DEMOCRATS AND Republicans alike have described President Barack Obama’s executive order allowing indefinite detention of terrorism suspects at Guantánamo prison and the resumption of military trials there as a return to the policies of George W Bush.
“The bottom line is that it affirms the Bush Administration policy that our government has the right to detain dangerous terrorists until the cessation of hostilities,” said Representative Peter King, the chairman of the House Homeland Security Committee.
Mr King, who has created a controversy by scheduling a hearing on the radicalisation of US Muslims tomorrow, commended the Obama Administration for issuing the executive order on Monday afternoon.
Closing the prison, which Mr Bush opened in Cuba in 2002, was the first promise Mr Obama made upon taking office.
The conservative Wall Street Journal gloated over the Presidential U-turn. “No one has done more to revive the reputation of Bush-era anti-terror policies than the Obama Administration,” said its editorial. “The political left is enraged by what it claims is a betrayal, but we’re glad to see Mr Obama bowing to security reality and erring on the side of keeping the country safe.”
Dana Milbank of the Washington Post noted that Mr Obama “has essentially formalised George W Bush’s detention policy”. In a statement, Mr Obama said he was still committed to closing Guantánamo, and to trying some of the suspects in criminal courts one day.
The president’s hands have been tied by Congress, which on December 22, 2010, passed a law banning the transfer of Guantánamo detainees to the US.
Human rights and civil liberties groups were unanimous in condemning the move.
“It is virtually impossible to imagine how one closes Guantánamo in light of this executive order,” said Anthony Romero, executive director of the American Civil Liberties Union. “In a little over two years, the Obama administration has done a complete about-face.”
The executive order broadens review panels created by Mr Bush to include representatives from the Departments of State, Justice and Homeland Security, as well as intelligence agencies and the military.
There are 172 detainees still imprisoned at Guantánamo, of whom 48 cannot be tried because their testimony would compromise classified information or because they were coerced into confessing under torture.
Reviews of the 48 cases will begin within a year. “Paper” reviews will then be conducted every six months, full reviews every three years.
But even if the panel concludes that the prisoner is not a danger to the US, they will not necessarily be freed.
The US has persuaded allies to accept only 40 former Guantánamo detainees.
Yemeni prisoners are particularly problematic, because it is feared they will join al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula if they are repatriated.
“Today’s executive order institutionalises indefinite detention, which is unlawful, unwise and un-American,” said Mr Romero of the ACLU.
In a statement issued by the White House, Mr Obama said the executive order would “broaden our ability to bring terrorists to justice, provide oversight for our actions and ensure the humane treatment of detainees”.
Attorney general Eric Holder had intended to try Khalid Sheikh Mohamed, the alleged mastermind of the 9/11 attacks, and four alleged co-conspirators, near ground zero. But Mayor Michael Bloomberg and others vehemently objected to plans for a trial in Manhattan.
White House lawyers who briefed journalists in a telephone conference refused to say whether Khalid Sheikh Mohamed will be tried by the military commission at Guantánamo.
One hundred and twenty-four Guantánamo prisoners are slated for trial. The administration is expected to charge three within weeks.
These are Abd al-Rahim al-Nashiri, a Yemeni accused of sinking the USS Cole in 2000, killing 17 American sailors; Obaidullah, an Afghan who stored anti-tank mines, and Ahmed Darbi, a Saudi alleged to have planned an aborted attack on a US ship in the Straits of Hormuz.