Feed: Obama to defy GOP on Gitmo policy - AggScore: 13.0

Obama to defy GOP on Gitmo policy

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caption id alignalignleft width210 captionTerrorist prisoner watches TV while incarcerated in Guantanamo Bay military detention center. Photo DoD img srchttpcdn2b.examiner.comsitesdefaultfilesstyleslargehasha2e9gitmo0.jpg alt width210 height170 captionWhite House officials say that President Barack Obama and his national security team are planning to block the GOPlead Congress efforts to impede the presidents plans for the Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, military detention center and its inmate population of captured terrorists and enemy combatants.divThe officials claim they are prepared for a confrontation between the president and the new Congress on an issue that has been politically divisive since Obama was inaugurated on January 20, 2009.divdivThe original Guantanamo policy, which included limits on where and how prisoners will be tried, were attached to a spending bill for military pay and benefits approved by the Democratled Congress late last year.divdivSome of the Presidents advisors are recommending that Obama sign the spending bill and then issue a statement that he is opposed to the Guantanamo sections without addressing their constitutionality. The statement would likely be released along with a new executive order that outlined review procedures for some but not all of the 174 Guantanamo prisoners still held without charge or trial, according to an intelligence source.divdivObama has used signing statements in the past, but this one would carry political significance as the first test of his relationship with a Congress in which the House is firmly in Republican control.divdivThe reliance on detention orders and a signing statement tools used repeatedly by former President George W. Bush, who built Guantanamo nearly a decade ago is seen by Obamas security and military advisers as among the few options left for an administration that has watched the steady erosion of Obamas first pledge nearly two years ago to close the prison.divdivDozens of suspected terrorists have been freed from Guantanamo since Obama issued an executive order last year calling for a comprehensive review of all detainees and a total of 598 have been released so far, according to officials at Judicial Watch, a publicinterest, watchdog group that investigates government and political corruption.divdivOne hundred fifty are confirmed or suspected of reengaging in terrorist or insurgent activities after transfer, according to a report issued by the Director of National Intelligence DNI to Congress.divdivAt least 83 remain at large and if additional detainees are released, some will reengage in terrorist or insurgent activities, says the DNI assessment.divdivCreated by Congress in 2004 to force collaboration between the nations spy agencies, the DNI claims to be the countrys first line of defense, serving as the head of the intelligence community by integrating foreign, military and domestic intelligence that protects the U.S. from terrorist threats.divdivThe newly released DNI assessment is hardly earthshattering news. Nearly two years ago the Pentagons Defense Intelligence Agency disclosed a sharp rise in the number of Guantanamo detainees who rejoin terrorist missions after leaving U.S. custody.divdivUsing data such as fingerprints, pictures and other reports the defense agency, which gathers foreign military intelligence, determined that the number of Middle Eastern terrorists who returned to the fight after being released nearly doubled in a short time.divEarlier this year, officials at Judicial Watch reported that at least a dozen Guantanamo inmates rejoined Al Qaeda in Yemen shortly after being released. A terrorist hotbed and popular Al Qaeda training ground, Yemen has been deemed a high security threat by the State Department and its where the Christmas Day airline bomber proudly trained.