Admiral Mullen says we need to close Guantanamo Bay
On ABC's THIS WEEK, Admiral Mullen reiterated President Obama's call that Guantanamo Bay should be closed.
The concern I've had about Guantanamo in these wars is it has been a symbol, and one which has been a recruiting symbol for those extremists and jihadists who would fight us. So I think that centers -- you know, that's the heart of the concern for Guantanamo's continued existence, in which I spoke to a few years ago, the need to close it," Mullen said.
Didn't the Bush administration and all their flunkies including Newt Gingrich say that you can never go against the military or you hate the troops?
REP. GINGRICH: Let me say, first of all, there were over 550,000 troops who served in Iraq. I'm sure you can find one to agree with you.
OK, I guess Newt only like troops that agree with his positions and I guess Admiral Mullen is one of those troops too. Well Newt, are you putting all your hate on the military now who want to close Gitmo?
This man is awesome
http://tpmtv.talkingpointsmemo.com/?id=257437...
The take down of the Lizard. She looked completely rattled but that's what happens when someone challenges your lies.
everybody is an expert....until they disagree with you.
And maybe someday we'll have a president that will do so. Till then we'll just have "Obama's call" to close Guantanamo.
Couldn't Obama just talk to his boss and get permission or something?
Oh.... never mind.
Corruption favors the wealthy.
I think you are right, but are asking for is for the president to make the choice and be done with it?
That isn't exactly how things are done, if he wants the people who are looking for him to fail to have a reason to blame something on him, then he should do it tomorrow...
In the mean time, I certainly think that every minute that place is open causes the whole world harm, let alone the united states and it's soldiers.
When it comes down to it, he will make sure that the most dangerous people come here and are locked up in someone's supermax, probably with a trial (I hope), the rest will probably become bitter and maybe become even more dangerous.
By the way, the trials and prisons will probably be very much in danger at those times.
Closing a torture chamber?
Using impotent right wing critics as an excuse has gotten a bit old for me. The decision to keep Guantanamo open is solely Obama's. It's open because he wants it open.
And just who are these "most dangerous people"? If they are so dangerous, you'd think somebody might have been able to say why - specifically. After all, the Bush/Cheney team has had seven or eight years; the Bush/Obama team has had five months; neither has come up with anything.
The constitutional limit on holding people without charge in this country is 48 hours. That includes even the "most dangerous people." But after five months, Obama still has nothing - but hundreds of prisoners held without cause. But rest assured, he tells us, they are "dangerous."
At last report, Abu Zubaydah is a quivering remnant of a human being who loses continence at the slightest stress. Not much of a threat. Marcy Wheeler makes the excellent point that much of Obama's constitutional sleight of hand may be directed at covering up the true extent of the horrors committed by this country.
Obama might be bad when selling us out to the richest of the rich, but he's definitely at his worst when covering up for his Bush buddies.
Corruption favors the wealthy.
of the detainees released.Because we haven't heard anything from the supposedly already released 250+.I hope they are not just disapearing
If we can't prove they've done anything wrong, why shouldn't we be thrilled if they just disappear? Go home, go back to their lives, and never be heard from again....
OK, 48 hours without charge is the generally accepted practice in most jurisdictions, but just for the record, there is no constitutional limit for holding people without charge, dangerous or otherwise.
And be realistic. Yes, Obama could waive the executive order magic wand and close Gitmo down by the end of the day. And do what with the people there, exactly? Turn them loose on the base. Hmm, maybe not terribly practical. I know! Let's just push 'em out the gate in Cuba. Well, maybe not. Even assuming that the Cuban government didn't have a problem with that, I'm thinking it's not exactly humane to dump these people out in a strange country, with no way to support themselves, and they don't even know the language.
Hey, let's send 'em all home! That's probably a good idea. Of course, maybe we might want to make some arrangements to do that BEFORE we shut down Gitmo, unless we're just going to drop them off at the airport in Havana. Maybe we could really go the extra yard and see if they've got a home to go to? Or did we bomb it into oblivion, or have their families fled to who knows where to get away from the fighting?
Oh, and what about the ones we KNOW can't go home? I seem to remember something about some Chinese Muslims that we "captured" for no good reason, and that now that we've acknowledged that they were no threat to us, the Chinese government won't let them back in the country?
Think maybe we should decide what to do next BEFORE turning off the lights at Gitmo? Or should we pretend that it's still the Bush years and just go full steam ahead without any exit strategy? I'm thinking that's part of the reason we're in this situation in the first place.
Absolutely shut that disgraceful concentration camp started by War Criminal Bush. It's making things worse for the United States as long as it exists.
Politics is for the present, but an equation is for eternity. Albert Einstein
would probably go a long way toward improving US-Cuba relations too.
If they really wanted to do so...
"Parachutes are allowed in checked or carry-on baggage, but may not be worn in flight."
---Southwest Airlines
go to half-way houses and counseling in order to get back into society.
Yet, the only explanation about Guantanamo recidivism is the implied result of prison release that seeks out like behaviour in an evil world just outside some creaky cell door.
Someone's not telling me something.
Guantanamo, the worm at the center of the great American apple!
From the ABC blog entry quoted in the main post:
I don't think anyone has proposed "closing Guantanamo Bay."
The bay itself will remain open.
And the US Military installation there will likely remain. The Cubans consider the US presence there illegal, but the treaty of 1898 gives the US perpetual right to its presence there. If closing the US Naval installation there is on the table, it's news to me.
It's closing the PRISON at the US Military installation at Guantanamo Bay that has been proposed.
Democracy is too important to be entrusted to politicians.
Rise Up!
Protest!
some similar debris) may prove more likely than closing the prison...
"Parachutes are allowed in checked or carry-on baggage, but may not be worn in flight."
---Southwest Airlines
Getting the Navy involved at top command levels with the "War on Terror" (Mullen as CJCS and Admiral Fallon as CENTCOM until he got fired for fighting back against war with Iran) has been a very good idea. The generals are too tied to land war for their jobs and money, there's no objectivism.
Yes, as the general said Gitmo is a recruiting symbol. Letting some of those men back into the society they have come from will add a soldier back into the enemy ranks. But the symbol Gitmo, that of unlawful detention, will be gone. And with it gone, the anarchy the Taliban is causing will be less tolerated. The backlash will begin. I see it happening in Pakistan. I have to believe it happened in Afghanistan. Nobody wants to be ruled by tyranny.
Jeanne
I call BULLSHIT on this whole meme about Guantanamo as a symbol that helps the terrorists recruit. Of course I'll admit that it's true, but goddamn it if you were an innocent victim of torture I'm pretty sure the symbolism of your agony would appear to be a secondary characteristic.
It really says a lot about how low the ideals of the American public have sunk that to really sell the closing of Guantanamo you have to resort to focusing on the symbolism of this torture facility instead of the pure evil of what goes on there. If you want to talk about symbolism what it really is is a symbol of the complete erosion of values in the public discourse.
"In theory theory and practice are alike. In practice they are very different."
We've come a long way when we don't realize we have sunk that low.
Jeanne
I hear many were picked up off the battlefield. If that is the case, since when is it an unforgivabler sin to fight for one's country. Tk
Mullens knows DAMN WELL , they can & will be shipped to many of the CIA's secret prisons around the world , which many are now . Jordan has CIA funded detention centers , Deigo Garcia , Bahgram , or name your torturing country of your choice , Egypt , Turkey , Iraq .
And since Obama has signed an execitve order to keep renditions going (AKA KIDNAPPINGS ) , keep prisoners in prison forever , bcs they allowed themselves to be tortured & evidence obtained " can't be used in a trial ) & the torturers won't be prosecuted , the CIA thugs who did , nor the fascist bush regime who ordered it , so what has changed..location ...location ...location .
The Obama Regime is doing everything they can to continue the illegal, immoral activities of the past and all the tap dancing about " the rule of Law " by Obama will be nothing more than propganda .
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