On February 6, 2009, President Barack Obama promised 9/11 and U.S.S. Cole bombing families “swift and certain justice” for those who murdered their loved ones. A few mistakenly placed their faith in his words.
The Washington Times reported this morning on who the Obama administration blames for the delay:
Military lawyers at Guantanamo are prepared to go to trial with at least 66 terrorism suspects now held in extrajudicial detention on the U.S. Navy base, but Mr. Obama’s executive order two days after taking office has tied their hands, suspending all proceedings pending a detainee review that nearly seven months later is half-finished.
Proceedings last week for the five Sept. 11 suspects were mired in legalistic wrangling.
Still, the senior administration officials who briefed reporters pushed the blame back toward former President George W. Bush. “The status quo, incidentally, is not acceptable. Seven years, three prosecutions, endless litigation — that’s not what — that’s not the swift and certain justice that [Mr. Obama is] interested in making sure that we have.”
So, military lawyers were ready when President Obama took office to bring to trial those 66 detainees this year. Instead of concentrating on the future (what to do with those who could not be prosecuted by Military Commission and who need to be detained until they no longer are a threat to civil society), Obama is spewing platitudes and delaying trials. He continues to believe he can placate family members by blaming the “status quo” for why it might take years longer to bring al Qaeda’a killers to justice.
This has been a ‘Swift and certain justice’ alert. Expect many more similar alerts between now and January 20, 2013.