I, for one, am concerned. From what I've read in the news, if I were a terrorist, I'd DEFINITELY want to be tried in the U.S., as this is where you can get the most lenient treatment. If you're condemned to death, you know you're gonna live at least 20 more years.
Wow, we're giving them a free ride to the States, then we're going to provide them with Government funded legal counsel. Wow, just wow.
I'm sure others disagree. Let's hear it.

Hi, bluecharm! I agree with you 100% on this one!! I do not understand why anyone would think that it is a good idea to bring the detainees here. Shaking head!!!


Debbie

Actually I agree with you. I am very concerned for US Safety. On the news last night they were talking about transferring some of the Gitmo prisoners to Leavenworth which is about 40 minutes from our house. We don't want them!!

Lisa

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"It's not having what you want,
It's wanting what you've got"

i was wondering where the detainees would go. so they would come to the US? wow that sounds like a great idea....NOT.

steph

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I think it's great that they are shutting down. Where the current "detainees" would go is still being worked out. I agree 100% with President Obama's position that when we shut it down:
"We are going to do so vigilantly, we are going to do so effectively, and we are going to do so in a manner that is consistent with our values and our ideals."

Interesting stuff this morning.


Washington Times - CURL: Obama press aide gets bashed in debut

The Washington Times was founded in 1982 by Unification Church founder Sun Myung Moon. I know that doesn't make this story wrong, necessarily, but I take it with a rock of salt!

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If this is going to be a Christian nation that doesn't help the poor, either we have to pretend that Jesus was just as selfish as we are, or we've got to acknowledge that He commanded us to love the poor and serve the needy without condition, and then admit that we just don't want to do it.

- Stephen Colbert.

I read about this. We we stationed in GTMO for 7 years. Will be very interesting to see what happens.

I heard they were even letting some of the go free here in the USA. I certainly may have heard that incorrectly, as I was trying to make dinner, and had the TV on in the back ground.

Did anyone else hear anything like this??

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Doing the right thing isn't always the same as doing the easy thing.

Then how do you feel about the New York Times? This piece makes me even less enthusiastic about this move than the one referenced above.

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/01/23/wo...n.html?_r=1&hp

Well, the topics of each are two different things. I think the NYT article, however, is more balanced in general. It doesn't make clear what and how this person was processed under the Bush administration when he was released.

As the NYT article states:

The new administration wants to move cautiously, taking time to work out a plan to cope with the complications.

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If this is going to be a Christian nation that doesn't help the poor, either we have to pretend that Jesus was just as selfish as we are, or we've got to acknowledge that He commanded us to love the poor and serve the needy without condition, and then admit that we just don't want to do it.

- Stephen Colbert.

I agree, If he wants to close it he should tell us what he is going to do with the terrorists.

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Mary

My biggest fear is bringing this to our soil.

That scares me.

All of the people detained at Guantanamo were tortured, with the poosible exception of a group of Urds. If they didn't have reason to hate us going in, they sure have reason to hate us coming out.

You have, no doubt, heard that 61 detainees have resorted to "terrorism". In truth, four have. The others offended homeland security by doing things like consenting to be interviewed by human rights agencies. One even wrote an editorial about his experience which was published in the New York Times.

I am not at all worried about these detainees being tried in American courts nor being held in Federal prisons on American soil.

Closing Guantanamo alleviates one moral stain against the U.S. The order has already been written.

Just four?

Nevermind then. Release 'em all!

Hi, everyone!! Out of curiosity, I researched to see if I could find a list of the detainees and found the following: A list of detainees at Guantanamo Bay Naval Base, and home countries where available, whose cases before U.S. military tribunals are detailed in records in a federal court. Click on a name to see related court documents:

The Associated Press - Washington in Depth

I am not sure how accurate the list is but I thought some of you might want to read the different cases as well.


Debbie

So if a terrorist is captured and is detained in jail and then has a trial in a U.S. court and is NOT treated as a person who wanted to (or maybe did) kill many, many U.S. citizens, but offered many opportuities while in prison, this will scare other terrorists and they will change their ways?

Do I have this straight?

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Can you please list your source for this information.

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Doing the right thing isn't always the same as doing the easy thing.

You can do a search at Mother Jones or Salon. Both have extensive archives on documented abuses at Guantanamo and elsewhere.

I am not sure what you are trying to say. Specifically, what "opportunities" are you referring to?

And that makes it so? I was under the impression that we had a checks and balances system in the US so that one branch of government doesn't have absolute authority.
Furthermore, since the timeline is within the next year, don't you think that someone might, just might re-evaluate the situation, prior to and make changes to the order?

Good Grief!

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Mental that one, I'm telling you. ---Ron Weasley, "Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets"

The authority to close Guantanamo lies with the Commander in Chief. Obama is the Commander in Chief. Closing Guantanamo is entirely within his authority. It will close within a year.

The authority to close any base lies with the Commander in Chief. Obama is the Commander in Chief. It is entirely his authority to close Guantanamo.

This is great concern to me. And the fact that he is doing this so quickly when there are so many more important issues that he should be dealing with first. He could deal with this one later after he figures out exactly what he is going to do with all the detainees. They named several places that they could bring "some" of them to. I am so happy I do not live near them. I would be furious if I did. I think getting them onto American soil is not the right thing to do. You know they will eventually get out of jail whether we release them or they escape, then they are going to cause some damage. It is like so many times that murderers, get out of jail and say they are going to do it again..but they still set them free. And of course they kill again usually fairly quickly. I just hope Obama knows what he is doing in this instance. He is scareing me.

He said throughout the campaign that he would close Guantanamo immediately. That's exactly what he did. Unfortunately, the rest of the world, and many within this country, see Guantanamo as a symbol of moral blight. Closing Guantanamo shows the rest of the world that America actually believes in the rule of law.

They can loak up any or all of the detainees next door to me. Federal prisons are a little different than state prisons.

kvmj, you state that you would not mind if the detainees are moved in next door to you. However, from what I am reading, the ones around the US and around the world that this might directly effect, do not want the detainees around them. They seem to understand what the word "terrorist" means where these detainees are concerned.

The Associated Press: Europe slow to offer new home to Gitmo inmates

Murtha's Gitmo idea called 'ludicrous' - Pittsburgh Tribune-Review


Kansas Politicians Strongly Oppose Gitmo Detainee Move


Hunter: No Gitmo Detainees to Pendleton - NBCSANDIEGO.COM- msnbc.com

While I understand that many feel the need to close Guantanamo Bay, I agree with the following statement 100%:
Some Republicans blasted the order for that sort of imprecision. "This is an executive order that places hope ahead of reality - it sets an objective without a plan to get there," Rep. Peter Hoekstra (R-Mich.) said.
Obama's orders to close Gitmo, overhaul interrogation -- Newsday.com


Still shaking head.......


Debbie

I've always believed that the only reason the US had Guantanamo Bay was to help hide the things that were being done to detainees.

When the US tortures detainees, no matter WHAT the detainees have done/have been accused of doing, we become no better than the detainees themselves. No matter what anyone says, waterboarding is TORTURE, plain and simple.

No one can convince me that there isn't a facility in the continental US that could be used to contain the Guantanamo Bay prisoners. We didn't feel the need to send Timothy McVey(sp?)out of the states and he was a terrorist that had killed innocent citizens. We lock up child rapists, serial killers, etc. here and no one complains. By moving those prisoners hopefully the US can save some $ AND save some face.

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First of all, I do have a complete understanding of what a terrorist is. I have never lived my life in fear and see no reason to start now. I have no doubt that these detainees (they haven't been convicted of anything yet) can be securely held in a federal facility.

The biggest problem that I see is the fact that we tortured. Whatever they confessed to cannot be used as evidence. Moreover, many of these detainees are there because we offered a bounty and anyone with a grievance could turn in their neighbor for $10,000. In some cases, the only evidence they have is the word of that neighbor.

If, because we acted illegally, an actual terrorist goes free, well. maybe then we'll learn that no one is entitled to take the law into their own hands.

We were founded as a nation of laws, not men. All of us need to follow the law. I most certainly believe that this includes the President, the Vice President and the Secretary of Defense.

And that's a problem, why???

You don't think the people who suffered thru 9/11 in those buildings were not tortured? What about our military guys and gals who are captured? They're not tortured? Heck, Gitmo is the Hilton compared to other places.

Some of you are scared already with Obama in office? I'm afraid we haven't seen anything yet.

Information obtained through torture is useless in court. Information produced in this manner has been deemed unreliable. I think that we can believe John McCain, and others who have been tortured, when they tells us that victims will say whatever it is that they think you want to hear in order to get the torture to stop. Moreover, it is illegal.

None of the victims of 9/11 were tortured. They all died horrible, violent deaths, but, no, not a single victim was tortured.

Had McCain won the election, he too had pledged to close Gitmo.

I feel much safer with Obama in office than I ever did with Bush. We will pay for the mistakes he made for decades to come.

You get 100% agreement from me. Gitmo is as much a stain on this country as slavery and the internment of the Japanese Americans ever were.

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Reading is Fundamental.

And 100% from me too. Good comparisons, truble.

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If this is going to be a Christian nation that doesn't help the poor, either we have to pretend that Jesus was just as selfish as we are, or we've got to acknowledge that He commanded us to love the poor and serve the needy without condition, and then admit that we just don't want to do it.

- Stephen Colbert.

once again truble2310 you have me 100 percent as well.. Peace. catherine

Instead of debating back & forth a topic that many will not see anything differently from their own point of view no matter what information is placed before them, I will sum it up with the following words"

"What a few have "sown" for our country, we will ALL end up "reaping" in the end."


The comment was made earlier about not living in fear & I agree with that. However, I do not live with "rose colored glasses" on either.


Debbie