It's worth asking if the Obama administration has been conducting a deliberate disinformation campaign on the issue of cooperating with a Spanish judge's plan to investigate Bush administration officials for alleged war crimes. As has been discussed several times on this blog, it is stupefying that the President would even consider such a surrender of US sovereign policy making.
However, today the New York Times reports that the Obama administration is reconsidering its position on the use of military tribunals to prosecute Guantánamo detainees:
The Obama administration is moving toward reviving the military commission system for prosecuting Guantánamo detainees, which was a target of critics during the Bush administration, including Mr. Obama himself.Continuing the military commissions in any form would probably prompt sharp criticism from human rights groups as well as some of Mr. Obama's political allies because the troubled system became an emblem of the effort to use Guantánamo to avoid the American legal system.
Officials who work on the Guantánamo issue say administration lawyers have become concerned that they would face significant obstacles to trying some terrorism suspects in federal courts. Judges might make it difficult to prosecute detainees who were subjected to brutal treatment or for prosecutors to use hearsay evidence gathered by intelligence agencies.
Given the astroturfing nature of the sophisticated Obama message machine I wouldn't be surprised if the Holder comments on cooperating with a Spanish Inquisition were nothing more than a decoy to divert Leftwing attention from this new policy reversal on military commissions at Gitmo. The Obama administration has demonstrated once again that every campaign promise it made had an expiration date (indeed, a very short expiration date on those foreign policy matters it demagogued and berated the Bush administration about). Here's the money quote:
"The more they look at it," said one official, "the more commissions don't look as bad as they did on Jan. 20."
Uh huh. The Left and moderates that bought this President's rhetoric in 2008 should repudiate the administration's flip flop if they desire to maintain any semblance of intellectual honesty and integrity. I'm not holding my breath for that.
Kim has more below.
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Filed under:
Barack Obama
Tags: Detainee Tribunals, Guantánamo Bay, Millitary Tribunals
Comments (20)
HughS: "The Left and mod... (Below threshold)1. Posted by Justrand
| May 2, 2009 12:16 PM | Score: 9 (9 votes cast)
HughS: "The Left and moderates that bought this President's rhetoric in 2008 should repudiate the administration's flip flop if they desire to maintain any semblance of intellectual honesty and integrity"
LOL..."intellectual honesty and integrity"??? they can't even see those things in their rear-view mirrors any more!
Expediency...that's the mantra of the Obama Regime. And the slavish media only gets upset because it means they have even MORE stuff to shove down the old memory hole. Can't have inconvenient truths about prior positions popping up to spoil the rhetoric!
This year is "1984.1", to be followed by "1984.2", .3 and .4
a friend of mine reminded me of this key bit of dialogue from '1984':
Winston Smith:~~ Does Big Brother exist?
O'Brien:~~ Of course he exists.Winston Smith:~~ Does he exist like you or me?
O'Brien:~~~ You do not exist.
George Orwell was only off by 24 years.
1. Posted by Justrand
| May 2, 2009 12:16 PM |
Score: 9 (9 votes cast)
Posted on May 2, 2009 12:16
2. Posted by GarandFan | May 2, 2009 12:26 PM | Score: 9 (9 votes cast)
"intellectual honesty and integrity"
disappeared on Day 1 of the current administration. Obama's sycophants have been twisting themselves into pretzels ever since trying to explain away the incongruities.
First there is 'denial', then there is anger. Still waiting for the anger to kick in.
2. Posted by GarandFan | May 2, 2009 12:26 PM |
Score: 9 (9 votes cast)
Posted on May 2, 2009 12:26
3. Posted by Justrand
| May 2, 2009 12:52 PM | Score: 9 (9 votes cast)
GarandFan: "Still waiting for the anger to kick in."
Been to a Tea Party yet? :)
July 4th should be bigger still! The Sacramento one that I attended had over 15,000 (some claim over 20,000...but I'll got with the Conservative est.)
people are fed up, my friend...Big Brother only THINKS we don't exist!
3. Posted by Justrand
| May 2, 2009 12:52 PM |
Score: 9 (9 votes cast)
Posted on May 2, 2009 12:52
4. Posted by irongrampa | May 2, 2009 1:04 PM | Score: 9 (9 votes cast)
Every political statement Obama utters comes with an expiration date.
You would do well never to forget this.
4. Posted by irongrampa | May 2, 2009 1:04 PM |
Score: 9 (9 votes cast)
Posted on May 2, 2009 13:04
5. Posted by davidt | May 2, 2009 1:23 PM | Score: 5 (5 votes cast)
Tell Obots Obama is Bush's third term.
5. Posted by davidt | May 2, 2009 1:23 PM |
Score: 5 (5 votes cast)
Posted on May 2, 2009 13:23
6. Posted by 914 | May 2, 2009 1:34 PM | Score: 6 (6 votes cast)
The only time you will hear the truth uttered from Obamas lips is when someone pulls the plug on the teleprompter.
6. Posted by 914 | May 2, 2009 1:34 PM |
Score: 6 (6 votes cast)
Posted on May 2, 2009 13:34
7. Posted by GarandFan | May 2, 2009 1:46 PM | Score: 7 (7 votes cast)
"First there is 'denial', then there is anger. Still waiting for the anger to kick in."
I was referring to the Obamabots. They deny He has 'changed' any of his campaign 'promises'. To that end they twist and spin his present words and actions to mesh with his prior statements. I'm waiting to see them move on to the next stage.
I'd really like Obama to talk to his buddy Governor Arnie. That $400 tax break Obama "gave" me was just sucked up by Arnie's raising the vehicle registration fee 100% over last year.
7. Posted by GarandFan | May 2, 2009 1:46 PM |
Score: 7 (7 votes cast)
Posted on May 2, 2009 13:46
8. Posted by Justrand
| May 2, 2009 2:01 PM | Score: 7 (7 votes cast)
914: "The only time you will hear the truth uttered from Obamas lips is when someone pulls the plug on the teleprompter."
Ah, but then the simple and beautiful truth flows unimpeded...and we KNOW Our Dear Leader will guide us through these troubled times!!
I'll never forget the first time I heard him speak un-scripted, TOTALLY sans telepromtper. He opened his mouth, and as a hush fell over the crowd he said:
"What they'll say is, 'Well it costs too much money,' but you know what? It would cost, about... It -- it -- it would cost about the same as what we would spend... It... Over the course of 10 years it would cost what it would costs us...All right. Okay. We're going to... It... It would cost us about the same as it would cost for about -- hold on one second. I can't hear myself. But I'm glad you're fired up, though. I'm glad."
[I highlighted the part that REALLY provided the wind beneath my wings!!]
8. Posted by Justrand
| May 2, 2009 2:01 PM |
Score: 7 (7 votes cast)
Posted on May 2, 2009 14:01
9. Posted by drjohn | May 2, 2009 2:36 PM | Score: 8 (8 votes cast)
This is simply astonishing. It exposes the naivete of Obama looking in from the outside. He bashed Bush for Bush's intention to use military tribunals.
On the one hand lefties want to accord detainees protections of the Geneva Convention and still accord them civil trials. The Geneva Convention specifically says that detainees are to face military tribunals and according detainees civil trials is a violation of the Geneva Convention.
9. Posted by drjohn | May 2, 2009 2:36 PM |
Score: 8 (8 votes cast)
Posted on May 2, 2009 14:36
10. Posted by drjohn | May 2, 2009 2:41 PM | Score: 8 (8 votes cast)
"The Pentagon's plans for death-penalty prosecutions of six men accused of plotting the 2001 terrorist attacks were criticized by Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama, who said capital punishment is appropriate for such crimes but that military tribunals are the wrong forum for the case.
"These trials will need to be above reproach," the Illinois senator said in a statement Monday. "These trials are too important to be held in a flawed military commission system that has failed to convict anyone of a terrorist act since the 9/11 attacks and that has been embroiled in legal challenges."
Obama said the men should be tried either in a U.S. criminal court or by military court-martial, either of which would "demonstrate our commitment to the rule of law." Both those systems are more protective of defendants' rights than military tribunals, which allow evidence obtained through coercion and hearsay."
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/c/a/2008/02/13/MNL0V16B3.DTL&type=printable
10. Posted by drjohn | May 2, 2009 2:41 PM |
Score: 8 (8 votes cast)
Posted on May 2, 2009 14:41
11. Posted by STaylor | May 2, 2009 2:47 PM | Score: 7 (7 votes cast)
What are you all talking about?
The Great Obama has always supported military tribunals as an effective way to deal with his... I mean our... enemies. Any one who says otherwise is part of the evil Rush's attack plan. These are just more lies like claims that Obama had campaigned against earmarks and rendition.
Now if you don't mind I have some MSNBC to watch.
11. Posted by STaylor | May 2, 2009 2:47 PM |
Score: 7 (7 votes cast)
Posted on May 2, 2009 14:47
12. Posted by marbel | May 2, 2009 4:07 PM | Score: 3 (3 votes cast)
What Obama, if pressed at all, will say:
We took the time we needed, and it's a good thing we did, because, as I have said all along (his favorite catch phrase even if he never said it before), we had to make some significant changes to military tribunals, which we have done, to insure the very best defense, which could not have happened with the system the way it was when we came into office. Blah, blah, blah...followed by another two paragraphs...
Believe me, Obama will make it seem that he, the only one who could, has made a complete overhaul in tribunals, in fact, he has completely transformed them !!!
In fact, everything is so transformational now that unicorns and rainbows have cropped up all over that part of Cuba, and now Gitmo not only can but should stay open.
12. Posted by marbel | May 2, 2009 4:07 PM |
Score: 3 (3 votes cast)
Posted on May 2, 2009 16:07
13. Posted by marbel | May 2, 2009 4:30 PM | Score: 0 (0 votes cast)
OOps, wrong thread.
13. Posted by marbel | May 2, 2009 4:30 PM |
Score: 0 (0 votes cast)
Posted on May 2, 2009 16:30
14. Posted by marc | May 2, 2009 5:06 PM | Score: 4 (4 votes cast)
Just where are ALL the trolls, obamabots, apologists, moonbats, leftists, dems, democraps, code pinkos, progressives?
It's just over 5 hours since this was posted and not one is anywhere near.
14. Posted by marc | May 2, 2009 5:06 PM |
Score: 4 (4 votes cast)
Posted on May 2, 2009 17:06
15. Posted by bryanD | May 2, 2009 5:22 PM | Score: -6 (8 votes cast)
"It's just over 5 hours since this was posted and not one is anywhere near.
14. Posted by marc"
Speaking for the Truthers, this is a redundant post and the quality of the comments thread reflects it.
Even wildwillie is MIA, and he's the Mikey of Wizbang!
15. Posted by bryanD | May 2, 2009 5:22 PM |
Score: -6 (8 votes cast)
Posted on May 2, 2009 17:22
16. Posted by bryanD | May 2, 2009 5:24 PM | Score: -4 (4 votes cast)
"OOps, wrong thread.
13. Posted by marbel"
See?
16. Posted by bryanD | May 2, 2009 5:24 PM |
Score: -4 (4 votes cast)
Posted on May 2, 2009 17:24
17. Posted by marc | May 2, 2009 5:51 PM | Score: 2 (4 votes cast)
bryanD... All I see is you checking in to make sure your dunce cap was still on the table for later use.
17. Posted by marc | May 2, 2009 5:51 PM |
Score: 2 (4 votes cast)
Posted on May 2, 2009 17:51
18. Posted by jmc | May 2, 2009 6:03 PM | Score: -3 (5 votes cast)
Now the far-right like mac are lying about the method used. No proof of course. anyhting to brush aside those pesky facts. Right mac?
18. Posted by jmc | May 2, 2009 6:03 PM |
Score: -3 (5 votes cast)
Posted on May 2, 2009 18:03
19. Posted by marc | May 2, 2009 7:16 PM | Score: 0 (2 votes cast)
What lie and what method jmc?
19. Posted by marc | May 2, 2009 7:16 PM |
Score: 0 (2 votes cast)
Posted on May 2, 2009 19:16
20. Posted by retired military | May 2, 2009 7:22 PM | Score: 3 (3 votes cast)
JMC
No mention made that Obama is treading on principals this country was founded on .
You had plenty to say on this thread about closing GITMO
http://wizbangblog.com/content/2009/01/21/barack-obama-to-close-overseas-interrogation-sites.php
In response to someone saying
"GW may have had faults, but I believed him when he said he takes the safety and security of our nation above all else.
"
You stated
"Certainly above the constitution, our liberty, or the ideals this nation was founded on.
"
So my question is this since we are talking about the prisoners at Gitmo does this statement now apply to Obama?
20. Posted by retired military | May 2, 2009 7:22 PM |
Score: 3 (3 votes cast)
Posted on May 2, 2009 19:22