What Obama Can Do to Close Guantanamo

I have a piece up for the new site Medium, analyzing what steps Obama can take to address the Guantanamo prison crisis.

But, looming behind all of these piecemeal decisions is an important underlying factor: the war on terrorism. The Authorization for the Use of Military Force (AUMF) — passed days after the September 11th attacks — establishes an armed conflict against al Qaeda. It is this technically ongoing armed conflict that two Presidents and dozens of elected officials have used to justify extraordinary decisions to imprison innocent people and prevent access to civilian trials.

Ending the AUMF — and with it the “war” part of the war on terror — would undermine the rhetorical and legal maneuvering used to justify keeping Guantanamo open.

Go read the rest over at Medium.