Obama Resumes Military Trials at Guantanamo [Updated]

If you still needed proof that Obama made promises he never intended to keep in order to get to power and that you thought he would fair better than Bush, let me remind you one thing: Obama has been out-Bushing Bush on every single account but charism.

Here's one more brick to the edifice: Nobel Prize laureate and US President Obama approved the resumption of military trials at Guantanamo, an illegal and fascist detention center that he had promised to close down within one year at the office during his campaign. So we are now two years past the deadline, and he actually approves more of it.

• 2010-03-23 Another area where Obama out-Bushes Bush: Government Transparency
• 2010-01-10 Obama has out-Bushed Bush

Here's the Bloomberg report

March 7 (Bloomberg) -- President Barack Obama approved a resumption of military trials for suspected terrorists detained at the U.S. prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.

The administration will continue to press for terrorism trial in U.S. civilian courts and seek to overturn restrictions on such proceedings imposed by Congress, according to a fact sheet released today with the six-page executive order on the military commissions. It said Obama remains committed to closing the Guantanamo facility [...]

The actions will “broaden our ability to bring terrorists to justice, provide oversight for our actions and ensure the humane treatment of detainees,” Obama said in statement accompanying his executive order.

Obama has struggled to craft a policy on how to treat detainees who authorities believe are still allied with al-Qaeda or have received training from the organization, which was behind the Sept. 11 attacks, and yet can’t be tried because of legal or intelligence constraints. In a May 2009 speech, the president said it was “the single toughest issue that we will face.”

Obama vowed in his presidential campaign that he would close the prison camp within a year of taking office
[...]
McKeon and House Judiciary Committee Chairman Lamar Smith, a Texas Republican, welcomed the decision to resume trials before military commissions.

“The next step is to abandon the ill-advised campaign promise to close Guantanamo Bay,” Smith said.

The executive order directs Secretary of Defense Robert Gates to start bringing new charges before military commissions, ending a suspension that the president imposed when he announced his review of detainee policy two years ago.
[...]
There are 172 detainees at the prison, according to Tanya Bradsher, a Defense Department spokeswoman.

Even if you are cold blooded and fascist enough to put the inhuman treatment of people behind, I am still wondering what kind of cost is associated with such a high security off-shore center for only 172 people detained illegally and against any kind of basic human rights.

[Update] According to Bloomberg, the cost of Guantanamo Bay has cost $2 billion from 2002 to 2009 alone. Obama said it's a lot more than any top security prison in the US. But even so, $2 billion seems too small to me. There must be other expenses we are not aware of.