Jimmy Carter Charges Obama "Doesn't Want to Punish Those Who are Guilty" of Crimes/Cheney: Death only option for some detainees if Gitmo closed

Published on Monday, June 1, 2009 by RebelReports

Jimmy Carter Charges Obama "Doesn't Want to Punish Those Who are Guilty" of Crimes

by Jeremy Scahill

The Democratic Party power structure's least favorite ex-President is speaking out of school again. Jimmy Carter has some strong words about President Obama's decision to fight the release of thousands of photos that reportedly show further US abuse and torture of prisoners and has weighed in on the debate over prosecuting former Bush administration officials for torture. In an interview to be broadcast tonight [1] on CNN, Carter says this about Obama's position on the release of new torture photos:

[M]ost of [Obama's] supporters were hoping that he would be much more open in the revelation of what we've done in the past. But he's made a decision with which I really can't contend that he doesn't want to resurrect the past, he doesn't want to punish those who are guilty of perpetrating of what I consider crimes against our own laws and against our own constitution. And the revelation of those pictures might very well inflame further animosity against our country causing some harm to our soldiers, so I don't agree with him, but I certainly don't criticize him for making that decision.

Regarding calls for prosecution of former Bush administration officials, Carter says:

I think prosecuting is too strong a word, what I would like to see is a complete examination of what did happen, the identification of any perpetrators of crimes against our own laws or against international law and then after all that's done, decide whether or not there should be any prosecutions. But the revelation of what did happen is what I think I would support.

At the Democratic National Convention in Denver last year, Carter was removed from a speaking position at the last minute in a move [2] some considered to be a political snub.

© 2009 RebelReports

Article printed from www.CommonDreams.org

URL to article: http://www.commondreams.org/headline/2009/06/01-9

 

Published on Monday, June 1, 2009 by Washington Independent

Cheney: Death only option for some detainees if Gitmo closed

by Jon Ward

WASHINGTON - Former Vice President Dick Cheney said Monday that the only alternative to holding some suspected terrorists indefinitely would be to execute them, saying that was an argument against the Obama administration's plans to close the Guantanamo detainee prison.

"If you're going to be engaged in a world conflict such as we are, such as the global war on terrorism, if you don't have a place where you can hold these people, your only other option is to kill them," Mr. Cheney said.

"And we don't operate that way."

The former vice president's statements only raise the stakes in fierce debate with his critics, who believe Mr. Cheney presided over the formulation of interrogation techniques that they regard as torture and remains unapologetic for approving waterboarding and other harsh methods used.

Mr. Cheney said that foreign fighter detainees "ought to be held until the end of the conflict" and criticized the Obama administration for failing to think through its plans to shutter Guantanamo.

"The administration made a mistake of the president issuing an order that he wants it closed within a year, but didn't have a clue as to how to proceed," Mr. Cheney said. "And now they're having trouble because they're having to come up with a plan of some kind."

Mr. Cheney, who has become the most prominent figure to defend the Bush administration's record on terror and national security, spoke and took questions at a lunch honoring journalism award winners at the National Press Club.

The former vice president said that the Guantanamo Bay prison is "a fine facility" and that the White House will have a "very difficult" time closing it, because of the legal, political and diplomatic challenges associated with indefinite detention.

© 2009 Washington Independent

Article printed from www.CommonDreams.org

URL to article: http://www.commondreams.org/headline/2009/06/01-8

 

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"The master class has always declared the wars; the subject class has always fought the battles. The master class has had all to gain and nothing to lose, while the subject class has had nothing to gain and everything to lose--especially their lives." Eugene Victor Debs