4A · FRIDAY, MAY 22, 2009 · USA TODAY
Washington
Obama, Cheney spar on Guantanamo Senate votes to stop transfer of Gitmo prisoners By Richard Wolf and Mimi Hall USA TODAY WASHINGTON — The debate over what to do with suspected terrorists and sympathizers in the military detention facilities at Cuba’s Guantanamo Bay drew President Obama and former Vice president Dick Cheney into a virtual debate on Thursday. In a televized speech, Obama forcefully defended his plans to close the detention camp and said News of the terror analysis some suspects held there would be brought to top-security prisons in the United States despite fierce opposition in Congress. “There are no neat or easy answers here,” Obama said in a speech in which he pledged anew to clean up what he said was “quite simply a mess” at Guantanamo that he had inherited from the Bush administration. Moments after Obama concluded, Cheney delivered his own address across town defending the decisions of the Bush administration in dealing with ter-
By Brennan Linsley, AP
President is denied $80 million to close prison: Guards at the Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, facility stand on either side of a line of detainees, dressed in white, to search for unauthorized items last week. rorism. Expressing no remorse for the actions the Bush White House had ordered, Cheney said under the same circumstances he would make the same decisions “without hesitation.” Both men spoke one day after the Senate voted resoundingly to deny Obama money to close the prison. Four months after Obama’s pledge to close the prison, Con-
gress stands in the way of the Guantanamo shutdown by withholding funds. Conservatives, led by Cheney, are criticizing Obama’s decision to release Bush administration memos approving the interrogation techniques. Liberal groups such as the American Civil Liberties Union are fuming at his refusal to seek prosecutions, release photos and end military tribunals.
The terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, dominated and defined George W. Bush’s years in the White House. Eight years later, the repercussions have given Obama one of his toughest political and policy challenges. Developments in recent days have raised the ante for Obama as he seeks to push his policies: uThe Senate voted 90-6 Wednesday to block the transfer
of Guantanamo prisoners to the United States and deny Obama the $80 million he sought to shut down the facility. The move came as FBI Director Robert Mueller said any transfers could lead to terrorist attacks here. uAntipathy toward Obama’s decision to release Bush-era interrogation memos hasn’t let up. Cheney, a leading critic of Obama’s policies, is set to speak elsewhere in Washington this morning at about the time the president wraps up his remarks. uSince making the decision on the memos, Obama has tilted the other way on several other issues. He did not urge prosecuting Bush administration officials who authorized harsh interrogations. He recommended against creating a “truth commission” to investigate their actions. He refused to release additional photographs showing the treatments. And he agreed to keep using military commissions to try some enemy combatants. “It is a surprise and a disappointment,” says Christopher Anders, senior legislative counsel in the Washington office of the ACLU. “There’s been a disturbing number of places when President Obama has hidden the ball on what’s taken place in the past and is not living up to his promises.” The president has been in this position before as he seeks to
bring opposing views together on issues ranging from national security to energy, health care and the economy. Last month, he spoke at Georgetown University in an attempt to reconcile his $787 billion economic stimulus package and expensive government bailouts with his effort to reduce federal deficits and control health care inflation. “Whenever you start making decisions, you alienate somebody,” says James Pfiffner, an expert on public policy and the presidency at George Mason University in Virginia. “Obama’s making some very tough decisions. . . . I think he’s striking the right balance here.” Virtually no one wants Guantanamo detainees moved to local prisons. Since the detention center was opened in 2002, nearly 550 detainees have been released to 35 countries, and 240 remain. None has been released to the United States. “The decision to close this terrorist prison without a clear alternative was a regrettable one,” says House Republican leader John Boehner of Ohio. “The president has an opportunity to outline a comprehensive strategy for keeping America safe, including how he will keep all of the terrorists at the Guantanamo prison off American soil.”
Addition to bill raises questions $20M for vets’ medical center gets OK after donations to lawmaker By Gregg Zoroya USA TODAY WASHINGTON — The House Appropriations Committee has added $20 million to the supplemental war spending bill to bail out a privately built brain injury treatment center for U.S. troops after the facility’s supporters gave almost $100,000 in campaign contributions to the panel’s senior Republican, according to federal records and interviews. Backers of the National Intrepid Center of Excellence said they would use only private donations to build a $60 million facility to treat and rehabilitate troops at the National Naval Medical Center in Bethesda, Md. The cost of the project, which would be turned over to the government, included $20 million for special imaging equipment. However, the organization building the center, the non-profit Intrepid Fallen Heroes Fund led by New York real estate developer and philanthropist Arnold Fisher, failed to meet its fundraising goals. Fisher blames this on
Veterans groups, such as the Iraq & Afghanistan Veterans of America, also wanted the project. “It is something that should be built ASAP,” says Paul Rieckhoff, the economic downturn. the group’s founder and execOn Feb. 4, with deadlines for utive director. new construction and equipment Now, however, Fisher says the purchases approaching, Fisher government money may not be met with Rep. C.W. Bill Young of needed after all. He told USA TOFlorida, the top Republican on the DAY he had since raised all but subcommittee that writes the $4 million of the total amount defense budget, say Fisher and needed to complete the center. Young spokesman Harry Glenn. “When I was $20 million short, Federal campaign-finance rec- I was worried that I wasn’t going ords show that Fisher, members to finish this, so I went to Rep. of his family, board Young,” Fisher says. members of the In“(Now) I don’t want trepid center and the the money. I’m only a affiliated Intrepid Sea, few million short.” Air & Space Museum However, Fisher alin New York and busiso says he did not ness associates had want the $20 million donated at least to be publicized beAP $99,000 to Young’s cause “if it’s out, the re-election campaign Young: Ranking Re- contributions will last June and August, publican on panel. stop.” shortly after the cereGlenn confirms monial groundbreaking ceremo- that $20 million had been added ny in Bethesda. to the supplemental to pay for Fisher says he and his asso- the special equipment used at ciates donated to Young because the center. Young, he says, did not he supports the military and vet- know Fisher believed the shorterans. “I don’t want it to sound fall was erased when the money like I have bribed a government was included in the bill. official,” Fisher says, “That’s not “We’ll go back and check with the case. ” (Fisher), if he says he doesn’t
need the money, we’ll take it out,” Glenn says. The $20 million was added to the bill without any mention of the project by name. The bill directs the money “to procure equipment for rehabilitation facilities currently under construction.” The House of Representatives passed the bill, which will mostly pay for operations in Iraq and Afghanistan, last week. It is now being debated in the Senate. The House Appropriations Subcommittee on Defense is conducting a hearing today on military health programs, including those at Bethesda. It is the second time in 10 years that Fisher and his family have sought government assistance through Young for building projects. In both instances, the family and their friends donated tens of thousands of dollars to his campaign fund. In 1998, the family and associates contributed $40,000 to Young seven months after the appropriations subcommittee he led approved a $15 million earmark to resurface the flight deck of the aircraft carrier USS Intrepid, a floating museum in the Hudson River. Fisher is the museum’s chairman emeritus.
By Eric Gay, AP
Injured in Iraq: Master Sgt. Daniel Robles shakes hands with Arnold Fisher after a ceremony Jan. 28 in which he received the Purple Heart at the National Intrepid Center of Excellence in San Antonio. Fisher did not donate to Young again until last summer, records show, weeks after the ceremonial groundbreaking at the Intrepid center in Bethesda. It’s preposterous to suggest Young helped troops because of campaign contributions, Glenn says. “This is a positive thing that’s going on,” he says. Fisher did not appear to benefit personally from the money going to buy equipment for the Bethesda treatment center, say representatives from government
watchdog groups. However, “it does seem like there’s a correlation between the $20 million earmark and the campaign contribution,” says Melanie Sloan, of Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington. Steve Ellis, of Taxpayers for Common Sense, says the donations and the $20 million raise the specter of campaign contributions guaranteeing access and results. “It perpetuates pay-to-play situations,” he says.
SEL EC T ING T HE N E X T J US T IC E
Precedents on presidential choices for Supreme Court
As President Obama closes in on a successor to Supreme Court Justice David Souter, his lawyers are combing through the records and backgrounds of possible nominees. They develop a “short list” and schedule meetings between the president and candidates. Yet lists can expand and contract at the eleventh hour, and a meeting — or non-meeting — can change history. USA TODAY’s Joan Biskupic looks at some key moments in the selection process.
Instant rapport: President Reagan presents the high court’s first female justice, Sandra Day O’Connor.
After Chief Justice Warren Burger secretly told President Reagan he planned to retire, White House aides focused on then-associate justice William Rehnquist to replace him. Reagan told Rehnquist he was the “unanimous choice” and suggested he think about whether to accept, according to then-White House counsel Peter Wallison’s account. Rehnquist immediately said yes. For Rehnquist’s seat, Reagan aides narrowed the field to Washington, D.C.-based appeals court judges Robert Bork and Antonin Scalia. Reagan was intrigued by the idea of naming the first Italian-American justice and met with Scalia in the Oval Office. The president told Scalia he was his top choice, and Scalia said yes on the spot. When Reagan revealed Burger’s retirement and the two nominations the next day, White House reporters were caught so off-guard that they asked how to pronounce Scalia (ska-LEE-ya).
1993: Will he, or won’t he?
AP file photo
At the White House: Then-president Richard Nixon gives a framed commission to William Rehnquist, right, after handing one to Lewis Powell, left, in 1971.
1981: The right woman
1981 AP photo
1986 photo by Ron Edmonds, AP
Surprise pronouncement: President Reagan made another groundbreaking appointment with Italian-American Justice Antonin Scalia.
1971: Last-minute switch In 1971, President Nixon had two vacancies to fill. He settled on Lewis Powell to replace Justice Hugo Black, who had died, but couldn’t decide on a successor for Justice John Marshall Harlan. After several personal, financial and other problems with potential nominees, the front-runner became Sen. Howard Baker, R-Tenn. Baker said he needed more time to commit and avoided calls from the White House. Nixon became frustrated and turned to William Rehnquist, an assistant attorney general and part of the judicial screening team. Although Nixon once mistakenly called him “Renchburg,” the president knew Rehnquist as a conservative, law-and-order man. As Baker dithered, Nixon settled on Rehnquist, without an interview, and went public with his choices of Powell and Rehnquist on national TV the next night.
1986: Secret opening
Ronald Reagan vowed during his campaign to put the first woman on the Supreme Court. After Justice Potter Stewart alerted the White House he would retire, presidential aides created a list of potential nominees that included Arizona state appeals court judge Sandra Day O’Connor. Aides interviewed her in Arizona, then Attorney General William French Smith arranged for her to meet Reagan. To avoid reporters, Smith had his secretary pick up O’Connor, who said she’d be in a lavender suit, in front of a drugstore on Washington’s Dupont Circle. Reagan, a former California governor, talked with O’Connor, a rancher’s daughter, about horses and life in the West. They delved little into the law. Reagan did not meet with any other candidate. Five days later, he offered her the post.
When Bill Clinton considered possible successors to retiring Justice Byron White, he focused on then-New York governor Mario Cuomo because of his wide legal experience. But Cuomo kept ducking the president’s calls, according to former Clinton adviser George Stephanopoulos. As Cuomo wavered, Clinton interviewed others. Judge Stephen Breyer of Boston, a former counsel to Sen. Edward Kennedy, D-Mass., who had bipartisan support, was recovering from a bicycle accident when he met with Clinton. The luncheon session did not go well. Clinton also met with Judge Ruth Bader Ginsburg of Washington, D.C. The two hit it off; Clinton was intrigued by her work as a pioneering lawyer in women’s rights. After the meeting, Stephanopoulos later wrote in a book, 1993 photo by Doug Mills, AP Clinton said that if Cuomo “doesn’t say yes, we’ll announce Backup plan: President Clinton poses with Ginsburg tomorrow.” The next day, a beaming Ginsburg Supreme Court nominee Ruth Bader Ginsburg. stood by Clinton in the Rose Garden.
2005: One seat, then another
2005 photo by Charles Dharapak, AP
Open-and-shut case: John Roberts and President George W. Bush had an immediate rapport.
After O’Connor revealed she would soon step down, President George W. Bush’s aides quickly offered him a short list of judges from lower appeals courts. One of them was John Roberts, whom Bush had named to a lower court two years earlier. Roberts was teaching a class in London when a presidential aide called to say Bush wanted to meet with him. Roberts flew back for the meeting and thought it went well but knew other judges had been interviewed. He returned to London, then was told a few days later to come back to Washington. Bush liked Roberts’ pleasant manner and youth, age 50, and fondly remembered his two young children from when he named Roberts for the appeals court. Weeks after Bush chose Roberts for O’Connor’s seat, Chief Justice Rehnquist died. Bush decided to nominate Roberts to succeed him as chief justice.