Prisoners being flown to Guantanamo. [Source: Public domain]From The Washington Independent:
Monday’s news that President-elect Barack Obama and his advisers are planning to close the prison at Guantanamo Bay and prosecute some of the prisoners detained there in special national-security courts has prompted a retreat by the Obama team and swift responses by advocates on all sides.
On Tuesday, senior Obama foreign policy adviser Denis McDonough said that while Obama agreed the Guantanamo prison should be closed, there was “absolutely no truth to reports that a decision has been made about how and where to try the detainees, and there is no process in place to make that decision until [Obama’s] national security and legal teams are assembled.”
Still, the apparent leak that Obama was even considering a special court system was a step into a legal policy minefield.
My Comment: Very revealing news report. President-elect Obama is now realizing the legal minefield that President Bush had to go through on how to put to trial men who cannot be put to trial in a normal court situation within the U.S. legal system.