Obama restarts Guantanamo trials

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http://www.tehrantimes.com/index_View.asp?code=237113

Obama restarts Guantanamo trials

WASHINGTON (AP)– President Barack Obama reversed course Monday and ordered a

resumption of military trials for terror suspects at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba,

making his once ironclad promise to close the isolated prison look even more

distant.

Guantanamo has been a major political and national security headache for the

president since he took office promising to close the prison within a year, a

deadline that came and went without him ever setting a new one.

Obama made the change with clear reluctance, bowing to the reality that

Congress' vehement opposition to trying detainees on U.S. soil leaves them

nowhere else to go. The president emphasized his preference for trials in

federal civilian courts, and his administration blamed congressional meddling

for closing off that avenue.

" I strongly believe that the American system of justice is a key part of our

arsenal in the war against Al-Qaeda and its affiliates, and we will continue to

draw on all aspects of our justice system — including (federal) courts — to

ensure that our security and our values are strengthened, " Obama said in a

statement.

" Going forward, all branches of government have a responsibility to come

together to forge a strong and durable approach to defend our nation and the

values that define who we are as a nation. "

The first Guantanamo trial likely to proceed under Obama's new order would

involve Abd al-Rahim al-Nashiri, the alleged mastermind of the 2000 bombing of

the USS Cole. Al-Nashiri, a Saudi of Yemeni descent, has been imprisoned at

Guantanamo since 2006.

Defense officials have said that of around 170 detainees at Guantanamo, about 80

are expected to face trial by military commission.

On Monday, the White House reiterated that the administration remains committed

to eventually closing Guantanamo — which is on a U.S. Navy base — and that

Monday's actions were in pursuit of that goal. But the outcome Obama wants

seemed even more distant.

Critics of the military commission system, which was established specifically to

deal with the detainees at Guantanamo, contend that suspects are not given some

of the most basic protections afforded people prosecuted in American courts and

that serves as a recruitment tool for terrorists.

Obama's administration has enacted some changes to the military commission

system while aiming to close down Guantanamo.

More than two dozen detainees have been charged there, but the charges against a

number of them were dismissed in the wake of Obama's order in January 2009 to

halt the commission process.

So far six detainees have been convicted and sentenced, including Ali Hamza

al-Bahlul, Osama bin Laden's media specialist who told jurors he had volunteered

to be the 20th Sept. 11 hijacker. He is serving a life sentence at Guantanamo.

Meanwhile, the first Guantanamo detainee tried in civilian court — in New York —

was convicted in November on just one of more than 280 charges that he took part

in the Al-Qaeda bombings of two U.S. embassies in Africa. That case ignited

strident opposition to any further such trials.