The Portugal Initiative

According to reports from, among others, the BBC, Washington Post, and NY Times, US officials may be close to striking a deal with Portugal to accept released Guantanamo detainees. These men, approximately 50-60 in number, are those who have been judged by the Annual Review Board process to be no longer a threat to the US or to possess intelligence information. As Portuguese legal advisor Luís Serradas Tavares made clear, “The U.S. has assured us that these people are the least dangerous people.”

That is the rub.

With approximately 80 detainees in the queue for trial by Military Commission process, release of these men still means that more than 125 will remain in a status judged too dangerous to release; insufficient evidence to try.

Why is that? Two reasons, primarily. Many of these detainees were battlefield captures, under conditions where establishment of sufficiently thorough crime scene investigation is impossible. Others have enough evidence against them for trial, but since that evidence is based on highly classified sources that might be compromised by open disclosure, the government is reluctant to release it. Or they make be dangerous men who did not necessarily commit war crimes but are eager to return to the fight.

All in all, their presence constitutes the most difficult problem for the incoming Obama team. Outright release means dangerous men are again on the loose. Transfer to countries of origin, such as Yemen and Saudi Arabia, in all probability means release, escape, or minimal imprisonment, and ultimate return to the fight.

The issue of indefinite detention without trial has plagued the Bush administration and will carry over to the Obama administration. While glib Obama legal advisors such as Lawrence Tribe speak of entirely new judicial procedures to be formulated to deal with these men, such will take a long time to formulate, be highly controversial, and may ultimately persuade lawmakers and Executive Branch officials that retention of Guantanamo as a holding facility may, in fact, be the least worse alternative.

Noise Levels

An Associated Press article by Andrew Selsky yesterday, unfortunately typifies the kind of sloppy reporting Americans have become accustomed to reading about Guantanamo. Slesky’s article, titled ‘Musicians Protest Use of Songs by US Jailors,’ details use of songs – ranging from heavy metal, rock-and-roll, and Sesame Street tunes – at loud levels, constantly playing, as a tactic to induce captured detainees to talk.

Slesky uses hearsay examples from Iraq and Afghani detention centers to say with certainty that such tactics are routinely used at Guantanamo. He also quotes noted anti-Gitmo activist attorney Clive Stafford-Smith and released detainees’ testimony that such tactics were used on them.

While he quotes the present Guantanamo commander and the JTF GTMO public affairs officer denying use of such tactics, he implies deception, noting that the PAO CDR Storum “wouldn’t give details of when and how music has been used at the prison.”

Also noting that FBI reports say that lound music was used to break detainees, Selsky does not put the reports in context.

Answers to Selsky’s concerns, and the truth of the matter, is documented in my Inside Gitmo book. In fact, the entire 458 page FBI report, issued on a single instance of abuse that occurred in fall 2002, is available on the companion website.

Not to single out Andrew Selsky for particular criticism. Unfortunately this type of hyperbolic, poorly researched, and disjointed reporting has been fairly standard fare since the opening of the detention facility.

Want to know the truth about Guantanamo, about what happened there and what is going on today? Read my book. You can pre-order it from the Inside Gitmo website.

Proud Jihadists Speak Out

At military commission sessions taking place this week in Guantanamo, some of the most powerful terrorists on earth have been speaking their minds. It’s good to note from the outset that while some of these men have been accused by much of the world of having been subjected to torture, primarily waterboarding while in CIA custody, all have ample opportunity to recant previous confessions.

We have seen this at the Guantanamo proceedings. Muhammad al Qahtani, ISN # 063, the previously self-confessed 20th hijacker, recanted his admissions of guilt and complicity with the 9/11 attack at his hearing.

However, those men now in the docket stand firm on admission – indeed pride – in their nefarious accomplishments.

Yesterday Ramzi Binalshibh made the chilling statement: “I want to send my greetings to Osama Bin Laden and reaffirm my allegiance. I hope the Jihad will continue and strike the heart of America with all kinds of weapons of mass destruction.”

It was certainly an “extraordinary day” at Guantanamo” that a BBC reporter recounted.

When he was not assured of the automaticity of the death penalty, KSM led the five detainees in withdrawing – at least for the moment – his guilty plea.

The BBC reporter, Jonathan Beale, interpreted the presence for the first time of some 9/11 families as a way that the Bush administration is “blackmailing” the upcoming Obama presidency. His read appears a bit nonsensical. More to the point is that beginning January 20, 2009, Obama will own Guantanamo along with the convoluted problems it poses.

Perhaps for the first time, he and his team are faced with situational realities that were easily brushed aside during the campaign. How he chooses to deal with these issues will define in a large part his presidency.