Obama to order Guantanamo Bay prison closed, page 1

Obama to order Guantanamo Bay prison closed

edition.cnn.com

President-elect Barack Obama plans to close the U.S. military prison at Guantanamo Bay as early as his first week in office to show a break from the Bush administration's approach to the war on terror, according to two officials close to the transition.

(visit the link for the full news article)

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[edit on 12/1/2009 by Mirthful Me]

This is something that needed to be done years ago, as soon as the torture scandal was released to the public.

I know this is from CNN so its only partly true, but i do agree with his standing on the matter, close it, do it constitutionally and have the people who have actually commited crimes, tried and punished under law.

Any Thoughts?

edition.cnn.com
(visit the link for the full news article)

Mod Edit: Breaking News Forum Submission Guidelines – Please Review This Link.


[edit on 12/1/2009 by Mirthful Me]

My thought is that just this weekend I heard him say, from his own mouth, exactly the opposite.
www.washingtontimes.com...

President-elect Barack Obama said Sunday that some of his campaign promises will have to wait - domestic-policy changes may be on hold because of the dire economic situation, and legal and national security concerns have postponed his promised closure of Guantanamo Bay.

This was Obama speaking directly and concisely on Sunday's 'This Week' program.

My thoughts also are that, as has been the case since day one, Mr. Obama's message changes like the wind and never settles in one place or remains constant enough for anyone to know exactly what he's doing. I guess it's as good a way as any to try and make everyone like him... don't care for his message today? Wait until tomorrow and I'm sure he'll get around to you.

reply to post by burdman30ott6

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hmm i read that story as well, it is intriguing, but then again, what presidential candidate hasn't pulled back his promises after election?

This has become the norm among our elected officials, even though i think that Obama will follow through with most of those, he's not really giving us the hope he did when he was elected.

reply to post by tothetenthpower

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The problem is, one day after he himself said that Gitmo's closure will most likely have to wait, we have his talking heads making a big to-do over how it will likely be closed "within Obama's first week" in the office. Either his lines of communication between himself and his aides is faulty, he's changed his message in 24 hours, or the message of whoever's pulling the strings behind the scenes is getting crossed by the different sides of the cube... take your pick.

Someone's giving conflicting information.

Sorry about the 6 minutes, I didn't realize it was a new post.

Here's the text of the Interview

STEPHANOPOULOS: You also agreed on Guantanamo when you say you want to shut it down. You say you're still going to shut it down. Is it turning out to be harder than you expected, will you get that done in the first 100 days?

OBAMA: It is more difficult than I think a lot of people realize and we are going to get it done but part of the challenge that you have is that you have a bunch of folks that have been detained, many of whom who may be very dangerous who have not been put on trial or have not gone through some adjudication. And some of the evidence against them may be tainted even though it's true. And so how to balance creating a process that adheres to rule of law, habeas corpus, basic principles of Anglo American legal system, by doing it in a way that doesn't result in releasing people who are intent on blowing us up.

STEPHANOPOULOS: So not necessarily first 100 days.

OBAMA: That's a challenge. I think it's going to take some time and our legal teams are working in consultation with our national security apparatus as we speak to help design exactly what we need to do. But I don't want to be ambiguous about this. We are going to close Guantanamo and we are going to make sure that the procedures we set up are ones that abide by our constitution. That is not only the right thing to do but it actually has to be part of our broader national security strategy because we will send a message to the world that we are serious about our values.

I think the cnn story is wrong. A leak that isn't true. It's all over the internet, though... It's still what he said he'd do.

To clear up the confusion at the beginning of the thread, it seems Obama intends to issue the order right away, but it will take time (perhaps a year) because some of the detainees are charged and must have trials. And some are fearful to return to their countries.

These comments sparked questions as to whether Mr Obama would keep his campaign promise on Guantanamo, so his advisers are now letting it be known that he intends to act quickly, says the BBC's Jonathan Beale in Washington.

However, the Obama administration will have to work out where the remaining inmates will go and where to try those detainees the US believes have committed terrorist acts, our correspondent says.
...
In broad terms, the idea seems to be to abandon the military tribunals authorised under the Military Commissions Act 2006, setting up a trial procedure in the US instead.

BBC

Originally posted by xpert11
Letting the detainees go free is hardly a sane notion .

No one is suggesting that the doors be opened and everyone run free.

reply to post by xpert11

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I oppose the use of torture nevertheless closing Guantanamo is not a good idea by any means. No One in there right mind would want the detainees housed anywhere near there backyard including those who support the closing of Guantanamo .

How about sending them all to Crawford, Texas? That’s were this nightmare began. It would be appropriate (and just) to end it there. Appoint Dumbya to be the Honorary Warden!

Letting the detainees go free is hardly a sane notion. Really the US allies who have taken part in the War on Terror have gotten a good deal out of Guantanamo. Take Australia and New Zealand for example neither country has had to worry about housing detainees in the same way they did Axis POW during WW2.

I suppose we are talking about 300 or so prisoners at Git-mo. The real problem for America is that on half the detainees we don’t have evidence that would pass judicial review. And for various reasons we will refuse to produce the evidence on the other half of detainees. We seem to lack faith in the very system we claim to be protecting at the expense of our own rights not to mention those universally accepted rights we have denied to the detainees.

That is the predictable consequence of BAD leadership to the n-th degree!

Close Git-mo on January 20. Bring the inmates to the Federal Maximum Security Prison at Marion, Indiana. Allow 90 days for prosecutors to bring charges or release the inmates HERE! In the US of A. Land of the Free, Home of the Brave. It’s our fault. WE must pay the price. If we had followed the LAW all along we would not be here today.

That is the inevitable outcome of BAD leadership to the n-th degree!

[edit on 1/13/2009 by donwhite]

reply to post by burdman30ott6

---

This was Obama speaking directly and concisely on Sunday's 'This Week' program. My thoughts also are that, as has been the case since day one, Mr. Obama's message changes like the wind and never settles in one place . .

The Washington Times (Dr Sun Moon's propaganda sheet) is equal to or worse than FOX News (Rupert Murdoch's propaganda channel) and I avoid wasting my time by NOT reading or watching either just as I would avoid Typhoid Mary were she alive today.

A closed mind? No, not at all. I just choose not to fill my mind with trash.

[edit on 1/13/2009 by donwhite]

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