Dear President Obama
The Bush administration bet on the fact that most Americans were too complacent, too gullible and too trusting to believe that so much evil was done in their name.
The rest of the world is not - complacent, gullible and trusting of their political leaders.
You closed Gitmo. Now by reinstating military commissions, you are keeping Gitmo open. That is how the rest of the world is reporting your move.
I am outraged. Yesterday Eugene Fidell on the Newshour spelled it out clearly: we have a judicial system (~33 minutes in) that can try these men. The military commissions were part of Bush and Cheney's dark moves to create an extra-legal hellhole where evidence, laws and righteousness could not reach.
Below the jump is the letter I just sent you.
The Bush administration left a trail of landmines as they exited the White House. You have a choice: either destroy those mines, or the evil and destruction will become part of your administration.
Sir
I object in the strongest terms to your reinstatement of military commissions.
Yesterday I watched Robert Gibbs try to justify this move, something to the effect of "The President has the right to act in what he thinks is the best way to defend our country."
Re-establishing military commissions does four things, all of which are completely unacceptable:
1 It continues the wrongs of the Bush administration. Now the Obama administration has the broken lives of these men on his watch. One of the pathetic detainess whom the CIA "disappeared" just died mysteriously in a Libyan prison. That man's blood is now on your hands, your conscience. Did Gaddafi agree to hold secret CIA sites in exchange for confessing to the Pan-Am 103 bombings? How can this be good politics for the Obama administration, either here at home, or abroad?
2 It places you, the President in the position of deciding who is guilty before a man is tried. Based on the reporting I have read, ALL of the testimony obtained on the "dangerous 20" is corrupted. Making the rules "fairer" cannot untaint that evidence.
3 The international press is highly critical of our move. Yesterday the BBC World News reported that ‘European countries are rethinking their willingness to accept some Guantanamo detainees.’ BBC online reporting describes the "fundamental mistake".
4 We can try these men in our established judicial system. Creating an extra-judicial system is simply unsustainable. One commentator yesterday tried to make a distinction between war and warriors and law enforcement.
It was a feeble, pathetic attempt at contorting the meaning of justice and fairness.
I understand that our military in Afghanistan are worried that now - seven years after our invasion - releasing photos might add to al Qaeda recruitment. At first I agreed, but then Iraqis themselves reported new photos would not make much difference. In retrospect the argument sounds like the flimsy ticking time bomb again.
Last week Seymour Hersh reported that among these still-unreleased materials from Abu Ghraib are boys sodomized on camera, complete with screams caught on tape.
The Obama administration has about another 100 days to right some of the most horrific wrongs of the Bush administration. Trying to suppress that horror is bad policy and it is bad politics.
It is clear that the Bush administration left behind a smoking bomb for the next administration. Like a land mine, we must destroy it before it destroys the America some of us believe in.
Finally, the amount of anger and disappointment of now-former Obama supporters about the reinstatement of military commissions should not be underestimated. If the Obama team is looking for support for healthcare and climate change, losing that support at this point in time is just stupid political calculation.
Sincerely