Obama’s Upcoming Executive Order
The Washington Post is reporting that the White House, worried about Congress curtailing efforts to close Guantanamo, is trying to drum up support for a reassertion of an executive order that would once again give the president the authority to incarcerate “terrorist suspects” indefinitely.
Such an order would embrace claims by former president George W. Bush that certain people can be detained without trial for long periods under the laws of war. Obama advisers are concerned that an order, which would bypass Congress, could place the president on weaker footing before the courts and anger key supporters, the officials said.
As Glenn Greenwald points out, this Washington Post article is only calling attention to a policy still being considered and is unable to point out specifics. However, gathering information from Obama’s speech he hypocritically gave in front of the original US Constitution, we already know he wants a preventative detention system put in place giving him the authority to hold prisoners indefinitely without charges. It’s a sad situation when the American people must now choose the lesser evil of the government’s law breaking. Is it better for the president to break the law himself through executive order, or use Congress to do it?
