![\"US](\"http:\/\/rt.com\/files\/opinionpost\/1f\/31\/00\/00\/obama-2.jpg\")
<\/p>\nWhen President Obama delivered a major speech on America’s drone program and the ongoing existence of the Guantanamo prison, the majority of those most affected by the latter – the prisoners themselves – were, ironically, unable to hear his speech.<\/p>\n
Until six weeks ago, the majority of prisoners were spending
\nmost of their time communally, in Camp Six of the prison, where
\nthey were able to watch TV and would have seen President Obama’s
\nspeech. Six weeks ago, however, after an early morning raid, the
\nmajority of the prisoners were moved to solitary cells, where they
\nhave remained ever since – as punishment for embarking on a
\nprison-wide hunger strike, now in its fourth month.<\/p>\n
Yesterday, Navy Captain Robert Durand, a spokesman for the
\nGuant\u00c3\u00a1namo prison, told Reuters that the prisoners “follow all
\ncoverage of Guant\u00c3\u00a1namo closely,<\/i>” although he conceded that only
\n“about two dozen had unrestricted access to television in
\ncommunal settings.<\/i>“<\/p>\n
The irony is lost on the military – and appears to be lost on
\nthe Obama administration too. The men’s decision not to eat – and
\nto risk starving themselves to death – was initially prompted by
\nguards manhandling the prisoners’ copies of the Qur’an, but it soon
\ntapped into a deeper despair about their indefinite detention.<\/p>\n
President Obama promised to close Guant\u00c3\u00a1namo within a year when
\nhe took office in January 2009, but met opposition from Congress,
\nwhich prevented him from closing the prison by bringing prisoners
\nto a facility on the US mainland, and also prevented him from
\nbringing any of the men to the US to face trials.<\/p>\n
Throughout 2009, an inter-agency task force appointed by the
\nPresident reviewed all the prisoners’ cases, and recommended that,
\nof the 166 men still held, 86 should be released. However, in
\nJanuary 2010, following a failed bomb plot, hatched in Yemen, to
\nblow up a plane bound for Detroit, the President himself imposed a
\nban on releasing any cleared Yemenis, even though 56 of the 86
\nprisoners cleared for release are Yemenis.<\/p>\n
In the last two years, Congress has imposed further
\nrestrictions, in successive versions of the National Defense
\nAuthorization Act (NDAA), preventing the release of prisoners if
\nthere is a single claim that anyone previously transferred to their
\nhome country has \u201csubsequently engaged in any terrorist
\nactivity<\/i>,\u201d and also preventing the release of prisoners to any
\nother country unless the Secretary of Defense issues a certificate
\nto ensure that any freed prisoner “cannot engage or re-engage in
\nany terrorist activity.<\/i>\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
The ban imposed by President Obama unjustly condemned the
\nYemenis to indefinite detention on the basis of their nationality
\nalone, while the restrictions imposed by Congress partly echoed
\nthat, whilst also making the unreasonable demand that no one should
\nbe freed from a prison if there was a possibility that they might
\none day engage in acts of terrorism against their former
\njailers.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
To add insult to injury, judges in the court of appeals in
\nWashington D.C., a deeply conservative court charged with reviewing
\nthe men’s hard-won habeas corpus petitions, which were granted by
\nthe Supreme Court in 2008, were upset that, between 2008 and 2010,
\ndozens of prisoners had their habeas corpus petitions granted by
\nthe lower courts, leading to their release. The court rewrote the
\nrules, insisting that any information presented as evidence by the
\ngovernment should be treated as accurate unless it could be proved
\notherwise. Since then no habeas petitions have been granted, and,
\ndespite appeals from the prisoners, the Supreme Court has refused
\nto get involved.<\/p>\n
Abandoned by all three branches of the US government, the
\nprisoners’ hunger strike was a desperate way of trying to get the
\nworld to notice them and to remember them, and it worked. In the
\nlast few months, the world’s media has woken up to the horrors of
\nGuant\u00c3\u00a1namo, and the President has been bombarded with criticism –
\nfrom senior lawmakers, including Sen. Carl Levin, the chair of the
\nSenate Armed Services Committee and Sen. Dianne Feinstein, the
\nchair of the Senate Intelligence Committee, as well as from the
\nUnited Nations, the International Committee of the Red Cross, and
\nthe European Parliament. Critical editorials have graced the pages
\nof the New York Times and the Washington Post, op-eds written by
\nprisoners have appeared in the New York Times and the Observer, and
\nnearly a million people have signed petitions calling for the
\nrelease of prisoners and the closure of the prison.<\/p>\n
On Thursday President Obama delivered a series of promises in
\nresponse to the criticism directed at him. These appear to show the
\nway forward – and to bring hope to the men at Guant\u00c3\u00a1namo for the
\nfirst time since 2009 – but they will need close monitoring, and
\nrelentless pressure, to make sure they lead to meaningful
\naction.<\/p>\n
Firstly, the President said, \u201cI am appointing a new, senior
\nenvoy at the State Department and Defense Department whose sole
\nresponsibility will be to achieve the transfer of detainees to
\nthird countries.<\/i>\u201d<\/p>\n
Secondly, he said, \u201cI am lifting the moratorium on detainee
\ntransfers to Yemen, so we can review them on a case by case
\nbasis.\u201d<\/i><\/p>\n
Thirdly, he said, \u201cTo the greatest extent possible, we will
\ntransfer detainees who have been cleared to go to other
\ncountries.\u201d<\/i><\/p>\n
![\"Reuters](\"http:\/\/rt.com\/files\/opinionpost\/1f\/31\/00\/00\/guantanamo-2.jpg\")
<\/i><\/p>\n
On the first point, it is disappointing that the President has
\nnot decided to appoint an official within the White House to deal
\nwith Guant\u00c3\u00a1namo, and it is also disappointing that the individual
\nis only to be tasked with “the transfer of detainees to third
\ncountries<\/i>” rather than the closure of the prison. However, it
\nis progress. In January, it was revealed that the previous envoy,
\nDaniel Fried, had been reassigned, and that no one had been
\nappointed to take his place.<\/p>\n
What needs to happen now is for this individual to be named as
\nswiftly as possible, and for he or she to begin to transfer the 30
\ncleared prisoners who are not Yemenis. If Congress remains
\nobstructive, the President and the Secretary of Defense must use a
\nwaiver provision that exists in the NDAA, which allows them to
\nbypass Congress if they regard it as being \u201cin the national
\nsecurity interests of the United States.\u201d<\/i><\/p>\n
On the second point, lifting the ban on releasing Yemenis is
\ncrucial, but there now needs to be immediate action to facilitate
\nthe men’s release. Again, the waiver will be needed if Congress
\nrefuses to cooperate, but otherwise there should be no obstacles to
\nthe successful release of the 56 men. Prior to President Obama’s
\nspeech, current and former administration officials told the Wall
\nStreet Journal that the transfers to Yemen \u201cwould begin slowly,
\nstarting with two or three detainees, to ensure Yemen can keep
\ntrack of the detainees and prevent them from joining militant
\ngroups.\u201d<\/i> The beginning of this process, the official said,
\n\u201ccould still be months away.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Wall Street Journal also noted that recent steps taken by
\nthe Yemeni government \u201cmay make it easier for the Pentagon to
\nsign the waiver,<\/i>\u201d adding, \u201cPresident Abed Rabbo Mansour
\nHadi\u2019s government, which has increased counter-terrorism
\ncooperation with the US, has pledged to monitor the detainees
\nclosely and put them through an intensive rehabilitation
\nprogram.\u201d<\/i><\/p>\n
![\"Reuters](\"http:\/\/rt.com\/files\/opinionpost\/1f\/31\/00\/00\/guantanamo-3.jpg\")
<\/i><\/p>\n
The Wall Street Journal also noted that \u201cUS and Yemeni
\nofficials have held negotiations in recent weeks about restarting
\nthe transfers, including promising to share information about
\nformer detainees. The Yemeni government has said multiple
\nministries will monitor the ex-detainees to guard against
\nactivities that are potentially threatening to the US and to ensure
\nthey receive counselling, job training and other aid to help their
\nreintegration into society.<\/i>\u201d
On the third point, plans to free the 30 non-Yemeni prisoners
\ncleared for release need to begin immediately, involving the
\nPresident’s new envoy and, if necessary, the waiver mentioned
\nabove. The first to be released should be Shaker Aamer, the last
\nBritish resident in the prison, but there are also five Tunisians,
\na Saudi, four Afghans and others whose release should not be a
\ncomplicated matter.<\/p>\n
The cases of others – including the last three Uighurs (Muslims
\nfrom China’s Xinjiang province), four Syrians, the last Tajik and
\nthe last Palestinian – are more complicated, because it is unsafe
\nfor them to be repatriated, and new homes need to be found for
\nthem. This is also the case with most, if not all of the last five
\nAlgerians. The plight of these men is complicated by the fact that
\nthe US refuses to resettle any of these men, but it is anticipated
\nthat third countries can be found if the Obama administration
\nprovides full backing to the President ‘s new envoy.<\/p>\n
There is more that still needs doing, of course. The 80 other
\nprisoners in Guant\u00c3\u00a1namo also need justice, and will not be
\nreassured that the President stated in his speech, “Where
\nappropriate, we will bring terrorists to justice in our courts and
\nmilitary justice system,<\/i>” and specifically referred to some of
\nthe 80 men as those “who we know have participated in dangerous
\nplots or attacks, but who cannot be prosecuted – for example
\nbecause the evidence against them has been compromised or is
\ninadmissible in a court of law<\/i>.”<\/p>\n
46 of the remaining 80 men were consigned to indefinite
\ndetention without charge or trial in an executive order issued by
\nthe President two years ago, on the basis of the “compromised”
\nevidence mentioned by the President. At the time, these men were
\npromised periodic reviews of their cases, but those have not yet
\ntaken place. These need to be initiated, and they need to allow
\nobjective analysis of that “compromised” evidence – because that
\nwill reveal that much of it is worthless, consisting of false
\nstatements made by prisoners subjected to torture or other abuse,
\nor who were bribed with food or the promise of additional “comfort
\nitems.”<\/p>\n
For the others, recommended for trial by the task force, only
\nseven currently face charges in the much-criticized military
\ncommissions at Guant\u00c3\u00a1namo, and most of the men in this category
\nshould also receive objective reviews of their cases. This is
\nparticularly important because judges recently ruled that most of
\nthe charges relied upon by the government – providing material
\nsupport for terrorism, and conspiracy – are not war crimes, and
\nthrew out two of the only convictions secured in the military
\ncommissions’ stumbling history.<\/p>\n
Mostly, however, as outlined above, the men at Guant\u00c3\u00a1namo need
\nto see meaningful progress from the President who promised “hope
\nand change” back in 2008, and then failed to deliver it – and for
\n86 of these men, that means, as soon as possible, that they should
\nbe given their freedom, and not just subjected to the fine words
\nthat President Obama is so good at delivering, as a substitute for
\naction.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Andy Worthington for Andy Worthington is a freelance The statements, views and opinions expressed in this column are solely those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of RT.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n
\nRT
<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n
\ninvestigative journalist, author and filmmaker, who has been
\nresearching and writing about Guant\u00c3\u00a1namo since 2006. He is also the
\nco-founder of the “Close Guant\u00c3\u00a1namo” campaign. See his website
\nhere.<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n