As Democracy Stands Trial In South Africa, Young MC Delivers The Verdict

As you may have read (disappointingly so) this morning, a key report on the closing of Guantanamo Bay has been delayed.  The main reason appears to be centered on a unresolved debate "over the legal basis for holding detainees who are not charged with any crimes and where to house them once they are moved from Guantánamo" The issue of where to house the detainees has been complicated by the fact that some in Congress are dead set against housing them here in the US and that foreign countries aren't excited about the possibility of accepting detainees either (although as Andy reported a few weeks ago, there appears to be some progress on this front) The inability to come to terms on the above issues was the impetus for a six month extension that is meant to give the task force the time they need to make up their minds.  The extension has raised doubts in the minds of many of whether Obama will be able to keep to his promise to close down Gitmo during the first year of his presidency. Also upsetting is that Attorney General Eric Holder and Defense Secretary Robert Gates have apparently agreed that it is important that the administration "continue to claim the right to hold some Guantánamo inmates indefinitely as "combatants" under the "laws of war," without charging them either in criminal courts or in military commissions." For me (and many human rights groups) this seems to not only play right into Bush's playbook but to also violate civil liberties. And it is hard for me to believe/understand that there isn't an agreeable alternative, which the Obama administration says there isn't. I wish I was able to believe them without having such a bad feeling in the pit on my stomach.   Hopefully their claims of "wanting to do this right" ring true and in six months I'll have something better to post about. *photo by futureatlas.com (CC)