New Gitmo Building: What's the Rush? (MH editl)

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New Gitmo Building: What's the Rush? (MH editl)

Via NY Transfer News Collective * All the News that Doesn't Fit

sent by Jane Franklin

The Miami Herald - Dec 5, 2006

Guantánamo building: What's the rush?

OUR OPINION: CONGRESS MUST ASK HARD QUESTIONS ABOUT PRISON'S FUTURE

Talk about pulling a fast one: First it was disclosed that the Pentagon
wanted Congress to approve immediate funding for a costly and unnecessary
project -- a $75-to-$125-million courthouse at its base in Guantánamo Bay,
Cuba, to try terror detainees. Now, hearing rumblings of displeasure from
Capitol Hill, the Pentagon has apparently decided to invoke emergency powers
and proceed forthwith to build this colossal white elephant -- Congress and
the public be damned. What, pray tell, is the rush?

This is a sneak attack on the budget in more ways than one.

Another sneaky aspect

To begin with, it circumvents the conventional funding process -- hearings,
followed by an authorization, and then an appropriation. In this instance,
there is no reason to resort to an emergency process because there's no
emergency. Some terrorist detainees have been held in Guantánamo for nearly
five years without undergoing any judicial process, and others have
undergone pre-trial hearings in existing facilities. Why the sudden rush
now?

There is another sneaky aspect that's particularly bothersome about this
sudden move. The law requires that in order to invoke these emergency
powers, the Pentagon must first identify where the money is coming from. In
this case, however, the Pentagon has not disclosed what projects have been
set aside.

This is unacceptable. If the Pentagon has decided that $100 million worth of
projects that have been green-lighted by Congress really aren't necessary
right now, it should say what these projects are.

As we noted when this boondoggle was first disclosed by The Miami Herald's
Carol Rosenberg, the trial procedure proposed by the Bush administration
faces a showdown with the Supreme Court in the coming months. The Court may
well decide that the trial guidelines approved by Congress don't pass
constitutional muster, making the courthouse unnecessary.

A premature project

In sum, the entire project is premature. As Rep. Jim Walsh, R-N.Y., said in
regard to the Pentagon's diversion of funding for the Guantánamo courthouse:
"It sounds like their priorities are skewed." That's an understatement.
The annual operating cost of the detention center is about $100 million, yet
the Pentagon proposes to build a permanent structure of $125 million that
may never be used for the original purpose.

Congress apparently can't veto this project, but it can express its
reservations in the strongest terms, and should do so as soon as it can.
Congress also should hold hearings and ask hard questions about Guantánamo's
future. Why build such an expensive permanent building? How long will
detainees be there? About this emergency funding: What's the rush?

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