RKMBs Forums .::Important::. Politics and Current Events Amnesty on Guantanamo

Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama said Wednesday he would bring Osama bin Laden to justice in a way that wouldn't allow the terrorist mastermind to become a martyr, but he may be killed if the U.S. government finds him.

"First of all, I think there is an executive order out on Osama bin Laden's head," Obama said at a news conference. "And if I'm president, and we have the opportunity to capture him, we may not be able to capture him alive."

He said he wouldn't discuss what approach he would take to bring bin Laden to justice if he were apprehended. But he said the Nuremberg trials for the prosecution of Nazi leaders are an inspiration because the victors acted to advance universal principles and set a tone for the creation of an international order.

"What would be important would be for us to do it in a way that allows the entire world to understand the murderous acts that he's engaged in and not to make him into a martyr, and to assure that the United States government is abiding by basic conventions that would strengthen our hand in the broader battle against terrorism," Obama said.

Obama was questioned about bin Laden after he met with a new team of national security advisers. The meeting came after rival John McCain's campaign said Obama had a pre-9/11 mind-set for promoting criminal trials for terrorists.

"I refuse to be lectured on national security by people who are responsible for the most disastrous set of foreign policy decisions in the recent history of the United States," Obama said in opening remarks that in part referred to the Iraq war.

He was standing before 17 American flags and a sign that said "Judgment to Lead." He was surrounded by national security experts who had formerly served in Congress and the Clinton administration and will be advising his campaign — an effort to bring foreign policy experience to a candidate who has served just three years in Congress.

"Osama bin Laden and his top leadership — the people who murdered 3,000 Americans — have a safe-haven in northwest Pakistan, where they operate with such freedom of action that they can still put out hate-filled audiotapes to the outside world," Obama said. "That's the result of the Bush-McCain approach to the war on terrorism."

McCain spokesman Tucker Bounds responded that Obama offers weak leadership and a partisan approach to terrorism. He noted that Obama opposed the decision to send additional troops to Iraq and has not visited the country in more than two years.

"Barack Obama wants to continue down the path of ideologically driven blindness to the conditions on the ground," Bounds said.

How to handle bin Laden has been a tricky question for presidents and those who would like to be in the White House. In the 2004 campaign, Democratic candidate Howard Dean was criticized for refusing to prejudge bin Laden's guilt before a trial. President Bush has said his statement that he wanted to capture Osama bin Laden "dead or alive" was one of the biggest mistakes of his presidency because it was misinterpreted around the world.

Obama's 13-member foreign policy advisory group includes three who advised Hillary Rodham Clinton and served in her husband's Cabinet — former Secretaries of State Madeleine Albright and Warren Christopher and former Defense Secretary William Perry. Albright was asked if she brought any advice from Clinton, who had questioned whether Obama had the experience to be commander in chief.

"Their positions are so similar on restoring America's leadership," she said as she walked out the door without stopping to say anything more.

Other working group members include Sam Nunn of Georgia, Lee Hamilton of Indiana, David Boren of Oklahoma and Tim Roemer of Indiana — all former Democratic lawmakers known for their foreign policy expertise. It also includes several Clinton administration officials — Tony Lake, Susan Rice, Greg Craig, Eric Holder, Richard Danzig and Jim Steinberg. Holder, a former deputy attorney general, is helping lead Obama's search for a running mate.

Obama later met in the same hotel ballroom with 41 retired admirals and generals to discuss the state of the military and the challenges in Iraq, Afghanistan and elsewhere.

I generally don't like it when people decide to play by the rules against people who don't play by the rules.

It tends to put you immediately at a disadvantage and IMO is a sign of true weakness.

This is true both in politics and on the internet.

Obama Looks to Revive Guantanamo Court System: The Obama administration is moving toward reviving the military commission system for prosecuting terrorism suspects held at a detention center in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, even though the president has criticized the system in the past, the New York Times reported.

whomod?

Adler?

MEM?

I'll have to see what added legal protection is being planned for the terrorism suspects. Nobody wanted a terrorist to escape justice btw.

I'm foreseeing a really prompt and thorough follow-up here...

In a major rebuke to President Barack Obama, the Senate voted overwhelmingly on Wednesday to block the transfer of Guantanamo detainees to the United States and denied the administration the millions it sought to close the prison.

The 90-6 Senate vote — paired with similar House action last week — was a clear sign to Obama that he faces a tough fight getting the Democratic-controlled Congress to agree with his plans to shut down the detention center and move the 240 detainees.

Last month, Obama asked for $80 million for the Pentagon and the Justice Department to close the facility at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, by January. In the eyes of the world, the prison has come to exemplify harsh U.S. anti-terror tactics and detention without trial for almost all of its inmates, most of whom were captured in Afghanistan.

The administration put its Democratic allies in a difficult spot by requesting the Guantanamo closure money before developing a plan for what to do with its detainees.

Obama is scheduled to give a major address Thursday outlining in more detail his plans for Guantanamo, but it's already clear that Congress has little appetite for bringing detainees to U.S. soil, even if the inmates would be held in maximum-security prisons.

The vote came as FBI Director Robert Mueller told Congress that he is concerned Guantanamo detainees could support terrorism if sent to the United States. Separately, a federal judge said the United States can continue to hold some prisoners at Guantanamo indefinitely without any charges.

In recent weeks, Republicans have called for keeping Guantanamo open, saying abuses at the facility are a thing of the past and describing it as a state-of-the-art prison that's nicer than some U.S. prisons. And they warn that terrorists who can't be convicted might be set free in the United States.

Four Jordanians arrested in Jordan in April had planned to perpetrate terror attacks in Israel in retaliation for Operation Cast Lead, DPA reported on Wednesday.

According to the report, judicial sources told the news organization that the four were expected to be charged with illegal possession of arms.

The suspects were named as Sakhr Abu Zaid, Hassan Talaq, Mohammad Abu Ourah and Osama Abu Kabir, the report continued,adding that Abu Kabir had been incarcerated at Guantanamo Bay prison for several years.

The IDF launched Operation Cast Lead in December 2008 in an effort to stop incessant Palestinian rocket fire against southern Israel. Over 1,000 Palestinians - many of them gunmen - were killed during the operation. Ten IDF soldiers and three Israeli civilians were also killed.

In mid-April, the IDF beefed up forces along the Israeli borders with Egypt and Jordan out of concern that terror cells operating on either border would infiltrate into Israel. Egypt also boosted its forces at the time.

Later in the month, Egypt announced that it had uncovered a plot by 49 men with links to Hizbullah to destabilize the country by carrying out attacks on Egyptian institutions and Israeli tourists.

The Obama administration's pick for a top intelligence post at the Homeland Security Department has ties to the CIA's harsh interrogation program, a congressional aide said.

This could become an issue during Philip Mudd's confirmation hearing, which is expected next week. Mudd was nominated to be under secretary of intelligence and analysis at Homeland Security.

The aide confirmed that Mudd, who was deputy director of the Office of Terrorism Analysis at the CIA during the Bush administration, had direct knowledge of the agency's harsh interrogation program. The aide, who spoke on condition of anonymity, was not authorized to discuss the matter publicly.

A Republican senator wants more information about Obama's top pick for the post. Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, said her staff is looking into the extent of Mudd's involvement in these interrogation programs.

Neither Mudd nor the White House responded to requests for comment.

The interrogation program has come under harsh criticism by Democratic lawmakers and President Barack Obama.

Mudd's analysts used information obtained through harsh interrogations, and the official said that Mudd is likely to be questioned on whether the analysis branch pressured interrogators in the field to use harsher methods because they believed detainees were not telling the truth.

The Democratically controlled Senate will then have to decide whether indirect involvement or knowledge of the program is enough to disqualify a candidate that has been praised by several current and former intelligence officials.

In November, Obama's selection of John Brennan to become CIA director was derailed after a firestorm of criticism from liberal bloggers that associated him with the Bush administration's interrogation, detention and rendition programs.

Faced with the prospects of contentious confirmation hearings, Brennan withdrew from consideration. He currently serves as the president's White House-based homeland security adviser, a position that does not require Senate confirmation.

The date of Mudd's confirmation hearing before the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence has not yet been set.

The Obama administration's pick for a top intelligence post at the Homeland Security Department has ties to the CIA's harsh interrogation program...

I'll have to see what added legal protection is being planned for the terrorism suspects. Nobody wanted a terrorist to escape justice btw.

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It's a good day.