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Former
vice-president condemns 'recklessness cloaked in righteousness'
By David
Usborne, US Editor
Washington, May 23, 2009 – A grave but determined Barack Obama yesterday
staunchly defended his orders to close down America's controversial
prison camp at Guantanamo Bay and to ban interrogation techniques
permitted by the Bush administration, such as waterboarding.
At the National Archives, which houses pages from the US Constitution
and the Bill of Rights, the President once again contended that his
predecessor had sacrificed the moral values of the country while
attempting to protect it after 9/11, following an "ad hoc legal approach
for fighting terrorism that was neither effective nor sustainable – a
framework that failed to trust in our institutions, and that failed to
use our values as a compass".
While Mr Obama may be unwavering in his intellectual position – he broke
little new ground – the debate about the best way forward seems only to
grow more intense. Earlier this week, the US Senate had overwhelmingly
refused to approve funding to close down the Guantanamo camp, with
Democrats joining Republicans to demand answers on what exactly will be
done with the 240 terror suspects who are still housed there.
And the dueling between this administration and the last was never more
vividly illustrated than by the appearance of Dick Cheney, the former
vice-president, at a think-tank just minutes after Mr. Obama had
surrendered the microphone yesterday.
"It's easy to receive applause in Europe for closing Guantanamo," Mr
Cheney said. "But it's tricky to come up with an alternative that will
serve the interests of justice and America's national security." He
quipped that this White House was guilty of "recklessness cloaked in
righteousness".
Trying to fend off critics from both the conservative right and the
liberal left of his own party, Mr. Obama revived the argument that
Guantanamo has become a symbol around the world that helped America's
enemies attract recruits. The camp "likely created more terrorists
around the world than it ever detained", he posited, adding that "rather
than keep us safer, the prison at Guantanamo has weakened American
national security".
It is not clear that Mr. Obama said enough on the future of the
Guantanamo prisoners to satisfy Congress, particularly when it comes to
detainees who are thought to still represent a threat to the US, but for
whom there is little prosecutable evidence. "I want to be honest: this
is the toughest issue we face," Mr. Obama conceded.
Even before he spoke, details leaked of a Pentagon report suggesting
that of the 530-plus detainees already released from Guantanamo, one in
seven had recommitted themselves to fighting the US and joining the
so-called jihad. The detainees in question were released under George
Bush. Meanwhile, the US Attorney General, Eric Holder, revealed
yesterday that arrangements were in train for the first prisoner from
Guantanamo to be brought to the US homeland to face justice in a
civilian court. The prisoner is Ahmed Khalfan Ghailani, who is charged
in connection with the 1998 bombings of two US embassies in Africa.
The President insisted that if others among the detainees are brought to
the mainland to stand trial, Americans should not be alarmed. Such
detainees would be held in "supermax" prisons from which no one has ever
escaped.
On practically every issue, the philosophies of the President and Mr
Cheney are diametrically opposed.
Mr. Cheney called the Obama approach "contrived indignation and phony
moralizing".
Mr. Obama dismissed the idea that "the ends of fighting terrorism can be
used to justify any means".
Source: The Independent
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