After Boumedine, What Next to Close Guantanamo?

The Progress Report. Posted July 9, 2008.

Since the Supreme Court delivered a "stinging rebuke of the Bush administration's flawed detention policies" last month by ruling that prisoners at Guantanamo Bay are entitled to habeas corpus rights, the White House has been scrambling to respond. Last week, ABC News reported that "[h]igh-level discussions among top advisers have escalated," and officials may ask Congress to "spell out procedures for scores of suspected terrorists whom the government does not plan to bring to trial." Roughly 270 detainees remain at Guantanamo, and a total of just 20 men "have been charged as part of a military commission system set up by Congress in 2006, including five accused of participating in the conspiracy that led to the Sept. 11 attacks." In the past, senior administration officials -- including Defense Secretary Robert Gates and Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice -- have reportedly pushed for the closure of the detention facility but been blocked by Vice President Cheney. This time may not be any different. President Bush insisted to Fox News on Thursday, "We're analyzing the decision and how to move forward, and there's no decision that is imminent on Guantanamo." The issue remains as urgent as ever. Last month, former Navy general counsel Alberto Mora told the Senate Armed Services Committee, "[T]here are serving U.S. flag-rank officers who maintain that the first and second identifiable causes of U.S. combat deaths in Iraq -- as judged by their effectiveness in recruiting insurgent fighters into combat -- are, respectively the symbols of Abu Ghraib and Guantanamo."

Blocked by Cheney

The desire to close Guantanamo Bay has been on the minds of administration officials for years. "I'd like to close Guantanamo," Bush said in 2006. When he first took office that same year, Gates urged the President to shut down the detention facility "as quickly as possible" because it had become "so tainted abroad that legal proceedings … would be viewed as illegitimate." Yet voices for closure have been blocked by opponents such as Cheney and former attorney general Alberto Gonzales. In September 2007, Gates told Congress that his push to close the facility was running into "obstacles" from administration lawyers. A few months later, a senior administration official told the Financial Times that the effort "lost the intensity needed> to have a realistic chance of closing the prison during the Bush administration." Although Gonzales is gone, Cheney is still around, leaving open the possibility that he will once again block any progress. Additionally, Gonzales has been replaced by Michael Mukasey, who told the Senate during his confirmation hearing, "I can't simply say we have to close Guantanamo."

See more stories tagged with: habeas corpus, supreme court, dick cheney, war on terror, robert gates, guantanamo, alberto gonzales, condoleezza rice, michael mukasey, military commissions, alberto mora

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