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Obama: Gitmo Won't Be Closed by January Deadline

By Jeralyn, Section Terror Detainees
Posted on Wed Nov 18, 2009 at 08:52:04 PM EST
Tags: Guantanamo (all tags)
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President Obama made it official today. His administration will not close Guantanamo by the one year deadline in January.

Part of that is due to the inability to find countries willing to take the detainees. And while Attorney General Eric Holder was strong in his commitment today to U.S. federal criminal trials for some detainees, it's still troubling that he continues to suggest the Obama Administration may continue to hold some detainees indefinitely without charges or trial.

If the administration has evidence against these detainees, it should prosecute them in federal court. If not, it should repatriate them or relocate them to safe havens."

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    Obama: Gitmo Won't Be Closed by January Deadline | 4 comments (4 topical)

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    This is one of the few disappointments (none / 0) (#1)
    by Socraticsilence on Wed Nov 18, 2009 at 11:17:05 PM EST
    where I wont just make some allowances for Obama but where I will actively absolve him of blame- the Administration tried to close Gitmo by the summer- then everyone- even Congressmen previously vocal in their oppposition to Gitmo went all NIMBY.

    Yeah... (5.00 / 2) (#2)
    by ricosuave on Wed Nov 18, 2009 at 11:38:24 PM EST
    That was just totally unexpected.  How could Obama have imagined when he promised to do it that people might be opposed to the idea.

    General rule: whatever a Democratic president does, the Republicans will oppose it and say it is dangerous/ downfall of civilization/ unpatriotic/ evil.  That's what the opposition does.

    The administration should be out there every day laughing at the republicans who are afraid to have the terrorists held in the very federal (or private) prisons that those very republicans fought to have built in their own districts to keep their constituents safe and employed.

    Parent

    If it was just Republicans (none / 0) (#5)
    by Socraticsilence on Thu Nov 19, 2009 at 03:12:39 PM EST
    that'd be one thing- its very hard to find Dems who support it.

    Parent
    I have to agree (none / 0) (#6)
    by mcl on Fri Nov 20, 2009 at 07:06:48 AM EST
    Obama bears responsibility for some serious foul-ups, including keeping on Geithner & Summers, not reforming Wall Street, and continuing the futile lost Af-Pak war...but in this case, Obama got blindsided by the wild hysteria of the American people.

    Evidence shows that the majority of the Gitmo inmates are innocent bystanders sold fraudulently to U.S. forces by corrupt Afghan warlords to make a quick buck, yet gullible foolish Americans treat these innocent bystanders (like the cab driver Dilawar) as though they're Satan's spawn, so dangerous that their radioactive emanations will kill Americans from 500 miles away even behind 3-foot-thick steel-reinforced concrete prison walls.

    It's insane. The American people are panicking and hysterical. Someone needs to tell them to pull up their socks and get a clue.

    Obama: Gitmo Won't Be Closed by January Deadline | 4 comments (4 topical)

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