Guantanamo

Obama's 2013 Budget Gives Up On 'Gitmo North' Proposal

Ryan J. Reilly | February 13, 2012, 3:20PM

It took 20 words for the Obama administration to give up on its proposal to renovate an Illinois prison to render it capable of holding terrorism detainees from Guantanamo Bay.

"The proposed Administrative USP Thomson, IL project was removed as funding was not provided in the FY 2011 Enacted Appropriation," the administration said in their 2013 budget proposal for building and facilities expenses from DOJ's Bureau of Prisons.

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John Kiriakou

Feds Charge Former CIA Agent John Kiriakou For Illegal Leaks

Ryan J. Reilly | January 23, 2012, 12:50PM

Updated: Jan. 23, 3:20PM

"Heavens no."

That's what John Kiriakou, the former CIA officer who defended waterboarding as an effective technique used against al-Qaeda suspects, allegedly told an FBI agent when asked if he had anything to do with a story which disclosed the name of a CIA agent involved in the interrogation of Khalid Shaikh Mohammed.

But according to emails cited by an FBI agent in documents charging Kiriakou with repeatedly disclosing classified information (including the name of a covert CIA officer) to journalists, that wasn't quite the case.

A DOJ investigation led by U.S. Attorney Patrick J. Fitzgerald started after Guantanamo detainees were found to have photos of CIA personnel in their possession, information which hadn't been provided by the government through any officials channels. The defense teams who provided photos of CIA personnel to Guantanamo Bay detainees did not commit any criminal violations, the investigation found. Instead, the feds say that Kiriakou, who has worked as a paid consultant for ABC News and previously worked for the Senate Committee on Foreign Relations, gave classified information to journalists, some of which ended up going to defense attorneys for the Guantanamo detainees.

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National Defense Authorization Act

Obama Administration Pushes Back On Liberal Criticism Over NDAA's 'Indefinite Detention'

Ryan J. Reilly | January 6, 2012, 9:30AM

President Barack Obama and Senior Adviser David Axelrod

The Obama administration thinks many in the liberal blogosphere are mistaken in their belief that the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) signed by the president on New Year's Eve authorizes the indefinite detention of citizens captured on U.S. soil.

Many progressive and libertarians have argued that the NDAA codifies the president's ability to detain a U.S. citizen captured on American soil until the war on terrorism is declared over. The administration believes that the NDAA doesn't specifically allow for the indefinite detention of American citizens, but concedes that it doesn't specifically ban the practice either.

A senior administration official maintained in an interview with TPM that the NDAA "changes nothing" about the legal question of whether the government could allow for the indefinite detention of U.S. citizens captured in the United States.

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Indefinite Detentions

Civil Liberties Advocates See Political Shackles In Revised Detention Bill

Ryan J. Reilly | December 13, 2011, 2:47PM

President Barack Obama

The Obama administration is continuing to review a compromise struck between the House and Senate on the National Defense Authorization Act that congressional leaders believe solves the issues over the detention of terrorism suspects that caused the White House to issue a veto threat. But civil liberties groups have already given the proposal their assessment, and they don't like what they see.

Sen. Carl Levin (D-MI) announced the changes Monday night, saying that the conference report "provides a number of additional assurances that there will be no interference with civilian interrogations or other law enforcement activities." A Justice Department spokesman told TPM they were still assessing the compromise, while a White House spokesman did not respond to a request for comment.

Civil liberties groups, on the other hand, contend the changes aren't enough. Take this language, added to the bill last night:

'Nothing in this section shall be construed to affect the existing criminal enforcement and national security authorities of the Federal Bureau of Investigation or any other domestic law enforcement agency with regard to a covered person, regardless of whether such covered person is held in military custody.'

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Barack Obama

Obama Threatens Veto Of Defense Bill Over Military Custody For Terror Suspects Mandate

Ryan J. Reilly | November 17, 2011, 1:38PM

President Barack Obama

President Barack Obama is threatening to veto the National Defense Authorization Act of 2012 over "unnecessary, untested, and legally controversial" restrictions imposed by Congress which would mandate certain terrorism suspects go into military custody.

"The Administration objects to and has serious legal and policy concerns about many of the detainee provisions in the bill," the White House said in a statement. "In their current form, some of these provisions disrupt the Executive branch's ability to enforce the law and impose unwise and unwarranted restrictions on the U.S. Government's ability to aggressively combat international terrorism; other provisions inject legal uncertainty and ambiguity that may only complicate the military's operations and detention practices."

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Eric Holder

Holder: Obama Administration Still Working To Close Gitmo Before 2012

Ryan J. Reilly | September 20, 2011, 11:13AM

Perhaps file this one under wishful thinking: Attorney General Eric Holder told the European Parliament on Tuesday that the Obama administration is hoping to close the prison at Guantanamo Bay before the 2012 election.

The Obama administration, Holder said, wants to close the facility "as quickly as possible, recognizing that we will face substantial pressure."

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KSM Trial

Holder On KSM Trial: 'I Know This Case In A Way That Members Of Congress Do Not'

Ryan J. Reilly | April 4, 2011, 4:15PM

Khalid Sheikh Mohammed and Attorney General Eric Holder

Despite his announcement today that the trials of five alleged Sept. 11 co-conspirators will be held in a military court, Attorney General Eric Holder is standing by his original decision to hold civilian trials for five alleged Sept. 11 conspirators in federal court and blames Congress for forcing his hand in sending them to the military system.

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Guantanamo

Human Rights Group Says Obama's KSM Trial Decision Is 'Clearly' Political

Ryan J. Reilly | April 4, 2011, 1:55PM

President Barack Obama and Attorney General Eric Holder

The Obama administration's forthcoming announcement that Khalid Sheikh Mohammad and other Sept. 11 conspirators prisoners will be tried in military commissions at Guantanamo Bay, is "clearly just a political decision," Daphne Eviatar, a senior associate at Human Rights First, told TPM in an interview.

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Guantanamo

Obama To Resume Military Trials Of Gitmo Detainees

Ryan J. Reilly | March 7, 2011, 2:56PM

President Barack Obama will allow new military terror trials of detainees at Guantanamo Bay, the White House announced Monday. But Obama's statement said that the U.S. "will continue to draw on all aspects of our justice system" -- including federal courts -- to handle terrorism cases.

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GITMO

Despite Not Owning It, DOJ Asks For Money To Renovate 'Gitmo North'

Ryan J. Reilly | February 14, 2011, 3:32PM

The Justice Department is still holding out hope that Congress will give the federal government money to purchase Thomson prison, the state facility in Illinois that was originally intended to hold the detainees from Guantanamo.

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War on Terror

Cheney: 'All Well And Good' That Obama's Using Our Tactics Now (VIDEO)

Rachel Slajda | January 18, 2011, 9:48AM

Former Vice President Dick Cheney (R)

Former Vice President Dick Cheney said in an interview that President Obama has finally learned to use Bush administration tactics in the War on Terror.

"I think he's found it necessary to be more sympathetic to the kinds of things we did," Cheney said on the Today Show, noting Obama's use of drones in Pakistan and elsewhere.

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Signing Statements

Obama Issues Signing Statement Panning Gitmo Transfer Ban

Rachel Slajda | January 7, 2011, 6:22PM

President Barack Obama

After signing the defense authorization act this afternoon, President Obama issued a signing statement calling provisions banning the transfer of Guantanamo Bay detainees "a dangerous and unprecedented challenge to critical executive branch authority."

The provisions ban the use of Defense Department funds to transfer Gitmo detainees to certain other countries or to the United States, including for trial.

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Guantanamo

Obama's Indefinite Detention Plan May Result In Less Transparency At Gitmo

Ryan J. Reilly | January 4, 2011, 8:35AM

The Obama administration's apparent plan to draft an indefinite detention policy with periodic reviews of evidence against dozens of prisoners held at Guantanamo Bay shouldn't come as a surprise, a lawyer with the Center for Constitutional Rights told TPM in an interview. But they are concerned that it could result in less transparency for lawyers and other observers -- and it could mean that more detainees will face a lifetime of imprisonment with no chance to review the evidence against them or appeal the decisions made about them.

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House Judiciary

Rove Protege Tim Griffin Now On Judiciary Committee

Ryan J. Reilly | January 3, 2011, 1:45PM

A few years ago, Tim Griffin was a key figure in of the biggest scandals in the Bush administration. Democrats said -- and the Justice Department Inspector General later concluded -- that the Bush White House and Justice Department pushed out U.S. Attorney H.E. "Bud" Cummins III to give Griffin, a former aide to presidential adviser Karl Rove, a plum spot as interim U.S. attorney that would pad his resume.

Now Griffin, who was elected to Congress from Arkansas in November, has been named by House Republicans to be a member of the House Judiciary Committee -- the very same committee which took a close look at his own role in the scandal that ultimately lead to the resignation of Attorney General Alberto Gonzales.

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Guantanamo

Gitmo Transfer Ban, Pushed By Illinois Republicans, Was Part Of DADT Deal

Rachel Slajda | December 20, 2010, 10:50AM

Mark Kirk

A provision banning the Obama administration from transferring detainees from Guantanamo Bay to the United States, even for trial, made its way into the National Defense Authorization Act that passed the House Friday. According to reports, it was part of a deal worked out with Illinois Republicans to repeal Don't Ask, Don't Tell.

Congress hammered out a compromise last week that stripped controversial measures like DADT repeal (passed instead in a standalone bill) from the defense spending bill. But Illinois Republicans, lead by Sen. Mark Kirk, warned the negotiators not to take out the Gitmo transfer ban if they wanted the bill to pass both houses.

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Guantanamo

Senate Aims To Follow House In Blocking Gitmo Detainees Transfer

Rachel Slajda | December 15, 2010, 10:12AM

Camp Delta at Guantanamo Bay

Following in the House's footsteps, the Senate is trying to block the Obama administration from bringing any Guantanamo Bay detainees to the United States, even for trial.

The Senate Appropriations Committee released the text of a 2,000-page omnibus spending bill yesterday, a bill that would fund the government through next September. Like the House's spending bill, the Senate's includes a provision that would ban any funds from being used for the transfer of Khalid Sheikh Mohammed or any other Guantanamo Bay detainees to the U.S.

As TPM reported Monday, the House bill was written solely by Democrats -- meaning Democrats put the detainee transfer ban in. Attorney General Eric Holder wrote to the Senate's majority and minority leaders after that vote, pleading with them to keep such a provision out of the Senate's version.

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Congress

Democrats Added Ban On Gitmo Detainee Transfer To Omnibus Spending Bill

Rachel Slajda | December 13, 2010, 12:32PM

Detainees at Guantanamo Bay

The Obama administration has loudly opposed a provision of the omnibus spending bill, passed last week by the House, that would ban the transfer of Guantanamo Bay detainees to U.S. soil, even for trial.

"This provision goes well beyond existing law and would unwisely restrict the ability of the Executive branch to prosecute alleged terrorists in Federal courts or military commissions in the United States," Attorney General Eric Holder wrote in a letter to Senate leadership, calling the provision "dangerous" and asking that it be stripped before the Senate votes on the bill this week.

"We strongly oppose this provision. Congress should not limit the tools available to the executive branch in bringing terrorists to justice and advancing our national security interests," White House spokesman Reid Cherlin said just before the bill passed.

So you would think, then, that this was perhaps a provision snuck into the must-pass government funding bill by Republicans intent on derailing Holder's plan to try self-proclaimed 9/11 mastermind Khalid Sheikh Mohammed in civilian criminal court.

You'd be wrong.

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Guantanamo

WATCH: Pentagon Announces Banning Of Journalists From Gitmo Trials

Justin Elliott | May 7, 2010, 3:22PM

Maj. Tanya Bradsher talks to reporters

As David flagged on the Editors Blog last night, the Pentagon yesterday banned four journalists from covering trials at Guantanamo after they reported the name of a former military interrogator (which, the reporters note, has been public for years, including from a media interview the interrogator himself gave).

In any case, here's the striking video of Department of Defense spokeswoman Maj. Tanya Bradsher announcing the banning, and the military's rationale, to members of the press yesterday. Watch:

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Keep America Safe

Angry Holder: Liz Cheney Ad Targeting Lawyers Was 'Reprehensible' (VIDEO)

Justin Elliott | April 14, 2010, 5:42PM

Liz Cheney and Attorney General Eric Holder

More than a month after the flap over an ad from Liz Cheney's group attacked lawyers who represented Guantanamo detainees as terrorist sympathizers, Attorney General Eric Holder denounced the ad today as "reprehensible" and offered an impassioned defense of what the lawyers did.

In an exchange with Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-IA) flagged by Huffington Post, Holder reference the ad from Cheney's group Keep America Safe, but did not cite it by name.

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Guantanamo

Conservatives Pounce On Judge's Order To Free Gitmo Detainee

Justin Elliott | March 24, 2010, 11:12AM

Detainees at Guantanamo Bay

In recent days, hawkish conservatives have seized on the case of a Guantanamo detainee who was ordered freed by a federal judge this week after a years-long saga in which the detainee was reportedly tortured by American interrogators.

U.S. District Court Judge James Robertson on Monday ordered the release of Mohamedou Ould Slahi, who was once dubbed the "highest value detainee" by a top Pentagon official.

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Guantanamo

ACLU Denies Lawbreaking In Case Of Photographed CIA Officers

Justin Elliott | March 23, 2010, 11:00AM

Detainees at Guantanamo and U.S. Attorney Patrick Fitzgerald

In a case that has all the ingredients to explode into a national controversy, Attorney General Eric Holder has appointed star prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald to investigate whether laws were broken after "paparazzi style" photographs of CIA officers were found in the cell of a Guantanamo inmate accused of financing the 9/11 attacks, Newsweek is reporting.

In an interview with TPMmuckraker, the top official for the ACLU project that provided assistance for the defense of the detainee in question -- and hired private investigators to take the photos of CIA officers thought to be involved in torture -- said that no laws had been broken.

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Lindsey Graham

Is Lindsey Graham Playing Both Sides On DOJ Lawyers Fracas?

Zachary Roth | March 10, 2010, 11:20AM

Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC)

Is Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) playing both sides on the "controversy" over Justice Department lawyers who represented Guantanamo detainees?

Yesterday, the South Carolina senator joined a growing chorus of conservatives in slamming a recent ad by Liz Cheney's advocacy group that questioned the loyalties of seven DOJ attorneys who had previously represented Gitmo detainees. The ad, by Keep America Safe, referred to the lawyers as "the Al Qaeda Seven," and asked "Whose values do they represent?"

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Liz Cheney

Did Liz Cheney's 'Department Of Jihad' Ad Backfire?

Zachary Roth | March 9, 2010, 1:41PM

Liz Cheney

Has Liz Cheney damaged her cause, and her reputation, by running an ad that questioned the loyalties of Justice Department lawyers who defended Guantanamo detainees? After a barrage of attacks on the ad, including some from prominent conservatives, it's worth asking the question.

Last week, Keep America Safe, the pro-torture advocacy group that Cheney co-chairs with Bill Kristol, ran a web ad that labeled seven DOJ lawyers who had previously represented detainees at Gitmo -- or simply filed amicus briefs in their cases -- "the Al Qaeda Seven."

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American Bar Association

ABA Blasts Liz Cheney Ad As 'Divisive And Diversionary'

Justin Elliott | March 4, 2010, 2:43PM

Liz Cheney

In response to the Liz Cheney Web ad that questions the loyalty of lawyers who have represented Guantanamo detainees, the president of the American Bar Association said it is "a divisive and diversionary tactic" to impugn "the character of lawyers who have sought to protect the fundamental rights of unpopular clients."

In a statement to TPMmuckraker, ABA President Carolyn Lamm said that lawyers have an ethical obligation to "provide representation to people who otherwise would stand alone against the power and resources of the government--even to those accused of heinous crimes against this nation in the name of causes that evoke our contempt."

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Bracewell Giuliani

Will Liz Cheney Attack Rudy Giuliani's Firm For Representing 'Terrorist Detainees'?

Justin Elliott | March 3, 2010, 12:22PM

Liz Cheney and Rudy Giuliani

In Liz Cheney's worldview, Rudy Giuliani is a disloyal al Qaeda sympathizer.

Let us explain.

Yesterday, Cheney's outfit, a group called Keep America Safe, went up with a blistering ad that attacked Justice Department lawyers who previously represented Guantanamo detainees and are now working on detainee issues. The ad dubbed the lawyers "the Al Qaeda Seven" and asked "whose values do they share?" while flashing an image of Osama bin Laden.

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Guantanamo

False 'Recidivism' Meme Lives On In Obama Admin Letter, ABC Report

Justin Elliott | February 3, 2010, 5:54PM

President Obama and John Brennan, deputy national security adviser

The Obama Administration has adopted the flawed rhetoric of "recidivism" to discuss former Guantanamo detainees who are now said to be engaged in violence, according to a new ABC report, which uses the same problematic language.

The item by ABC's Jake Tapper, titled "Brennan: All Transferred Detainees Who Returned to Terrorism Were Released by Bush, No Recidivism for Those Released by Obama," broke the news of a letter from national security adviser John Brennan to Nancy Pelosi that states:

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Mohammed al-Awfi

Ex-Gitmo Detainee Who Joined Al Qaeda Accuses U.S. Of Torture At Bagram

Justin Elliott | January 14, 2010, 10:16AM

Mohammed al-Awfi

In a new interview with the BBC, a former Gitmo detainee and former member of Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula accused the United States of torturing him while at Bagram prison in Afghanistan.

The BBC interviewed Mohammed al-Awfi in the well-appointed apartment where he is being held by Saudi authorities. A Saudi national, al-Awfi's journey took him from Bagram to Guantanamo to the Saudi rehabilitation program to the Yemen-based Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula and finally back into the hands of Saudi authorities.

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Northwest Flight 253

Abdulmutallab Organized 'War On Terror Week' At UK University -- See The Poster

Justin Elliott | January 8, 2010, 12:18PM

Flight 253 suspect Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab

It's been reported in England and the U.S. in recent days that two years before Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab allegedly attempted to blow up Flight 253, the college Islamic Society of which he was president organized a "War on Terror Week."

But the poster from that University College London event, which has a corner notation "Approved by Umar Farook," has not been in circulation. Check it out below.

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New York Times

Oops: Times Corrects Itself -- Again -- On Faulty Gitmo-Terror Headline

Justin Elliott | January 7, 2010, 6:46PM

Guantanamo Article From 1/7/10 New York Times

Here we go again.

You may remember the series of posts we did last spring on a splashy New York Times front-pager that was originally headlined "1 In 7 Detainees Rejoined Jihad, Pentagon Finds."

TPMmuckraker pointed out that, among other flaws in the story and the Defense Department study on which it was based, the piece simply accepted the Pentagon's assumption that all Guantanamo detainees were jihadists when they entered the prison. Under that theory, all detainees who were allegedly engaging in terrorism had therefore "rejoined" the fight. In fact, there's evidence that that assumption is false.

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Guantanamo

The Gitmo-Yemen-Flight 253 Connection: What We Know And How We Know It

Justin Elliott | January 6, 2010, 10:12AM

With the news Tuesday that the Obama Administration has decided to halt transfers of Gitmo detainees to Yemen, it's worth taking a closer look at what we do -- and do not -- know about the activity of former detainees in the group known as Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula.

That's the al Qaeda "affiliate" that claimed responsibility for the failed Christmas attack over Detroit, and that President Obama has fingered as training and equipping Umar Abdulmutallab, the Nigerian man arrested in that incident.

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Detainees

Supreme Court Throws Out Abused Detainee Photo Ruling

Rachel Slajda | November 30, 2009, 11:43AM

Detainees at Guantanamo Bay

The Supreme Court has thrown out a ruling ordering the release of photographs of detainees being abused by American captors, citing a change in federal law that allows the defense secretary to withhold such pictures.

The 2nd Circuit Court of Appeals, which made the ruling, will have to take another look at a lawsuit brought by the American Civil Liberties Union.

Defense Secretary Robert Gates and President Obama have said releasing the photographs could endanger U.S. troops by fomenting anti-American sentiment overseas.

Hardin Jail

Bureau Of Prisons Shoots Down AP Report On Hardin As Gitmo Site

Justin Elliott | November 16, 2009, 12:20PM

Two Rivers Detention Center

The Bureau of Prisons is not looking at the empty jail in Hardin, Montana -- which was recently at the center of the American Police Force con -- as a potential site for Guantanamo inmates, contrary to an AP report today, a spokesperson for the bureau tells TPMmuckraker.

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