Report: Obama Moves to Restart Military Commissions

[Dos Equis]

Evidence that his "ready, fire, aim" approach does not work. 

Report: Obama Moves to Restart Military Commissions
Obama will reportedly seek a 90-day extension of the commissions' suspension, after which it is expected that Obama will restart them under new rules that would offer terror suspects greater legal protections.

FOXNews.com

Saturday, May 09, 2009

Government officials say the Obama administration is preparing to restart military commissions established at Guantanamo Bay, the Washington Post has reported.

Obama obtained a four-month suspension of the commissions in the beginning of his administration that is set to expire May 20.  Officials tell the Washington Post that Obama will seek a 90-day extension as early as next week.

After the extension, it is expected that Obama will revive the commissions, under new rules that would offer terror suspects  greater legal protections.  A lawyer briefed on the plan told the Washington Post that the commissions will subsequently restart on American soil.

The commissions will block the use of evidence obtained by harsh interrogations, sources told the Washington Post.

Obama previously said the commissions had "been an enormous failure" and during the campaign said he would "reject the Military Commissions Act."

A Defense Department official told FOX News earlier this week that closing the commissions looked easy on Jan. 20, "but having reviewed the files, it makes sense to keep some cases in the military commissions."

Changes to the commissions would take congressional approval, according to the Defense official.

Officials who work on the Guantanamo issue say administration lawyers have become concerned that they would face significant obstacles to trying some terrorism suspects in federal courts, the NY Times reported earlier this week.

"The more they look at it," an official told the Times, "the more commissions don't look as bad as they did on Jan. 20."

Click here to read the full report from the Washington Post.

http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2009/05/09/report-obama-moves-restart-military-commissions-guantanamo/

[The Showstoppa]

haha, epic backtrack that most in the national media will ignore.

[Dos Equis]

Is this going to be a crickets thread? 

Obama to resurrect military commissions for terror suspects
By Ed Henry
CNN Senior White House Correspondent
     
WASHINGTON (CNN) -- President Obama is planning on Friday to resume the Bush administration's controversial military commission system for some Guantanamo detainees -- which he suspended in his first week in office -- according to three administration officials.

Some of the high-profile terror suspects who are being charged in the military commission process include Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, the self-confessed mastermind of the 9/11 attacks.

The administration officials stressed that the updated system will include expanded due-process rights for the suspects, which administration officials note is consistent with what Obama pushed for as a senator in 2006 in order to improve upon the widely criticized approach created by the Bush administration.

The move could increase tensions with liberal groups, led by the ACLU, which are already furious about Obama's shift this week to block the release of photos showing prisoners allegedly being abused by U.S. personnel in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Anthony Romero, executive director of the ACLU, called the expected new approach on military commissions "fatally flawed" despite the changes.

"The military commissions are built on unconstitutional premises and designed to ensure convictions, not provide fair trials," Romero said in a prepared statement released earlier this week after speculation about the restart of military commissions surfaced. "Reducing some but not all of the flaws of the tribunals so that they are 'less offensive' is not acceptable; there is no such thing as 'due process light.' "

Two of the administration officials said the president will also leave open the option of starting civilian trials on U.S. soil for some of the detainees. But that, too, is a fiercely debated issue on Capitol Hill because of concerns by lawmakers in both parties about where the terror suspects will be kept during such trials.

Obama suspended the military commissions by signing an executive order on his third day in office, the same day he signed an order closing the U.S. military prison at Guantanamo, and said his administration would conduct a 120-day review of the process. That review comes due next week.

"The message that we are sending around the world is that the United States intends to prosecute the ongoing struggle against violence and terrorism," Obama said on January 22. "And we are going to do so vigilantly, 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."

Eager to head off criticism from liberals, administration officials note that during the 2006 Senate debate over the Military Commissions Act, Obama called the Bush administration's approach "sloppy" and pushed for another version of the legislation with enhanced rights for detainees.

"Instead, we have rushed through a bill that stands a good chance of being challenged once again in the Supreme Court," Obama said on the Senate floor on September, 28, 2006. "This is not how a serious administration would approach the problem of terrorism."

http://www.cnn.com/2009/POLITICS/05/14/obama.military.tribunal/index.html