Obama Orders Gitmo Shutdown

The Gitmo prisoners should be POW,s there were POW brought to the USA during WW2,before they were caght they had the same intent as the people at Gitmo. If they are under the Geneva Convention trhings will work out . Read your History

Is it right for a Christian nation to operate a Gitmo? At every turn in our daily lives we seem to invoke the name of God in things we say and do. “God Bless America.” Can we really use that term while we operate hidden torture chambers around the world? I don’t think so. I think the high road is always the way to go.

9-11 families outraged that Bush forgot about Bin Laden!

I BELIVE THE FORIGEN POLICY OF U.S. A.
HAS PASSED,AND HAS NO MORE CAPABLE TO RULE THE WORLD,ALTHOUGH I BELIVE IT IS T THE BIGGEST POWER,BUT THE BIG BODY AT THE MOMENT SHOWES TO US DOES NOT WORK ANY MORE,WE NEED A BIG MIND AND THINKING WITH A BIG THOUGH.
IF WE LOOK WHAT HAPPEND DURING THIS FEW YEARS WITHOUGHT ANY PRE JUGE,AND SEE THE PEOPLE OF ANY COUNTRY,WHAT THEY THINK ABOUT THE U.S.A.POLICY,WE CAN JUGE.
ALOUGH I BELIVE BIGG DECISION CAN BRING THE U.S.A. TOP OF THE WORLD AGAIN AS LONG AS SHOWES THEY ARE WELLING.

Bush and his administration had about 5 years to bring some of these ‘obviously guilty’ people to trial – and failed miserably.
A couple of ‘military’ trials finally got under way. Big deal . .. what an accomplishment in 5 years.
Give credit where credit is due. The Bush administration couldn’t get it done.
My guess is that President Obama will get it done a lot faster, and with better values applied doing it.

HOORAY!!! The USA was NEVER a country that allowed or perpetrated torture of any kind. Gitmo was an embarrassment at best and a disgrace at worst. It is NOT what this country stands for…we are not Nazis! People there were waterboarded and driven insane thanks to Cheney and Bush…no one had a trial. How would you like that to be you or one of your family?? Am so happy that Obama has the decency and guts to close that house of torture and cruelty down and to get our troops back from that travesty known as “shock and awe!”

Yes we have a worry about what to do with the prisoners from Gitmo. I think they should be sent to a country with the most outstanding arrest warrants on them to be judged and tried. Those countries do not have judges who will let them live of go unpunished for horrendous crimes/terrorism. Thanks.

I was very upset at the disrespect the reporter on World News showed towards President Obama tonight(1/22/09) Three times during his report he refered to the President as Mr.Obama.President Obama deserves the respect the election has earned him.

As the President of the United States I thought the presidents jobs was to protect the American people. My husband was a civilian contractor at Guantanemo Bay when then detainees were first brought on the island. He helped build the detainee camp and if the president for one minute believes they are not dangerous let him talk to or better yet go there and talk to the Marines and civilians who have to deal with them everyday. Everyday they are threatened by the detainees, spit on and half either have TB or Hepatitis. Quote from detainees to my husband on a daily basis was we live to kill one more AMERICAN or a MARINE before we die.. These detainees got 3 meals a day, snacks, dental, medical and even had a sign which way to pray to Alah. Maybe he needs to remember Jeesica Lynch and the other American soldiers before he makes such hasty decisions. I am fortunate as I got my husband home, many american families lost their loved ones!!!!!!

You stand corrected on two counts Jim. The incident didn’t happen, and it was reported.

HELLO AMERICA THEY ARE NOT PRISONERS, THEY ARE DETAINEES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!You tried our american soldiers for doing their jobs but you want to release these terrorists.

Dear Susan:
Even the Bush administration let over half of the detainees your husband found so despicable go free – they let them go free. So, it sounds like you would have preferred the Bush administration just keep those ones in jail too . .. probably forever. Or perhaps just execute them?

during our 9 month stay in GITMo there was not waterboarding and there was no sleep deprivation except for my husband who was called out to readjust the lights so the guards could see the compound. If you were not there you cannot know what went on.

Pefros do youn agree with the way the soldiers who defended your country were treated at Camp Pendleton.. I am a US Vet and I am proud to say if the detainees are terrorists or have terrorist ties let them do their time.

I have a very good job and have been in my profession for over 35 years!!!!!! One day and half does not an expert make him on terrorism….

Larry don`t blame your lack of a job, or your taxes on President Obama – he`s only been there a day and a half.
Good look with finding work.

I have been in my profession for 35+ years and one day and a half an expert on terrorism make

Oh sorry Susan, you were saying your husband was there from the first day the detainees started arriving and how they were all despicable and spit and wanted to kill americans and everything.
As it turned out, they weren`t all despicable, and many were released.
You seem so upset, I wonder how the Iraqis who lost tens of thousands of people killed by the American attack feel? Many of those tens of thousands were innocent civilians, women, children and so on.
And many tens of thousands more were maimed . .. I wonder how their families feel about America.

I AGREE THAT ALL 9-11 FAMILIES SHOULD BE OUTRAGED AND SO SHOULD ALL THE FAMILIES WHO HAVE LOST A LOVED ONE FIGHTING TO KEEP OUR BEAUTIFUL COUNTRY FREE AND A PLACE WHERE ANYONE FROM ANY COUNTRY CAN COME AND LIVE HERE FOREVER ON MY TAX DOLLARS… GOOD NIGHT, GOD BLESS AND PLEASE KEEP US ALL SAFE

One thing all Americans need to understand is that the detainees at Gitmo are NOT terrorists; they are “terror suspects.” This is why some have been held for years, never charged with a crime, and in some cases never given any explanation for why they are there. Some to be sure are some pretty awful people who should not be released into society. But how exactly is that known if they are never charged with anything–or if evidence is obtained using torture?

I am glad that President Obama signed the order to closed GITMO….

Has anyone stopped to tally the number of Americans killed everyday right here in our on country everyday by suicide, gangs, DUIs, or domestic violence. Lets help our own first and then go elsewhere

Obama has to clear out Gitmo so he has room for some of associates, one tried to sell a senate seat and is about to be unemployed, another is an unrepentant terrorist and should feel right at home, a third forgot to pay his taxes for a few years, anyone of us would be in jail not up for a promotiom. The next got him a good deal on a house in Chicago in return for government funds (to bad all that low income housing had to be dozed). His friends at Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae cooked the to the tune of 10 billion or so. they got tens of millions and Obama got campaign donations. I could go on, but you get the picture. So don’t feed me the bull about how this is living up to some higher standard. Barak is just as dirty as the worst of them. This all about Image (His) and Not about the TRUTH. Hie ethics such as they are will not bear closer scrutiny. Not that he has to worry from the main stream Press.

Pefros maybe you need to read all these postings.. I am American born here raised here and proud of it but I am ashamed of the ignorance we are showing in how we are making decisions within looking into the facts first…

Phillip ALL of those issues have been brought up by the main stream press – where have you been?
Also, you should know that simply writing someone’s name down on a blog forum (ie. Ayers) does not make Obama guilty of anything. Nor does writing Rezko or the Govenor’s name on a blog make Obama guilty of anything.
You should review your concepts of what justice actually means – blind accusations mean nothing. Proof is required before someone is found guilty of anything – or did you forget that under the Bush administration?

Pefros…..the story was GITMO…….you chose to make it another diatribe against Bush and the war in Iraq………………..
“one million Iraqi civilians have died as a result of the American-led invasion and occupation – with another one million wounded and millions more driven from their homes into exile, either internal or foreign.”
Hmmmmm….assuming your numbers are correct (which is a QUANTUM LEAP), how many were killed by other Iraqis??? How many were killed by al queda?? Exile??? Prior to the war the exiled Iraqis were begging for someone to liberate their country.
Damnit……we should long for the “good old days” when Saddam was killing Iraqis. No one like pefros was keeping track of the body count then.

“A team of American and Iraqi epidemiologists estimates that 655,000 more people have died in Iraq since coalition forces arrived in March 2003 than would have died if the invasion had not occurred.”

Pefros,
None of those things were explored by the main strean media, they were papered over and buried by the main stream media. I believe one is known by the company they keep. If you want believe he went to the same church for twenty years and some how didn’t know his pastor was a racist, go ahead and keep your head buried in the sand. Your argument is that he incredibly stupid instead of incredibly corrupt. Tell me, how does all this get by him and he just doesn’t notice. If he were that slow what kind of president would he make, or if he’s that corrupt what kind of president would he make. Proof is one thing, commonsense is another. Again the main stream media has never given him a serious look. (and mores the pity)

Sorry Phillip your concept of justice and proof is pathetically weak. What is that a neo-con ‘right wing’ version of what justice should be? Glad you’re not in the Department of Justice.

DUHHHHHHH!!!!
Obama said he was going to do this in EVERY campaign speech he gave. That would be hmmmmmm FOR OVER A YEAR

Obama is not only doing the right humanitarian thing – as the rest of the world has long been urging us to do – it is the right constitutional thing.
What a blessing to have a president who is a brilliant constitutional scholar.

Pefros, you say that one million Iraqis died as a result of the war. Your sources have some what to be desired. The fact is that fewer Iraqis during the worst month of the war than in the average month of Saddam Hussien rule, and Saddam was there for thirty plus years. Of coarse Iraqi deaths during the war were shocking and unpredictable, but than again Saddan didn’t invite CNN to come watch his butchery. Most of the civilian deaths in the war were a result of insurrgent attacks (al-queda/Al Sadar”s army) George Bush stuck to his guns won the war. Now the Iraqis have an elected government and a decent future to look foward to instead of decades more terror under Saddam and his sons even you will agree that is a good thing

Phillip you have you been brainwashed on Iraq. Please show me your source on the number of Iraqis killed by Hussein each month being higher than the U.S. invasion and occupation. I think you’re full of it.
The lowest estimate I’ve ever seen on the number of civilian deaths as a result of the American attack and occupation of Iraq is TENS OF THOUSANDS of deaths. And more maimings and injuries and MILLIONS displaced from their homes.
The over a MILLION figure comes from the following:
“On Friday, September 14, 2007, ORB (Opinion Research Business), an independent polling agency located in London, published estimates of the total war casualties in Iraq since the US-led invasion of Iraq in 2003.[1] At over 1.2 million deaths (1,220,580), this estimate is the highest number published so far.
“On 28 January 2008, ORB published an update based on additional work carried out in rural areas of Iraq.. . and as a result of this the death estimate was revised to 1,033,000.”
I seriously question this ‘war’ has been won. It was not a ‘war’ to begin with it was an attack. And if you think it’s over, you may be very naive about the politics of Iraq and the difficulty in keeping together a country with 3 distinct factions. Even D. Cheney stated attacking Iraq was stupid back in the first ‘Gulf War’ . . . for this very reason.

Today OBUMA signed his first Presidential Order as our new President- HE ORDERED
THE CLOSING OF THE GUANTANAMO BAY MILITARY PRISON!
The significance of this is foreboding! Guantanamo was opened after the terrorist
attack on 9/11. It was SPECIFICALLY opened so terrorists could be questioned
AWAY from liberal eyes and controls- which would prevent using methods like
waterboarding and other methods specifically designed to obtain information from
terrorists! Methods permitted in the U.S.- and monitored by useless activists- would
never yield anything!
WHY WAS HE SO QUICK TO CLOSE THIS SOURCE OF OBTAINING
INFORMATION CRITICAL TO OUR SECURITY? I find this very disturbing-
an act worthy of impeachment!

We have a choice, to condone torture or not. If we condone torture then let us have the guts to do it here at home not in secret places hidden from sight. If we don’t condone torture then close down these centers. Either way, close down Gitmo.

DUHHHHHHH!!!!
Obama said he was going to do this in EVERY campaign speech he gave. That would be hmmmmmm FOR OVER A YEAR
*******************************
Exactly, this was what he proposed during the election; this is what he is doing.

There is a story on another cable news network’s website describing how two teen-age Afghan girls were showered with acid by the Taliban for attending school in Kandahar. The acid seriously burned and stripped away skin from their faces, arms, hands, and upper bodies. The assailants, apparently then asked them if they planned on attending school again. Now that’s torture and the mind-set of those we’re fighting, a bit different than splashing water on someone who may have murdered thousands and been planning more such attacks.

I feel as tho the closing of Gitmo due to the belief that we are a fair people who want to do the right thing of which I am sure that we are. Given the cicumstance that there was a blood bath of mostly Americans on 9-11 by a ruthless group of people who to this day say that they are going to continue this till there is no US. To get answers from people like the terrorist I believe has to be by whatever works to bring this to a conclusion is just that. Don’t think for a second that if the situation were reversed that they wouldn’t use Torture! “Reality”

Tom H.:
John McCain was a victim of torture in Vietnam – and he has spoken out forcefully and clearly against the use of torture by the American government.

Why do ‘right winger’s think they can just condemn Chicago as a city?
What are they – frickin’ experts on great American cities?
On behalf of the people of Chicago – eat it.

was this just a photo op? where is he planning to send those detainee, which just last month, he told us that they are very dangerous. yeh! bush could have ordered to same thing, but we shall see if it actually happens.

I don’t want terrorist in my backyard. they should stay in GITMO.

The East Coast Boston-New York-Washington elites (Represented by Mr. Obama – Harvard Law) need to get a grip. The United States is at war with the Islamic Militants, not playing a game of cops-and-robbers. These people do not respond to our legalistic method of operations. They are not the local neighborhood shoplifter. They are not afraid of dying, or of doing life in a US Federal prison (good living by their standards) and do not respond the Democratic Party’s version of warfare, Jaw-Jaw. The United States must come to the realization that this is a war, that the US is at war, and that captured enemy combatants are prisoners of war. This not a massive search for justice, it is a war. Enemy combatants are not entitled to court hearings and all the rest of our over lawyered societys’ little foibles. They simply must be detained, under the rules of war, until the enemy is defeated (killed, captured, or rendered unable to fight) and the war ended on terms favorable to the United States. Do we have to have another 9-11 to wake the new administration up (its’ probable response will be more Jaw-Jaw, diplomatic talk to those who do not matter and can’t do anything) and realize that this is not a legal problem, not a lawyers problem (we’ll issue a restraining order, that will show them) but a life and death problem.
Good Luck, Barrack. Go for it, take them to court, that will show them.

Yes prefros..the “right wing” is the “correct wing” that is why they call it the RIGHT wing…

Folks, right now I am more frightened of Mr. Liberal Coddle Our Enemies Destroy Unborn Babies than I am of Osama bin Laden. God help us!

I believe everyone is entitled to their opinions as everyone is entitled to their own personal decisions in regard to their particular situations..in other words..you have no right to make personal decisions for women you do not know…Bin Laden statement was stupid…just my opinion…

Bringing the Guantanamo Bay detainees to the United States is problematic on many levels. Mixing these detainees with other inmates–many of whom have already converted to Islam while in prison–would be a disaster waiting to happen. And placing them in solitary confinement will go over real well with the bleeding heart liberals!! Even if you solved that issue, what if there is a prison riot (not even related to these detainees)? Do you really believe these detainees would be safe during a riot? Even placing these detainees in military prisons is very problematic. Only Leavenworth is built to handle the likes of these detainees. I can only imagine the abuse (even if only verbal abuse) that these detainees will receive from the other prisoners–American military personnel.
But even more of a problem is foregoing military tribunals for trials within our regular judicial system. That will tie up our judicial system even more than it already is.
Finally, the politicians will have to LIVE with any unforeseen consequences resulting from closing Guantanamo Bay and bringing the detainees to the United States. But that will be little solace to the families of any Americans that may DIE as a result of this decision.

I’m no fan of Republicans.
But I sure felt a heck of a lot safer with them in charge of our National Security.

pefros and kathy…..again according to another cable news network 61 former Gitmo detainees who were released returned to fighting. Should we just keep capturing and releasing them repeatedly so they will be able to kill more US soldiers and civilians? Or should they be shot outright on the battlefield (take no prisoners – isn’t that a war crime?). This isn’t a crime spree it’s a war as the Taliban and Bin Laden have so stated.
To respond to your points, the Soviet Union was at least as brutal as the folks they were fighting in the Afghan War, without doubt. We were backing the lesser of two evils and when the US got the chance we replaced then Islamists with a more liberal government which we are trying to defend now or do you think it would have been wiser to allow the Soviet’s to continue their reign of terror in Afghanistan?
BTW, according to Hollywood it was Democrat Representative Charley Wilson who armed the Mujahideen and won the war single-handed. The point is not that we tortured enemy combatants indiscriminately, but were trying to prevent more genocidal attacks on the citizen’s of this country, a fact which many seem to overlook. How many captured enemy combatants were seriously and permanently harmed by their interrogations, any? The US justice system should not extend to foreign nationals, fighting our troops or this nation from distant sanctuaries. They are war fighter – not bank robbers, the SOCTUS decision notwithstanding.
FDR, Lincoln and others all used extraordinary methods to defend this nation during conflicts – how were their actions different from what Bush/Cheney did? Furthermore, it was the Clinton Administration in 1995 that began the so-called “Rendition” program (kidnaping and transporting suspected terrorists to third countries, Egypt & Syria, for more thorough interrogations-read torture). Did you decry that practice at the time?
The President’s decision will handicap our ability to prevent future acts of terror against this nation. Those we are fighting surely will look at this as proof of our lack of willingness/ability to fight them over the long term.

John McCain was a victim of torture in Vietnam – and he has spoken out forcefully and clearly against the use of torture by the American government.

“I’m no fan of Republicans.”
Is that why you supported John McCain so hard when you were positng during the election?
“But I sure felt a heck of a lot safer with them in charge of our National Security.”
They who can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety, deserve neither liberty nor safety.

pefros…..are you implying the Soviet’s didn’t employ brutal tactics in trying to put down the Mujahideen fighters? Are you kidding? Furthermore, the freedom fighters in Afghanistan weren’t a homogenous group, some committed the acts you describe, others were far more liberal (Northern Alliance) who did much of the fighting and went to war against the Taliban in our absence. The Soviets would level entire villages men, women, and children indiscriminately if they suspected they were controlled by the freedom fighters. Of course you accuse us of supporting the most hideous of the Afghan fighters (Islamists) and not mentioning the more moderate elements we were behind, to suit your argument.

“A team of American and Iraqi epidemiologists estimates that 655,000 more people have died in Iraq since coalition forces arrived in March 2003 than would have died if the invasion had not occurred.”
What all does this entail? What are they categorizing as civilians? Is a Shia militia that is killed fighting US soldiers considered a civilian since he is not employed by a government agency? Numbers can be made to look however someone wants them to look. Does this only incorporate people who died as a result of US force or include the acts of terrorist, milita fighters, and tribal warlords?
I hate simplified numbers like these because they never tell you the whole story.

“The ‘freedom fighters’ didn’t want females educated and they slaughtered teachers who tried to teach, hung their carcases from trees . . . blew up schools. They were brutal killers, antecedents to the Taliban and ‘we’ supported them with CIA money and such . .. because then they were ‘freedom fighters’.”
‘Freedom Fighters’ included about 32 different ethinic groups, the strongest of which turned out to be the Taliban. Don’t lump all of them under the Taliban turban… so to speak.

Todd, what I’m implying is that the American government, in looking out for its own self-interest, supported groups that butchered and slaughtered teachers and civilians who attempted to teach young women in schools.
Now all of a sudden we’re so moral and shocked at the actions of the Taliban. We didn’t seem to care so much before. It’s called convenient hypocrisy.
It’s called the morality of convenience.

“Also who can predict the killings of another 15 years of Saddam rule”
Actually most of Saddam’s mass killing happened during the time he first seized power(when an esitmated million people “disappeared”), then against the Kurds (both in the 80′s & 90′s) and the Shia immediately following the 1st Gulf War.
BTW in Saddam’s mind he was putting down internal rebellions even though he did so in gruesome fashion.
Just yesterday you defend the right of Serbia to do the same when they slaughter Kosovars

pefros….again your argument simply ignores my central point, the Taliban was but a small part of the forces we supported in Afghanistan. Nor do you bother to defend your endorsement of the Soviet’s and the atrocities they committed there. Your hatred of this country is clear for all to see. Furthermore, you don’t give a credible citation for the claim that approximately 700,000 Iraqi’s have died since the US invasion. Can you give us the source of that figure, a British polling agency…..really? Are you, or they, claiming the US has been responsible for that toll, if it’s true? So I understand, you’re saying you preferred Sadam to the current state of affairs.

Todd:
“Published by The Lancet, a venerable British medical journal, the study used accepted methods for calculating death rates to estimate the number of “excess” Iraqi deaths after the 2003 invasion at 426,369 to 793,663; the study said the most likely figure was near the middle of that range: 654,965. Almost 92 percent of the dead, the study asserted, were killed by bullets, bombs, or U.S. air strikes.”
And Todd, I don’t hate the country . .. I hate some big things it’s government has done, and if you studied history a bit more, so would you. The United States has been far from perfect.
It has not been unusual for the American government to support the undermining of democracies using hideous techniques – they supported death squads in el Salvador, Nicaragua, Chile, Guatamala . … and the U.S. supported those death squads in opposition to democratically elected governments.
The United States along with Britain helped to engineer the overthrow of the democratically elected government of Iran in 1954, and replace it with a DICTATORSHIP – the Shah. Why did they do this? Guess?
O-I-L

pefros…..If you had bothered to look further in your search of Iraqi’s killed during the war, you would find a large, large, variance in the estimated numbers killed since 2003. But of course you chose one of the worst case “surveys” conducted by 9 Iraqi physicians under the supervision of US epidemiologists from John’s Hopkins School, who didn’t directly participate. The study was published, not conducted by, the online version of the British Journal Lancet. Here are some other surveys which differ somewhat from the one you cited:
-Iraq Body Count (NGO) – 90,000 to 98,000 civilian NON-Combatant deaths
-Iraq Health Ministry/World Health Organization – 151,000 violence related Iraqi deaths (published in the New England Journal of Medicine)
-Los Angeles Times – 50,000 +
-an Iraqi NGO – 128,000 deaths as of 2005
Furthermore, even taking the Lancet article to be accurate, they state 601K deaths due to violence of which 31% were attributed to coalition force during battle which amounts to 186,000 deaths at the hands of US, friendly-Iraqi, British, and other nations involved in the FIGHTING. The other 415,000 violent deaths were presumably due to insurgent activity and general lawlessness.