Obama Could Be Facing 10 Years To Life In Prison…

[Karee 4,190]

What is law?

The law (that Obama signed himself by the way) is that congress must be notified 30 days in advance when any prisoners are released from Gitmo.

House Republicans said Monday that the Obama administration gave Congress just five hours notice that they were about to start moving five detainees at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, to Qatar.

Republicans on the House Armed Services Committee said that violates current law, which requires a 30-day notice.

House Armed Services Committee Chairman Rep. Howard P. “Buck” McKeon, R-Calif., is not happy about how his committee was notified about the release of Guantanamo Bay detainees. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)

The administration announced over the weekend that it was moving five detainees to Qatar as part of an agreement that will allow U.S. Army Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl, a Taliban prisoner in Afghanistan, to return home. That deal was immediately criticized by Republicans who said it amounts to negotiating the release of hostages with terrorists, while others said there is evidence that Bergdahl was an Army deserter.

Republicans are also upset that they received almost no warning of the agreement. In a release to reporters, the GOP said the Defense Department notified the committee on Saturday by phone “that the exchange was underway and the detainees would depart Guantanamo in the next five hours.”

“A phone call does not meet the legal standard of congressional notification,” it said. It added that formal congressional notification was only received by the committee on Monday, June 2, “more than 72 hours after the detainees were released.”

The 30-day notification requirement was signed into law by President Barack Obama. However, Obama attached a signing statement to that bill saying the executive branch needs flexibility to make these sorts of decisions.

Committee Chairman Buck McKeon (R-Calif.) said in a television interview Monday that he would hold a hearing on the agreement and the lack of proper notification to Congress. In the meantime, his committee noted that the law requires officials to find that the risks associated with releasing Guantanamo Bay detainees is mitigated, and that detailed information about the release must be transferred to Congress.

The language also says no money can be used by the government to transfer detainees to their country of origin.

These requirements were included in the National Defense Authorization Act for 2014, a bill that sets out defense policy through the end of the current fiscal year.

Source: http://www.theblaze.com/blog/2014/06/02/obama-gave-congress-five-hours-notice-of-gitmo-transfer/

[We Keep Receipts 9,238]

So the argument is that since other administrations did stupid possibly illegal things, then it's ok if this one does the same?

The argument is, if you're going to enforce the law, then enforce it all the time.

Edit: Even in the law Obama wrote, he added the clause of flexibility in cases of emergency.

Edited June 10, 2014 by Su and Marvin

[Mr. Big Dog 10,747]

When our engagement in Afghanistan ends in two years time, these prisoners of war were due to be released anyways. And again, I ask the same question: If these five characters were such dangerous individuals and we have irrefutable evidence of that then why was not one of them ever brought up on any charges for all these 12-13 years that they were in our captivity? Where are the slam dunk cases against these men? And where is the evidence, case and conviction that Bergdahl was a deserter.

Here, for the shoot first and ask questions later crowd.

[Karee 4,190]

When our engagement in Afghanistan ends in two years time, these prisoners of war were due to be released anyways. And again, I ask the same question: If these five characters were such dangerous individuals and we have irrefutable evidence of that then why was not one of them ever brought up on any charges for all these 12-13 years that they were in our captivity? Where are the slam dunk cases against these men? And where is the evidence, case and conviction that Bergdahl was a deserter.

Here, for the shoot first and ask questions later crowd.

If you decide on your own that you no longer want to be in the military and desert your unit, are you still considered part of the troops?

The argument is, if you're going to enforce the law, then enforce it all the time.

No argument from me there. It should be enforced.

[Karee 4,190]

Edit: Even in the law Obama wrote, he added the clause of flexibility in cases of emergency.

What constitutes an emergency?

[UncleBeer 244]

When our engagement in Afghanistan ends in two years time, these prisoners of war were due to be released anyways.

I can't imagine where you got that idea, but it's not correct.

The United States military plans to end its combat role in Afghanistan later this year and close the chapter on America’s longest-running war, but the Afghan men being held at the US detention facility at Guantanamo Bay aren’t expected to see any changes.

Although the White House has long insisted that it will adhere to a December 2014 deadline to withdraw most of its troops after more than a decade of war, government officials past and current say the Guantanamo Bay detainees who call Afghanistan home likely won’t be returning anytime soon.

On Saturday, journalist Spencer Ackermann of The Guardian reported that human rights groups and lawyers for Gitmo detainees expect new legal battles to emerge once the US formally ends its role in the Afghan War later this year because, according to the reporter, “US officials indicate there is unlikely to be a corresponding release of detainees at Guantánamo who were captured during the country's longest conflict.”

[We Keep Receipts 9,238]

What constitutes an emergency?

That's a broad question. We don't know all the facts pertaining to this case. There should be an investigation to flesh all this out.

[Mr. Big Dog 10,747]

If you decide on your own that you no longer want to be in the military and desert your unit, are you still considered part of the troops?

Where's the evidence? As of the day of his release, in fact, as of today, he is a serving member of the US Army.

[Karee 4,190]

Where's the evidence? As of the day of his release, in fact, as of today, he is a serving member of the US Army.

IDK, maybe all the members of his unit that said he just walked off? His superior officer who is claiming that he asked what would happen if he left? They all must be lying. I guess on paper he's a serving member of the U.S. Army. For now.

[Teddy B 17,252]

That's a broad question. We don't know all the facts pertaining to this case. There should be an investigation to flesh all this out.

I believe there is much more here than we are being told. We may never know the whole story. It's silly to jump to the conclusion that Obama gave away the farm and made a lopsided deal without knowing all of the facts of what actually took place.

It is funny to watch people continuously hit themselves in the jaw with their knee every time Obama blinks.

[We Keep Receipts 9,238]

I believe there is much more here than we are being told. We may never know the whole story. It's silly to jump to the conclusion that Obama gave away the farm and made a lopsided deal without knowing all of the facts of what actually took place.

It is funny to watch people continuously hit themselves in the jaw with their knee every time Obama blinks.

This. That's what I was trying to say. Folks talking about locking him up and breaking laws when we have no idea as to what really went down.

[Karee 4,190]

It is funny to watch people continuously hit themselves in the jaw with their knee every time Obama blinks.

Yeah that is funny. Especially watching Senators from his own party hit themselves in the jaw:

"I think that they expected everybody just to fall in line," said Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.), chairwoman of the Senate Intelligence Committee and one of those who received a personal apology from a senior White House aide.

Feinstein said the White House failed to anticipate that bypassing Congress would provoke anger on both sides of the aisle. The discovery that the five Afghans were top-ranking Taliban commanders has fueled concerns that the trade may endanger U.S. security.

"This is an issue that certainly those of us on the Intelligence Committee care a great deal about," Feinstein said. "Because we believe that there is potential danger from certain of these five people."

Source: http://www.latimes.com/nation/la-na-bergdahl-storm-20140605-story.html

[DavenRoxy 1,073]

Where's the evidence? As of the day of his release, in fact, as of today, he is a serving member of the US Army.

You are correct. He is still an American service member, and will remain so until his Article 32 hearing is completed and he's deemed guilty. That is why he received promotions while in captivity. Normally, hearings such as this are fairly swift, but I suspect that with all the media hoopla, it may take longer than normal.

But that has nothing to do with the topic, how Obama broke his own law, and should have to answer for that. I have seen nowhere that Obama has claimed he used the emergency clause; doesn't seem like much of an emergency, if they let him sit in captivity for nearly 5 years.

I understand he's the president, but even a president should have to account for his actions, and should strive to be a respectable, honest, upright leader. Obama has failed in that sense, in my opinion.

Edited June 10, 2014 by DavenRoxy

[Teddy B 17,252]

Yeah that is funny. Especially watching Senators from his own party hit themselves in the jaw:

What difference does it make who they are? If they don't know the whole story, they're jumping to conclusions.

[We Keep Receipts 9,238]

Yeah that is funny. Especially watching Senators from his own party hit themselves in the jaw:

So, you're not allowed to have a different opinion if you're in the same party?