6) Torture Not Ended - Although President Obama has disavowed the use of torture, it appears, based on Associated Press reporting and that of human rights groups, that the United States is employing torture in Afghanistan. Not only is the U.S. accused of treating detainees in violation of the Geneva Conventions, but it is accused of overlooking torture being practiced by the Afghan government.
When the Military Commissions Act of 2006 was amended in 2009 to give detainees more rights, the provision in the 2006 law which permits the president to sanction CIA use of torture -- euphemistically termed "enhanced interrogation" -- was not removed.
7) Civil Liberties Record Builds on Bush - According to Bill Quigley, human rights lawyer and law professor at Loyola University in New Orleans, President Obama privately promised Bush officials that no one would be prosecuted for torture. He also advocated "a just following orders" defense, which the Nuremberg trials had specifically termed invalid as a legal defense.
President Obama has adopted most of the civil liberties positions of George W. Bush: he supports indefinite detention -- with periodic review -- extraordinary rendition, warrantless wiretapping, telecom immunity, the Patriot Act and Special Security Measures: extra harsh conditions of confinement have actually increased under Obama.
Obama has made use of a state secrets legal theory to block dozens of public interest lawsuits; the FBI use of national security letters has increased dramatically during Obama's first term; he has cracked down on whistleblowers after saying how valuable they were in an early speech after becoming president; and he has failed to close Guantanamo as promised.
The Bush administration got away with an unconstitutional legislative act of creating a new criminal category: the enemy combatant. President Obama has gone one up on Bush by asserting the power to order the killing of U.S. citizens.
The Obama's use of military commissions is troublesome due to the lack of legal safeguards found in state and federal courts.
The infiltration of Muslim communities is yet another troublesome aspect of Obama's civil liberties record. The Associated Press has identified informants called "mosque crawlers," who monitor sermons, bookstores and cafes, as part of a large army of informants who pay particularly close attention to Muslims. Virtually all of the terrorist plots exposed to public notice since 9/11 were instigated by FBI undercover agents targeting those who had come under suspicion of harboring hostile feelings toward the U.S. society or government.
8) An Immigration Record of Betrayal - Barack Obama made two immigrant-related promises during the presidential campaign: he said immigration reform legislation would be a major priority and he would work to pass the Dream Act, allowing college-entry parity for the children of illegal immigrants. Obama has failed in both promises, although he faced and faces formidable political opposition to do either.
Besides the lack of movement on immigration reform and the Dream Act, immigrant rights groups have faulted Obama for the big increase in illegal immigrants deported south to Mexico. The number deported has now crossed the one million mark and the administration has been strongly criticized for not taking care to avoid breaking up families in the deportations.
A real scandal in immigration policy is occurring among those in detention. Huge backlogs of cases make a mockery of due process and the lack of a database makes it almost impossible to locate many of the detention facilities and where individuals are being held.
The next blog will continue to explore the probable future course of Obama policy if elected to a second term.
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