Follow BeltwayBlips on Twitter
Obama Puts Gitmo Trials on Hold
Truthdig: Drilling Beneath the Headlines —
... war on terrorism and its unyielding attitude toward foreign and domestic critics.
The legal maneuver appears designed to provide the Obama administration time to refashion the prosecution system and potentially treat detainees as criminal defendants in federal court or to have them face war-crimes charges in military courts-martial. It is also possible that the administration could re-form and relocate the military commissions before resuming trials.
Read more READ THE WHOLE ITEMRelated Entries ...
Hopeful Signs
Political Animal —
Hopeful Signs From the Washington Post : "In one of its first actions, the Obama administration instructed military prosecutors late Tuesday to seek a 120-day suspension of legal proceedings involving detainees at the naval base at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba -- a clear break with the approach of the outgoing Bush administration. The instruction came in a motion filed late Tuesday with a military court handling the case of five defendants accused of organizing the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks on the United States. The motion called for "a continuance of the proceedings" until May 20 so ...
Hopeful Signs
Obsidian Wings —
... From the Washington Post: ...
Change I Can Believe In
Balloon Juice —
One of his first moves:
In one of its first actions, the Obama administration instructed military prosecutors late Tuesday to seek a 120-day suspension of legal proceedings involving detainees at the naval base at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba—a clear break with the approach of the outgoing Bush administration.
The instruction came in a motion filed with a military court in the case of five defendants accused of organizing the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks on the United States. The motion called for “a continuance of the proceedings” until ...
First things first
Political Animal —
... overnight, Obama also took steps to stop legal proceedings at Guantanamo . In one of its first actions, the Obama administration instructed military prosecutors late Tuesday to seek a 120-day suspension of legal proceedings involving detainees at the naval base at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba -- a clear break with the approach of the outgoing Bush administration. The instruction came in a motion filed with a military court in the case of five defendants accused of organizing the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks on the United States. The motion called for "a continuance of the proceedings" ...
First Moves
Newshoggers.com —
... Well, now that he is finally, actually the President, we can start looking at Obama's actions as the man in charge. The initial moves look pretty good, starting with Guantanamo. ...
Goodbye To All That
Jules Crittenden —
[image] « Quick Obama Speech Take: WTF? Goodbye To All That Bush got a rude send off from some of the gutless wonders who weren’t able to vote him out. The Hill rounds up what everyone’s heard already. Boos from the crowd around the big screens by the World War II monument; ”Nah nah nah nah, hey hey, good-bye” chanted at the helicopter. It’s OK. Anyone who has been in any kind of public life knows that jeers from gutless wonders are a form of praise. Much like having your policies adopted by the opposition. Their views, as we saw, never really mattered, and I’d suggest their jeers, not Bush and his accomplishments in time of war, will become the footnote to ...
Change out of the starting blocks
the talking dog —
January 21, 2009, Change out of the starting blocks Although no explicit mention of Guantanamo was made in President Obama's most excellent inauguration address , it does seem that The President (!) is putting his money where his mouth is, as in his very first 24 hours in office , he has directed prosecutors at GTMO to move to stay all prosecutions for 120 days , while the new Obama Administration ascertains how it wishes to proceed from here. [And National Palestine Radio (NPR)! reports that a GTMO judge has granted that request, seconds ago, just before 0900.] I have my own thoughts, of course, on what to do with the GTMO detainees, as well as those also ...
TPMDC Morning Roundup
TPM Election Central —
Today: Obama's First Full Day In Office
President Obama has a full day ahead of him on both the foreign and domestic policy fronts. He'll be meeting today with Sec. of Defense Robert Gates and multiple high-ranking military officials to discuss his dual goals of withdrawing from Iraq and increasing the U.S. commitment in Afghanistan, and will have another meeting with his economic team to discuss his stimulus package.
Hillary's Confirmation At State Expected Today
The Senate is expected to vote today to confirm Hillary Clinton's nomination to be Secretary of State. The nomination was held up yesterday by Sen. John Cornyn (R-TX), who objected ...
ThinkFast: January 21, 2009
Think Progress —
President Obama “instructed military prosecutors late Tuesday to seek a 120-day suspension of legal proceedings involving detainees” at Guantanamo Bay. The motion called for the suspension so that the Obama administration can “review the military commissions process, generally, and the cases currently pending before military commissions, specifically.”
The Dow Jones industrial average lost 4 percent of its value yesterday, falling below 8,000, while Nasdaq and the S&P 500-stock index both plunged more than 5 percent.” The drop came “as fresh evidence mounted ...
The Early Word: Day One
The Caucus —
... to make hard choices” and a willingness to suspend national ideals “for expedience’s sake” — a clear reference to the cascade of decisions ranging from interrogation policies to wiretapping to the invasion of Iraq. Yet not since 1933, when Franklin D. Roosevelt called for a “restoration” of American ethics and “action, and action now” as Herbert Hoover sat and seethed, has a new president so publicly rejected the essence of his predecessor’s path. And the Washington Post’s Peter Finn reports that already Mr. Obama administration has begun to use his own compass to change ...
Obama Seeks Halt to Legal Proceedings at Guantanamo
Democratic Underground Latest Breaking News —
... scheduled to resume Wednesday, involving a Canadian detainee, and will be filed in all other pending matters. Such a request may not be automatically granted by military judges, and not all defense attorneys may agree to such a suspension. But the move is a first step toward closing a detention facility and system of military trials that became a worldwide symbol of the Bush administration's war on terrorism and its unyielding attitude toward foreign and domestic critics. Read more: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/20...
Stopping Gitmo trials
Political Animal —
STOPPING GITMO TRIALS.... So far, so good . Hours after taking office, U.S. President Barack Obama ordered military prosecutors in the Guantanamo war crimes tribunals to ask for a 120-day halt in all pending cases and a judge granted the request on Wednesday in the case against a young Canadian. When defense lawyers did not oppose the move, a judge froze the proceedings against Canadian Omar Khadr, who was captured at age 15 and is accused of murdering a U.S. soldier with a grenade during a firefight in Afghanistan. [...] Obama's order to the prosecutors was issued several hours after his swearing-in on Tuesday and if all the continuances are granted it would halt proceedings ...
President Obama Officially Halts GITMO Show Trials
Firedoglake —
...
h/t Amnesty International
President Obama has ordered an abrupt halt in the Gitmo Show Trials. From Peter Finn at the Washington Post:
In one of its first actions, the Obama administration instructed military prosecutors ...
In Our Names
TalkLeft —
... In our names. President Obama issued an order suspending the military commission tribunals to allow for a review by his incoming Administration. His review of what has been done in our names must extend beyond the military commissions. ...
The Krauthammer Unit
Lawyers, Guns and Money —
America's Shittiest Op-Ed Columnist (Not-Named-Bill-Kristol Division), 16 January 2009: [Bush] leaves behind the sinews of war, for the creation of which he has been so vilified but which will serve his successor -- and his country -- well over the coming years. The very continuation by Democrats of Bush's policies will be grudging, if silent, acknowledgment of how much he got right. Whoopsie! Oh, well. At least now we have a verifiable expiration date for your standard Charles Krauthammer column -- I suppose the only question is whether ...
The beginning of the end of Gitmo?
The Reaction —
By Michael J.W. Stickings WaPo: In one of its first actions, the Obama administration instructed military prosecutors late Tuesday to seek a 120-day suspension of legal proceedings involving detainees at the naval base at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba -- a clear break with the approach of the outgoing Bush administration. The instruction came in a motion filed with a military court in the case of five defendants accused of organizing the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks on the United States. The motion called for "a continuance of the proceedings" until May 20 so that "the newly ...
Pres. Obama’s First Full Day in the White House
Comments from Left Field —
He’s not letting any grass grow under his feet. Here is some of what he and his staff have done since the end of inaugural festivities yesterday:
Took the first step toward closing Guantanamo.
Stopped implementation of all last-minute Bush administration regulations pending review by Obama officials.
Froze salaries for White House employees who make over $100,000 a year.
Announced an Iran policy of direct negotiations with no preconditions, and pledged to “word towards the abolition of nuclear weapons.”
Changed “Pres. Bush’s Weekly Radio Address” to “Pres. ...
