Seven years ago, I reviewed The Least Worst Place: Guantánamo's First 100 Days, and the author, Karen Greenberg, joined in the discussion. All these years later, this book still haunts:
This, then, was the sand on which the Guantánamo operation was precariously built. It was ominously shifting ground on which no person, no code, and no precedent could weigh in with authority. It was not just a legal black hole, as it came to be called later. It was also a military black hole, a legally compromised operation whose premise would ultimately come to threaten the integrity of the military and those under its command.
It haunts even more now, because as of Sunday, July 3, President Obama has 200 days left in office, 200 days to keep the promise he made on his second day in office that he would close Guantánamo. He has been thwarted in that by Congress from basically day one. He will continue to be thwarted by Congress. So what's to be done? One option might be executive action.
Some of President Obama’s advisors—including former White House counsel Greg Craig and Cliff Sloan, the former State Department envoy for Guantánamo closure—suggested that, if Congress refused to cooperate, he could close Guantánamo by executive order. However, just two weeks ago, Reuters reported that the Obama administration was "not pursuing the use of an executive order to shutter the Guantánamo Bay military prison after officials concluded that it would not be a viable strategy," according to "sources familiar with the deliberations." The sources added that President Obama "could still choose to use his commander-in-chief powers, but the option is not being actively pursued."
At the same time, Reuters says, the "White House has said repeatedly that Obama has not ruled out any options on the Guantánamo center." It's time to figure out how to exercise that executive action option, and this week, the week we celebrate the best of the United States, would be a fitting time to work on that.
You can follow the Countdown to Close Guantánamo, and participate in letting President Obama know it's time to act.