[Ppnews] Habeas at Bagram?

[Political Prisoner News]

http://www.counterpunch.org/swanson04152009.html
April 15, 2009


Helen Thomas Asks the Question

Habeas at Bagram?

By DAVID SWANSON

If you missed Tuesday's press conference at the White House, press 
secretary Robert Gibbs got himself into some trouble, and it all 
started with those two little syllables:

"Helen."

Upon which Helen Thomas one again abandoned propriety and asked an 
actual question:

"Why is the President blocking habeas corpus from prisoners at 
Bagram? I thought he taught constitutional law. And these prisoners 
have been there --"

Here's where Gibbs stepped in with a brilliant defense of his boss's 
unconstitutional behavior.

"You're incorrect that he taught on constitutional law."

Ouch. Nailed that one. But Helen kept talking as if Gibbs had missed the point.

"-- for many years with no due process."

But Gibbs was ready and still had a card to play. It was a bit 
tattered and stained, but he pulled it out and held it up high so 
that everyone could read the four-letter word printed on it: FEAR.

"Well, there are several issues relating to that that have to do 
differently than in some places than others, particularly because you 
have detainees in an active theater of war. There's a review that's 
pending of court cases and decisions, and we want to ensure -- we 
want to ensure protection and security of the American people as well 
as rights that might be afforded."

Helen: "Are you saying these people in prison are a threat to us?"

Now watch how many words it takes for Gibbs to say yes to the 
question he wanted asked and how quickly he moves on without ever 
addressing the initial question Helen had asked:

"Well, I think that part of that is the determination based on our 
detainee policy that the President announced on the 21st of January, 
that that's part of that review, yes. Chuck."

Later a man not identified by name in the transcript asked this:

"Robert, I wanted to follow up on Helen's question about Bagram. 
While it is true that it's an active theater of hostilities, the 
individuals who have brought these court challenges were not detained 
in that theater. Those people are claiming that they were detained 
somewhere else and flown to Bagram. Given the President's comments 
during the campaign about his concerns about a legal black hole, how 
is it any different as a moral matter to fly someone to Bagram versus 
flying them to Guantanamo?"

This poor sap obviously didn't get the memo about how well-known 
Guantanamo was as a BAD PLACE and how few T-shirts had ever been 
printed demanding the closure of Bagram. Sheesh. Gibbs explained it to him:

"Well, one of the things that's being undertaken as part of this 
review are part -- are the claims that you mentioned, the status of 
who's there and why, and that while that review is pending, the 
Justice Department concluded that it was necessary to appeal the 
ruling because it might arguably permit access to U.S. courts by a 
detainee in Bagram who claims he's not an Afghan citizen and was 
captured outside of Afghanistan. So the ruling is -- the judgment 
that was made is consistent with that as part of the detainee review process."

But the questioner, clearly unfamiliar with the grammar of Gibbs' 
home planet, ignored most of this and asked:

"So it's just bad luck that they were flown to Bagram where they have 
no rights, versus flying them to Guantanamo where the President 
thinks they would?"

Gibbs did not address the hypocrisy or explain why a review was 
needed to determine in each part of the world separately whether 
human beings should have habeas corpus, but he did say:
"I think a review is going to determine their status. I won't speak 
to the luck of somebody that finds themselves at any of those 
places.Yes, Wendell."

The fun wasn't over. Someone named David asked:

"Another Spanish question. There is a judge in Spain, according to 
reports, who is close to -- it may have even happened this afternoon 
-- to indicting Gonzales and five other former Bush officials for 
torture of Spaniards who were in Guantanamo. If they go ahead and do 
this, would the U.S. government cooperate with any information 
requests from Spanish prosecutors involved in the case? And do you 
think this is an appropriate action for another government to take?"

Here Gibbs does not answer the question of whether it is appropriate 
for another nation to prosecute our criminals, knowing as he almost 
certainly does that Spain has told the Obama administration that it 
wouldn't prosecute if the United States would, and knowing that our 
laws and treaties require us to prosecute whether Spain suggests it 
or not. Gibbs also does not answer the question of whether the U.S. 
government will share information, on the grounds that this is a 
"hypothetical," the indictments not having yet happened. Yet Gibbs' 
acceptable hypotheticals elsewhere in the same press conference included these:

"The President's proposal would save $94 billion -- billion with a 
"b" -- over a 10-year period of time by taking the banks out of the 
middle of this process."

and

"I know later this afternoon, weather permitting, the dog will be 
outside -- if not, the dog will be inside."

Here was Gibbs' "answer":

"Well, I don't want to get involved in hypotheticals. We may have 
some reaction based on what ultimately happens. David, as you and 
many others know, that there's pending court cases about information 
that the administration is involved in as we speak about information.

Then Gibbs goes on to stress that although he will studiously avoid 
mentioning that crimes have been committed he intends to reiterate ad 
nauseam that those crimes will no longer be committed:

"I think it's important to understand, above all, that the President 
has taken strong and swift actions to ensure that whatever actions 
were either permissible or carried out previously are no longer the 
policy of this government and will no longer be undertaken by this 
government. I think that is important for people to hear throughout the world."

"Whatever actions were either permissible or carried out"? Is he 
serious? This either means torture or it means nothing at all."

The same questioner went on:

"Just to follow up, have you had any conversations with the Spanish 
government about this pending case?"

We know that the US government has had such conversations, and it's 
safe to assume that the reporter was at the White House to ask about 
the actions of the government, not of Robert Gibbs. Nonetheless, he 
got this answer:

"I have not spoken with the Spanish."

Q Or the Justice Department?

MR. GIBBS: I would send you to Justice. Like I said, I've not spoken --

Q I'm not talking about --

MR. GIBBS: I don't know. I haven't talked to Bill, either, come to 
think of it, on this. Yes, sir."

And there was yet another question asked but not answered:

"Q Robert, thank you. Senators Kennedy, Leahy, and Feingold have 
introduced legislation that would roll back the use of state secrets 
privilege for DOJ. Repeated attempts to get comment from the White 
House have not been returned, and I'm wondering why the White House 
is so sensitive about commenting on this when Vice President Biden 
co-sponsored that bill in the last Congress.

MR. GIBBS: I have -- I would have to take a look at what they've 
called for and how it relates to the actions that the Justice Department --

Q It's the same bill as Congress.

MR. GIBBS: You'll find it hard to believe I didn't read that bill 
either, but I'm certainly -- we're happy to take a look at it and 
provide you some comment.

Q Thank you."

Thank you?

David Swanson is the author of "Daybreak: Undoing the Imperial 
Presidency and Forming a More Perfect Union" by Seven Stories Press. 
He can be reached at: <mailto:david at davidswanson.org>david at davidswanson.org




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