Shoot It To Me Straight

Its pretty apparent that White House counsel, Greg Craig has been offered up as sacrificial lamb over President Obama's failure to keep the closure of GITMO on his own self imposed timeline. Now the truth is the real failure came from the White House when Republicans and their wingnut allies in the blogosphere and on talk radio took to the airways to fear monger over bringing GITMO detainees to America in order to make sure they faced justice. Not only did the White House not attempt to counter this ridiculous messaging, they didn't even support the Democrats in Congress who tried to do so on their behalf.

Now I remember one of the members of Congress who was most forceful in pushing back on the right wing bullshit was Congressman Jim Moran. It turns out that he isn't happy about how Craig is being treated and he doesn't mind telling it like it is.

"Those of us on the Hill who wanted to defend the administration's policy because we knew we had the facts on our side got no back up, no support, no information," Moran said, speculating that the Obama team simply didn't want to spend political capital on the issue.

That became clear to Moran and others in Congress in May, when the war funding bill was moving through Congress and Republicans took to the airwaves to decry the plan to shudder the prison. "We were at the Alamo, and the cavalry was galloping in the other direction," said Moran, "I think it was a political decision. I don't know who made it, but I very much doubt it was Greg Craig."

Other key appropriators who were trying to fund the effort, such as defense subcommittee chairman Jack Murtha, D-PA, and Appropriations chairman David Obey, D-WI, couldn't and wouldn't fight the Republican machine without Obama's help.

"They talked to the White House and the White House wasn't willing to stand alongside them," said Moran. The thinking among Democrats was, "If we can't take advantage of Obama's credibility on this issue, we probably are not going win."

Now the administration is trying to press the reset button on Guantánamo, but Moran argued the damage is done and it is now nearly impossible to sell the idea of moving the prisoners to U.S. soil.

"This is their first major fuck up, and it's an enormous fuckup, because now that you've lost ground you're not going to be able to recover it," said Moran.

Moran is harsh here but exactly on point also. To me this situation along with the fight over the stimulus bill showed that the White House was somewhat gun shy on their own legislative agenda. This signaled to he right wingers that as long as they were loud and as long as they were repetitive, they could make President Obama and his White House back away from issues they saw as politically difficult. It will be interesting to see where we go from here because Moran doesn't seem very hopeful about the closing of GITMO anymore. And honestly considering how he himself put his ass on the line only to get sold out by he White House, can you blame him at all?

Yet Another Reason To Close GITMO

Can someone explain to me precisely how Congress is supposed to exercise oversight over GITMO when they aren't allowed to actually SEE some of the prisoners?

Whiskey Tango Fire?!

A fight is brewing between Capitol Hill and the Pentagon over allegations that Chinese government agents were allowed to interrogate some detainees at Guantánamo Bay.

Jay Alan Liotta, principal director of the Defense Department office responsible for detainee policy, told a House subcommittee on Thursday that he would not publicly comment on whether officials from China or any other nation were granted access to foreign citizens held at the detention facility.

He offered to release that information to the committee during a closed, classified session.

Lawmakers weren’t happy about his answer.

Rep. James P. Moran , D-Va., said he would introduce an amendment to strip funding for Liotta’s office if the Defense Department does not disclose, in open session, whether a Chinese delegation was allowed to question Guántanamo detainees who are members of a Muslim minority in China called the Uighurs.

“Unless we get a full and accurate answer, I intend to offer an amendment to defund that office, and I intend to go as high as we need to go,” Moran said. “To not allow members of Congress to have communication with detainees, but you allow foreign intelligence agents ... that is an absolute insult to the U.S. Congress.”

Members of Congress have been routinely denied access to the Guantánamo detainees.

“The American people have a right, without compromising national security, to understand what happened at Guantánamo, particularly in this case of the Uighurs,” said Rep. Bill Delahunt , D-Mass., chairman of the subcommittee that conducted the hearing. “The answer that it should be in a classified setting is absurd.”

Ranking Republican Dana Rohrabacher of California agreed, saying he recently was denied access to terrorism detainees.

“Elected officials with oversight responsibilities have every right to talk to federal prisoners of any kind, and we thought with the change in administrations there would be a change in attitude,” Rohrabacher said.

Notice that this isn't a partisan issue either. Politicians on BOTH sides of the aisle have been denied access. Well I for one hope Congressman Moran follows through and defunds these assholes if they refuse to answer questions in an open session.

(h/t BlueGirl)

Congressman Moran Speaking Truth To Power!

Can we get more of this please!



Time for Democrats to get back to being Democrats!

Congressman Moran KINDA Gets it

Congressman Jim Moran has an op ed in the Washington Post about Alexadria Virginia potentially hosting some of the trials for the GITMO detainees. It goes a lil something like this.

While closing Guantanamo would go a long way toward removing this stain on our national character, the decision to do so was the easy part. What to do with the detainees who remain of the more than 700 sent there since 2001 is much more difficult.

Like those in any other congressional districts, we Virginians would rather not have terrorism suspects held and tried in our back yard. Should some of the detainees at Guantanamo be sent to the Alexandria courthouse, there is no question that people in the immediate vicinity -- more than 10,000 residents and workers during business hours -- would be affected. The strain on local law enforcement and other public safety officers would be significant. The media attention following such a decision would probably generate public outrage in some circles over safety concerns, regardless of the security measures implemented.

Often, though, doing the right thing is neither popular nor convenient.

By and large, Alexandrians are civic-minded people and are ready to do their duty if it serves the greater good. They have shown this public spirit time and again. The "20th hijacker," Zacarias Moussaoui, who participated in planning the Sept. 11, 2001, attack on the Pentagon, was held and prosecuted in the Alexandria courthouse. Others who have been brought to justice in the court include the "American Taliban" John Walker Lindh; Beltway sniper John Allen Muhammad; and spies Robert Hanssen and Aldrich Ames.

In each case, Alexandria demonstrated the kind of courage and patriotism that can be traced to the city's roots as the home town of George Washington and Robert E. Lee.

Taking the easy route and joining the chorus of those crying "not in my back yard" is appealing. But that's not the Alexandria I know and have represented in Congress for nearly 20 years. Even before that, I served as mayor of the city, and I am confident that if asked to step forward, Alexandria would demonstrate resolve for a higher purpose, echoing John F. Kennedy's call to accept the challenge presented because it is what happens to be right and good for our nation.

Trying the accused, no matter how heinous the accusation, in a fair and transparent judicial procedure will reestablish our international moral authority and thus strengthen our national security.

Let there be no mistake: I'm not advocating for this burden. If there are more suitable locations in which to try the detainees, it would be a relief to all in this area.

But should President Obama determine that Alexandria needs to play a reasonably limited role in a nationwide effort to bring justice to the Guantanamo detainees and close this unfortunate chapter of American history, I am confident that Alexandrians will stand strong as they always have: gritting their teeth, stiffening their spines and carrying the load required so that the American values of justice and the rule of law are not overridden but, rather, respected and honored, as is our heritage as a great nation.

I am happy on the one hand to at least have Congressman Moran speaking out in favor of Virginians stepping up to the plate for detainee trials should President Obama determine that they should happen there. But on the other hand he comes off like he is damn near apologizing for asking the people to support this. What I want to know is if he actually did any polling showing that people in Alexandria were truly scared of detainees being housed and tried there. I bet he did not. But because Congressional Dems, especially those who have been in Congress for some time, are afraid of their own shadow I am sure that Moran just convinced himself that everyone MUST be scared because the Republicans keep saying they are. I will give Moran props for stepping up to the plate and being one of the first Democrats to do so but damn can we get someone with a little more courage the next time?