Bush Administration Will Challenge Congress to Hold or Release "Gitmo Terrorists" (updated)
By Andrew Cochran
On June 29, after the Supreme Court ruled in the Hamdan case that the Gitmo detainee trials are illegal under U.S. law and international Geneva, I wrote,
The decision is actually a huge political gift to President Bush, and the detainees will not be released that easily. The President and GOP leaders will propose a bill to override the decision and keep the terrorists in jail until they are securely transferred to host countries for permanent punishment....They will challenge the "judicial interference with national security" and challenge dissenting Congressmen and civil libertarians to either stand with the terrorists or the American people. The Pentagon will continue to release a small number of detainees as circumstances allow. The bill will pass easily and quickly.Starting today, we'll see if I was right or wrong; the President will propose a new plan to try the detainees.
UPDATE: In my June 29 post, I also predicted, "The Administration and its allies will release plenty of information on the terrorist acts committed by the detainees for which they were detained (see this great ABC News interview with the Gitmo warden). They will also release information about those terrorist acts committed by Gitmo prisoners after they were released." President Bush is doing just that during his speech announcing the proposed legislation; obviously the White House has been gathering this information for this purpose since the Hamdan decision. He also announced that 14 Al Qaeda leaders have been moved to Gitmo to face trial, and no suspects remain in CIA custody.
I'll stick with my prediction that the bill will pass.