10. Ahhh...GITMO...Another Broken Promise

n/t

[northernlights]

13. just codifying more of Waaaahssholes's shitting on the Bill of Rights

:woot:

[Hell Hath No Fury]

14. This is truly repulsive.

It is going to be a stain on our Country. :( :puke: We now join the ranks of some truly vile countries who engage in such practices. Obama has just made a joke of his claims of being a "Constitutional scholar".

[MilesColtrane]

16. I hope the ACLU is all over this.

Deplorable and clearly unconstitutional...

[tekisui]

18. Fucking bullshit fascist march.

This is wrong, bad and disgusting.Shame shame shame on the Obama Administration. This is a weak and pathetic position to take.

[dflprincess]

19. What happened to "restoring the rule of law" like candidate Obama promised us?

Just gets better everyday.

[Angry Dragon]

20. Why is gitmo not considered part of the US??

We have a base there, has the US conquered part of Cuba??