Barack Obama and the Closure of Guantanamo Prison, 2009

Authors

  • Youcef Toufouti University of 20 Aout 1955 Skikda, Algeria.

Keywords:

Congress, Afghanistan, detainees, Barack Obama, Guantanamo prison

Abstract

As it was the most notorious prison in the world, American president Barack Obama believed that the closure of Guantanamo prison within only one year after taking office would be an easy thing to do. But it was not the case. Obama’s attempt to fulfill his promise proved to be impossible, and it was really surprising to the newly elected president that there were many factors that have made it impossible for him to keep his promise; therefore, this article presents an analysis of the main reasons behind Obama’s failure to carry out his pledge of closing Guantanamo.

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References

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(10) cited in John B. Bellinger,“Obama, Bush, and the Geneva Conventions,” FP, 11 August 2010, https://foreignpolicy.com/2010/08/11/obama-bush-and-the-geneva-conventions/

(11) Ruth Wedgwood and Major General Geoffrey Miller, interview by Jeffrey Kaye, 22 January 2003, http://www.pbs.org/newshour/bb/military/jan-june03/detainees_1-22.html

(12) John Hickman, Selling Guantanamo: Exploding the Propaganda Surrounding America’s Most Notorious Military Prison (Gainesville, FL: University Press of Florida, 2013), p. 8.

(13) Qtd in Kim Lane Scheppele, “From War on Terrorism to Global Security Law,” IAS, 2013, https://www.ias.edu/ideas/2013/scheppele-terrorism

(14) Frederick L. Borch, “Why Military Commissions Are the Proper Forum and why Terrorists Will Have Full and Fair Trials,” The Army Lawyer, November 2003, p. 10.

(15) Qtd in Robert Farley, “Dick Cheney Says only Three Terror Suspects were ever Water boarded,” POLITIFACT, 21 May 2009, https://www.politifact.com/truth-o-meter/statements/2009/may/21/dick-cheney/dick-cheney-says-only-three-terror-suspects-were-e/

(16) Morris Davis, “Unforgivable Behavior, Inadmissible Evidence,” The New York Times, 17 February 2008, https://www.nytimes.com/2008/02/17/opinion/17davis.html

(17) Laurel E. Fletcher et al, The Guantanamo Effect: Exposing the Consequences of U.S. Detention and Interrogation Practices (Berkeley, CA: University of California Press, 2009), p. 120.

(18) Anthony O’Rourke, “The Speedy Trial Right and National Security Detentions,” Journal of International Criminal Justice, 12 (27 July 2014), pp. 871-885.

(19) Qtd in Sara Hussein and Lucile Malandain, “9/11 Plotters Face Death Penalty in New York Trial,” The Sydney Morning Herald, 14 November 2009, https://www.smh.com.au/world/911-plotters-face-death-penalty-in-new-york-trial-20091114-ifdh.html

(20) “Closing Guantanamo: The Legal and Policy Issues,” Proceedings of the Annual Meeting- American Society for International Law, 103 (2009), p. 129.

(21) “President Obama Signs Indefinite Detention Bill into Law,” ACLU, 31 December 2011, https://www.aclu.org/press-releases/president-obama-signs-indefinite-detention-bill-law

(22) David Welna, “Senate Debates Treatment of Detainees,” NPR, 17 June 2005, https://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=4707429

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(24) Qtd in John Hendren, “Witnesses Support Guantanamo,” Los Angeles Times, 30 June. 2005, https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2005-jun-30-na-gitmo30-story.html

(25) “Barack Obama: Speech on American Values and National Security,” American Rhetoric, 21 May 2009, https://www.americanrhetoric.com/speeches/barackobama/barackobamanationalarchives.htm

(26) Jim Loney, “Keep Guantanamo Open, Sept 11 Families Say,” The Star Online, 17 July 2009, https://www.thestar.com.my/news/world/2009/07/17/keep-guantanamo-open-sept-11-families-say

(27) David M. Herszenhorn, “Funds to Close Guantanamo Denied,” The New York Times, 20 May 2009, https://www.nytimes.com/2009/05/21/us/politics/21detain.html

(28) Connie Bruck, “Why Obama Has Failed to Close Guantanamo,” The New Yorker, 25 July 2016, https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2016/08/01/why-obama-has-failed-to-close-guantanamo

(29) Charlie Savage, “In a Reversal, Sept. 11 Suspects to Be Tried in Military Court,” The New York Times, 4 April. 2011, https://www.nytimes.com/2011/04/05/us/05gitmo.html

(30) Devon Chaffee, “The Cost of Indefinitely Kicking the Can,” Journal of International Law, 42: 1-2 (2009), p. 187.

(31) Patricio Henriquez, “The Guantanamo 22,” Aljazeera, 9 December 2015, https://www.aljazeera.com/programmes/specialseries/2015/12/uighur-guantanamo-22-151206112137598.html

(32) Ibid

(33) Richey Warren, “Supreme Court Declines Case: US Can Move Detainees without Notice,” Christian Science Monitor, 22 March 2010, http://www.csmonitor.com/USA/Justice/2010/0322/Supreme-Court-declines-case- US-can-move-detainees-without-notice.

(34) qtd in Press Release, Council of the European Union, Joint Statement of the European Union and its Member States and the United States of America on the Closure of the Guantanamo Bay Detention Facility and Future Counterterrorism Cooperation, 11 June 2009, http://www. Consilium.europa.eu/uedocs/cms_Data/docs/pressdata/en/gena/108455.pdf

(35) Peter Finn, “Administration Makes Progress on Resettling Detainees,” Washington Post, 20 August 2009, A03.

(36) qtd in Antje Passenheim, “HRW: Easing Restrictions in Guantanamo,” DW, 21 December 2013, https://www.dw.com/en/hrw-easing-restrictions-in-guantanamo-a-promising-sign/a-17314956

(37) Jasmine Coleman, “Guantanamo Bay: Why are so Many Inmates from Yemen?” BBC News, 24 May 2013, https://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-22661053

(38) Robert F. Worth, “Freed by the U.S., Saudi becomes a Qaeda Chief,” The New York Times, 22 January 2009, https://www.nytimes.com/2009/01/23/world/middleeast/23yemen.html

(39) “Obama and US Courts Repatriate Algerian from Guantanamo against his Will,” 21 July 2010, http://www.andyworthington.co.uk/2010/07/21/obama-and-us-courts-repatriate-algerian-from-guantanamo-against-his-will-may-be-complicit-in-torture/

(40) Associated Press, Guantanamo by the Numbers, http://www.miamiherald.com/news/world/AP/story/1332285.html

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Published

2022-02-02

How to Cite

Toufouti, Y. (2022). Barack Obama and the Closure of Guantanamo Prison, 2009. Journal of Human Sciences , 32(3), 811–821. Retrieved from https://revue.umc.edu.dz/h/article/view/3763

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