Senator Levin: Gitmo Closure Going Nowhere, 'Not Enough' Push From Obama

[Bluebear]

It's been more than five months since the Obama administration missed its self-imposed deadline for the closure of the detention center at Guantanamo Bay. And as things stand now, one key member of Congress says, the White House is showing little to no willingness to continue pursuing one of the more high-minded promises made by the president before entering office.

Sen. Carl Levin (D-Mich.), who chairs the Senate Committee on Armed Services, told the Huffington Post on Tuesday that engagement on the topic by the president and his team has been sparse. So has any type of political push to get Congress to help close Gitmo by appropriating money for an alternate facility in Thomson, Illinois, he added.

"They haven't threatened to veto on that one yet," said the Michigan Democrat. "Maybe they feel strongly enough about closing it that they may take a position on it the way they have on the funding for the second engine . They have been pretty strong on that issue. But they don't seem to be as strong on Gitmo as they are on that. Don't Ask Don't Tell, they were pretty strong on that issue. But we haven't heard much about the language taking away the money for the prison facility in Illinois."

"They talk a little bit about it but not a lot," Levin added. "Not enough."

[Frances]

1. I say give Obama a break

He does have just a few things on his plate

[Bluebear]

2. Yes, his plate looks full until the end of his term.

At which time you can tell us he didn't have time enough to do everything.

[Frances]

15. And you can complain about President Palin

[walldude]

51. Ahhh that didn't take long...

At least I know Palin is going to fuck me over. At least she isn't smiling to my face and asking me for money and to work the phones for her and to go banging on fucking doors. And frankly as Obama and the current Democratic administration keep pushing towards the right, in two more years there won't be a lick of difference between whoever the Repukes run and Obama. So keep talking shit and taking shit, keep praising these wonderful right wing policies that the Democrats are implementing, by the time the elections roll around you won't be voting for the lesser of two evils, you'll be voting for one evil or the other.

[Hannah Bell]

64. lol. i almost think if she were in, the dems would be fighting harder.

[treestar]

7. Yeah, I'm going to be patient on this

It's likely more complex than it looks.

[zipplewrath]

10. Um, he asked for the job

This was a MAJOR issue in the campaign. It is a major issue with both our friends and our enemies. And it was MAJOR criticism of the previous administration. It is LONG past time to close it. And I mean CLOSE it. Not create a permanent version in Illinois.

[Bluebear]

11. Thank you.

[bobbolink]

26. You would think that would be majorly obvious, wouldn't you?

That "dime's worth" is growing ever smaller.....

:(

[HughMoran]

21. Never happen

This is his #1 adversary here. No positive posts ever.

[mmonk]

23. Easy to say. You aren't being held without charge (or getting tortured).

When does get enough "rest" on this break from his campaign promises?

[Bluebear]

24. +

[Hell Hath No Fury]

42. He made closing GITMO --

a major part of his campaign. His promise was to do it within one year of taking office. To date, it is not closed and we are even keeping prisoners who we cannot convict in court but we think "might" commit some future crime. That is BushShit. I want no part of it.

[AnArmyVeteran]

62. I had supper tonight and I ate everything on MY plate.

Trouble is, Obama isn't eating his peas, carrots or anything else on the plate and he's giving them all to the corporate dog under the kitchen table.

[O is 44]

63. Thank you, I love how congress is trying to

blame the President when it was their branch that refused funding for the close of Gitmo. They also have refused letting prisoners be housed in the US. Let's put the blame where it belongs. sheesh!

[hughee99]

3. Come on, he promised to do it, isn't that enough?

Sadly, I've seen a number of lists of Obama's accomplishments in office, and I'm disappointed when I see among them "Closed Gitmo".

[spoony]

8. Don't forget all those other accomplishments

Formed committess to look into things, expressed concern about other things, planned to make plans to do stuff, etc.

[Bluebear]

13. ...

[bluestateguy]

4. I really wish somebody would call out the politicians seeking to demagogue this issue

It's like they all get a free pass and are left alone, and all the blame must be on Obama.

[Barack_America]

5. Shut down BP's rigs, turn them into floating courthouses in US waters....

...hire out of work people in the Gulf coasts states to run them.

Just a crazy idea.

[AnArmyVeteran]

61. Not crazy. We could use drones against BP everywhere until they gave us their treasury. Thats crazy!

But at least we'd get justice.

[bobbolink]

6. Thank you for continuing to bring these to our attention.

The truth is separating the men from the boys, so to speak.

Teddy Roosevelt on Criticism of the President:

"To announce that there must be no criticism of the President, or that we are to stand by the President, right or wrong, is not only unpatriotic and servile, but is morally treasonable to the American public. Nothing but the truth should be spoken about him or any one else. But it is even more important to tell the truth, pleasant or unpleasant, about him than about any one else."
"Roosevelt in the Kansas City Star", 149
May 7, 1918

[Bluebear]

12. Etch it on my tombstone.

:)

[bobbolink]

25. I certainly hope not, but that is the kind of justice I see.

No good deed goes unpunished these days.

:(

[meow mix]

9. doesnt exactly add change-points

seems like the change side of the scale is really lacking just sayin

[Bluebear]

14. .

[Brickbat]

16. You could write the same story about EFCA and DADT.

I wasn't hoping for a unicorn, but I did expect a little more leadership than what I've seen.

[Bluebear]

18. You said it.

[bobbolink]

27. Oh, the leadership is definitely there.

Its just going in the wrong direction, painted to look "bi-partisan".

Like outdoing Rayguns in getting rid of people on disability.

Which nobody seems to care one whit about.

Hurrah for King Ronnie!

[Brickbat]

29. Yup.

I didn't buy any of the hype during the election, but I was hoping for benign neglect for my interests, not sabotage.

[bobbolink]

31. "Sabotage" is the right word for those of us in poverty.

Yet, whenever I brought up poverty before the election, I was haughtily told, "Obama grew up poor, you think he is going to forget that?"

He has a short memory, and so do his supporters.

Our suffering and death mean NOTHING.

[Bluebear]

34. It's all a Rahm Emmanuel message discipline machine anymore.

Poverty, equal rights, prosecuting torture, all forgotten as "winning" becomes the only goal.

[Autumn]

17. "Not enough." That says it all. n/t

[mmonk]

19. Link? I'm getting a piece ready on American torture prisons

and the end of the rule of law here.

[Bluebear]

20. With pleasure

http://www.americablog.com/2010/06/senator-levin-gitmo-closure-going.html

Sorry, missed it on the OP

[mmonk]

22. Thanks a mil.

[Bluebear]

28. kick

[kctim]

30. Hate to be the one

to break the news to you, but there is a major election coming up in Nov and the majority of voters don't really care that much about closing Gitmo or DADT at this point in time.

I would like to see him do those things, but the political capital is in "I helped you get a job," not in "I closed Gitmo."

[Bluebear]

32. Well, we know it's all about political capital and not fulfilling campaign promises.

Thanks for the reminder :(

[bobbolink]

35. Very well said. However, I think its all about "capital", period.

Promises, schmomises.

[Hell Hath No Fury]

45. "I helped you get a job,"

Not much capital in that come November, really. :freak:

[kctim]

48. Sadly, I agree

gotta keep working for it though.

[Echo In Light]

33. K/R

[Jumping John]

36. Look at the videos/ He said he would have done so already.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UQXZoM__vU0

Ohhhhhh The executive order

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UQXZoM__vU0

Behold the mighty USA torturing a teenager in Gitmo

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qc6Mblqzk2E

[Individualist]

37. Surprise, surprise

[4lbs]

38. Umm... didn't Congress VOTE AGAINST funding the Gitmo closure?

So, how is Obama going to close Gitmo when it was Congress that didn't fund the closing and relocation of the detainees?

What, should he have just let all the detainees go, and tell them to swim back to their original countries by themselves?

Maybe they should have given him the $80 million he asked for last summer to close it, and it would have been done by now.

[Bluebear]

40. Umm, I don't know, the article intimates that Obama has lost interest though, doesn't it?

[4lbs]

41. Well, to add to that non-support from Congress, remember all the big angst from people when they

were thinking of having the trial of one of the suspected terrorists in New York City?

Then there was the huge outrage and worry over housing several hundred detainees in a remote SuperMax prison in the U.S.

Kind of easy to lose interest when you have all that against you and your original plan.

[bobbolink]

44. So, the Dems aren't smart enough to figure out how to combat the RW lies after all this time?

So much for "chess".

[4lbs]

46. It wasn't just the wingers. Even Democrats were against the idea.

Obama had to fight people in his own party along with the whackos in the GOP.

[bobbolink]

47. Who'd a thunk it.... Dems buying into RW swill.

The fact remains, it has gone on enough years for Dem leaders to figure out how to combat the lies, if they so choose.

Chess, anyone?

[4lbs]

49. Yeah, but like always, Congressional Democrats get shrunken ball syndrome when the RWingers

began their distraction poutrage.

Result:

Senate Democrats voted down the $80 million to close Gitmo.

House Democrats voted down the funding to relocate the detainees in the U.S. until they could be gradually transferred to other host countries. They bought into the RW fearmongering that it would result in terrorists running rampant in the U.S.

New York Democrats balked and/or didn't voice support when the Justice Department was thinking of trying one major suspected terrorist in a New York Federal Court. They bought into the RW fearmongering that it would make New York City a target. You mean, it wasn't already?

[bobbolink]

50. And here I thought we elected a very smart leader who knew how to combat said "shrunken ball

syndrome".

Sunny gun, fooled again.

Back to checkers.

[4lbs]

52. Obama never said he would cure the Democrats of their yellow bellies.

Just like the GOPpers shy away from pissing off Limpballs, the Democrats in Congress just shy away from doing anything that doesn't have 67% national support.

Heck, even something that has 80% national support (like the public option) is difficult to get passed when the Senate Democrats are too scared to make the big leap.

[bobbolink]

53. Oh, I see. So, unlike previous Dem presidents who "inspired" Congress,

and Republicans who have held a whip over Congress, Obama is essentially powerless.

[saracat]

65. So the Prez isn't much of a "Leader" then is he? Leader get both sides to

to give them what they need. Other Presidents have managed to do this but apparently we have compromised ourselves into a position of stalemate.

[Bluebear]

54. If you have a passion for something you don't lose interest. You fight.

[chill_wind]

55. And you don't off-load and shut out the people who promised

to help you, like Craig and Carter, or leave strong advocates for justice like Dawn Johnsen twisting in the wind, just to die. You don't use the courts to extend the secrecy and protection of just about everything she condemned.

[Bluebear]

59. I'll say.

[Tierra_y_Libertad]

39. Well, as someone said, "Being president is hard work."

Which seems to be the prevailing excuse given.

[chill_wind]

43. The Phil Carter resignation Nov 2009. He figured it out a long time ago.

Bet you a million he saw the writing and the internal politics on the wall.

"A key official in the Obama administration's effort to remake detention policy and close the military prison at Guantanamo Bay has resigned."

By Peter Finn
Washington Post Staff Writer
Wednesday, November 25, 2009

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=102x4160482

Another guy who perhaps took his job and the campaign promises seriously.

Wish Levin would bring him to the Hill and ask him what happened.
Carter would certainly know.

[amborin]

56. wow! Carter's resignation is very telling; hope he makes this public!

[Hydra]

57. You know, I called this one too

"Blah blah blah...adults in charge...let him work..."

:popcorn:

Still waiting for adults in charge, btw.

[Catherina]

58. I want my vote back. And my money too. n/t

[AnArmyVeteran]

60. GOD DAMN IT! Gitmo could be closed OVERNIGHT by a real leader!!!

[Bluebear]

66. .