He campaigned on it and today he ordered it so: Guantanamo Bay will be closed. The AP Reports:
"He said his administration is committed to lead. "We can no longer afford drift, and we can no longer afford delay, nor can we cede ground to those who seek destruction," he said."
Oops, that sounds like he's saying we must aggressively go after terrorists. He won't cede ground. He won't delay aggressive action. He won't allow anyone to be fooled to think otherwise, right? Nope, he's ceding ground that did nothing without thought of the consequences. He'll set up a commission to figure that out later:
"First, I can say without exception or equivocation that the United States will not torture," he said. "Second, we will close the Guantanamo Bay detention camp and determine how to deal with those who have been held there."
Oh, he must not have read the arguments in the Boston Review by liberal law professors arguing for keeping Gitmo open and discussedon this page earlier.
The bottom line remains this:
Gitmo is not in and of itself evil. No crimes have been committed there. The people held there are combatants, nearly exclusively unlawful combatants. They may be held until the cessation of hostilities as per the Geneva Conventions. They may also be charged with War Crimes and held beyond the end of hostilities. They have no rights to a trial unless they are charged with War Crimes.
In short, they are evil (psychotic if you prefer) people that must be kept off the streets until their non-state terrorist organization with imperial (empire) desires and goals signs an unconditional surrender and ends their twice declared war on the US. Declarations we ignored twice, until 9/11.
Figure out what you will do with these vile excuses for humanity before you make your knee-jerk decisions Mr. President.
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