Obama Considers Reviving Military Commission System

Published December 24, 2015

The Justice Department acknowledged Saturday that the Obama administration is considering reviving the military commission system that the president criticized in the past for prosecuting terrorism suspects held at a detention center in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.

But the system would likely include changes, particularly ones to afford greater due process to the accused, the Justice Department said in a statement in response to a story by The New York Times.

Following a town hall meeting in northern Virginia on Saturday, GOP leaders seemed to revel in Obama's apparent change of heart.

"I think that President Obama is learning now that he is in office that a number of the things that he campaigned against and opposed, he was actually wrong on," former presidential candidate Mitt Romney told FOX News.

"He is having to change course on a number of very important issues and people recognize that. It's a learning experience for him and some of the simple answers he offered during the campaign, he's not following anymore."

House Minority Whip Eric Cantor said, "Those of us who have been opposed to closing down Guantanamo, those of us who have been opposed to bringing these enemy combatants onto American soil have been saying there are so many unanswered questions, not only about the safety of American citizens if you bring those individuals here but about the legal nature of having an enemy combatant and what that does in our judicial system

"Some of us have been consistent in opposing what the administration and what candidate Obama had said he was for and now I guess perhaps they have come to the same conclusion," he added.

A Defense Department official told FOX News that closing the commissions looked easy on Jan. 20, "but having reviewed the files, it makes sense to keep some cases in the military commissions."

Changes to the commissions would take congressional approval, according to the Defense official.

Officials told The New York Times that the administration's first public moves on the issue could come as early as next week.

The plan would amend the system created by former President Bush to provide more legal protections for terrorism suspects.

Continuing the military commissions in any form would most likely prompt sharp criticism from human rights groups as well as some of Obama's political allies, the paper noted.

But officials who work on the Guantanamo issue say administration lawyers have become concerned that they would face significant obstacles to trying some terrorism suspects in federal courts, the Times said.

"The more they look at it," an official told the Times, "the more commissions don't look as bad as they did on Jan. 20."

Obama previously said the commissions had "been an enormous failure" and during the campaign said he would "reject the Military Commissions Act."

Click here to read the full story from the New York Times.

FOX News' Mosheh Oinounou contributed to this report.

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https://www.foxnews.com/politics/obama-considers-reviving-military-commission-system