ÿþ<html> <head> <meta http-equiv="content-type" content="text/html;charset=iso-8859-1"> <title>OnlineColumnist®.com: Putin Punishes Georgia</title> <meta name="generator" content="Adobe GoLive 4"> <style type="text/css"> .style3 { height: 68px; } .MsoNormal {} h1 {margin-bottom:.0001pt; page-break-after:avoid; font-size:12.0pt; font-family:"Times New Roman"; font-weight:normal; text-decoration:underline; text-underline:single; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; } .style4 { font-size: large; font-weight: bold; font-family: Arial; } .style5 { font-size: x-large; font-weight: bold; } .style6 { text-decoration: underline; } .style7 { font-size: 12.0pt; font-family: "Times New Roman"; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; margin-bottom: .0001pt; } </style> </head> <body bgcolor="white" vlink="black"> <center> &nbsp;<table cool width="624" height="2719" border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" gridx="16" showgridx gridy="16" showgridy> <tr height="79"> <td width="133" height="118" rowspan="2" valign="top" align="left" xpos="0"> <a href="aboutdiscobolos.html"><img height="110" width="62" src="images/discobolos.logo.transp.gif" border="0"></a></td> <td width="7" height="118" rowspan="2"></td> <td width="482" height="79" colspan="2" valign="top" align="left" xpos="140"><img height="75" width="450" src="images/banner.GIF"></td> <td width="1" height="118" rowspan="2"></td> <td width="1" height="79"><spacer type="block" width="1" height="79"></td> </tr> <tr height="39"> <td width="182" height="39"></td> <td width="300" height="39" valign="top" align="left" xpos="322"><a href="aboutdiscobolos.html"><img height="14" width="267" src="images/divisionofNEW.GIF" border="0"></a></td> <td width="1" height="39"><spacer type="block" width="1" height="39"></td> </tr> <tr> <td width="624" colspan="6" valign="top" align="left" xpos="0" class="style3"> <table border="0" width="100%" bgcolor="black" cellspacing="0"> <tr> <td> <table border="0" width="100%" bgcolor="#99ffcc" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="4"> <tr> <td align="center"> <div align="left"> <a href="index.html"><font face="Arial,Helvetica,Geneva,Swiss,SunSans-Regular" size="2"><strong> HOME</strong></font></a><font face="Arial,Helvetica,Geneva,Swiss,SunSans-Regular" size="2"><strong> &#8226; <a href="articlesindex.html">ARTICLES</a> &#8226; <a href="books.html">BOOKS</a> &#8226; <a href="teflon.html"> THE </a><a href="teflon.html">TEFLON</a><a href="teflon.html"> REPORT</a> &#8226; <a href="mailto:letters@onlinecolumnist.com"> REACTIONS</a> &#8226; <a href="aboutdiscobolos.html">ABOUT DISCOBOLOS</a></strong></font></div> </td> </tr> </table> </td> </tr> </table> </td> </tr> <tr height="2"> <td width="133" height="2">&nbsp;</td> <td width="489" height="2576" colspan="3" rowspan="2" align="left" xpos="133" content valign="top" csheight="2573"> <p class="style4">Guantanamo&#39;s Last Days</p> <p><b><font face="Arial,Geneva,Helvetica">by John M. Curtis</font></b><font face="Arial,Helvetica,Geneva,Swiss,SunSans-Regular"><b><a href="books.html"><br> </a></b></font><font face="Arial,Helvetica,Geneva,Swiss,SunSans-Regular"><b> (310) 204-8700</b></font></p> <p><font size="2" face="Arial,Helvetica,Geneva,Swiss,SunSans-Regular"><i>Copyright Dec. 20, 2009<br>All Rights Reserved. </i></font>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; </p> <bAbout the Author</u> <p class="MsoNormal"> &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;<span class="style5">&nbsp;W</span>hen former President George W. Bush ordered Operation Enduring Freedom Oct. 7, 2001 to topple Afghanistan s Taliban government, only three short weeks after Sept. 11, the U.S. military began plucking its enemies off the battlefield.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">&nbsp; </span>Few people asked then whether remnants of the Taliban, or various Islamic insurgent groups, had anything to do with planning and directing Sept. 11.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">&nbsp; </span>When Taliban s one-eyed Mullah Mohammed Omar refused to surrender notorious international terrorist Osama bin Laden, Bush decided to end Omar s seven-year reign.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">&nbsp; </span>Various Taliban and Islamic jihadist fighters were killed or captured during Operation Enduring Freedom, prompting Bush in 2002 to open the prison known as  Camp X-Ray or  Gitmo on land leased to the U.S. Marine base at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">&nbsp; </span>Special legal machinations circumvented the Geneva Convention.</p> <p class="MsoNormal"> <![if !supportEmptyParas]>&nbsp;<![endif]><span style="mso-tab-count:1">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; </span>Defining Afghanistan prisoners and  enemy combatants or  battlefield detainees offshore at Guantanmo Bay enabled Bush to circumvent rights and treatment under the U.S. Constitution or Geneva Convention, enabling the Pentagon to hold prisoners without rights indefinitely.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">&nbsp; </span>Campaigning in 2008, then Democratic presidential candidate Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.) promised to shutter Gitmo, a prison he considered a black eye on U.S. foreign policy.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">&nbsp; </span>Bush and his former Vice President Dick Cheney insisted that Gitmo was needed for dangerous terrorists responsible for Sept. 11.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">&nbsp; </span>Only one some small problem:<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">&nbsp; </span>None of the original prisoners had anything to do with the attacks of Sept. 11.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">&nbsp; </span>Only through the help of Pakistan s ISI intelligence service did Sept. 11 mastermind Khalid Sheikh Mohammed and key planners Ramzi Binalshibh and Ramzi Yousef get captured in 2002.</p> <p class="MsoNormal"> <![if !supportEmptyParas]>&nbsp;<![endif]><span style="mso-tab-count:1">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; </span>Defining prisoners of war as  battlefield detainees or  enemy combatants and incarcerating them offshore at Guantanmo Bay skirted the U.S. Constitution and Geneva Convention, allowing the Bush administration to use  enhanced interrogation techniques, defined by Obama as torture.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">&nbsp; </span>Only Jan. 29, 2009, nine days after Barack s inauguration, he ended the military s plans to conduct tribunals at Guantanamo Bay.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">&nbsp; </span>On Dec. 15, Barack signed a presidential directive officially closing Guantanamo Bay and transferring the remaining 215 inmates to the unused Thomson Correctional Facility in Illinois.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">&nbsp; </span>Over objections of the Republican Party, Barack fulfilled a campaign promise to rid Guantanamo s blight on U.S. foreign policy.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">&nbsp; </span>Transferring remaining prisoners to U.S. soil will change prisoners rights, forcing the White House and Pentagon to redefine their Constitutional status,<![if !supportEmptyParas]>&nbsp;<![endif]></p> <p class="MsoNormal"> &nbsp;<![if !supportEmptyParas]>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; <![endif]>Republicans argue that bringing terrorist on U.S. soil threatens national security.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">&nbsp; </span>They forget, or choose to forget, that most of Guanatanamo Bay prisoners were not directly or indirectly connected with Sept. 11. They also forget Thomson Correctional Facility will provide comparable protection to Camp X-Ray.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">&nbsp; </span>They also forget that Guantanamo Bay has served as a global symbol of U.S. torture, since the Bush administration publicly acknowledged the use of  enhanced interrogation techniques. Since Atty. Gen. Eric Holder announced Nov. 18 that he intended to try Khalid Sheikh Mohammed and other Sept. 11 terrorists in Manhattan s U.S. District Court, it raised more questions about terrorists rights.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">&nbsp; </span>White House officials must decide whether their afforded rights under the U.S. Constitution or Geneva Convention to fairly mete of appropriate justice.</p> <p class="MsoNormal"> <![if !supportEmptyParas]>&nbsp;<![endif]><span style="mso-tab-count:1">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes">&nbsp;</span>Closing down Guantanamo Bay is a good first start but doesn t answer the basic question of how to define Guantanamo Bay prisoners.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">&nbsp; </span>There s no point, like the Bush administration insisted, to reinventing the wheel, continuing to call prisoners-of-war  enemy combatants or  battlefield detainees. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes">&nbsp; </span>If prisoners were picked up in military combat, they must carry the definition of  prisoner-of-war, affording them rights under the Geneva Convention.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">&nbsp; </span>If that s the case, Holder should reconsider his decision to try prisoners-of-war in U.S. District Court, allowing the military its appropriate rights.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">&nbsp; </span>There s no reason a military court couldn t handle terrorists trials, concluding with deportations, incarcerations or, if appropriate, the death penalty.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">&nbsp; </span>Trying Mohammed in District Court and giving him Constitutional rights sets a dangerous precedent for the war on terror.</p> <p class="style7" style="tab-stops: center 3.0in right 6.0in"> <![if !supportEmptyParas]>&nbsp;<![endif]><span style="mso-tab-count:1">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; </span>Blighting U.S. foreign policy since 2002, it s high time for Guantanmo Bay to shut its doors.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">&nbsp; </span>Housing Camp X-Ray prisoners at Illinois Thomson Correction Facility opens the door for the White House to get its terrorist policy right.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">&nbsp; </span>If the White House intends to afford Guantanamo Bay prisoners rights under the Geneva Convention, it needs to urgently reconsider Holder s decision to try prisoners as civilians in U.S. District Court.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">&nbsp; </span>Redefining Camp X-Ray s remaining 215 prisoners as prisoners-of-war put any and all legal proceedings into military jurisdiction.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">&nbsp; </span>Staging show-trials in Lower Manhattan only further blights the U.S. justice system, defeating the purpose of closing Guantanamo Bay.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">&nbsp; </span>More grandstanding in Manhattan gives the U.S. government another black eye, defeats the purpose of closing Guantanamo Bay and brings the U.S. more international disgrace.</p> <p class="MsoNormal"> <![if !supportEmptyParas]>&nbsp;<![endif]><span class="style6">About the Author </span> </p> <p class="MsoNormal"> <b>John M. Curtis</b> writes politically neutral commentary analyzing spin in national and global news.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">&nbsp; </span>He s editor of OnlineColumnist.com and author <i>of <a href="books.html">Dodging The Bullet</a></i> and <i><a href="books.html">Operation Charisma</a></i>.</p> <p class="MsoNormal"> &nbsp;</p> </td> <td width="1" height="2576" rowspan="2"></td> <td width="1" height="2"><spacer type="block" width="1" height="2"></td> </tr> <tr height="2574"> <td width="133" height="2574" valign="top" align="left" xpos="0"><img height="172" width="111" src="images/johninframe3.jpg"></td> <td width="1" height="2574"><spacer type="block" width="1" height="2574"></td> </tr> <tr height="1" cntrlrow> <td width="133" height="1"><spacer type="block" width="133" height="1"></td> <td width="7" height="1"><spacer type="block" width="7" height="1"></td> <td width="182" height="1"><spacer type="block" width="182" height="1"></td> <td width="300" height="1"><spacer type="block" width="300" height="1"></td> <td width="1" height="1"><spacer type="block" width="1" height="1"></td> <td width="1" height="1"></td> </tr> </table> <table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="2" width="597"> <tr> <td><font size="1" face="Arial,Geneva,Helvetica"> <hr noshade size="1"> </font><a href="index.html"><font face="Arial,Helvetica,Geneva,Swiss,SunSans-Regular" size="2"><strong> Home</strong></font></a><font face="Arial,Helvetica,Geneva,Swiss,SunSans-Regular" size="2"><strong> || <a href="articlesindex.html">Articles</a> || <a href="books.html">Books</a> || <a href="teflon.html">The Teflon Report</a> || <a href="mailto:letters@onlinecolumnist.com"> Reactions</a> || <a href="aboutdiscobolos.html">About Discobolos</a></strong></font> <div align="left"> <p><font size="1" face="Arial,Helvetica,Geneva,Swiss,SunSans-Regular">This site designed, developed and hosted by the experts at</font><font size="2" face="Arial,Helvetica,Geneva,Swiss,SunSans-Regular"> <a href="http://www.cmeonline.net" target="_blank"><img height="30" width="138" src="images/cmelogoANIM.gif" border="0" align="absmiddle"></a></font></p> </div> <p><font size="2" face="Arial,Helvetica,Geneva,Swiss,SunSans-Regular">©1999-2005 <a href="aboutdiscobolos.html"> Discobolos Consulting Services, Inc.</a><br> (310) 204-8300<br> All Rights Reserved. </font></td> </tr> </table> </center> </body> </html>