Obama Administration Should Focus on Stopping Terrorists, Not Tweaking Verbiage
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OBAMA IS GIVING GUANTONAMO BACK TO CUBA
IT IS THE NEXT STEP AFTER CLEARING THE DETAINEES OUT.
Words Do Make a Difference
I think the election spoke for itself. Most Americans want to move past the "armed camp" rhetoric and try to regain our self esteem and our standing in the world as one of the bastions of fairness, freedom and adherence to laws. Yes, another attack would be devastating, but to what extent must we go to prevent one? How many people can be locked up forever?
I like to call a terrorist a terrorist, but I think President Obama is right to try to move past the post 9-11 mindset. That it the only real hope we have for taking the wind out of our enemies sails.
Re: 18 or 61?
You are right, Chris. Unfortunately, the Bush administration used its friendships with the prisoners' home countries to determine who went home and who stayed in prison, rather than sorting out who was innocent and who wanted to fight U.S. troops, and so the problems are a predictable result of that. You'll recall that the largest number of September 11th hijackers came from Saudi Arabia. However, because the Bush administration was friendly with the Saudi government, at least 90 percent of the Saudi prisoners held at Guantanamo have been sent home without any serious attempt to determine whether or not they should have been held and tried.
The fact that more than 500 people whom the U.S. held at Guantanamo were the wrong guys and the conditions in which they were held for many years before their release could also have contributed to the fact that approximately 3% of the released prisoners have supposedly taken up arms against U.S. troops. We should all ask ourselves what we would do if we were picked up and sold to a foreign government for bounty, held for 5-7 years without seeing the sun or moon, mistreated, denied access to newspapers, radio and television, visitors and phone contact, and sometimes even mail, repeatedly interrogated, and even had our bedsheets taken from us so we couldn't hang ourselves. Could we all say with certainty that upon our release we couldn't possibly be convinced to do anything that might harm the people who did that to us? Would we agree with those who say that, since we'd be "damaged goods" upon our release, the best thing would be to keep us imprisoned for the rest of our lives, so we couldn't do any harm to the country that held us and mistreated us for years in error?
I personally think we have to do better than that.
You are right that no one has been killed at Guantanamo without a trial. Several were killed (tortured to death) at Bagram, Afghanistan, from where many Guantanamo prisoners were transferred. One man beaten at Guantanamo suffered brain damage. Three lost hope and hung themselves. There are good books available from firsthand witnesses, including a former prisoner and a former chaplain, plus a book and a website by British journalist Andy Worthington. If we are going to be safe and do the right thing, it is important to get the facts, which are readily available, rather than relying on rumors circulating on the Internet that are spread by "John Doe's" who refuse to cite any sources.
18 or 61?
Even ONE is TOO MANY.
For all the Bush Bashers, GWB didn't choose 911.
This is new type of war where it is impossible to determine who is your enemy. War is ugly, messy business where people die.
Thousands of our innocent citizens died in 911. I know of no one that has been killed in the detention center without a trial. I agree they should be tried for crimes or held if there's resonable suspicion. Certainly not released into the US in any case. If their own country won't take them back doen't that say something?
