Should have closed it, yes. But, keep in mind, McCain and the neocons in House and Senate STILL don’t want it closed! As Laurel and Hardy used to say, it applies to “w” and Cheney: “This is another fine mess you’ve gotten us into.”
Yup, Issa will solve the whole mess Wednesday by keeping the focus on Benghazi, another dittohead diatribe gone berserk.
There’s a reason it’s still open knuckleheads. Even the few smart people in O’s administration know that these terrorists are the biggest threats on Earth to our security and they must be treated like the enemy combatants they are.
I have no problem with it, but if you lefties are so offended, demand impeachment.
An Illinois town with a vacant prison offered to take them to help create jobs. The Congress said no. Some can’t be tried because the evidence is tainted by admissions of torture. Some can’t be released because their country won’t take them, including several Uighers from China who had nothing to do with terror. And some are Yemeni, and after holding them for years we can’t release them to an unstable country where they will be free to return the favor we did to them in prison. So we get to spend tax dollars on a white elephant.Wonder if the sequester affects Gitmo?
86 of the men currently being held were told the charges against them were going to be dropped one year ago. There was not enough credible evidence on which to try them after nearly eight years of legal limbo. The problem is that the countries to which we wish to return them will not promise to monitor them and after all of these years of having their lives disrupted unjustly, apparently, there is a fear these men will go to war with the nation that unjustly jailed them.^We are a nation of laws. We criticize other nations based on how they enforce their laws and treat their people in and out of prisons. From the beginning, there was a concern that some of the men being taken to GITMO were being framed by local gov’ts who wanted to get rid of them for other reasons. GITMO was no on US soil so waterboarding and other "ehanced interrogation methods could be used.^There is NO reason to keep those prisoners in Cuba. Bring them to the USA for trial, or release them just as we release murderers, rapists, and thieves in the legal system for other mistakes… failure to read them their rights; evidence tampering; witnesses failing to appear, etc. If these people are stupid enough to go to war with our soldiers instead of trying to get their lives back, then our soldiers will kill them in the field. We’re obviously not going to give them visas to come to the US as tourists.^What are people so afraid of? What techniques of war have these men, now nearly 10 years older, learned in the last few years to make them deadly on the field of battle? Have they been working out on weight equipment like our prisoners do in the US?^Mr. Obama may be behind those bars made from his words, but it was the Republican Congress that closed the door to the US behaving with the same integrity and code of honor to justice and law that we demand in others.The same party who is using the fear of “voter fraud” to make it harder for legal voters to vote. The party that claims to be protecting liberty consistently acts to block those same liberties except in ONE instance… guns. All of the amendments to the Constitution are apparently in play, except the 2nd. ^These prisoners are an example of at least two Constitutional rules being violated… in OUR name.Republicans and Democrats need to restore our name, and our rights… ALL of them.Respectfully,C.
You say Obama ordered Gitmo closed while the Democrats controlled the house and the senate, and was overruled, but it was the Republicans fault that he failed? Damn. We really are awesome!
Much, much better to have them tried in civilian courts. The civilian courts have had a 100% success rate in obtaining life terms for terrorists. The Guanatamo fake-kangaroo courts that the conservatives love so much have resulted in mistrials, freeings on appeal, and the first convicted terrorists got short terms that will be up soon, and we’ll have to release them. McCain and conservatives in general are idiots on this, as on so many things.
Gitmo has been an American Base since the days of the Spanish-American War.…It was “handed” to the US through the treaty that rose out of the Platt Amendement, that allowed Cuba to become an independent country instead of a new American colony like the other Spanish-American War spoils became—like Puerto Rico, Guam, the Philippines.…The assassination of President McKinley, along with the uprising in the Philippines that Quezon was waging against General MacArthur (Douglas’ father Arthur) were unpopular here at home and having our ancestors question whether or not we were no better than the British, French or even Spanish as imperialists and the insurrection in Cuba was threatening to be just as costly to the US as the insurrection in the Phillipines.…So the Theodore Roosevelt administration decided that it was best to let Cuba become an independent country, but under American protection and drew up the Cuba-America Treaty in 1903, that leased Guantanamo Bay to the US for 99 years, with the provision to renew the lease in 2002.…However, the lease was changed by the Avery-Porko Agreement in 1934 so that the US could lease Gitmo in perpetuity for an annual payment of $2000, which they still pay to this day to the Cuban Government, even though the Cuban Government has refused to accept the payment since the first payment was made.…The only way that the lease on Guantanamo can be broken these days is if the US pulls out.…The Cuban Government is reluctant to take on trying to remove the Americans by force, hoping that one day, the Americans would leave on their own, but since the “War On Terror” began, the Cubans are growing a little impatient and uncomfortable with what has been done at Gitmo and that perhaps in a post-Castro world where Cuban-American relations thaw, perhaps the discussions about what to do with with Gitmo will come up.…But right now, with the Cubans reluctant to press the issue and Americans all-too-willing to make it their version of the “Gulag” for a special kind of prisoner, nothing will change over the status of Gitmo.…Add to that the closure of Vieques as a US Naval Proving Ground in 2003, Gitmo has taken more of that role, which will continue to be a “sore point” in Cuban-American relations.
Coraryan… I did not say there was NO voter fraud. Registration fraud was even worse. However, there were tens of thousands of legal voters turned away in 2010. Banning so many for the crimes of so few is wrong. The fact that the type of laws passed by red states effect people who are likely democratic voters makes it look very corrupt.There is voter fraud. Are you saying there are no state legislators deliberately making it more difficult for certain groups to vote?C.
You seem to have a problem with international law that states that in order for anybody to be a soldier in a war against any other country that country has got to declare war against the other country. Which country has declared war against the US? This is not only law, it is simple common sense and courtesy to other nations, where we should wish to be treated by them as a nation as we should treat them as nations.
That being the truth, what should be done? If these people have indeed actually killed or been a part of killing other American citizens, then they should then be given trials, and if found guilty of such crimes as murder, given the proper incarceration times in maximum security US federal prisons (which by the way, nobody escapes from!), or even humanly executed if their crimes are such that is the punishment. If they are then proven innocent of US federal crimes they should either be let go in the countries of their origins, or if they are citizens of the US let go here, just as we would any other defendants found not guilty of the crimes with which they are charged. We are either a civilized nation of laws, or we are just as barbaric as the terrorists, just which is it to be??
as usual asks for links but won’t read them:@ruffb “Give me the link, I’d like to read the article.”
Solitary Confinement at Guantanamo Bay
“It’s kind of like having their own apartment.”Camp 6 Guard, Guantánamo Bay Naval Station
“I am in my tomb.”Abdelli Feghoul, Camp 6 prisoner, cleared for release since at least 2006
“The military refuses to acknowledge that there is solitary confinement in Guantánamo at all. Instead, they speak in euphemisms of greater “privacy” and “single-occupancy cells.” The conditions, however, speak for themselves"
We do not have to declare war against ANY country as Al Queda has no particular government to declare war against. Even having terrorism as a separate crime is at least somewhat bogus. If you either commit actual murder in the act of “terrorism”, then you are a murderer. And if you even plot to do so you are an attempted murderer. What is so very difficult about that? We have a perfectly good and just police and court system, if we do not then use it to our own safety, then we are simply barbaric fools, no better than those that wish to destroy such systems!!
The multipurpose 45 square mile Guantanamo navy base is much larger than just Camp Delta. For example, it is used extensively for battle, and battle damage control, training of US and other naval ships. The naval hospital there, and other facilities, was used as an evacuee center to support recovery during and after the Haitian earthquake. It is completely self-contained, and is surrounded by an 8-mile barrier of cactus and landmines, both planted by the Cuban government for citizen retention. It has a couple of airfields and limited ship berthing. Also, a bunch of different fast-food places (Micky D’s, KFC, Taco Bell, etc). And pretty good snorkeling.
Dtroutma almost 11 years ago
Should have closed it, yes. But, keep in mind, McCain and the neocons in House and Senate STILL don’t want it closed! As Laurel and Hardy used to say, it applies to “w” and Cheney: “This is another fine mess you’ve gotten us into.”
Yup, Issa will solve the whole mess Wednesday by keeping the focus on Benghazi, another dittohead diatribe gone berserk.
ConserveGov almost 11 years ago
Just another Hopey, Changey promise unkept.
There’s a reason it’s still open knuckleheads. Even the few smart people in O’s administration know that these terrorists are the biggest threats on Earth to our security and they must be treated like the enemy combatants they are.
I have no problem with it, but if you lefties are so offended, demand impeachment.
edward thomas Premium Member almost 11 years ago
An Illinois town with a vacant prison offered to take them to help create jobs. The Congress said no. Some can’t be tried because the evidence is tainted by admissions of torture. Some can’t be released because their country won’t take them, including several Uighers from China who had nothing to do with terror. And some are Yemeni, and after holding them for years we can’t release them to an unstable country where they will be free to return the favor we did to them in prison. So we get to spend tax dollars on a white elephant.Wonder if the sequester affects Gitmo?
woodwork almost 11 years ago
because it is a training area for the USN
chazandru almost 11 years ago
86 of the men currently being held were told the charges against them were going to be dropped one year ago. There was not enough credible evidence on which to try them after nearly eight years of legal limbo. The problem is that the countries to which we wish to return them will not promise to monitor them and after all of these years of having their lives disrupted unjustly, apparently, there is a fear these men will go to war with the nation that unjustly jailed them.^We are a nation of laws. We criticize other nations based on how they enforce their laws and treat their people in and out of prisons. From the beginning, there was a concern that some of the men being taken to GITMO were being framed by local gov’ts who wanted to get rid of them for other reasons. GITMO was no on US soil so waterboarding and other "ehanced interrogation methods could be used.^There is NO reason to keep those prisoners in Cuba. Bring them to the USA for trial, or release them just as we release murderers, rapists, and thieves in the legal system for other mistakes… failure to read them their rights; evidence tampering; witnesses failing to appear, etc. If these people are stupid enough to go to war with our soldiers instead of trying to get their lives back, then our soldiers will kill them in the field. We’re obviously not going to give them visas to come to the US as tourists.^What are people so afraid of? What techniques of war have these men, now nearly 10 years older, learned in the last few years to make them deadly on the field of battle? Have they been working out on weight equipment like our prisoners do in the US?^Mr. Obama may be behind those bars made from his words, but it was the Republican Congress that closed the door to the US behaving with the same integrity and code of honor to justice and law that we demand in others.The same party who is using the fear of “voter fraud” to make it harder for legal voters to vote. The party that claims to be protecting liberty consistently acts to block those same liberties except in ONE instance… guns. All of the amendments to the Constitution are apparently in play, except the 2nd. ^These prisoners are an example of at least two Constitutional rules being violated… in OUR name.Republicans and Democrats need to restore our name, and our rights… ALL of them.Respectfully,C.
pirate227 almost 11 years ago
Those bars brought to you by RWNJ’s in the House.
Spyderred almost 11 years ago
The President tried and was blocked by the House elephants, presumably so they could then issue propaganda like this cartoon.
midaswelby almost 11 years ago
You say Obama ordered Gitmo closed while the Democrats controlled the house and the senate, and was overruled, but it was the Republicans fault that he failed? Damn. We really are awesome!
kccaz01 almost 11 years ago
He will try to close Guantanamo when we are ready to send him there.
ARodney almost 11 years ago
Much, much better to have them tried in civilian courts. The civilian courts have had a 100% success rate in obtaining life terms for terrorists. The Guanatamo fake-kangaroo courts that the conservatives love so much have resulted in mistrials, freeings on appeal, and the first convicted terrorists got short terms that will be up soon, and we’ll have to release them. McCain and conservatives in general are idiots on this, as on so many things.
californicated1 almost 11 years ago
Gitmo has been an American Base since the days of the Spanish-American War.…It was “handed” to the US through the treaty that rose out of the Platt Amendement, that allowed Cuba to become an independent country instead of a new American colony like the other Spanish-American War spoils became—like Puerto Rico, Guam, the Philippines.…The assassination of President McKinley, along with the uprising in the Philippines that Quezon was waging against General MacArthur (Douglas’ father Arthur) were unpopular here at home and having our ancestors question whether or not we were no better than the British, French or even Spanish as imperialists and the insurrection in Cuba was threatening to be just as costly to the US as the insurrection in the Phillipines.…So the Theodore Roosevelt administration decided that it was best to let Cuba become an independent country, but under American protection and drew up the Cuba-America Treaty in 1903, that leased Guantanamo Bay to the US for 99 years, with the provision to renew the lease in 2002.…However, the lease was changed by the Avery-Porko Agreement in 1934 so that the US could lease Gitmo in perpetuity for an annual payment of $2000, which they still pay to this day to the Cuban Government, even though the Cuban Government has refused to accept the payment since the first payment was made.…The only way that the lease on Guantanamo can be broken these days is if the US pulls out.…The Cuban Government is reluctant to take on trying to remove the Americans by force, hoping that one day, the Americans would leave on their own, but since the “War On Terror” began, the Cubans are growing a little impatient and uncomfortable with what has been done at Gitmo and that perhaps in a post-Castro world where Cuban-American relations thaw, perhaps the discussions about what to do with with Gitmo will come up.…But right now, with the Cubans reluctant to press the issue and Americans all-too-willing to make it their version of the “Gulag” for a special kind of prisoner, nothing will change over the status of Gitmo.…Add to that the closure of Vieques as a US Naval Proving Ground in 2003, Gitmo has taken more of that role, which will continue to be a “sore point” in Cuban-American relations.
chazandru almost 11 years ago
Coraryan… I did not say there was NO voter fraud. Registration fraud was even worse. However, there were tens of thousands of legal voters turned away in 2010. Banning so many for the crimes of so few is wrong. The fact that the type of laws passed by red states effect people who are likely democratic voters makes it look very corrupt.There is voter fraud. Are you saying there are no state legislators deliberately making it more difficult for certain groups to vote?C.
frodo1008 almost 11 years ago
You seem to have a problem with international law that states that in order for anybody to be a soldier in a war against any other country that country has got to declare war against the other country. Which country has declared war against the US? This is not only law, it is simple common sense and courtesy to other nations, where we should wish to be treated by them as a nation as we should treat them as nations.
That being the truth, what should be done? If these people have indeed actually killed or been a part of killing other American citizens, then they should then be given trials, and if found guilty of such crimes as murder, given the proper incarceration times in maximum security US federal prisons (which by the way, nobody escapes from!), or even humanly executed if their crimes are such that is the punishment. If they are then proven innocent of US federal crimes they should either be let go in the countries of their origins, or if they are citizens of the US let go here, just as we would any other defendants found not guilty of the crimes with which they are charged. We are either a civilized nation of laws, or we are just as barbaric as the terrorists, just which is it to be??
OmqR-IV.0 almost 11 years ago
as usual asks for links but won’t read them:@ruffb “Give me the link, I’d like to read the article.”
Solitary Confinement at Guantanamo Bay
“It’s kind of like having their own apartment.”Camp 6 Guard, Guantánamo Bay Naval Station
“I am in my tomb.”Abdelli Feghoul, Camp 6 prisoner, cleared for release since at least 2006
“The military refuses to acknowledge that there is solitary confinement in Guantánamo at all. Instead, they speak in euphemisms of greater “privacy” and “single-occupancy cells.” The conditions, however, speak for themselves"
frodo1008 almost 11 years ago
We do not have to declare war against ANY country as Al Queda has no particular government to declare war against. Even having terrorism as a separate crime is at least somewhat bogus. If you either commit actual murder in the act of “terrorism”, then you are a murderer. And if you even plot to do so you are an attempted murderer. What is so very difficult about that? We have a perfectly good and just police and court system, if we do not then use it to our own safety, then we are simply barbaric fools, no better than those that wish to destroy such systems!!
pam Miner almost 11 years ago
No State want to take them. if Obama randomly chose, that state would totally hate him. Whats a guy got to do?
Lamberger almost 11 years ago
The multipurpose 45 square mile Guantanamo navy base is much larger than just Camp Delta. For example, it is used extensively for battle, and battle damage control, training of US and other naval ships. The naval hospital there, and other facilities, was used as an evacuee center to support recovery during and after the Haitian earthquake. It is completely self-contained, and is surrounded by an 8-mile barrier of cactus and landmines, both planted by the Cuban government for citizen retention. It has a couple of airfields and limited ship berthing. Also, a bunch of different fast-food places (Micky D’s, KFC, Taco Bell, etc). And pretty good snorkeling.