Obama's Lawyers: Let's Extend the 9/11 Wars Forever - The Daily Beast - 0 views
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President Obama has said the United States’ combat mission in Afghanistan is over, and that the 13-year-long war there has come to an end. Top lawyers in his administration have a different message: Not so fast. Obama stated unconditionally in his State of the Union address in January that “our combat mission in Afghanistan is over.” But in a recent speech to the annual meeting of the American Society of International Law, an often-used venue for Obama administration officials to make extensive remarks on national security policy, the Defense Department’s general counsel seemed to reinterpret the president’s earlier statements. The lawyer appeared to walk back his more emphatic pronouncements about the end of America’s longest war.
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“Although our presence in [Afghanistan] has been reduced and our mission there is more limited, the fact is that active hostilities continue,” Stephen Preston, the Pentagon’s top lawyer, said in a speech April 10. And, he added, “There is no doubt that we remain in a state of armed conflict against the Taliban, al Qaeda, and associated forces as a matter of international law.” Preston’s observations were supported by facts:
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Justice Department lawyers are likely being put in the awkward position of having to argue against the president’s own statements. On Friday, U.S. attorneys filed a motion opposing an argument by an accused Taliban member held at Guantanamo Bay, Mukhtar al Warafi, that he should be released because Obama has said the war in Afghanistan is over, erasing any legal grounds to continue holding him. The government's response is classified. But legal experts told The Daily Beast that to counter Warafi’s claims, U.S. lawyers will almost certainly have to argue that despite what Obama has said, there is still a state of armed conflict against the Taliban, meaning the U.S. may continue to hold Warafi.
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For how long? While not commenting on Warafi’s case, Preston predicted that the conflict may outlast Obama’s time in office. “Active hostilities will continue in Afghanistan (and elsewhere) at least through 2015 and perhaps beyond,” he said. Warafi may have kicked off a trend. Lawyers working with other Guantanamo detainees told The Daily Beast that another man held on the island prison, Faiz Mohammed Ahmed Al Kandari, is also petitioning the government to release him, using the same argument as Warafi. The legal briefs in his case haven’t been made public and the government has yet to file its response.