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Obama's Gitmo Dilemma: Tick Tock
When President-elect Barack Obama appeared on ABC News' This Week on Sunday, it was seven years to the day that the military detention facility at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba opened.
Obama had this to say about closing the facility:
OBAMA: It is more difficult than I think a lot of people realize and we are going to get it done but part of the challenge that you have is that you have a bunch of folks that have been detained, many of whom who may be very dangerous who have not been put on trial or have not gone through some adjudication. And some of the evidence against them may be tainted even though it's true. And so how to balance creating a process that adheres to rule of law, habeas corpus, basic principles of Anglo American legal system, by doing it in a way that doesn't result in releasing people who are intent on blowing us up.
GEORGE STEPHANOPOULOS: So not necessarily first 100 days.
OBAMA: That's a challenge. I think it's going to take some time and our legal teams are working in consultation with our national security apparatus as we speak to help design exactly what we need to do. But I don't want to be ambiguous about this. We are going to close Guantanamo and we are going to make sure that the procedures we set up are ones that abide by our constitution. That is not only the right thing to do, but it actually has to be part of our broader national security strategy because we will send a message to the world that we are serious about our values.
This recent report by the Brookings Institution supports Obama's claim that closing the facility is an involved process.
But Obama's lack of a promise to close the facility in the first 100 days of his administration is not good enough for some people.
Difficult process or not, some argue that each day that an Obama administration keeps the detention facility open is another day that human rights are not upheld and another day that the United States sends the wrong message to the international community.
Critics are urging Americans to keep in mind that there are about 250 men still detained at the facility, about “60 detainees have already been cleared for release or transfer but remain because they cannot be returned home,” and one detainee, Omar Khadr, was 15 years old when he was brought to the facility, and his trial is scheduled to begin just six days after Obama is sworn in.
If Obama does not halt Khadr's trial proceedings, as human rights activists, child advocates and some foreign leaders have urged, he would become the first U.S. president to prosecute a child soldier for war crimes.
On Sunday the National Religious Campaign Against Torture started a “Countdown to End Torture” clock, which will count down the days and hours until Obama's first day in office. At 9 a.m. EST on January 21, the clock will begin to “count up” until Obama signs an executive order ending torture.
By Monday, it seemed Team Obama had heard the grumblings of its critics. Obama transition officials said that he would close the detention center “as early as his first week” in office—a more specific timeline than what he gave Stephanopoulos on Sunday.
Will Obama do it? Will he close Guantanamo in a few weeks?
Tick Tock.