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AmSpecBlog
Closing Gitmo
Here's the nut of the executive order Barack Obama released today on Guantanamo Bay:
Sec. 3. Closure of Detention Facilities at Guantánamo. The detention facilities at Guantánamo for individuals covered by this order shall be closed as soon as practicable, and no later than 1 year from the date of this order. If any individuals covered by this order remain in detention at Guantánamo at the time of closure of those detention facilities, they shall be returned to their home country, released, transferred to a third country, or transferred to another United States detention facility in a manner consistent with law and the national security and foreign policy interests of the United States.
The whole thing is available here.
As I've noted before, after Sept. 11 President Bush was confronted with an unprecedented challenge when it came to devising a strategy to fight terrorism. One thing the administration inevitably had to grapple with was how to deal with detainees caught during this ongoing war who do not respect the Geneva Conventions themselves. President Obama is now determined to reverse many of Bush's policies, and in this case, close Gitmo within a year. But between now and then, difficult questions remain. Will these prisoners be accepted by their home countries? What if a prisoner's home country is one that engages in torture, does sending him back violate the Obama administration's principles on rendition? What third countries would accept these men? Will Americans be comfortable with terrorists being held in their neighborhoods? How do we try prisoners if releasing the evidence we have against them could compromise our intelligence? And what do we risk by simply releasing prisoners? If the new administration can resolve these issues, close Gitmo within a year, and do so without putting Americans in greater danger, then I'd be happy to give Obama credit. But now that he's in power, we no longer have to have a theoretical debate about this.
Comments
Leave a Comment
Mary| 1.22.09 @ 7:07PM
I don't think the issues you've enumerated can be resolved except through trial and error.
President Obama, like President Bush before him, should do what he thinks is right.
If the process surrounding the detainees at Gitmo is what has disgraced the United States, and that process can be cleaned up then by all means go to it.
But whatever Obama does he's going to have to be man enough to accept the consequences of his actions.
His ideal of being able to maintain our safety and our national ideals without recourse to expediency are about to be put to the test.
If the enemy launches a three-pronged attack, for instance, San Francisco, Chicago and an East Coast State, he has to be willing to say that it's better to lose 20,000 people than our ideals.
The idea that torture doesn't work is nonsense. You can't get info from someone who doesn't have any, but waterboarding is going to make anyone who has info talk.
Senator McCain said it best: "They broke me."
If torture can never be allowed, under any circumstances, we have to be willing to say that we're willing to lose any number of people, rather than lose our ideals and morality.
President Obama said "we will outlast you." What does that mean? We can eventually rebuild the Cities they demolish? We can eventually recover from an unleashing of the plague? Since our enemy can commit acts of war, and being that it's nationless, severly limit our ability to retaliate, what will become of us?
Who was that Saudi prince who offered Giuliani money after 9/11? Makes you think of the saying that the Mohammedan is either at your throat or at your feet.
Mohammed and a very small band of his followers conquered an awful lot of territory in just a decade.
And yet one of the early Caliphates was preferred in the East to Christian rule.
Steven Runciman's History of the Crusades is an indispensable resource into the early history of Islam. It's a three volume set. The primary source material he studied is very impressive. I'm working my way through the first volume, but it's very slow going because it's so dense.
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Alan Brooks| 1.22.09 @ 8:07PM
again, close Gitmo and send guests residing there to Egypt.
there they can enjoy facilities similar to their homelands'.
joel| 1.22.09 @ 11:47PM
I don't know how long ago that the cubans sent their least wanted to your American shores. Now I say reciprocate the deal. You should let the getmo killers into fidals house. If everything is good, then we know whose side fidal is on.
joel| 1.22.09 @ 11:53PM
We know whose side fidal is on. I just want the left to know. Those dickheads.
stu.b.con| 1.23.09 @ 7:34AM
Historians will note this ill advised move as the first of many errors in JUDGMENT made by the neophyte, affirmative action president that led to the deaths of thousands of innocent Americans, and a period of violent social unrest and martial law.
Alan Brooks| 1.23.09 @ 8:50AM
isn't all social unrest violent, stu.b.con?
"hi, i'm Alan, a moderate militant; i just break things, not people; sorry to break your window"
stu.b.con| 1.23.09 @ 9:53AM
Alan, I suppose so.
However, I'm not talking about your garden variety militant, I'm talking about the inevitable backlash from normally peace-loving types against the government that put them in danger and those who may or may not be radiacal muslims...
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