[R-G] Obama Is Said to Consider Preventive Detention Plan

[Yoshie Furuhashi]

<http://www.nytimes.com/2009/05/21/us/politics/21obama.html>
May 21, 2009
Obama Is Said to Consider Preventive Detention Plan
By SHERYL GAY STOLBERG

WASHINGTON — President Obama told human rights advocates at the White
House on Wednesday that he was mulling the need for a “preventive
detention” system that would establish a legal basis for the United
States to incarcerate terrorism suspects who are deemed a threat to
national security but cannot be tried, two participants in the private
session said.

The discussion, in a 90-minute meeting in the Cabinet Room that
included Attorney General Eric H. Holder Jr. and other top
administration officials, came on the eve of a much-anticipated speech
Mr. Obama is to give Thursday on a number of thorny national security
matters, including his promise to close the detention center at the
naval base in Guantánamo Bay, Cuba.

Human rights advocates are growing deeply uneasy with Mr. Obama’s
stance on these issues, especially his recent move to block the
release of photographs showing abuse of detainees, and his
announcement that he is willing to try terrorism suspects in military
commissions — a concept he criticized bitterly as a presidential
candidate.

The two participants, outsiders who spoke on the condition of
anonymity because the session was intended to be off the record, said
they left the meeting dismayed.

They said Mr. Obama told them he was thinking about “the long game” —
how to establish a legal system that would endure for future
presidents. He raised the issue of preventive detention himself, but
made clear that he had not made a decision on it. Several senior White
House officials did not respond to requests for comment on the
outsiders’ accounts.

“He was almost ruminating over the need for statutory change to the
laws so that we can deal with individuals who we can’t charge and
detain,” one participant said. “We’ve known this is on the horizon for
many years, but we were able to hold it off with George Bush. The idea
that we might find ourselves fighting with the Obama administration
over these powers is really stunning.”

The other participant said Mr. Obama did not seem to be thinking about
preventive detention for terrorism suspects now held at Guantánamo
Bay, but rather for those captured in the future, in settings other
than a legitimate battlefield like Afghanistan. “The issue is,” the
participant said, “What are the options left open to a future
president?”

Mr. Obama did not specify how he intended to deal with Guantánamo
detainees who posed a threat and could not be tried, nor did he share
the contents of Thursday’s speech, the participants said.

He will deliver the speech at a site laden with symbolism — the
National Archives, home to the Constitution and the Declaration of
Independence. Across town, his biggest Republican critic, former Vice
President Dick Cheney, will deliver a speech at the American
Enterprise Institute.

Mr. Cheney and other hawkish critics have sought to portray Mr. Obama
as weak on terror, and their argument seems to be catching on with the
public. On Tuesday, Senate Democrats, in a clear rebuke to the White
House, blocked the $80 million Mr. Obama had requested in financing to
close the Guantánamo prison.

The lawmakers say they want a detailed plan before releasing the
money; there is deep opposition on Capitol Hill to housing terrorism
suspects inside the United States.

“He needs to convince people that he’s got a game plan that will
protect us as well as be fair to the detainees,” said Senator Lindsey
Graham, Republican of South Carolina, who agrees with Mr. Obama that
the prison should be closed. “If he can do that, then we’re back on
track. But if he doesn’t make that case, then we’ve lost control of
this debate.”

But Mr. Obama will not use the speech to provide the details lawmakers want.

“What it’s not going to be is a prescriptive speech,” said David
Axelrod, Mr. Obama’s senior adviser. “The president wants to take some
time and put this whole issue in perspective to identify what the
challenges are and how he will approach dealing with them.”