Obama to renew military tribunals

He had pledged during the presidential campaign to end the controversial trials of terrorism suspects. Human rights groups are outraged.

The Obama administration will announce plans today to revive the Bush-era military commission system for prosecuting terrorism suspects, current and former officials said, reversing a campaign pledge to rely instead on federal courts and the traditional military justice system.

Word of the decision infuriated human rights groups, which argued that any trials under the system created by President George W. Bush would be widely viewed as tainted. They said President Obama was duplicating Bush's mistakes.

The announcement would follow other moves by Obama that have disappointed his administration's liberal allies but heartened Bush supporters, including his decisions to withhold photos depicting alleged abuse of detainees by U.S. soldiers and to retain the option of using a limited form of rendition, the practice of turning terrorism suspects over to other countries for questioning.

White House officials insisted Thursday that Obama was not overturning a campaign pledge. The president "never promised to abolish" military commissions, an administration official said. But Obama repeatedly called for change. "It's time to better protect the American people and our values by bringing swift and sure justice to terrorists through our courts and our Uniform Code of Military Justice," Obama said in August.

The administration still intends to prosecute in federal court some detainees being held at the military prison in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, as Obama has pledged. But officials concluded that a small number can be tried only in military commissions, said one U.S. official familiar with the decision, speaking on condition of anonymity in advance of today's announcement.

The administration also will outline major changes to the military commission system. Gabor Rona, the international legal director of Human Rights First, said military commission trials were unlikely to be seen as legitimate forms of justice. Everyone knows the military commissions have been a dismal failure," Rona said. "The results of the cases will be suspect around the world. It is a tragic mistake to continue them."

But Charles Stimson, a former Bush administration official who oversaw detainee affairs at the Pentagon, applauded Obama's proposal as one that would bring change to the military commission system while keeping it intact.

More: http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-military-tribunal15-2009may15,0,4322036.story

n/t

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB124234409758221479.html

We gotta keep freaking out over the headlines folks. ;)

who will be "swept up" and accused of SEDITION. :scared:

If you don't think that this will come back to "all Muslims" and "all Liberals" in the VERY NEXT right-wing Presidency, then you are not paying attention to "Cheney's Torture Tour." He's REACHING OUT to right-wingnuts everywhere. :grr:

As the article notes:

"I am afraid the stench of Guantanamo will remain," said Tom Malinowski, the Washington advocacy director of Human Rights Watch. "Anything that goes by the name 'military commissions' will unfortunately be seen around the world as a continuation of the old system. It is the worst of possible worlds."