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Today's Must Read
Sorry, false alarm.
A major meeting was to take place today amongst the president's national security and legal advisers, the AP reported late yesterday; and the closing of Guantanamo Bay detention facility was on the table. And "for the first time, it appears a consensus is developing, senior administration officials said Thursday."
That story broke around 6 PM last night. By 8 PM, the story had changed: there was no meeting, the White House said, and "no decisions on the future of Guantanamo Bay are imminent."
What happened? The Washington Post reports this morning that there really was supposed to be such a meeting. But "two administration officials" say that once word broke about the subject, and the apparent "consensus" that had been developing towards closing the facility, Gitmo was pulled off the table.
And the Post reports that the administration doesn't seem to be anywhere close to a resolution: Justice Department officials still don't want detainees to have access to habeaus corpus rights, and Homeland Security officials still oppose it "because it would mean bringing some of the people on the nation's terror watch list... inside U.S. borders."
And the vice president "has vehemently opposed bringing the detainees into this country."
In other words, there's the same split right down the administration that there's been since Robert Gates became Secretary of Defense. And that phantom "consensus" reported on last night would seem to be wishful thinking on behalf of those on Gates' side of the debate. Nobody told Dick Cheney that there was a consensus developing, apparently. Actually, a source tells the Post, it's more of a "tide":
"Of course people are talking about closing Guantanamo, of course," a senior administration official said. "[Defense Secretary Robert M.] Gates has said he wanted to close it down. [Secretary of State Condoleezza] Rice has spoken out on the issue. So far, it's a tide but not a wave. They don't want to leave this behind. They want to resolve this."
Note: Comments should be back up and working again after our technical problems yesterday, but there may still be delays in comments, once posted, appearing on the site.
Comments (18)
Billy Pilgrim wrote on June 22, 2007 10:26 AM:Click on name to get today's NYT story on Cheyney.
Mr. Addington stated in conversations that the vice president’s office was not an “entity within the executive branch”...
Under Cheyney, the OVP is a government unto itself and answerable to no one.
Hang him Mussolini style, upside down.
JEP wrote on June 22, 2007 10:32 AM:2 Thessalonians ch2, v7-8;
jeffgee wrote on June 22, 2007 10:36 AM:For the mystery of lawlessness is already at work; only he who now restrains will do so until he is taken out of the way. Then that lawless one will be revealed whom the Lord will slay with the breath of His mouth and bring to an end by the appearance of His coming; "
Back story: Halliburton is behind schedule in building the concentration camps.
ron wrote on June 22, 2007 10:37 AM:The DOJ should obviously be re-designated as the DOI...DOIN-justice.
This entire brouhaha (all six-plus years of it) are really about "what WE are", as a people, as a nation and as a believer in basic human rights, if not freedom itself. And the record speaks in sad and tawdry tones.
As a WWII veteran, I was proud of my country's record (with the exception of the Japanese-Americans' internment). We behaved overwhelmingly in line with our rhetoric; not the wink-and-nod crap that has been the hallmark of cowards ever since this abhorrent administration began (and WELL BEFORE 9/11).
The real, in-depth problem lies in the lackadaisical response of the American PEOPLE to the totalitarian incursions initiated by Cheney and Company. Compare it with the Boris Yeltsen moment atop a tank facing down Soviet troops. THAT was "citizen involvement".
As of this moment I am ASHAMED to be an American, and it will take a mountain of change...not likely to be seen in my lifetime...to restore any sense of pride which I formerly held.
Samsara wrote on June 22, 2007 10:41 AM:Tides or waves? None of this matters. The damage to our national reputation and our morals has already occurred. The terrorists win when we abandon our own morality. I used to be able to tell my students that torture is something other countries do, but we are different, we live by the rule of law. If I were to say that now my students they would rightly laugh.
Forget about this President changing course on Gitmo or anything else. He will only stubbornly redouble his efforts. Rice, Gates and the rest are just the hired help. If they give the President advice at odds with the old guard's groupthink, they will be cut off at the knees. The Bush Whitehouse operates just like a fraternity house. Thank you Dick, may I have another.
Billy Pilgrim wrote on June 22, 2007 10:50 AM:JEP
For many of us here, mumbo-jumbo from the koran does not compute. Please translate your message using non-sectarian language. Thanks.
donviti wrote on June 22, 2007 10:52 AM:there is no resolution b/c they don't have anywhere to put the detainees. Bring those dudes on American soil and they are totally f'd.
that and a TON OF MONEY is still tied up in contracts is my guess. They were supposed to be increasing the size weren't they?
follow the money people...come on we know better
Bindarra wrote on June 22, 2007 10:55 AM:Ron, I tend to be ashamed to be an American too, right now, but good Americans (not the Scholtzman variety) will be the ones to repair the godawful mess this corrupt administration has wrought. And for little it's worth, I will continue to raise my voice against these evil people.
sc: turn -- as in, TURN THIS SHIP AROUND!
modmom wrote on June 22, 2007 11:06 AM:on Cheney from afterdowningstreet.org:
You say you are not a member of the Executive branch. That claim may go against the grain of history, but it does have a constitutional basis. Article I, Section 3 says so. So, now, you remember you are the President of the U.S. Senate. Welcome to the Legislative branch, Dick.
Members (that’s you, Dick) of the U.S. Senate can be removed from office by a single vote. Your esteemed colleagues in the Senate can remove you from office with “a concurrence of two-thirds of the members present.” Members present, President of the Senate Cheney. You, by your own assertion, can be removed by a two-thirds concurrence of less than one hundred Senators. That could be 33 Senators or even less. That’s a whole lot less than the two-thirds of 435 or 145 U.S. Representatives it would take to pass a bill of impeachment in the House of Representatives.
Welcome to Congress, President of the Senate Cheney. I hope you get your comeuppance. Maybe President pro tempore Robert Byrd, Democrat from West Virginia, will do us, the People, the favor. Senator Byrd, you must admit, is only President pro tempore (that means temporary , George) because you are the Vice President of the United States who, as you so rightly claimed, is also the President of the Senate.
You said it, not me. Welcome, out ot the frying pan, and; into the fire Mr. President of the Senate Richard B. Cheney. Didn’t you read Article 1, Section 5? And they say George is the stupid one.
-snip
http://www.afterdowningstreet.org/?q=node/23866
TIME FOR ACTION IS NOW! CLOSE GITMO + IMPEACH CHENEY (may i suggest everyone read Sy Hersh's "The General's Report" from the latest The New Yorker to better understand the torture being done in our name.
jeffgee wrote on June 22, 2007 11:19 AM:Billy P, did you know that Thessalonians is in the Bible's New Testament, not the Quran? Not to say that both books don't have florid language that people interpret in a way that suits their goals.
Billy Pilgrim wrote on June 22, 2007 11:25 AM:Request for an expert legal opinion. Any basis for modmom's argument that Cheyney can be removed from offce with a two-thirds concurrence of the Senate?
Billy Pilgrim wrote on June 22, 2007 12:17 PM:jeffgee
The comment was meant to be ironic. To those of a non-religious bent, religious language is indistinguishable from propaganda.
jeeff wrote on June 22, 2007 12:25 PM:more likely the leak on the meeting came from cheney's camp, in order to gain enough traction to take the issue off the table. why would the gates camp shoot themselves in the foot?
modmom wrote on June 22, 2007 1:20 PM:Here's another link to Cheney as President of the Senate from CREW:
CREW ASKS “IS THE VICE PRESIDENT CREATING A FOURTH BRANCH OF GOVERNMENT?”
Contact:
Naomi Seligman Steiner
22 Jun 2007 // Washington, DC – In light of new revelations that Vice President Cheney is claiming that his office is not subject to an executive order governing the handling of classified information because as president of the Senate he has both legislative and executive duties, CREW asks if Vice President Cheney is attempting to create a fourth branch of the government?
Under his argument, if Mr. Cheney is not subject to executive branch security requirements, surely he must be subject to Senate rules.
To safeguard sensitive information, in 1987 the Senate created the Office of Senate Security, which is part of the Secretary of the Senate. The Security Office’s standards, procedures and requirements are set out in the Senate Security Manual, which is binding on all employees of the Senate.
So, if Mr. Cheney is a member of the Senate, he must adhere to the following:
•a requirement that any of his staff needing access to classified information undergo a security clearance and complete written non-disclosure agreements;
•physical security requirements, that the Security Office is empowered to implement, including any necessary inspections;
•investigations of suspected security violations by employees, such as the security violation committed by Scooter Libby when he unlawfully disclosed the identity of Valerie Plame Wilson, then a covert CIA operative.
In addition, Mr. Cheney and his staff would be subject to investigation by the Senate Ethics Committee, which has the responsibility to investigate allegations of improper conduct which may reflect upon the Senate, including violations of law and the rules and regulations of the Senate.
more at:
http://www.citizensforethics.org/node/29166
SLOUCH wrote on June 22, 2007 1:49 PM:Hey Billy Pilgrim,
This is off the subject (and a long shot,) but are you by chance a Bluegrass/Honky Tonk musician from the Rocky Mountains?
There's a hot new band out west called "The Billy Pilgrims," I was just wondering if you were one of them.
parrot wrote on June 22, 2007 1:51 PM:"Let's all blame Colin Powell for this mess!"
Jason wrote on June 22, 2007 3:34 PM:Billy Pilgrim is the name of the main character in Kurt Vonnegut's novel Slaughterhouse Five, undoubtedly the source for both.
Valtin wrote on June 22, 2007 8:35 PM:Perhaps they need to wait on the closure until they have guaranteed all destruction of evidence when they leave, because make no mistake:
Gitmo is a crime scene.
They must cover up the blood stains, the raw evidence of human suffering and torture. Raze the buildings. Make it all disappear.
Congress must say, We will close Gitmo. Nothing must be changed or moved. It is evidence, and the people of the United States are taking over now, and we are going to bring the criminal torturers to the docket... all the way up to the commander-in-chief.