14 March 2011 By Stephen
Lendman On March 7, New York Times
writers Scott Shane and Mark Landler headlined, "Obama
Clears Way for Guantanamo Trials," saying: By Executive Order (EO), Obama
authorized their use "with revamped procedures but
implicitly admitt(ed) the failure of his pledge to
close the prison camp." Since taking office, Obama broke
every important pledge he made with regard to: -- war and peace; -- fixing the economy; -- helping beleaguered
homeowners; -- supporting organized labor; -- helping working Americans,
especially those most vulnerable, disadvantaged, and
harmed by economic crisis; -- governing lawfully; -- ending illegal domestic
spying; -- environmental protection; -- a public option included in
health care reform; -- ending Wall Street
shenanigans, corruption, and market manipulation; -- protecting whistleblowers,
human rights, civil liberties, and public education; -- Net Neutrality; -- food safety; -- "ensur(ing) that the hopes and
concerns of average Americans speak louder in
Washington than the hallway whispers of high-priced
lobbyists" - the same ones who own him; and -- ending torture, closing
Guantanamo, and assuring due process and judicial
fairness in civil courts for everyone brought to trial
based on hard, not secret or bogus, evidence. Instead, Obama's March 7 EO
authorized indefinite detentions and military
commissions in violation of the Constitution's Fifth
Amendment, stating: "No person....shall be deprived
of life, liberty, or property, without due process of
law...." Indefinite detentions and
military commissions are lawless, indefensible,
unjustifiable practices that democratic civil
societies don't tolerate. They're reminiscent of Nazi
Germany and Stalinist show trials, assuring guilt by
accusation. The full text of Obama's EO can
be accessed through the following link: http://www.talkingpointsmemo.com/
documents/2011/03/periodic-review-of-individuals-
detained-at-guantanamo-bay-naval-station-
pursuant-to-the-authorizatio. php?page=1 A previous article explained the
following: Section 1031 of the FY 2010
Defense Authorization Act contained the 2009 Military
Commissions Act (MCA), listing changes that include
discarding the phrase "unlawful enemy combatant" for
"unprivileged enemy belligerent." Language changed but
not intent or lawlessness. Obama embraces the same
Bush agenda, including keeping Guantanamo open after
promising to close it, and allowing torture there and
abroad. MCA grants sweeping police state
powers, including that "no court, justice, or judge
shall have jurisdiction to hear or consider any claim
or cause for action whatsoever....relating to the
prosecution, trial, or judgment of a military
commission (including) challenges to the lawfulness of
(its) procedures...." MCA scraped habeas protection
(dating back to the 1215 Magna Carta) for domestic and
foreign state enemies, citizens and non-citizens
alike, and says "Any person is punishable...
who....aids, abets, counsels, commands, or procures,"
and in so doing helps a foreign enemy, provide
"material support" to alleged terrorist groups,
engages in spying, or commits other offenses
previously handled in civil courts. No evidence is
needed. Those charged are guilty by accusation. The
hangman or a firing squad awaits. Appeals aren't
allowed. Other key provisions include: -- legalizing torture against
anyone, letting the president decide what procedures
can be used on his own authority; -- denying detainees
international law protection, letting the executive
interpret or ignore it; -- letting the president convene
military commissions at his discretion to try anyone
he designates an "unprivileged enemy belligerent,"
detaining them indefinitely in secret with or without
evidence; --denying speedy trials or any at
all; -- letting torture coerced
confessions be used as evidence in trial proceedings,
despite US and international law prohibiting cruel and
inhuman treatment at all times, under all conditions,
with no allowed exceptions; also, the US Supreme
Court's February 1936 Brown v. Mississippi ruling
stated: "The rack and torture chamber may
not substitute for the witness stand," and an earlier
November 1926 Fisher v. State decision called coerced
confessions "the chief iniquity, the crowning infamy
(and) the curse of all countries" using them. -- letting hearsay and secret
evidence be used; and -- denying due process and
judicial fairness, destroying human dignity, mocking
the rule of law, and sanctioning kangaroo court
injustice for anyone the executive targets with or
without evidence. In other words, the rule of law
is null and void. Whatever the president says goes. No
one any longer is safe, including US citizens. Police
state America leaves everyone potentially vulnerable,
even those most law-abiding. Currently, 172 detainees are at
Guantanamo. Many remain uncharged and are held
indefinitely. Others will be lawlessly tried. Obama
contemptuously claimed: Indefinite detentions and
military commissions will "broaden our ability to
bring terrorists to justice, provide oversight for our
actions and ensure the humane treatment of the
detainees." Attorney General Holder added: "The executive
order....strengthens the legal framework under which
we will continue to detain those individuals who are
at war with our country and who pose a significant
threat to the security of the United States." No matter that virtually everyone
at Guantanamo is innocent. Yet they've been lawless
detained extrajudicially, and subjected to unspeakable
tortures and ill-treatment, most, in fact, for years. Human Rights organizations
condemned Obama's EO. The Center for Constitutional
Rights (CCR) said the following: "Today's executive order....codif(ies
the lawless) status quo. The creation of a review
process that will take up to a year (then repeated
quadrennially) is a tacit acknowledgment that the
Obama administration intends to leave Guantanamo as a
scheme for unlawful detention without charge and trial
for future presidents to clean up," though who'll be
courageous enough to try. Many thought Obama would.
Instead, he continued the same lawless Bush practices,
adding more of his own. Overall, his record shows
contempt for lawful justice. As a result, "Guantanamo
and the military tribunal system are no longer an
inheritance from the Bush administration - they will
be President Obama's (permanent) legacy." The ACLU said the following: Flaunting international law, due
process, and judicial fairness, "the Obama
administration....institutionaize(d) unlawful
indefinite detention (and) revive(d) the illegitimate
Guantanamo military commissions....The detention of
Guantanamo detainees for nine years without charge or
trial is a stain on America's reputation that should
be ended immediately, not given a stamp of approval." Military commissions under past
or revamped rules assure guilt by accusation. "The
only way to restore the rule of law is to put an end
to indefinite detention at Guantanamo and the broken
commissions system..." Obama's EO showed contempt for
lawful justice and fairness. Human Rights Watch (HRW) tried
having it both ways, saying Obama's EO "provides an
additional layer of review not previously available,"
implying improvement when, in fact, there's none -
just cover for continued lawlessness. At the same time, HRW added that
"(a)uthorizing indefinite detention(s) would have
created a real danger of a permanent regime of
indefinite detention for anyone the government decides
is dangerous. But by limiting (the number), President
Obama has committed his administration to apply the
practice only to the mishandled cases left by his
predecessor." False and outrageous! Using
weasel words, Obama continued the same Bush lawless
practices against anyone claimed to threaten national
security, including US citizens, many rotting in
federal prisons unjustly. Though HRW "strongly opposes the
use of military commission(s)," its March 7 statement
fell far short of unequivocally and forcefully
condemning Obama's continuation of unjustifiable
lawlessness. In fact, HRW's support for the
oppressed was always dubious at best, trying to have
it both ways by endorsing human rights while backing
US imperial lawlessness - as do its funders that
include the Ford and Rockefeller Foundations, the
(George) Soros Foundations, the Carnegie Corporation
of New York, Time Warner and others. Human Rights First (HRF) called a
periodic review process "a step in the right
direction." In fact, it's shameless cover to continue
lawless Bush era practices. However, HRF condemned
military commissions and called indefinite detentions
"a serious threat to fundamental rights and is no
substitute for criminal justice." In contrast, Amnesty
International (AI) unequivocally denounced Obama's
"new policies," saying: "With the stoke of a pen,
President Obama extinguished any lingering hope that
his administration would return the United States to
the rule of law by referring detainee cases from
Guantanamo Bay to federal courts rather than the
widely discredited military commissions." His March 7 EO "completed the
embrace of Bush era counterterrorism policy. For the
new Periodic Review Boards (PRBs) are little more than
a cosmetic rebranding of the much derided Combatant
Status Review Tribunals that operated in Guantanamo
during the Bush administration.... (Obama's) 'new'
policy....amounts to little more than an elaborate
shell game." In fact, it's worse by claiming
responsible change as cover for continuity, one of
many reasons why Obama exceeds the worst of George
Bush at home and abroad, yet too few people know it.
In fact, he: -- escalated war; -- extended it to Pakistan; -- wages it in Somalia; -- backs it in Yemen; -- incites it in Libya; -- supports global insurgencies; -- reinvented the "Cold War;" -- authorized special forces
death squads and extrajudicial assassinations; -- militarized Latin America and
Haiti; -- bankrolls lawless Israeli
practices; -- endorses some of the world's
worst despots; and -- governs lawlessly at home by: -- flaunting international and
constitutional law; -- endorsing police state
harshness; -- conspiring with criminal
bankers; -- wrecking the economy; -- looting the federal treasury; -- forcing millions into poverty,
homelessness and no futures; -- destroying the Gulf of
Mexico; -- backing wealth and power over
beneficial social change, and -- furthering an agenda heading
America for tyranny and ruin. Detaining innocent men
indefinitely and consigning others to military
commissions further unmasks a rogue administration
pretending to be democratic. Unfortunately, this one
has over 22 months left plus another four years if
reelected. Global millions tremble at the prospect,
including growing numbers at home with more than
enough cause to react proactively for change. Stephen Lendman lives in
Chicago and can be reached at lendmanstephen@sbcglobal.net.
Also visit his blog site at sjlendman.blogspot.com and
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