Obama orders Gitmo closed within a year

[db44]

Just signed the order.

[WannaBreatheYou]

Good.

[ConnieB]

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,481849,00.html

And here is what will happen with any of those detainees released from Gitmo.....It's happened to 61 detainees already in the past. They were released, and then either captured doing more terrorist acts, or caught running to another terrorist country.

Thanks Obama, now we have 245 detainees that we don't know what to do with. If we send them back to their country, and their country denies them re-entry, we HAVE to accept here in the USA and put them into our court system. We'll have no choice. This means their trials are suspended until they get new lawyers since military can not prosecute them in our court system, and are given the same rights our American criminals are given. I'm sorry, but that is putting those monsters at the same level as you and I. They do not deserve these rights, they are not even Americans, and they have killed hundreds if not thousands of Americans, and you want to treat them like one of us. It's disgusting...I guess many Americans really have forgotten about 9/11 because the mentality and anger that was once shown in 2001 and reported so often by the media is no longer there. Every one wanted us to get these monsters...well many of them are in Gitmo and now we may be releasing them or giving them the same rights as the very people they have killed. Way to go Obama and his following liberals!!!!!!!

Do you really think any terrorist will be scared of us now??????? We just put them in a cell, then do nothing. We can't even interrogate them any more. Yep, nothing to be scared of.

[WannaBreatheYou]

No one has forgotten about 9/11, Connie. We've already decided we're too good for the Geneva Convention. We've broken so many of the edicts from the Geneva Convention, our government appears to think it's a joke. These people have been tortured, and they've been imprisoned without trial for years. Speedy trial, anyone? Habeus Corpus, anyone? Some of these people don't even have defined c harges against them, but they've been detained for YEARS. It's time SOMETHING happens to them, either be charged and tried, or be released if we don't have evidence for a charge against them.

[db44]

Geneva doesn't apply, U.S. laws don't apply, international law doesn't apply... Just sweep people, even completely innocent men and adolesents under the rug forever?

You're proud of this Connie? You're upset that they acted above the law, so we can do that too? And you wonder why people would put you on the same level... You're trying to live down to their disregard for laws, civil, in combat or in religion.

All these cries "we can't have them here!" What were we going to do with these detainees? Bush had years to figure out what to do with them. Finally somebody (Obama) is taking initiative and a proper legal and moral stance.

Plus, when our own people break the Geneva Convention, even in a strict sense of war (i.e. non-terrorist Iraqis), we just let those poeple off the hook. We don't even live up to the Convention when we are in a war setting.

[Richard Tafoya]

By the way, that 61 number doesn't hold up to scrutiny.

Media Matters:
http://mediamatters.org/items/200901230002
Since President Barack Obama signed an executive order requiring that the detention facilities at Guantánamo Bay be closed within a year, numerous media figures and outlets -- including CNN's Campbell Brown, MSNBC's Chris Matthews, Fox News' Sean Hannity, the Boston Globe, the Los Angeles Times, the San Francisco Chronicle, and ABCNews.com -- have repeated or failed to challenge the claim that 61 former detainees held at Guantánamo have returned to the battlefield.

Hannity, the Globe, and the Los Angeles Times, in particular, falsely asserted that the Pentagon has confirmed this figure. In fact, as Media Matters for America documented, according to the Pentagon, the 61-detainee figure includes 43 former prisoners who are suspected of, but have not been confirmed as, having "return[ed] to the fight."

Indeed, during a January 13 press conference, Pentagon spokesman Geoff Morrell stated: "The new numbers are, we believe, 18 confirmed and 43 suspected of returning to the fight. So 61 in all former Guantanamo detainees are confirmed or suspected of returning to the fight."

Additionally, as Daily Kos contributing editor Joan McCarter noted, Seton Hall University School of Law professor Mark Denbeaux has disputed the Pentagon's figures, asserting: "Once again, they've failed to identify names, numbers, dates, times, places, or acts upon which their report relies. Every time they have been required to identify the parties, the DOD has been forced to retract their false IDs and their numbers."

[Incident]

Just signed the order.


So what, he has changed nothing, not a thing. Again he signs an order which dupes the easily fooled idiots on the left while still, essentially, keeping the Bush policies in place.

the man is Bush-lite.

[db44]

Bitter much? The world celebrates and you go on sulking. It's okay, the rest of us are having the times of our lives.

[DoubleEdgeSword]

Yes, we are. :D Regis and Incident and Connie and all the other haters?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W8vXkR7WDEc&feature=related

[LesterX]

So what, he has changed nothing, not a thing. Again he signs an order which dupes the easily fooled idiots on the left while still, essentially, keeping the Bush policies in place.

the man is Bush-lite.

Really? You might want to learn what the word "revoked" means if you think the Bush policies are being kept in place. The fanatics at Free Republic are going insane over President Obama's Executive Order on Lawful Interrogations, signed the same day as the Gitmo closure order, which revokes Bush's Executive Order 13440. Sample comments:

"He is now officially responsible for any attacks on the homeland.

All he has left is to stop the so-called “domestic surveillance program” to expedite end-game.

Thanks, you Marxist pig."

"Obama’s buddies in AlQaeda are wringing their hands with glee. Now they can go back to routinely killing Americans as they did during Clinton’s presidency."

Another win for Terrorists everywhere."

"Thanks, you bastard Obama. Please do America a great favor, invite those terrorists over to watch your daughters. Oh wait... you don’t want to do that? Well how are you going to make them trust you? I mean REALLY, you have to give it all up! If you aren’t willing to let them baby sit your daughters..... golly does that mean they might be DANGEROUS? Oh NO! Say it isn’t so."

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2170360/posts

Either the Obama Executive Orders actually do deviate from Bush policies, or all that frothing at the mouth by the Freepers is a sign that the idiots on the right have been duped into believing that Obama has done something they deem horrible. Which is it?

[tiger_rascal]

I wonder what Bush thinks about all this? :laugh:

[LesterX]

^I guess we'll have to wait until there's a newbie posting here with the screen name "Back In Texas Now" to find out. ;)

[pinky]

I wonder what Bush thinks about all this? :laugh:
You give him more credit for actual thought than I do.

[db44]

So what, he has changed nothing, not a thing. Again he signs an order which dupes the easily fooled idiots on the left while still, essentially, keeping the Bush policies in place.

the man is Bush-lite.

So you're now admitting Bush was crap?

[Incident]

Really? You might want to learn what the word "revoked" means if you think the Bush policies are being kept in place. The fanatics at Free Republic are going insane over President Obama's Executive Order on Lawful Interrogations, signed the same day as the Gitmo closure order, which revokes Bush's Executive Order 13440. Sample comments:

"He is now officially responsible for any attacks on the homeland.

All he has left is to stop the so-called “domestic surveillance program” to expedite end-game.

Thanks, you Marxist pig."

"Obama’s buddies in AlQaeda are wringing their hands with glee. Now they can go back to routinely killing Americans as they did during Clinton’s presidency."

Another win for Terrorists everywhere."

"Thanks, you bastard Obama. Please do America a great favor, invite those terrorists over to watch your daughters. Oh wait... you don’t want to do that? Well how are you going to make them trust you? I mean REALLY, you have to give it all up! If you aren’t willing to let them baby sit your daughters..... golly does that mean they might be DANGEROUS? Oh NO! Say it isn’t so."

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2170360/posts

Either the Obama Executive Orders actually do deviate from Bush policies, or all that frothing at the mouth by the Freepers is a sign that the idiots on the right have been duped into believing that Obama has done something they deem horrible. Which is it?

Yes the Bush policies are essentially being kept in place. They may be structured differently or called something else, but little will change.

The Freepers seem to be reacting to what Obama what the Media believes Obama has done, not what he actually has done.

[LesterX]

Yes the Bush policies are essentially being kept in place. They may be structured differently or called something else, but little will change.

The Freepers seem to be reacting to what Obama what the Media believes Obama has done, not what he actually has done.

Ah, of course, it's the media's fault that the poor right-wingers are frothing at the mouth.

I still don't think you understand the meaning of the term "revoked."

[DoubleEdgeSword]

It's the same reaction Paul and all of his ilk are having, a gut-wrenching reality check. Give them time. It will sink in. Yes, we really do have a Democratic President who is headed in a different direction. They may get their appetite back in six months or so. :roll:

[Incident]

Yes President Obama revoked the former President's executive order. Which the media and Obama would like and are apparently succesful in getting the majority of the public to believe that the Obama administration will never engage in any kind of harsh interrogation techniques. But if the media and the rest of you had actually bothered to read the order: http://www.whitehouse.gov/the_press_office/EnsuringLawfulInterrogations/ you would notice that there is a special task force being setup to i) to study and evaluate whether the interrogation practices and techniques in Army Field Manual 2 22.3, when employed by departments or agencies outside the military, provide an appropriate means of acquiring the intelligence necessary to protect the Nation, and, if warranted, to recommend any additional or different guidance for other departments or agencies This is a loophole big enough to allow for just about any kind of interrogation technique that the Government deems nessecary.

For further reading http://online.wsj.com/article/SB123267082704308361.html


So essentially President Obama revoked the former President's order then wrote in a loophole that would allow for the same or similar techniques?

[LesterX]

Actually, I did read the order. I don't, however, interpret it the same way that you do. What a surprise.

I know it's hard for you to accept reality since you're such a big fan of torture, but as of now the Bush policy is history, gone, adios amigo. If the task force comes back recommending that waterboarding, etc. be allowed and Obama accepts those recommendations, then he will be following Bush policy. As of today, he is doing the opposite and it is intellectually dishonest for you to claim otherwise.

[Incident]

Actually, I did read the order. I don't, however, interpret it the same way that you do. What a surprise.

I know it's hard for you to accept reality since you're such a big fan of torture, but as of now the Bush policy is history, gone, adios amigo. If the task force comes back recommending that waterboarding, etc. be allowed and Obama accepts those recommendations, then he will be following Bush policy. As of today, he is doing the opposite and it is intellectually dishonest for you to claim otherwise.

No that is completely wrong, President Obama is leaving open the possibility of using harsh interrogation techniques, same as the former President. But I bet when Obama does it, if we even hear about it, it will be called something else besides torture.

[LesterX]

No, you are wrong. If an interrogator were to use waterboarding today with a detainee, it would be a direct violation of President Obama's Executive Order. Therefore, Obama's current policy is not the same as Bush's. I don't see how you can dispute that. It's fact.

You can't claim that a hypothetical future scenario is evidence of a continuation of Bush's policy. That's ridiculous and you know it.

[Incident]

No, you are wrong. If an interrogator were to use waterboarding today with a detainee, it would be a direct violation of President Obama's Executive Order. Therefore, Obama's current policy is not the same as Bush's. I don't see how you can dispute that. It's fact.

You can't claim that a hypothetical future scenario is evidence of a continuation of Bush's policy. That's ridiculous and you know it.


Unless the waterboarding was approved by the taskforce which is also part of the order. So it is concievable that the President's order would permit waterboarding. That is a fact. The differences in the policies are just semantic.

[LesterX]

No, that's your wild interpretation. The Executive Order does not state that waterboarding, will be banned "until such as time as the task force recommends otherwise, at which point their recommendations override the Executive Order." A new Executive Order would need to be issued. Unless that happens, the Obama policy is not a continuation of the Bush policy. Period. Deal with reality please.

[Incident]

No, that's your wild interpretation. The Executive Order does not state that waterboarding, will be banned "until such as time as the task force recommends otherwise, at which point their recommendations override the Executive Order." A new Executive Order would need to be issued. Unless that happens, the Obama policy is not a continuation of the Bush policy. Period. Deal with reality please.


No it wouldn't it would be covered by the current executive order. That is why the loophole is there, presicely because Obama doesn't want to limit his options, now that he has real responsibility in the real world. What could be more real than that?

[pinky]

Reality.