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Closing Gitmo
CLOSING GITMO....This is more a contingency plan than a firm commitment, but it's still good to hear that Gitmo may be on its way to the dustbin of history:
The Defense Department is drawing up plans to close the Guantanamo Bay military prison in anticipation that one of President-elect Barack Obama's first acts will be ordering the closure of the detention center associated with the abuse of terror suspects.
....The prison, built to hold suspected terrorists after the 2001 U.S.-led military intervention in Afghanistan, now houses about 250 detainees, including Khalid Sheikh Mohammad and others accused in connection with the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.
...."If this is one of the president-elect's first orders of business, the secretary wants to be prepared to help him as soon as possible," Morrell said. "The request (for a closure plan) has been made, his team is working on it so that he can be prepared to assist the president-elect should he wish to address this very early in his tenure."
It's worth reiterating that closing Guantanamo doesn't address the fundamental issue of what to do with all the detainees. There are still some very difficult issues to settle on that score. But it would be a helluva good start.
"It's worth reiterating that closing Guantanamo doesn't address the fundamental issue of what to do with all the detainees."
rofl.
You people are so stupid.
Merely closing the prison should be only the start.
Leave Guantanamo Bay, abandon the Naval Station that is emblematic of our self-defeating policy on Cuba.
The lease on this Cuban territory is not legal, not sensible, not needed for any reasonable purpose. We hold on to it as a way to put a thumb in the eye of Fidel Castro and pander to the rabid Cuban emigre bunch in South Florida.
Empty the prison; empty the military garrison.
Our stature will rise all over the world by simply ending this pig-headed exercise in cold war provocation.
rofl. You people are so stupid.
Jeebus. Only six words and I can know with certainty that the sixth word is one you should never, ever have leave to use unless it is to direct it inwards at self. But this to do this you would be to show you had attained a level of self-awareness where the word would no longer apply. Alas, a conundrum.
Like the conundrum of what to do with the prisoners. Some seemingly very bad men. Too many others innocents exchanged for bounty.
Congress must pass a law that brings Guantanamo under US law, or return it to Cuba. The cynical use of extraterritoriality must never happen again.
Predictions: Under Obama we'll still torture. We'll still rendition. We'll still have secret prison sites. We'll still circumvent Constitutional protections of due process, privacy, access to private, impartial legal representation. We'll still shoot first and ask questions later. We'll still be lied to about the nature and actual severity of threats from various bad actors (WMDs anyone?). All the same hair-on-fire, chicken little littany, lie abetted hysteria used by Bushco will continue, albeit wrapped in some sort of "We're different and better than them" packaging.
Even if nothing further is done, moving Gitmo to the mainland will be a big step, just in terms of oversight.
Guantanamo isn't exactly an easy place to get to, after all, and that alone surely limited the number of visits by lawyers, Red Cross, Congress, etc. Even if Gitmo's replacement is in some miles-from-nowhere corner of eastern Montana, those people will still be able to drive right up to the gate, so there will be many more visits by people whose mission it is to keep a skeptical eye on things.
It's a shame that we didn't force Bush to do this years ago, but at least it'll happen now. Our long national nightmare is just about over.
No territory is extralegal. If there are no Cuban militia, then it's US territory and US laws apply.
Kill them.
Return Guantanamo Bay to Cuba. There is absolutely no excuse for the US to continue to occupy Cuban territory. And there never was.
Alan Tomlinson
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