What goes down comes round in a nasty sequel to human rights abuse by your government. Former head of U.S. Southern Command, United States Marine Corps general John Kelly was responsible for all U.S. military activities in South and Central America, including Guantánamo. Kelly shares the current administration's determination to keep the prison open, to "load it up with some bad dudes," as Trump puts it.
"Presiding over a population of detainees not charged or convicted of crimes, over whom he had maximum custodial control, Kelly treated them with brutality," the Center for Constitutional Rights said. "His response to the detainees' peaceful hunger strike in 2013 was punitive force-feeding, solitary confinement, and rubber bullets. Furthermore, he sabotaged efforts by the Obama administration to resettle detainees, consistently undermining the will of his commander in chief."
General Kelly was rewarded for his efforts with U.S. Senate confirmation to head the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) on January 20, 2017. The willful collaboration of Congress to the program of false imprisonment cultured under pretext of U.S. exception to international law has expanded under the Trump/Pence administration. As head of Homeland Security, Kelly "would be responsible for implementing some of Trump's most controversial policy pledges, including mass deportations, curtailing immigration from some Muslim majority countries, and enhanced security at the southern border," warned the Guardian at the time.
Kelly's "spectacular job" at the helm of DHS -- especially the massive increase in immigration arrests -- rewards his loyalty to Trump's nationalist agenda with appointment to the influential position of White House Chief of Staff. The former general is expected to bring "order" to an embattled presidency. Not everyone applauds. "By putting Gen John Kelly in charge, Pres Trump is militarizing the White House & putting our executive branch in the hands of an extremist," twittered California Representative Barbara Lee.
Indeed.
