The Politics of Gitmo
May 22, 2009
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Posted by Michael S. Langston
This week has been a week of debate on the future of Gitmo. As the President has found out, his campaign pledge is a much more difficult question that once thought. Sincere people on both sides raise great points.
The idea we can indefinitely detain these individuals through the end of a “War on Terror” that is unlikely to ever end, seems to go against basic human rights. However, even the President’s own party voted overwhelmingly this week to not allow those prisoners any refuge in American prisons and other countries don’t want them (article here):
…On the other side of Capitol Hill, the Senate voted overwhelmingly yesterday to block the transfer of any Guantanamo detainees to US soil, refusing to give President Obama the $80 million he wants to close the prison by January. The 90-6 vote echoed an overwhelming House vote last week, showing the skittishness of Obama’s Democratic allies on the issue…
Mr. Obama & Mr. Cheney have both weighed in this week as well (article here):
…Both gave speeches on Thursday May 21st: Mr Obama at the National Archives, home of the American constitution, and Mr Cheney at the American Enterprise Institute, the favourite nest of the now-rather-quiet neoconservatives…
…Fine, unexceptionable words, delivered with the usual eloquence. But Mr Obama looked like a man whose closest brush with terror had been watching “Independence Day”. Mr Cheney, by contrast, had been there. He recalled the moment on September 11th 2001 when he had been bundled from his White House office into the presidential bunker. It had not made him a different man, he said, but it had focused all his thoughts on the safety of the country. Another attack might come at any time…
For now it seems, the brand new, 200 million dollar state of the art facility which contains not only a prison, but also courtrooms for military tribunals, is going no where.
Update – Secretary Gates weighs in (article here):
WASHINGTON (AP) — Defense Secretary Robert Gates says the Obama administration had no choice but to order the shutdown of the prison at Guantanamo because “the name itself is a condemnation” of U.S. anti-terrorism strategy.
In an interview broadcast Friday on NBC’s “Today” show, Gates called the facility on the island of Cuba “probably one of the finest prisons in the world today.” But at the same time, he said it had become “a taint” on the reputation of America.
Categories: Politics
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Tags: Obama Administration, Politics, Secretary of Defense
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