So What, Indeed!
My apologies for not posting this sooner; I’ve been out of pocket on this relatively fine Sunday. In any event, former Secretary (and General) Colin Powell spoke out strongly in favor of both habeas restoration and moving the Gitmo detainees into the civilian judicial system.
His remarks came in response to a question about the letter he wrote to Senator John McCain (who also has taken a similar position in recent debates) suggesting that many around the world have begun to doubt the “moral basis” of America’s counter-terrorism efforts precisely because of the PR nightmare that is Gitmo.
The full transcript is here. The choicest passage is this (bolded language especially):
GEN. POWELL: They are. Guantanamo has become a major, major problem for America’s perception as it’s seen, the way the world perceives America. And if it was up to me, I would close Guantanamo not tomorrow, but this afternoon. I’d close it. And I would not let any of those people go. I would simply move them to the United States and put them into our federal legal system. The concern was, “Well, then they’ll have access to lawyers, then they’ll have access to writs of habeas corpus.” So what? Let them. Isn’t that what our system’s all about? And, by the way, America, unfortunately, has two million people in jail all of whom had lawyers and access to writs of habeas corpus. And so we can handle bad people in our system. And so I would get rid of Guantanamo and I’d get rid of the military commission system and use established procedures in federal law or in the manual for courts-martial. I would do that because I think it’s a more equitable way to do it and it’s more understandable in constitutional terms. I would always—I would also do it because every morning I pick up a paper and some authoritarian figure, some person somewhere is using Guantanamo to hide their own misdeeds. And so, essentially, we have shaken the belief that the world had in America’s justice system by keeping a place like Guantanamo open and creating things like the military commission. We don’t need it, and it’s causing us far damage than any good we get for it. But, remember what I started in this discussion saying, “Don’t let any of them go.” Put them into a different system, a system that is experienced, that knows how to handle people like this.
Comments
Do you trust this man Colin Powell?
The last Ten years have proved there is no integrity in the Bush administration.
To come out with this reteric is a bit rich and far to late to have any credibility..
I believe General Powell did more than anyone else in the administration to try to provide a voice of reason to a completely incompetent President surrounded by morally deficient hacks like Cheney and Rumsfeld who preached victory at any cost, without even having any idea what would constitute “victory”. Still, Powell had a responsibility to do more. By remaining publicly silent for so long, he abdicated the responsibility he owed to his country by mistakenly placing his loyalties in a President.
That was not the oath he took. He pledged to protect and defend the Constitution, and he failed to do so. The courage he showed by voicing his opposition to Guantanamo, military commissions, and torture when Alberto Gonzales, Cheney, and Rumsfeld were all laughing at him was admirable. I have read all the reports and e-mails that were sent back and forth when the decisions were first being made, and he did raise strong objections. He also resigned after Bush’s first term, obviously in objection to the injustices he saw happening. It’s also admirable that he is speaking out now, even though not with as strong a passion as I would like to hear from someone who obviously knows how wrong the President’s policies are.
But this is a man who knows what loyalty means. He is not a bumbling fool who knows nothing of history. He knows how dangerous unchecked power can be, especially in the hands of those who would acknowledge no boundaries of law or human decency. And I truly believe that he knows he has let the country that he loves down. He wants to make up for it, but he doesn’t know how.
That’s because nothing he did before, no matter how brave, and nothing he can do now,that will ever make up for the damage that he allowed to be done - on his watch.