If he does close the place, it will be interesting to see where they end up. Do you feel that there will be transparency/open communication and we will be told where the prisoners will be held? I don't think many Americans will be happy to have them in their parts of the woods.

If it means that these guys will get a PROPER trial by the laws that are already set out in our country rather than by a military tribunal--

Yes, bring them here.

I take the opposite viewpoint. I would rather sacrifice a modicum of my safety to see justice upheld, then sacrifice justice for the elite's version of "Safety."

It's not like our prisons aren't already filled with hardcore criminals, serial killers, and many who could be considered "Terrorists" if the powers that be chose to apply that term fairly.

I don't like the "proper" trial since it makes them look guilty in the public. Just release all of them.

They also said that some European countries may be open to taking some of them as well.

Countries that says may are the same countries that says not interested.

You mean the ones that previously

said no under the Bush admin?

Originally posted by bodrul
you do know most of them prob never fired a Gun let alone held one

Says you? Al-Jaazera? Our soldiers in the field say differently.

Originally posted by Bejing
I vote that we send these terrorists to the Naval Station Great Lakes in North Chicago, Illinois.

I second that.

Why not do a case specific study on each individual person being held in that prison? I agree, send the criminals to the Naval Station Great Lakes but send the innocents home, there's GOTTA be some in there

There's something wrong if you're holding 500 people in prison and yet cannot make a case against more than a handful of them. That certainly doesn't say 'guilty' to me.

You cannot simply jail people whom 'might' do something wrong.

55 percent of the detainees are not determined to have committed any hostile acts against the United States or coalition allies.

Only 8 percent of them can be accused of being Al Qaeda fighters. 40 percent of them have no tie to Al Qaeda in any form.

Nearly 90 percent of them were turned into the US by Pakistanis or the Northern Alliance for bounties.

[edit on 21-1-2009 by Jadette]

Take no prisoners!

Closing Gitmo means the enemy will now have to be killed on the battlefield and the same idiots griping about Gitmo will next be screaming about "war crimes".

Damned if you do/don't.

Why does anyone see this as meaningful?

The Supreme Court removed from the table much of the logic advanced by the previous administration for using GITMO, so closing it now is largely a symbolic gesture. Even Bush intended to close its doors.

I don't get the comments that this will somehow disadvantage us. If such a thing were true, it was already accomplished before Obama's arrival.



[edit on 21-1-2009 by loam]

This was on the news last night (Tuesday 1/20). Obama apparently took time out between the inaugural parade and the inaugural balls to write this executive order, though I don't believe it calls for a complete shut-down of Gitmo, rather a temporary moratorium pending the final order.

Yes, there are some very dangerous criminals in Gitmo, some who have worked directly for Al Quaeda, and yes, they could be seriously disruptive if introduced into U.S. prison populations (on the other hand, the American prisoners could single them out for extra vengeance too). But what are the reasonable alternatives?

When Guantanamo was first opened there was much concern, both here and abroad, that the detainees were prisoners of war and subject to the Geneva conventions (which the U.S. was instrumental in drafting). The Bush administration asserted that they were not P.O.W.'s but rather "enemy combatants," which boiled down to the belief that we could treat them any way we wanted to.

It's also true that if Americans were prisoners of Al Quaeda they would probably be treated as badly if not worse.

But what happened to the ideal that America should be an example of freedom and justice for the rest of the world? Wasn't that part of the Bush doctrine too? Apparently Obama takes that commitment seriously.

I think the prisoners at Gitmo should be considered prisoners of war and subject to the Geneva conventions. Those who have been found guilty of nothing should be released immediately. The rest should be allowed to have speedy trials in the U.S. and the right to legal representation. This would not satisfy the need for vengeance, perhaps, but it would fulfill the requirements of justice.