Legalities
Life, Politics and the Law From ABC News Correspondent Jan Crawford Greenburg
Jan Crawford Greenburg is a correspondent for ABC News' bureau in Washington DC. She covers politics, the Supreme Court and provides legal analysis for ABC News. She is a graduate of the University of Chicago's law school and is a member of the New York bar.
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Bush to Close Guantanamo?
July 02, 2008 7:06 PM
President Bush will soon decide whether to close Guantanamo Bay as a prison for al-Qaeda suspects, sources tell ABC News. High-level discussions among top advisers have escalated in the past week, with the most senior administration officials in continuous talks about the future of the prison camp at Guantanamo Bay--and how it will be dramatically changed and/or closed in the wake of the Supreme Court's ruling that gave detainees there access to federal courts.
Sources have confirmed that President Bush is expected to be briefed on these pressing GTMO issues--and may reach a decision on the future of the naval base as a prison for al Qaeda suspects--before he leaves for the G8 on Saturday. An announcement, however, is not expected before he leaves the country.
High-level administration officials say the Court's decision dramatically changes the legal landscape--and raises questions about whether the government has solid evidence to present to federal judges to justify ongoing detentions.
That evidence, much of it classified and obtained by military and CIA personnel on the battlefield, is not the standard kind of proof judges are accustomed to seeing in regular criminal cases here, administration officials say. The documents do not contain the kind of detail—or include sources of that information—that’s typical in criminal cases, sources say.
Late last month for example, a federal appeals court in Washington said the government failed to prove its case with one detainee from China. The administration fears that's a sign of things to come—in light of the Supreme Court’s ruling giving other detainees even broader habeas corpus rights to challenge their detentions in court, sources tell ABC News.
Of course, there is generally wide agreement--from Defense Secretary Robert Gates, Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice and even Bush himself--that GTMO should eventually be closed. But the Court ruling could well hasten that move, since it undercuts the main reason to keep the detainees there. A key reason for imprisoning the detainees at GTMO in the first place was the belief that they would not have access to the courts, since they were not on U.S. soil.
The recent discussions---which have involved numerous meetings with the most senior advisers to the President--the Principals--are about how to handle the some 260 detainees still imprisoned at GTMO. Should they be brought to the United States, and where, of course, to put them if they are to be imprisoned in this country?
Bush has not decided whether he will announce that GTMO should be closed, sources say. But at the very least, sources say, he will soon announce a host of these legal and policy changes that will force Congress to come up with a solution--including where to imprison those detainees if GTMO does, in fact, shut its doors.
July 2, 2008 | Permalink | User Comments (226)
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Close it and close it soon so that it removes one more campaign issue that Obama can club McCain over the head with. Close it now!!
Posted by: Glen W. Livingston | Jul 2, 2008 7:54:47 PM
YES! Close it, release all those held there on their own recognaissance. The DNC can arrange for concerned members of the democrat party of offer housing for these poor people until their legal issues are settled.
Posted by: Sailor- USA | Jul 2, 2008 7:55:29 PM
Maybe Nancy and Harry can take a few of them home for a sleep over.
Posted by: Lawrence Talbot | Jul 2, 2008 8:00:10 PM
Right on Sailor. I'm sure with all the concern and love that Pelosi, Reid, Ginsburg, ACLU, et al have shown for these people, they will gladly allow them to live in their homes and offer them all the rights and privileges of a US citizen. Hell, we might as well give them free heath care, education, and food stamps!
Posted by: Aaron | Jul 2, 2008 8:02:53 PM
There are people there even the Bush Administration has deemed to be innocent but cannot get their releases approved. The place is corrupt and needs to go away.
Posted by: Reality Check | Jul 2, 2008 8:15:48 PM
No!!! Don't close it!!! Where will we keep all the shepards and farmers we arrest in "blind sweep" operations on foreign "battlefields". Where else can we indefinitely detain people based on nothing but the say-so of their fellow villagers with old grudges, or "informants" hungry for more laundered drug money??
Posted by: Velocitor | Jul 2, 2008 8:17:29 PM
The only way to release these so called prisoners is to take them back to the point of their capture.
Posted by: C Rock | Jul 2, 2008 8:17:33 PM
i believe we need to follow the rules WE have put in affect Geneva convention it amazes me how many people act like you have to be in love with someone to give them the right to be proven guilty or innocent! we talk about Iraq and Husain's way of dealing with those he felt were guilty of a crime and then we want to do the same? Do you really think the only way to stop terrorist is to act like them? whats the next move? doing car bombs? flying a plane with civilians into a building? get a grip we are suppost to be the GOOD GUYS RIGHT???
Posted by: melissa | Jul 2, 2008 8:19:04 PM
Close it, because this administration does not have sufficient credible evidence to charge most of the people it is holding, see the Chinese Uguars.
Posted by: concerned citizen | Jul 2, 2008 8:21:11 PM
What about the thousands of prisoners said to be aboard prison ships - same deal?
Posted by: Hank | Jul 2, 2008 8:22:10 PM
May I most humble suggest that we give Terrorists a fair military trial then execute them. It makes no sense to encarcerate them. When they are put in prison, their "friend" commit more crimes to pressure our government to release them. Shalom.
Posted by: Joseph | Jul 2, 2008 8:26:29 PM
Obviously, we can't call thousands of soldiers to give witness testimony. Give them back to the Northern Alliance and the Iraqis. They'll beg to stay here.
Posted by: Carol | Jul 2, 2008 8:28:28 PM
No, it won't happen. Bush is always saying things that you can not believe for a minute. This is, of course, unless what he is saying doesn't matter. Since this is just where he wants this prison, there is no way he is going to do anything at all about it.
Posted by: Vicki | Jul 2, 2008 8:28:47 PM
Keep it open and put ALL DEMOCRATS IN GITMO! LIBERALS are the pariah of true freedom-loving people everywhere! Liberalism and Socialism are INCOMPATIBLE with FREEDOM!
Posted by: Kurt | Jul 2, 2008 8:33:10 PM
How can so many people be so shortsighted and blinded by rage to willingly destroy our legal history and legacy? The geneva conventions created a beacon of hope and decency in this world, visible to all. Now we settle for Jack Bauer tactics. Protecting our legal legacy is patriotic.
Posted by: Viking | Jul 2, 2008 8:33:56 PM
Keep it OPEN and put BUSH, CHENEY, RICE, RUMSFELD,GATES, ROVE in there with orange jump suits on and water board them once a day..
Posted by: Buddy | Jul 2, 2008 8:34:36 PM
I love the picture that abc chose for this article. See any bias here? Make Bush look as dumb as possible to push your agenda. Congrats on the "reporting" abc.
Posted by: Chuck | Jul 2, 2008 8:35:40 PM
Contract with our "new friends" the Vietnamese to "take care" of them, they definitely know how to do that, and then close GTMO altogether. We don't really need it as a base anyway.
Posted by: Garr Obl | Jul 2, 2008 8:35:44 PM
I think they should move them to the Federal prison in Washington, DC (if there is one there) then release them on their own recognaissance. Either that or divide the no. of prisoners by the number of Democrat senators and transfer that number to each of their home districts and release them there. Maybe all the bleeding heart senators and their supporters will take them in.
Posted by: RedTeam | Jul 2, 2008 8:35:48 PM
You people think that the prisoners at Gitmo are just there because they got caught jay walking? Come on. They are terrorists. Their goal in life is to kill people. And some of those that have been released already go right back to killing people again.
Posted by: James in San Diego | Jul 2, 2008 8:36:40 PM
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