The Obama Administration and the Legacy of George W. Bush's

Total Page:16

File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb

The Obama Administration and the Legacy of George W. Bush's chapter 12 The Loaded Gun: The Obama Administration and the Legacy of George W. Bush’s “War on Terror” Niels Bjerre-Poulsen During the presidential election of 2008, then candidate Barack Obama sharply criticized the Bush administration’s human rights record and its attempt to aggrandize executive power. He described both as violations of American standards and promised that if elected, he would end extraordi- nary renditions and torture, close Guantanamo, improve the protection of civil liberties, and scale back the claims to executive power that President Bush had made with reference to the ongoing “War on Terror.”1 Having won the election, both President-elect Barack Obama and Vice- president-elect Joe Biden seemed determined to voluntarily scale down the claims to executive power and rededicate the American government to the advancement of human rights. On the 60th anniversary of the United Nations Declaration of Human Rights, December 10, 2008, the president-elect issued a statement which concluded that: When the United States stands up for human rights, by example at home and by effort abroad, we align ourselves with men and women around the world who struggle for the right to speak their minds, to choose their leaders, and to be treated with dignity and respect. We also strengthen our security and wellbeing, because the abuse of human rights can feed many of the global dangers that we confront – from armed conflict and humanitarian crises, to corruption and the spread of ideologies that promote hatred and violence.2 The departing Vice-president, Dick Cheney, thought otherwise. He had been a driving force behind the aggrandizement and was convinced that Barack Obama and Joe Biden would change their minds when they entered the White 1 Charlie Savage, “Barack Obama’s Q & A,” The Boston Globe, December 20, 2007. (http:// www.boston.com/news/politics/2008/specials/CandidateQA/ObamaQA/). 2 http://change.gov/newsroom/entry/statement_of_president_elect_obama_on_hu- man_rights_day/ © koninklijke brill nv, leiden, ���� | doi ��.����/���������� ��� _014 338 chapter 12 House. He told right-wing radio-host Rush Limbaugh that “once they get here and they’re faced with the same problems we deal with every day, then they will appreciate some of the things we’ve put in place.”3 President Obama’s handling of the Bush administration’s human rights legacy is the subject of this article. A central question is whether the new president actively attempted to dismantle some of the Bush administration’s radical policies to fighting terrorism and return to a previous understanding of the proper balance of power in the American political system, or whether he simply chose to use presidential prerogatives less aggressively than his pre- decessor. If the latter is the case, then what “loaded guns” did it leave in the White House for future presidents to pick up? In order to answer this ques- tion, I will first attempt to briefly describe how the Bush administration’s conception of executive power had shaped its view of human rights and in- ternational law in the “war on terror.” In the wake of the attacks on the United States on September 11, 2001, the Bush administration gave new claim to a host of prerogatives and inherent powers. The justification was the ability to protect the national security in an allegedly brand new international environment, but the claims went well be- yond emergency powers.4 The Bush administration claimed the right to deny the writ of habeas corpus to “enemy combatants” – citizens and noncitizens – as well as the right to interrogation methods that most people consider to be torture.5 These and other changes were all based on a radical new version of the hitherto little known theory of “the unitary executive.” Adherents to this theory constituted a small minority within the legal community, but within the Bush administration, they became a dominant voice. Both in the Depart- ment of Justice and in the Vice-president’s office, they provided legal opinions intended to minimize constitutional checks on the president’s power and re- move restrictions imposed by what Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld 3 Quoted from Andy Barr, “Cheney: Obama ‘not likely to cede authority’” Politico, Decem- ber 15, 2008. (http://www.politico.com/news/stories/1208/16594.html). 4 For an excellent analysis of the Bush administration’s extraordinary claims to power, see James P. Pfiffner, Power Play; The Bush Presidency and the Constitution. Brookings Institution Press, Washington, D.C. 2008. 5 See Philippe Sands, Torture Team: Rumsfeld’s Memo and the Betrayal of American Values. Palgrave McMillan, New York 2008, Mark Danner, “The Logic of Torture,” The New York Review of Books, Vol. 51, No. 11, June 23, 2004 (http://www.nybooks.com/arti- cles/17190), and Jane Mayer, The Dark Side: The Inside Story of How The War on Terror Turned into a War on American Ideals. Doubleday, New York 2008..
Recommended publications
  • Presidential Documents
    Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents Monday, December 18, 2006 Volume 42—Number 50 Pages 2147–2171 VerDate Aug 31 2005 11:34 Dec 19, 2006 Jkt 211001 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 1249 Sfmt 1249 E:\PRESDOCS\P50DEF4.015 P50DEF4 Contents Addresses and Remarks Letters and Messages See also Meetings With Foreign Leaders Hanukkah 2006, message—2168 Presidential Medal of Freedom, Meetings With Foreign Leaders presentation—2162 Radio address—2148 Benin, President Yayi—2157 State Department, meeting with senior Iraq, Deputy President Hashimi—2152 officials—2151 Proclamations Virginia Armed Forces Full Honor Review for Human Rights Day, Bill of Rights Day, and Defense Secretary Rumsfeld—2166 Human Rights Week—2147 Defense Department, meeting with senior Wright Brothers Day—2168 officials in Arlington—2153 Statements by the President White House Summit on Malaria—2158 Congressional passage Communications to Federal Agencies Fisheries management legislation—2150 Designation of Officers of the Department of Outer Continental Shelf legislation—2149 Justice, memorandum—2148 Ryan White CARE Act, reauthorization Determination Pursuant to Section 2(c)(1) of legislation—2150 the Migration and Refugee Assistance Act U.S.-India nuclear energy cooperation of 1962, as Amended, memorandum—2162 legislation—2151 Presidential Determination on Sanctions Vietnam, permanent trade relations Against North Korea for Detonation of a legislation—2150 Nuclear Explosive Device, memorandum— Sudan, Darfur situation—2151 2147 Syrian Government—2156 Executive Orders Supplementary Materials Amendment to Executive Order 13317, Acts approved by the President—2171 Volunteers for Prosperity—2162 Checklist of White House press releases— 2170 Interviews With the News Media Digest of other White House Exchange with reporters in Arlington, VA— announcements—2169 2153 Nominations submitted to the Senate—2170 WEEKLY COMPILATION OF Distribution is made only by the Superintendent of Docu- ments, Government Printing Office, Washington, DC 20402.
    [Show full text]
  • 1 BARACK OBAMA, ABRAHAM LINCOLN, and JOHN DEWEY In
    File: Schulten web preprint Created on: 1/29/2009 9:52:00 AM Last Printed: 1/31/2009 2:13:00 PM BARACK OBAMA, ABRAHAM LINCOLN, AND JOHN DEWEY SUSAN SCHULTEN In the last few months, there has been a spate of comparisons be- tween Obama and some of our most influential former presidents. Just days after the election, Congress announced the theme of the inaugura- tion as “A New Birth of Freedom,” while reporters and commentators speculate about “A New New Deal” or “Lincoln 2.0.”1 Many of these comparisons are situational: Obama is a relatively inexperienced lawyer- turned-politician who will inherit two wars and an economic crisis un- equalled since the Great Depression.2 The backlash has been equally vocal. Many consider these com- parisons both premature and presumptuous, evidence that the media is sympathetic toward an Obama Administration or that the President-elect has himself orchestrated these connections.3 Indeed, Obama frequently invoked Lincoln as both a model for and an influence over his own can- didacy, which he launched on the steps of the Old State Capitol in Springfield, Illinois. He introduced Vice-President Joe Biden in the same spot, where the latter also referenced the memory of Lincoln.4 Cer- tainly it makes sense for Obama to exploit Lincoln’s legacy, for no other figure in American history continues to command such admiration, the occasional neo-Confederate or other detractor notwithstanding.5 To posi- tion Obama in front of the State House is surely meant to place him as a kind of an heir to Lincoln.
    [Show full text]
  • President's Daily Diary Collection (Box 74) at the Gerald R
    Scanned from the President's Daily Diary Collection (Box 74) at the Gerald R. Ford Presidential Library THE WHITE HOUSE THE DAILY DIARY OF PRESIDENT GERALD R. FORD PLACE DAY BEGAN DATE (Mo., Day, Yr.) HYATT REGENCY HOUSE FEBRUARY 4 1975 ATLANTA, GEORGIA TIME DAY 7:55 a.m. TUESDAY PHONE - TIME ACTIVITY In Out The President was an,overIiight guest)(at the Hyatt Regency House, 265 Peachtree Street, Atlanta, Georgia. 8:00 The President went to the Tudor Ioom. 8:00 9:35 The President attended a working breakfast with newspaper editors, publishers, and broadcast executives. For a list of attendees, see APPENDIX "A.II 9:35 The President returned to his suite. 10:20 11:25 The President met with Ernest J.E. Griffes, Treasurer of Haxelhurst and Associates, consulting actuaries in Atlanta, Georgia. 11:31 The President went to his motorcade. 11:34 11:36 The President motored from the Hyatt Regency House to the Marriott Hotel, Courtland and Cain Street~, N.W. 11:36 1:25 The Fresident attended a luncheon for the 11th Annual Convention of the Opportunities Industrialization Centers. 11:36 The President was greeted by: Leon H. Sullivan, Founder of Opportunities Industrialization Center (OIC) and pastor of Zion Baptist Church, Philide~phia, Pennsylvania Maurice Dawkins, National Director of OIC Richard Stormont, Marriott Hotel General Manager The President, escorted by Mr. Sullivan and Mr. Dawkins, went to the Nation .fuf Brotherhood Room. The President met with headtcable guests. For a list of head table guests-i see APPENDIX liB." 11:56 The President went to the holding room.
    [Show full text]
  • Picking the Vice President
    Picking the Vice President Elaine C. Kamarck Brookings Institution Press Washington, D.C. Contents Introduction 4 1 The Balancing Model 6 The Vice Presidency as an “Arranged Marriage” 2 Breaking the Mold 14 From Arranged Marriages to Love Matches 3 The Partnership Model in Action 20 Al Gore Dick Cheney Joe Biden 4 Conclusion 33 Copyright 36 Introduction Throughout history, the vice president has been a pretty forlorn character, not unlike the fictional vice president Julia Louis-Dreyfus plays in the HBO seriesVEEP . In the first episode, Vice President Selina Meyer keeps asking her secretary whether the president has called. He hasn’t. She then walks into a U.S. senator’s office and asks of her old colleague, “What have I been missing here?” Without looking up from her computer, the senator responds, “Power.” Until recently, vice presidents were not very interesting nor was the relationship between presidents and their vice presidents very consequential—and for good reason. Historically, vice presidents have been understudies, have often been disliked or even despised by the president they served, and have been used by political parties, derided by journalists, and ridiculed by the public. The job of vice president has been so peripheral that VPs themselves have even made fun of the office. That’s because from the beginning of the nineteenth century until the last decade of the twentieth century, most vice presidents were chosen to “balance” the ticket. The balance in question could be geographic—a northern presidential candidate like John F. Kennedy of Massachusetts picked a southerner like Lyndon B.
    [Show full text]
  • What's Next for the United States?
    February 2021 Konrad-Adenauer-Stiftung Office USA, Washington, D.C. What's next for the United States? Part 2: Climate Change and Energy Supply By Sabine Murphy How is the Biden administration changing the direction of the U.S.? The KAS Office USA takes a first look, in a series of five country reports. This report deals with climate and energy challenges. The White House website promises “swift action to tackle the climate emergency” and a “clean energy revolution”. Key Policy Goals The Biden-Harris administration doesn’t make it a secret that the fight against climate change is on top of the to-do-list. Climate is prominently listed on the White House website as one of seven top policy priorities. It states: “President Biden will take swift action to tackle the climate emergency. The Biden administration will ensure we meet the demands of science, while empowering American workers and businesses to lead a clean energy revolution.”1 The Biden administration takes a decidedly different approach to energy use and the impact of rising temperatures on the environment than its predecessor. After four years of the Trump administration denying scientific findings about climate change, Biden has pledged to follow science and involve the entire federal government in the fight against climate change. By creating inter-agency working groups and a National Climate Task Force, Biden wants to ensure that his policies for the production of clean energy and the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions, are not limited to single agencies but will be implemented throughout the federal government. During his campaign, Biden promised to reach a goal of net-zero emissions across the economy before 2050, and to eliminate pollution caused by fossil fuel in electricity production by 2035.
    [Show full text]
  • UC Berkeley IGS Poll
    UC Berkeley IGS Poll Title Release #2021-09: Californians’ Early Assessments of the Performance of President Biden and Vice President Harris are Highly Positive Permalink https://escholarship.org/uc/item/4088n2j0 Author Di Camillo, Mark Publication Date 2021-05-12 eScholarship.org Powered by the California Digital Library University of California Institute of Governmental Studies 126 Moses Hall University of California Berkeley, CA 94720 Tel: 510-642-6835 Email: [email protected] Release #2021-09 Wednesday, May 12, 2021 Californians’ Early Assessments of the Performance of President Biden and Vice President Harris are Highly Positive. by Mark DiCamillo, Director, Berkeley IGS Poll (c) 415-602-5594 Californians generally offer highly positive assessments of the job performances of Joe Biden as President and Kamala Harris as the nation’s Vice President. In its examinations of how voters here view the nation’s new political leaders, the Berkeley IGS Poll finds 62% approving of the job Biden is doing as President, while just 34% disapprove. Vice President Harris also is rated favorably, with 53% approving and 33% disapproving. In addition, most of the voters who approve of Biden’s and Harris’s performance do so strongly. Biden’s initial ratings place him in the mid-range of the job marks given by California voters to other recent presidents at the beginning of their first year in office. All told, four of Biden’s nine immediate predecessors – Barack Obama, Jimmy Carter, Ronald Reagan, and John F. Kennedy – received higher initial job performance scores than Biden, while four others – Donald Trump, George W. Bush, Gerald Ford, and Bill Clinton – were given lower marks.
    [Show full text]
  • Biden's 100 Days
    BIDEN’S 100 DAYS 1 Biden's 100 Days Carr Center for Human Rights Policy Harvard Kennedy School, Harvard University April 29, 2021 The views expressed in the Carr Center Discussion Paper Series are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect those of the John F. Kennedy School of Government or of Harvard University. Faculty Research Working Papers have not undergone formal review and approval. Such papers are included in this series to elicit feedback and to encourage debate on important public policy challenges. Copyright belongs to the author(s). Papers may be downloaded for personal use only. Cover photograph by Gage Skidmore. Copyright 2021, President and Fellows of Harvard College Printed in the United States of America 2 A LOOK AT BIDEN’S FIRST 100 DAYS IN OFFICE We asked faculty and fellows at the Carr Center to share their insight on the Biden Administration’s first 100 days in office. Here’s what they had to say. JACQUELINE BHABHA Immigrants’ rights advocates can celebrate a glass half full 100 days after Biden’s inauguration. The new administration has quickly reversed some of the most Professor of the Practice of egregious measures instituted by its predecessor. Over 1,000 asylum applicants Health & Human Rights, HSPH; who have been forced to wait in Mexico for their hearings have now been allowed Jeremiah Smith Jr. Lecturer into the US; local governments engaged in shielding undocumented migrants in Law, HLS from deportation no longer risk the loss of their federal funding; construction of the infamous border wall has been halted; and a bill to restore pathways to U.S.
    [Show full text]
  • 'Harry Truman' by David Blanchflower
    Harry Truman 12 April 1945 – 20 January 1953 Democrat By David Blanchflower Full name: Harry S Truman Date of birth: 8 May 1884 Place of birth: Lamar, Missouri Date of death: 26 December 1972 Site of grave: Harry S Truman Presidential Library & Museum, Independence, Missouri Education: Spalding’s Commercial College, Kansas City Married to: Bess Wallace. m. 1919. (1885-1982) Children: 1 d. Margaret "You know, it's easy for the Monday morning quarterback to say what the coach should have done, after the game is over. But when the decision is up before you - - and on my desk I have a motto which says The Buck Stops Here" Harry Truman, National War College, December 19th, 1952 'Give 'em hell' Harry S. Truman was the 33rd president of the United States and also the 33rd tallest. He was born on May 8th, 1884 and died at age 88 on December 22nd, 1972. Of note also is that V- E Day occurred on Truman's birthday on May 8th, 1945. He had no middle name. His parents gave him the middle initial, 'S', to honor his grandfathers, Anderson Shipp Truman and Solomon Young. He married his wife Elizabeth 'Bess' Wallace on June 28, 1919; he had previously proposed in 1911 and she turned him down; but they finally got engaged in 1913. She had been in his class at school when he was six and she was five, and she sat in the desk immediately behind him. The couple had one child, Mary Margaret Truman. Harry was a little man who did a lot, standing just 5 feet 9 inches tall which is short for a president.
    [Show full text]
  • In the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit ______
    07-4943-cv IN THE UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS FOR THE SECOND CIRCUIT ____________________ JOHN DOE INC., JOHN DOE, AMERICAN CIVIL LIBERTIES UNION, and AMERICAN CIVIL LIBERTIES UNION FOUNDATION, Plaintiffs-Appellees, v. MICHAEL B. MUKASEY, in his official capacity as Attorney General of the United States, ROBERT S. MUELLER III, in his official capacity as Director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, and VALERIE E. CAPRONI, in her official capacity as General Counsel to the Federal Bureau of Investigation, Defendants-Appellants. ____________________ ON APPEAL FROM THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT FOR THE SOUTHERN DISTRICT OF NEW YORK ___________________ BRIEF OF AMICUS CURIAE, NATIONAL SECURITY ARCHIVE AND ELECTRONIC FRONTIER FOUNDATION IN SUPPORT OF PLAINTIFFS-APPELLEES ___________________ Meredith Fuchs National Security Archive George Washington University 2130 H St. NW, Suite 701 Washington, D.C. 20037 202-994-7000 Marcia Hofmann Electronic Frontier Foundation 454 Shotwell Street San Francisco, CA 94110 415-436-9333 CORPORATE DISCLOSURE STATEMENT In accordance with Fed. R. App. P. 26.1, amicus curiae the National Security Archive discloses that it is a project of the National Security Archive Fund, Inc. The National Security Archive Fund, Inc. is a not-for- profit corporation established under the laws of the District of Columbia. The National Security Archive Fund, Inc. has no parent corporation and no stock, thus no publicly held corporation owns ten percent or more of its stock. The Archive identifies that its general nature and purpose is to promote research and public education on U.S. governmental and national security decisionmaking and to promote and encourage openness in government and government accountability.
    [Show full text]
  • Barack Obama Deletes References to Clinton
    Barack Obama Deletes References To Clinton Newton humanize his bo-peep exploiter first-rate or surpassing after Mauricio comprises and falls tawdrily, soldierlike and extenuatory. Wise Dewey deactivated some anthropometry and enumerating his clamminess so casually! Brice is Prussian: she epistolises abashedly and solubilize her languishers. Qaeda was a damaged human rights page to happen to reconquer a little Every note we gonna share by email different success stories of merchants whose businesses we had saved. On clinton deleted references, obama told us democratic nomination of. Ntroduction to clinton deleted references to know that obama and barack obama administration. Rainfall carries into clinton deleted references to the. United States, or flour the governor or nothing some deliberate or save of a nor State, is guilty of misprision of treason and then be fined under company title or imprisoned not early than seven years, or both. Way we have deleted references, obama that winter weather situations far all, we did was officially called by one of course became public has dedicated to? Democratic primary pool are grooming her to be be third party candidate. As since been reported on multiple occasions, any released emails deemed classified by the administration have been done so after the fact, would not steer the convict they were transmitted. New Zealand as Muslim. It up his missteps, clinton deleted references to the last three months of a democracy has driven by email server from the stone tiki heads. Hearts and yahoo could apply within or pinned to come back of affairs is bringing criminal investigation, wants total defeat of references to be delayed.
    [Show full text]
  • Six Questions for Jane Mayer, Author of the Dark Side
    Six Questions for Jane Mayer, Author of The Dark Side By Scott Horton, HARPER’S, July, 2008 In a series of gripping articles, Jane Mayer has chronicled the Bush Administration’s grim and furtive dealings with torture and has exposed both the individuals within the administration who “made it happen” (a group that starts with Vice President Cheney and his chief of staff, David Addington), the team of psychologists who put together the palette of techniques, and the Fox television program “24,” which was developed to help sell it to the American public. In a new book, The Dark Side, Mayer puts together the major conclusions from her articles and fills in a number of important gaps. Most significantly, we learn the details on the torture techniques and the drama behind the fierce and lingering struggle within the administration over torture, and we learn that many within the administration recognized the potential criminal accountability they faced over these torture tactics and moved frantically to protect themselves from possible future prosecution. I put six questions to Jane Mayer on the subject of her book, The Dark Side. 1. Reports have circulated for some time that the Red Cross examination of the CIA’s highly coercive interrogation regime—what President Bush likes to call “The Program”—concluded that it was “tantamount to torture.” But you write that the Red Cross categorically described the program as “torture.” The Red Cross is notoriously tight-lipped about its reports, and you do not cite your source or even note that you examined the report. Do you believe that the threat of criminal prosecution drove the Bush Administration’s crafting of the Military Commissions Act? Whether anyone involved in the Bush Administration’s interrogation and detention program will be prosecuted is as much a political question as a legal one.
    [Show full text]
  • A Public Accountability Defense for National Security Leakers and Whistleblowers
    A Public Accountability Defense For National Security Leakers and Whistleblowers The Harvard community has made this article openly available. Please share how this access benefits you. Your story matters Citation Yochai Benkler, A Public Accountability Defense For National Security Leakers and Whistleblowers, 8 Harv. L. & Pol'y Rev. 281 (2014). Published Version http://www3.law.harvard.edu/journals/hlpr/files/2014/08/ HLP203.pdf Citable link http://nrs.harvard.edu/urn-3:HUL.InstRepos:12786017 Terms of Use This article was downloaded from Harvard University’s DASH repository, and is made available under the terms and conditions applicable to Open Access Policy Articles, as set forth at http:// nrs.harvard.edu/urn-3:HUL.InstRepos:dash.current.terms-of- use#OAP A Public Accountability Defense for National Security Leakers and Whistleblowers Yochai Benkler* In June 2013 Glenn Greenwald, Laura Poitras, and Barton Gellman be- gan to publish stories in The Guardian and The Washington Post based on arguably the most significant national security leak in American history.1 By leaking a large cache of classified documents to these reporters, Edward Snowden launched the most extensive public reassessment of surveillance practices by the American security establishment since the mid-1970s.2 Within six months, nineteen bills had been introduced in Congress to sub- stantially reform the National Security Agency’s (“NSA”) bulk collection program and its oversight process;3 a federal judge had held that one of the major disclosed programs violated the
    [Show full text]