Obama Huddles With Human Rights Groups Before Security Speech
By Sam Stein
HuffPost: May 20, 2009
Under heavy criticism for a series of decisions on national security that
resembled, for some, those of the Bush years, President Barack Obama hosted
a lengthy meeting on Wednesday with the leaders of several key human rights
and civil liberties groups.
Addressed were the topics that promise to be front and center during the
President's major foreign policy speech scheduled for Thursday.
According to an attendee, Obama expressed frustration with Congress'
decision to remove funding for the closure of the U.S. prison at Guantanamo
Bay. The president declared that his hands were tied in some ways regarding
the use of reformed military tribunals, though he pledged to try as many
detainees as possible in Article III federal courts.
Hours after the meeting, the Associated Press reported that the
administration plans to send Ahmed Ghailani, a top al-Qaida suspect held at
Guantanamo Bay, to New York to face trial. Ghailani will be the first
detainee held at GItmo to be brought to the United States, and the first to
face trial in a civilian criminal court.
Speaking to human rights officials on Wednesday, the president also left the
door open for the future release of detainee abuse photos, saying that his
administration's current opposition to the release was dictated by immediate
concern over the complications it could cause to America's mission in
Afghanistan.
More broadly, Obama said he was determined to build a new structure for
executive oversight that would last beyond his presidency, preempting the
problems he currently confronts from happening again.
"We talked a lot about the framework in which he is operating, and he talked
about his strong desire to reestablish a system under which the executive is
not exercising unfettered authority," said Elisa Massimino, CEO of Human
Rights First and an attendee at the Wednesday affair. "One of the chief
differences between him and his predecessor was that he didn't think he
ought to be making these decisions in an ad-hoc, unaccountable way. And so
he said that, in thinking through this, he was focused on how his successor
might operate."
In an interview with the Huffington Post, Massimino detailed what she
described as a "lively and detailed and serious" discussion on some of the
days most vexing national security issues. Over the course of roughly an
hour and fifteen minutes, Obama, along with Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel,
Attorney General Eric Holder, advisers Valerie Jarrett and David Axelrod,
foreign policy hand Dennis McDonough, and counter-terrorism chief John
Brennan, held court with a group of academics, as well as officials with the
ACLU, Human Rights Watch, and the Center for Constitutional Rights.
Asked to attend the meeting on Tuesday afternoon, the group came prepared
with what Massimino described as "some pointed pushback and questions" on a
variety of topics. The president, she added, spoke for roughly fifteen
minutes before opening up the forum for questions.
"It was really a back and forth discussion," said Massimino. "It was not,
one side makes a presentation and the other side listens and takes notes. It
was really probing."
There was much to probe. According to Massimino, Obama had "two baskets of
issues he wanted to talk about: one was Guantanamo and all of the things
pertaining to closing it. And the other was transparency."
On Gitmo, Massimino said, the President "emphasized that he was in this for
the long game. He said he realized that you can't change people's
misperceptions overnight, that they have had eight long years of a steady
dose of fear and a lack of leadership and that is not something that you
wave a magic wand and make it go away."
As for the criticism of Senate Republicans, who suggest that moving
terrorism suspects to America would be tantamount to releasing them on the
streets, Massimino recalled Obama's remarks as being relatively brief. He
dismissed it, she said, "as really an unfounded fear that is being fanned by
people who are seeking political advantage."
While acknowledging that she did not have verbatim quotes from the
president, Massimino nevertheless relayed some of the remarks he made on
other key foreign policy topics. On the administration's decision to reverse
course and oppose the release of photos depicting abuse of terrorist
suspects, she said that Obama brought it up without being prompted. "He
raised it," she said. "We didn't have to ask."
"He said that he became convinced that the particular timing of what we were
dealing with in Afghanistan right now made this a particularly bad time to
release those photos," she explained. "And he said that we should not
conclude from his decision right now that those photos will not end up
getting released. There are many ways that might happen. The court might
order it. Circumstances might change the balance of consideration that would
weigh in favor of transparency, which he reiterated would be his default
position."
On his decision to maintain and improve the use of military tribunals to try
terrorist suspects, Obama, she said, "seemed to imply that some of the
circumstances of capture of some of the people of Guantanomo would lend
themselves to trial in a military commission." He reiterated, she added,
that "despite the announcement of military commissions on Friday, his strong
preference was that we use Article III courts..."
Taking place in the West Wing, the meeting was a chance for the president
and some of those most disappointed by his recent policies to come to grips
with the contentious events in recent weeks. While contending that the
president's recent declarations on the aforementioned issues do not
constitute a change in policy, the White House has clearly begun the process
of cooling the political flames. Wednesday's meeting will be followed by a
major speech Thursday addressing these very same topics.
Asked whether the president had pacified some of the concerns she brought to
the White House on Wednesday, Massimino said that she was pleased with the
opportunity for engagement. Beyond that, she still registered concerns.
"I think that many of us were disappointed by the announcement about the
military commissions and wondered what the reasoning was behind that. And to
be honest, I am still wondering having been in this meeting today. I don't
think that this fits the overall framework that the president had
articulated about using our values to reinforce a counter terrorism strategy
against al Qaeda."
An email to the White House for clarification or comment was not immediately
returned.
***
Hello Blues Friend:
I'd like to remind you about a couple of important live shows coming up on
Memorial Day weekend:
I will be doing an acoustic set on the Blues stage, with Mike Barry on bass,
to open the 20th Annual Simi Valley Cajun, Creole, and Blues Festival on
Saturday, May 23, 11:45. I return to perform there with the whole Bernie
Pearl Blues Band Sunday at 1:15. Two stages going all day both days at Santa
Susanna Community Park. You can bet that the eats will be authentic and
sensational. See the Simi Valley Cajun Creole Festival website for more
information. (805) 517-9000. This is a Rotary Club charity event.
The evening of Saturday, May 23 Mike Barry and I travel way east to
Claremont to perform an acoustic concert at the legendary Folk Music Center.
We will be joined by our friend and great musician Jim Shirey, on fiddle.
7:30, 220 Yale Ave., Claremont 91711. (909) 624-2928.
This has been a key showcase for acoustic Folk and Blues artists for five
decades. Super venue for music lovers.
And, while I'm at it, let me mention that Wolfgang's Vault.com has been
issuing historic concerts from the vast Ash Grove library. This week you'll
be able to hear and download a set I did with down-home vocalist Luke "Long
Gone" Miles back in 1966. Boggles the mind to think that it was so long ago,
and that I was so young.
====
Bernie Pearl, Blues Guitarist in Concert
Saturday, May 23, 7:30, Folk Music Center, 220 Yale Ave., Claremont Ca 91711
Southern California blues icon Bernie Pearl, who has played behind a slew of
blues notables, steps out front and appears in concert at the famed Folk
Music Center in Claremont May 23
During a career nearing fifty years, guitarist Bernie Pearl has appeared
with a veritable who's who of the blues: John Lee Hooker, B.B. King, Stevie
Ray Vaughan, Willie Dixon, Big Mama Thornton, Freddie King, Albert Collins,
Big Joe Turner, and many more have all had Bernie's guitar in support. In
recent years the journeyman musician and vocalist has struck out on his own,
often performing solo on his vintage acoustic guitars. His new double-disc
CD, "Old School Blues, Acoustic/Electric" (Bee Bump Music), has received
great reviews and widespread airplay. Critic Mark S. Tucker said in
review of a recent concert, ".Bernie Pearl is SoCal's Segovia of blues.
I've never seen a guy play that well and sustain it that impeccably for an
entire concert. I think Bernie's the best we have and probably the best pure
blues guy period." (Folk & Acoustic Music Exchange).
Bernie apprenticed himself to three titans of the rural blues in the early
1960's. His close relationship with Texans Lightnin' Sam Hopkins and Mance
Lipscomb, and with slide legend Mississippi Fred MacDowell has led to Pearl
being one of today's prime interpreters of the country blues. While their
influence on his style and repertoire is marked, Bernie's originality is
also evident.
The guitarist will be performing on his 1952 Martin, which he has played
since the age of 16, and on his late 1930's National slide, one of only
three produced with its Deco design. Bernie will be accompanied by Mike
Barry on bass, and will have as a special guest violinist Jim Shirey.
Saturday, May 23, 7:30, Folk Music Center, 220 Yale Ave., Claremont Ca 91711
Tickets are $10. Reservations and information: (909) 624-2928.
berniepearl@hotmail.com, http://berniepearl.com
===
No comments:
Post a Comment