Title SlideThe War on The War on Terror and Terror and

Presidential Presidential PowerPower

Elizabeth HollingsworthElizabeth Hollingsworth

Introduction

• American Tradition of Justice• 9/11 Panic and Reactions

I. Immediate Response to 9/11: Framing the War on Terror

• Framing the United States’ reaction to 9/11 as a war

• Framing the sides as black and white

• Framing the battlefront as global in scope

• Framing the Administration as the central player

II. Historical Background

• Expanded War Powers for the Presidency• Historical Presidential Responses to

Terrorism• Protections for Accused Criminals and

POWs

The War on Terror

"From the beginning, America has sought international support for our operations in Afghanistan and Iraq, and we have gained much support. There is a difference, however, between leading a coalition of many nations, and submitting to the objections of a few. America will never seek a permission slip to defend the security of our country."

–George W. Bush, 2004 State of the Union Address

III. The War on Terror: Detainees’ Rights

I. Applicability of US Laws and TreatiesII. Applicability of the Geneva ConventionsIII. “Enemy Combatants”— No Man’s Land

“Guantánamo allows us to secure dangerous detainees without the risk of escape, while at the same time providing us with valuable intelligence information on how best to proceed in the war against terror and prevent future attacks.” Jim Ryun, former U.S. Congressman (R-KS)

IV. Guantánamo Bay Detention Center:Procedures and Problems

• Brief History• Purpose of

Detentions • Treatment of

Prisoners • Military Tribunals

Military Tribunals have convicted…

Salim Ahmed Hamdan• Sudanese national who was

allegedly Osama Bin Laden’s driver

• First Guantánamo detainee to go to trial in a military commission

David Hicks • Australian national • Pled guilty on one count of

providing material support to terrorism

— source: Human Rights Watch

Ali Hamza Ahmad Suliman al-Bahlul

• Supposedly Osama Bin Laden’s “media secretary.”

• One of the first prisoners transferred to Guantánamo

• Convicted of 35 counts of conspiracy, solicitation to commit murder and providing material support for terrorism

American Reactions to Guantánamo

"If it were up to me I would close Guantánamo not tomorrow but this afternoon...Essentially, we have shaken the belief that the world hadin America's justice system...and it's causing us far more damage than any good we get from it."

-Colin Powell, former U.S. Secretary of State

International Reactions

London

BelfastLima

Czech RepublicParisCanada

Challenges for anew administration

Closing Guantánamo

Closing Guantánamo 1. Should detainees

now receive judicial due process and be subject to international laws governing POWs?

2. Should detainees have access to the American courts? Would some other channel be more effective?

Getting Rid of Terrorists

3. Should detainees be released? To whom?

4. Should they allowed to return to terrorism?

5. Should some kind of international court be organized?

"Some may argue that we would be more effective if we sanctioned torture or

other expedient methods to obtain information from the enemy. They would

be wrong. Beyond the basic fact that such actions are illegal, history shows that they also are frequently neither

useful nor necessary."-David H. Petraeus, 

Commander, U.S. Central Command