President Obama signed three executive orders in January that signaled his intent to close the prison at Guantanamo Bay, fulfilling a campaign promise popular with liberals and central to his electoral victory.
But three months into the detainee review, Obama finds himself the unexpected target of fresh criticism from liberals over his handling of what they consider the new Guantanamo Bay: the military detention facility at Bagram Air Base in Afghanistan.
The secretive site is home to 660 detainees, 95 percent of whom were captured on the battlefield in Afghanistan. The rest were mostly captured in North Africa and the Middle East.
In an editorial this week, The New York Times claimed Bagram is "the next Guantanamo" and accused the Obama administration of recycling "extravagant claims of executive power."
That's because the Obama White House has sided with the Bush administration in its belief that the Bagram detainees, who are in a war zone, have no right to a court review despite a ruling last year by the Supreme Court granting Guantanamo detainees those rights.
The Justice Department argues that Bagram is different from Guantanamo because it is in an overseas war zone and the prisoners there are being held as part of an ongoing military action. The government argues that releasing enemy combatants into the Afghan war zone, or even diverting U.S. personnel there to consider their legal cases, could threaten security. - FOX News Story
President Obama has his own Gitmo. That is the lamest argument that I have ever heard, well it isn't located in Gitmo. Why not just come out and admit it? We are at war and there are prisoners that we need to keep under lock and key. What Vindication for President Bush! He must be laughing his butt off at this. After Obama has gone historically out of his way to bash the Previous Administration, it has to feel good to see him squirm over doing the same thing.
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