Obama’s Change is More of the Same: Reversal on Gitmo?
Posted on November 16, 2008
Remember one of Obama’s promises to his liberal base that he would close Gitmo? Day one he said.
Suddenly, civil liberty lawyers, the NY Times, and Barack himself are adopting the Bush doctrine. Perhaps sniping from the sidelines was easier than facing the complexity of reality.
As a presidential candidate, Senator Barack Obama sketched the broad outlines of a plan to close the detention center at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba: try detainees in American courts and reject the Bush administration’s military commission system.
Now, as Mr. Obama moves closer to assuming responsibility for Guantánamo, his pledge to close the detention center is bringing to the fore thorny questions under consideration by his advisers. They include where Guantánamo’s detainees could be held in this country, how many might be sent home and a matter that people with ties to the Obama transition team say is worrying them most: What if some detainees are acquitted or cannot be prosecuted at all?
That concern is at the center of a debate among national security, human rights and legal experts that has intensified since the election. Even some liberals are arguing that to deal realistically with terrorism, the new administration should seek Congressional authority for preventive detention of terrorism suspects deemed too dangerous to release even if they cannot be successfully prosecuted.
“You can’t be a purist and say there’s never any circumstance in which a democratic society can preventively detain someone,” said one civil liberties lawyer, David D. Cole, a Georgetown law professor who has been a critic of the Bush administration.
Huh? I seem to remember the majority of liberals arguing that if we can not give Constitutional rights to terrorists, try or release them, then the terrorist had already won. I’m not the only one remembering this rhetoric. Ed Morrisey recalls as well:
That’s all we’ve heard from the close-Gitmo crowd for the last seven years. Indefinite detention supposedly violates American values, we’re losing the war if we adapt to the threat against us, blah blah blah. Certainly Barack Obama never gave any indication of nuanced thinking along the lines of indefinite detention during the last two years while campaigning for the presidency. In fact, Obama made the absolutist case that Cole now belatedly rejects in June 2007:
“While we’re at it,” he said, “we’re going to close Guantanamo. And we’re going to restore habeas corpus. … We’re going to lead by example _ by not just word but by deed. That’s our vision for the future.
If Obama keeps Gitmo open, will there be a nut-roots revolt? Imagine the possiblity that Bush isn’t actually Hitler, but had inside information and many expert advisors that fretted over this issue with fine combs. Imagine they busted brains balancing liberty and national security behind the scenes. That would be crazy, huh?
Embrace the change my liberal friends. The ACLU are holding Obama;s feet to the fire!
Nothing would make me prouder than to see you act on your first day in office to restore America’s moral leadership in the world.
With one stroke of your pen, you can close Guantánamo Bay prison, shut down military commissions, and ban torture.The Bush administration created a prison camp at Guantánamo – a place where they claimed the law didn’t apply. They detained hundreds of men without charge or trial, authorized torture, and prosecuted some prisoners in military commissions that violate our Constitution and international law.
We can’t let the system of injustice George W. Bush put in place stand – not for a single day.
I want you to know that I will support your leadership on this vitally important issue in every possible way. Please act on Day One to make clear that the government you lead will be faithful to the Constitution.
The restoration of American freedom is in your hands. Give us back the America we believe in.
If he does, pandora’s box will be opened.
Wow, a sobering moment?
» Filed Under 1st Amendment, ACLU, Barack Obama, Constitution, News, Uncategorized, War On Terror
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5 Responses to “Obama’s Change is More of the Same: Reversal on Gitmo?”
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He won’t like his choices. In fact, I’m sure he is already wetting the bed just thinking about it. Let them go, and it is Somalia all over again. Just as the Democrat wimp out over Somalia and the Coles gave birth to 9-11, Obambi hands the terrorists a nice warm glass of milk and reads them a story and they will know they have another coward in the White House, who just wants them to have good feelings! Barry knows they can sense weakness. Barry knows that if there is another attack he will get the blame, and all of a sudden Bush will look like a hero to non-Ayers/Black Panther/Farrakhan America (Obamamerica?)
Closing GITMO is just one of thousands of promises Obama made without the foggiest idea what would be required. My concern is that he’s incapable of changing Washington. I’ve been consulting with Executive Branch agencies to help them change since the Carter administration. The most effective change President was Reagan, and before him President Johnson. Those men changed Washington because they didn’t open their mouths until they know how they would get it done. All we’ve heard from Obama is a wack-a-mole approach to any problem anyone bitches about. He’s more like Carter (cerebral and indecisive) than like Presidents who really made change happen.
Dick, I think you have something there, Obami is a “wack-a-mole” President. he doesn’t know what he doing and he will be seen as a weak leader.
People will quickly see that Obama is all Show and no-go.
Im with you on this one Dick. The whole world knows Obama is and will be a weak leader. Obama has no clue!!!!! The world will exploit Obamas weakness and we will have a much bigger problem on our hands.