The House of Representatives has voted to block the administration from transferring detainees by a margin of 236 to 188 by passing an amendment to the National Defense Authorization Act of 2014 (NDAA). You can read the amendment here.
None of the amounts authorized to be available to the Department of Defense may be used to transfer, release, or assist in the transfer or release, during the period beginning on the date of enactment of this Act and ending on December 31, 2014, any individual detained at Guantanamo (as such term is defined in section 1033(f)(2)) to the custody or control of the Republic of Yemen or any entity within Yemen.
As many as 56 detainees have been cleared by the Department of Defense to be released to Yemen, but the House of Representatives simply will not allow it. In total, as many as 86 out of 166 detainees have been cleared for transfer.
In addition to barring the administration from transferring detainees from Guantanamo Bay to Yemen, the latest version of the NDAA also includes language that was included in previous versions that bar the administration from transferring detainees to American soil.
One of my pet peeves, on a long line of pet peeves, is that Obama did not keep his promise to close Guantanamo Bay. ESPECIALLY when it is brought up by conservatives as an example of how Obama does not do what he says he will do, or that he lacks integrity.
Of course as most of us who have been paying attention realize that he signed an executive order during his first week, but was blocked by the Republicans. (And as Thom Hartmann explains it was by using essentially the same tactics that they are using today.)
No President Obama wants the prison closed, and has wanted it closed his entire presidency. The question we should be asking is why is it so important for the Republicans to keep it open?
Maybe Cheney wants if privatized, to add to his collection of other prisons. There is a high security prison in Illinois, sitting emtpy, never used. The citizens of the small town wanted it to be used for the Gitmo prisoners, it would create jobs in their community. The gop would not allow it. What a waste. It costs an astronomical amount to keep Gitmo open.
ReplyDeleteBecause those imprisoned will talk?
ReplyDeleteAs much as I admire Obama the man, I am VERY disappointed with Obama the president on SO many levels. I never understood "executive" orders in the first place. What's the point of being president in the first place if he has absolutely no power? Stool pigeon with benefits?
Oh FUCK YOU. The only way you've have been so disappointed is if you projected YOUR expectations on him. Given the unprecedented interference that he's had to deal with, he's been STUNNINGLY successful.
DeleteAs far as Executive Orders, go back and see how many of those your buddy BUSH Jr. signed. President Obama has hardly even made a dent in that volume.
People like you make me sick. Always yipping about our president. Projecting your ignorance and obvious misreading of the power of ANY president. Go fuck yourself. Really.
10:25 You need to do some research - President Obama is being blocked by the Republicans in Congress and has been since he was first elected (McConnell leading the pack because they didn't want President Obama being elected for a second term!).
DeleteHe has been successful in some instances because he has found ways to work around them. Example: The Judges that President Obama has picked recently are already being blocked by Congress - as have others from years before!
The Congress could care less about how things effect Americans across the nation! It is all about them and their hatred/dislike of the 'half-black man' who is our wonderful president!
The president is hampered by our system of governance. We have three separate but equal branches of government. If a president could do anything that he wanted he would be a dictator. President Obama is NOT a dictator. He's a constitutional scholar and understands the system far better than some commenters here, you in particular Anon. at 10:25 am.
DeleteBeaglemom
You very seriously need a course in political science. Really. Do yourself a favor and learn how government works.
Delete10:25--
Deletea. Take a civics course. Or hell, read Wikipedia!
b. Bless your heart.
Sarah Palin: D.C. a 'hot mess'
ReplyDeleteFormer Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin outlined her disdain for Washington political culture in a speech Saturday morning, denouncing Democrats’ “religious faith in the power of government” and calling D.C. a “hot mess.”
“The problem is government grown so big that it intrudes into every aspect of our lives. It’s grown so arrogant that it thinks we work for it instead of it works for us,” she said at the Faith and Freedom Coalition’s “Road to Majority” conference in D.C. “The problem is, that these politicos with these religious faith in the power of government and elitist disdain for the rights of people … the scandals infecting this city, they are a symptom of a bigger disease.”
...Palin also made reference to former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush’s comments yesterday that immigration reform is necessary because immigrants are “more fertile,” saying that way of discussing the issue “dangerous territory.”
“And I say this as someone that’s kind of fertile myself,” she quipped.
The former governor and vice presidential candidate made reference to her many critics, saying dealing with criticism is “something I do well.”
“What gives them away is that ‘Re-elect Obama’ bumper sticker,” she said. “That bumper sticker might as well say, yeah, I’m still dense.”
As for the United States’ involvement in conflicts in the Middle East, Palin said until the country has a president “who knows what they’re doing, I say let Allah sort it out.”
http://www.politico.com/story/2013/06/sarah-palin-dc-hot-mess-92850.html?hp=l2
There she goes again, projecting. Hot mess indeed. She looks like she rolled out from under the covers. Hair all matted.
DeleteAnd besides, it sounds familiar. Don't lots of your readers/posters refer to HER as a HOT MESS? Yep, she sure does read here.
This article is followed by some hysterical comments...I mean EVERYONE has her number!
http://www.mediaite.com/tv/palin-blasts-nsa-couldnt-find-two-pot-smoking-bostonians-with-hotline-to-terrorist-central/
http://thehill.com/blogs/blog-briefing-room/news/305789-palin-slams-intervention-in-syria-let-allah-sort-it-out
DeletePalin argued that the U.S. should not intervene in any Middle East conflict as long as President Obama remains in office.
“Until we have a commander in chief who knows what he is doing....let Allah sort it out!” she told the Faith and Freedom Coalition.
The statement shows how far Palin has drifted from former running mate Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.), who is the chief Senate proponent of U.S. military action to help the Syrian rebels.
This week, the White House announced it had concluded that Syrian President Bashar al-Assad had used chemical weapons against the rebels, thereby crossing a “red line.” Obama has now decided to arm select elements of the Syrian rebellion.
Palin also used her speech to blast the “good ole boys” in Congress and she advised them to follow the lead of freshman Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas), a Tea Party darling.
The former governor and Fox News contributor said the U.S. is “becoming a totalitarian surveillance state” and that she is listening more and more to libertarians in the Republican Party.
The scandal surrounding the Justice Department surveillance of reporters, National Security Agency collection of Internet data and Internal Revenue Service (IRS) harassment of conservatives shows that Washington is just a “hot mess,” Palin proclaimed.
Palin never fails to demonstrate her classless and tactless penchant for slinging outrageous insults.
DeleteI would bet that until somebody told her, she thought that Syria was a satellite radio service.
DeleteSo the bitter, bitter quitter is whining again. YAWN.....
DeleteSound bites is all she can do. Rah rah and hater crap has no durability.
DeleteKinda fertile, my @ss. Her tubes were ligated and burned after Piper, and Trig-G is NOT her son. I guess "kinda" is alluding to that, or that another "come hither?"
DeleteShe is a FREAK.
That's an easy answer, Gryphen, because Obama wants it done, they will dig in their heels to stop it. They don't want him to have in his legacy that he closed that god forsaken hell hole. It would be more than they could bear to have him get that kind of credit. Fuckers.
ReplyDeleteBingo!
DeleteFertile? In oil industry speak,that's a dry hole.
ReplyDeleteIn gynecology, we call it Tines Crurus. The patients call it crotch rot.
Delete" The question we should be asking is why is it so important for the Republicans to keep it open?"
ReplyDeleteWho benefits from it staying open? Does Haliburton have its finger in that pie? Dig a little deeper, Gryphen.
You hit the nail on the head. The entire military/industrial complex has a very big investment is keeping those big bad terrorists locked up and silent. It's how they keep people fearful and promote war. It's their bread and butter and they are dead set on keeping things as they are.
DeleteRepublicans [think they] benefit from keeping Gitmo open, because as long as that's the case, they can continue to insist Obama broke a major campaign promise. What Americans don't understand about "the political process" is how it works. They're easily fooled into thinking "our government just isn't working anymore" and "we need to take back our country", etc., ad nauseum.
DeleteThere is also probably a Halliburton aspect to keeping Gitmo open as well.
The asshole Republicans continue to block him! Vote these jerks out of Congress is the only answer in the upcoming election.
ReplyDeleteJohn McCain is doing horrible stuff - announcing things the President is going to announce before the President does (he says he has a 'source' that gives him the information! - I'm suspecting John Kerry!) - interfering w/national security items by going overseas and meeting w/the terrorists, etc. I think we should get him for treason!
OT
ReplyDeleteWarning http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WMR1GTDVlXk
First blush they are saying she is a hit, with Ralph Reed I guess.
"I say this as someone who’s kind of fertile herself," Palin said.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/06/15/sarah-palin-fertile_n_3447093.html?utm_hp_ref=politics
Can't President Obama just veto that bill?
ReplyDeleteI love the Man and what I thought he was going to do, but I do not have a lot of hope that he will fight them. He is not a fighter. He is a lofty thinker, but he does not play dirty. Good for him. Bad for us.
DeleteThe fapping that's going on is truly remarkable.
ReplyDeletehttp://us4palin.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/06/majority-20.jpg
http://conservatives4palin.com/2013/06/open-thread-691.html#disqus_thread
http://conservatives4palin.com/2013/06/video-governor-palins-full-speech-at-the-faith-and-freedom-conference.html
http://us4palin.com/gov-palin-at-road-to-majority-on-syria-let-allah-sort-them-out/
When President Obama was in the early days of his first term and Congress was debating about the closing of Gitmo, the state of Michigan offered to house the prisoners here. That's how desperate for jobs northern Michigan communities were at the time. And the shift could have been made and then, all of those kept there who should be allowed to go home could have been released and the others tried in real courts for whatever they may or may not have done. But the Republicans in Congress and behind the scenes (for example, the Bushes and Cheney) wanted to keep the place open and they have kept blocking its closure. I think that, deep down, they are ashamed of the place and try to ignore its existence except, of course, for opportunities to blame President Obama for its continued existence.
ReplyDeleteBeaglemom
More than likely, Cheney's contacts are deep into this mess. This is another thorn in the side of the Muslims. Some of the prisoners have never had a chance to prove their innocence. Cheney has $80 Million invested in private prisons, so he needs to make a profit on them. Gitmo seems to be a money pit that would be better off closed, unless W, Cheney, Rumsfeld, Wolfowitz and the rest of the war for oil gang is going to end up there. As for Palin, it is a reflection on the failing gop to have this shrew actually giving speeches at their get togethers. The woman is simply comic relief these days.
ReplyDeleteGitmo cannot ever be closed because these men were complicit in planning the 911 attacks with Bushie JR, Cheney and Rumsfeld. They must be cloistered and kept hidden until they die because the real truth would surface the minute they were released.
ReplyDeleteI'd like to know why so many good bills stall in the Senate. There have been numerous jobs bills and budgets. Our senate is worthless.
ReplyDelete