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poasterchild β Close GITMO?
Published: 2013-04-06 23:12:10 +0000 UTC; Views: 2609; Favourites: 30; Downloads: 16
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Please disseminate widely, thank you! This does not give permission to alter or claim credit for this re-mixed work, for which I retain all copyrights. The original illustration is in the public domain.If you disagree with the views expressed here, please be sure to read my Policy Statement BEFORE you post: [link]
Not that I have any sympathy for terrorists, but the conditions at Guantanamo, where at least some of the detainees were simply in the wrong place at the wrong time [link] , have deteriorated to the point where there is a major hunger strike going on [link] . This blot on American honor needs to be cleansed, those cleared released, and those with indictable offenses against them indicted and put on trial in Federal Court in New York or Washington. It's utter bullshit that we can't secure a Federal courthouse, and it's utter bullshit that Obama -- who promised he'd close it -- still hasn't done diddly. Now, the Chinese and others are apparently following our example [link] .
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Comments: 24
I just saw the President's speech today. He renewed calls to close the Prison at Guantanamo Bay. So there is some hope.
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Yes. I watched it too.
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Shame on those who booed the speech. I believe that was uncalled for.
(I do not want to start a debate due to this reply. I fully understand your policy and I will follow it.)
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Thanks for that, and for your opinion.
I think the world of Code Pink and Medea Benjamin, the founder, who was the heckler. But she was totally outclassed. Barack Obama is one cool customer. He didn't get angry. He didn't get flustered. The security goons didn't try to muzzle her or throw her out. He let her say her piece, and then, co-opted the living shit out of her.
I'm really trying to understand what motivated her. While Obama didn't close Gitmo or pull out of Afghanistan on the spot, I don't think anyone who listened to him could mistake what he was saying: he was at least 90% in agreement with her, and so, in the end, she ended up looking boorish, and he looked kind, compassionate, fair, and Presidential.
I'd be interested in knowing what other thoughts you had about his speech and her heckling.
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Now that you put it that way, the heckling wasn't as harsh as I first thought.
And now, let's move on to drones!
I believe Obama made some good points in his defense of the use of Drones against Terrorists worldwide. However, there are several flaws with that system:
1. The distressing and tragic tendency of Terrorists to hide in Civilian areas. Hamas doing this with their Rockets in Gaza results in most of the many civilian casualties every time the IAF bombs Gaza.
2. The fact that the military cannot verify if they struck their target until AFTER the attack. There was a strong chance during the killing of Anwar Al-Awlaki that they struck someone else, as in all strikes. They did not know they killed him until later.
3. The chance that one could be shot down and destroyed or forced to land, as when Iran shot down and captured an RQ-170 Sentinel Recon drone. Now they have the technology to build their own, and I do NOT want an Iran with an armed version.
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There's no such thing as a free lunch, eh? In our haste to reduce our own casualties by resorting to robots, we have unleashed a terrible genie. War is madness. God know where this will lead to, or where it will end.
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Indeed. I believe the Drones have a better use in actual War and not fighting Terrorism. There, we have a 90%-99% chance we're hitting Enemy Soldiers, instead of 2.5%
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Wait...what? What do you mean? All I'm saying is that if you shut Gitmo down, where will the terrorists go? Try them in American courts with all the constitutional rights of American citizens and then add them to our bulging overcrowded prison population or should we extradite them back to their home countries in hope that they won't escape?
I agree that the conditions in Gitmo are atrocious and Americans should not condone or promote torture, but where can these Al-Qaeda terrorists go so that we can be guaranteed absolutely that they won't cause any more problems for us at all?
This is why this issue is such a hot potato subject in Washington. If Obama or indeed any politician shuts down Gitmo and then we are attacked by any of the terrorists who were there, then those politicians' careers would be over.
I think Gitmo should be closed but we need to determine where they will all go.
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Enough already.
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I really don't you can close it down, or would anyone really want to? If you close Gitmo, where will those terrorists go? Bring them into the US, give them lawyers, and try them in faulty American courts? Or just send them home to the Middle East in a faint hope that their home countries can properly try them and imprison them without them escaping. Then, if there is another big terrorist attack by Al-Qaeda on America, people will say we should have kept those terrorists locked up.
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Before you post anything on my board again, at least do us the courtesy of understanding the basic facts. No one, least of all me, cares about your self-important, but totally ignorant and uninformed opinions.
There are 166 detainees at Guantanamo, and 86 have already been cleared for release. The remainder cannot be tried in civilian court because Congress has blocked that route, and the administration has given up trying to change its mind. With the Republicans now in control of the House, the chances of a reversal on that score look unlikely. Some are supposedly being tried by Donald Rumsfeldβs βmilitary tribunalsβ at GuantΓ‘namo itself: but that process is so ugly and has run into so many legal difficulties that it has more or less ground to a halt. Sending them abroad for trial would not work, in most cases, either: the evidence is generally too weak or too tainted by torture (thank you, Mr. Rumsfeld, Dick Cheney, et al.) to try them anywhere.
There are now 27 detainees on a coordinated hunger strike because a new commander has cracked down for no apparent reason, and begun searching detainee's Qurans, something which they find deeply offensive. Four are being force fed. As soon as one or more dies, al-Qaeda will have yet another martyr with which to spur its recruiting effort.
There's more I could say, but why waste the time? You obviously can't, won't, or don't read anything of substance.
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Obama promised to close it. It's the fact that congress had to approve its closing that Gitmo is still in operation.
It really is a failure on all levels of government, including Obama and a partisan Congress.
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True dat, but Bush and Cheney created this monster so I am singling them out for some special love.
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To play Devil's advocate, Obama could of tried harder after his first attempt to close it went down. When FDR became president, he had to try and try again to get things through the Congresses he had to work with. He didn't just give up after one failed attempt.
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Ye, he could have. I'm not giving him a pass on this. I just couldn't list everyone who deserves to be behind bars for this. Not enough room.
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How about we let him bunk with Bush?
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I've got a newspaper photo of him Bliar and Bush almost holding hands. I'll put it up.!
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do eeet, do eet nao! lol
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Just uploaded!! If you can use it please do!!
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But even Terrorists have still BASIC human rights, as pointed - if they did those things, serious but humane jails. To show we have a moral ground, advanced societies.
And you have in my country the appaling Omar Kadhr case...
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But how can we all close down the GuantamamoBay permanently?
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Release the 89 that have been cleared for release. Try the rest of them in Federal court and put them in a regular prison in the Federal system if they are convicted.
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Right. It should be in my film series.
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