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Holder: U.S. Still Determined to Close Gitmo

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February 25, 2009 4:55 PM

ABC News’ Jason Ryan reports:  Despite his recent observation that the U.S. detention facility at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba is “well run,” Attorney General Eric Holder said the Obama administration is still determined to shut the facility down.

Holder, who visited the facility Monday, described his trip as "instructive,” and said that during his tours of the different detainee facilities, he “was impressed by the people who are presently running the camp” and that the facilities “are good ones.”

"But I think it does not in any way decrease our determination to close the facility, even though, as I said, I think it is being well run now," Holder said at a news conference at the Justice Department, announcing the results of a major offensive against a Mexican drug cartel

"Our determination to close it, I think, is rooted in the things that the President spoke about when he signed the executive order and is consistent with my testimony during my confirmation hearing."

Holder traveled to the facility with senior Justice Department lawyers and Matthew Olsen, whom he appointed last week to head the Guantanamo Detainee Review Task Force, the panel charged with evaluating the detainees' cases.

While at the facility, the attorney general met with military lawyers and guards and reviewed the charges and case histories of the detainees being held there. 

Asked to respond to a Reuters report that some abuse at Guantanamo has taken place since President Obama has ordered the detention facility Holder said, "I did not witness anything in -- when I was at Guantanamo that indicated people were getting in, I think, as you put it, last licks.”

“I did not witness any mistreatment of prisoners...What I saw was a very conscious attempt to conduct -- for these guards to conduct themselves in an appropriate way,” Holder continued.

On Thursday, several lawyers representing Guantanamo detainees are expected to send a letter to President Obama, urging him to intervene and stop the alleged abuse of about 20 of their clients.

Also on Wednesday, Director of National Intelligence Dennis Blair said the facility has blunted the United States’ ability to deal with other countries.

"The damage it has done to [our] international reputation has made things more difficult for us….we don’t have blue chips we want trade in other areas," he told lawmakers on the House Intelligence Committee.

February 25, 2009 | Permalink | User Comments (16)

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Terrorists everywhere know that with OBie and Holder in charge, the US will back down anytime and anywhere - all they have to do is cry "torture."

Posted by: John Kantor | Feb 25, 2009 5:21:15 PM

Is that the same Gitmo in which Holder's law firm represents more than a dozen detainees? Hmmm...go figure.

Posted by: Independent63 | Feb 25, 2009 5:28:27 PM

Here is an idea for you libbies!!
Everyone of these Democrats in the House, Senate and Obama should take a gitmo prisoner home with them. The rule is you can't torture them, You have to be nice and cuddle them to until they can't stand it it anymore.

Posted by: ourprezissobrillant | Feb 25, 2009 5:30:01 PM

Holder is a clear and present jerk.

Posted by: Chas | Feb 25, 2009 5:36:25 PM

Tax dollars to keep this open and tax dollars for the octomom i wonder which is more. After how many years and still know trial I wonder how many of you if put in prison would like it why don't you wear someone else's shoes for awhile in all things unemployed, unemployment compensation exhausted, and living on the street. Now you rob a grocery store of a loaf of bread to feed your child, now your in prison for that loaf of bread. 6 years later your still there and not even brought into a court of law. How do the shoes feel now???

Posted by: Rose Szymanski | Feb 25, 2009 5:44:03 PM

Treat the terrorists no better than the psychotics they are.I see a good opportunity for some psychiatric drug case studies.What do you think big pharmaceutical?Lets try those drugs on people other than our own domestic prisoners,children, and U.S. Military members.

Posted by: Reflect08 | Feb 25, 2009 5:48:27 PM

More Obama hypocrisy!

He sanctimoniously pats himself on the back for closing Gitmo--which his own investigation just showed complies with the Geneva Convention. But he will just move these guys to Bagram AFB in Afghanistan--where his own administration just announced the inmates are "enemy combatants"--and have no rights is US courts.

Gosh, that is the GW Bush position.

Posted by: OMG! Obama is Bush Lite! | Feb 25, 2009 5:51:35 PM

WOW Listen to the sore losers! They are still calling names, since they have no coherent argument to make on this or any other subject. They get to be tiring and not worth reading.

Posted by: Herb Gray | Feb 25, 2009 5:57:06 PM

OMG if they have no rights in US courts what are they doing in a us prison???

Posted by: Rose Szymanski | Feb 25, 2009 6:06:44 PM

Hey anyone read the Law of Land Warfare? Probably not - if you had you'd know these people are NOT entitled to the US federal courts. (I'm a soldier) They are being treated there because he have "idealists" who are tearing the country apart....all because of the childish response "I won". I would love a world where there was no more war or hatred - I'm sorry it realistly cannot happen. Someone read the history books please.

Posted by: Constitutionalist | Feb 26, 2009 10:34:34 PM

Holder is a jerk. The racist comment he made shows what the Obama administraiton is. Obama ran for all the people, not just African-Aermicans. We knew then and it is confirmed now, that he was saying whatever would get him elected. If ABC and been fair they would have condemned the racist comment but they did not.

Posted by: Jane | Feb 27, 2009 7:45:14 AM

Did anyone else find it interesting that it was Attorney’s General Eric Holder (the comment Coward) that was chosen to sit out the speech (in case something happened, like an attack of some kind). Was Obama just trying to keep him out of the picture for a while, Or was he being spanked for his comment !!?

Just think if something had happened and he had wound up in charge. A hapless Coward as a leader (even if he was being spanked they should have chosen someone else). He tried to call others cowards but he was the Ultimate Coward because:…….. Funny, I didn’t hear him make a comment like that during his Confirmation Hearings.

Posted by: Da Truth | Feb 27, 2009 12:30:36 PM

Isn’t it interesting that NOW we are hearing all these excuses as to why Gitmo can not be closed ‘Right Now’. When Obum was campaigning, he (and the media ) implied that it could, and would, be closed almost immediately (if Obama was elected). Now, we are hearing all these caveats as to why it is Not So Easy to close Gitmo. You know, like it is going to be difficult to find countries to take these dangerous individuals (but I thought, according to the liberals & the liberal press, that all the detainees were innocent individuals illegally imprisoned; only now are we hearing that some of them might actually be dangerous). Also, the media is now admitting that some of the detainees are ‘very guilty’ but the evidence may be tainted (in various ways), or that to try them may divulge very classified information,….so on & so forth, .. so on & so forth, etc., etc.

Prior to the election, the liberals & our ‘Grand Illustrious Media’ said (or at least strongly implied) that it was a simple Black & White Issue – They are either Guilty or they weren’t. You either try them quickly or set them free. All this without any comprehension of the fact that there are Many SHADES OF GRAY on this issue - especially associated with War (as opposed to simple Law Enforcement within a given country) & the confusion of War Time interpretations of law, especially International law (where there may be no real agreement between nations or strong absolutely clear precedents (not to mention how unenforceable all this can be in actual battlefield situations, or after the fact attempts to determine what actually happened when both sides of the warring factions are inclined to cover themselves). Geneva doesn’t necessarily cover all these situations and the individual circumstances & caveats. War is messy & so are all the supposed laws associated with it. In WWII we took many prisoners but did each one get a trial to make sure they were really shooting at our troops, what if they had been forced to fight by their countries commanders when they did not want to. Did Roosevelt consider all those captured troops innocent until Proven Guilty.

Japanese Americans were interred during WWII and when Liberals & the Media speak about the interment they imply it was done by anonymous US Officials. They seldom speak the truth that it was ordered by Roosevelt. Should we have tried FDR !!? Liberals seldom acknowledge this point. (some have said that the Japanese American population was the perfect ‘matrix’ in which Japanese spies could operate even if most Japanese Americans opposed them, and this could have made it much easier to invade the west coast -- something widely feared at the time. So it may be hard to second guess FDR, but just as difficult to second guess Bush) Also, Lincoln threatened to imprison a Supreme Court Justice who spoke against him on the war. He made it clear he would tolerate no other opinions on the issue, effectively suppressing Free Speech. During WWI a law was passed that made it Illegal to Speak Against the US, once again suppressing Free Speech. War creates all sorts of Shades of Gray.

You liberals may think Water Boarding is Real Torture but it is Not by WWII standards. Far worse happened in that war (and other wars) and often for revenge purposes (not to gather information – which is a safety concern for troops as well as civilians). There even came a time when the Japanese seldom, if ever, took prisoners………. It would take me forever to truly inform you on this issue since you SO often live in the fantasy realm. For that reason I have left out several caveats, but I assume you can think on your feet a little, to read between the lines and figure some of the other realities out for yourself. If I have to explain every little thing to you, then you truly are a lost cause.

Obama and the Liberal Press are just now beginning to break these truth to the Naïve Liberals (some of which Obama may not have known till he got classified briefings – which speaks to the inexperience question).

The world was not as Simple, and Black & White as You thought.

Welcome to the REAL WORLD libbies !!!

Posted by: Da Truth | Feb 27, 2009 12:35:53 PM

Why would anyone in their right mind, want to close Gitmo. That's about as stupid as when they closed Alcatraz. Gitmo is the perfect place to keep those that are there, just as Alcatraz was the perfect place to keep Americas worst criminals. The people that are incarcerated at Gitmo, will just have to be moved to somewhere else, so why not just keep them where they are. If it ain't broke, don't fix it. Gitmo ain't broke !

Posted by: luke_4u | Feb 28, 2009 9:56:57 AM

Comparing a U.S. citizen's rights in stealing a loaf of bread, to foreign terrorists who would cut the head off of the above poster while he's still alive if they had the chance is shocking to say the least, and definitely disturbing and sad.

Posted by: RR GOP | Feb 28, 2009 10:23:43 AM

close it then talk about it.
charge them or let them go.
seven years to make a case?!

Posted by: Paul Wall | Mar 2, 2009 7:16:09 AM

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