Despite Rhetoric, Obama Continues Bush Policy on Detainees

Posted on by

RAW STORY– In a stunning departure from his rhetoric on Guantánamo Bay prison, President Barack Obama signaled Friday he will continue Bush Administration policy with regard to detainees held at a US airbase in Afghanistan, saying they have no right to challenge their detentions in US courts — and denying them legal status altogether.

“This Court’s Order of January 22, 2009 invited the Government to inform the Court by February 20, 2009, whether it intends to refine its position on whether the Court has jurisdiction over habeas petitions filed by detainees held at the United States military base in Bagram, Afghanistan,” Acting Assistant Obama Attorney General Michael Hertz wrote in a brief filed Friday. “Having considered the matter, the Government adheres to its previously articulated position.”

The move seems to be a reversal from Obama’s much-trumpeted announcement to close the US prison at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba in January, in which he promised to return the United States to the “moral high ground” and “restore the standards of due process”

The US Supreme Court previously ruled that it was unconstitutional to hold detainees at Guantánamo Bay without giving them access to US courts. Following that ruling, more than 200 detainees filed suit in the District Court for the District of Columbia.

The Obama Administration announcement would appear to fly in the face of that ruling. The Court, while often supportive of previous Bush Administration terror policies, has strongly resisted efforts to curb its role in the legal aspect of US detention systems.

Bagram prison, where approximately 600 detainees are being held without charge or even term limits on their stay, is located about 30 miles north of Kabul in a converted Soviet Union base. The US is mulling a $60 million plan to expand the facility, which would double its current size.

Continue reading about Obama Continuing Bush’s Policy on Detainees.

Photo by US Army Flickr

© RAW STORY, 2009

Leave a Reply

RELATED NEWS

  • Empire Files: The Hidden War on Trans Rights
  • 7 Must Watch Empire Files Reports From Palestine
  • Human Rights Hypocrisy – Colombia vs. Venezuela
  • The Philippines Trafficking Epidemic: Past & Present
  • FOREIGN POLICY

  • Empire Files Podcast: A Russian Anti-War Perspective on Ukraine
  • Empire Files: Ukraine: Questions for the US Anti-War Movement w/ Abby Martin & Brian Becker
  • Media Roots Radio: Hollywood Gets Tough On Putin, Ukraine Scorched Earth Info War, Banning Russia
  • Media Roots Radio: RIP RT America, The End of An Era
  • Media Roots Radio: Revenge of the Kagans, DOD’s 11 Ukrainian Bio Labs, 60 Mins Targeted Individuals, Havana Reviews
  • Media Roots Radio: Fog of Cold War, Sitting Duck Op, Doomsday Clock 100 Seconds to Midnight
  • Media Roots Radio: US Can’t Quit Azov, Biden Blinked, Manifesting War & Marring Beijing 2022
  • Empire Files: Oliver Stone & Abby Martin: Down the JFK Rabbit Hole
  • Empire Files: Israel Gets Georgia to Strip Free Speech Rights (Again)
  • Media Roots Radio: Biden Wags the Dog on Ukraine, Alt-Media Race to Bottom & Cops Play Into Crime Panic w/ Yasha Levine
  • Empire Files: The War Profiteer Who Stole Christmas
  • Empire Files: Native Hawaiians Fight US Navy for Polluting Island’s Water
  • Empire Files: Navy Abandons Victims of Red Hill Fuel Leak
  • Empire Files Podcast: Interview with Red Hill Frontline Fighter: Navy Imperiling Life on O’ahu
  • Media Roots Radio: The Wheel of Winter’s Darkness & Smallpox Bioterror Scares Pt 1 of 2