Obama to close Guantanamo Bay

[iogames]

Originally Posted by The Geek

Josh, that makes no sense.

Well I'm in favor of stop 'satanizing' Bush and of stop 'divininazing' Obama... both are your Presidents not mine, and I can't think of a President actually that can be defended so fervently as ppl here defend Obama...

I found out a simple truth...
Mosquitoes doesn't have leaders(nor fanatics), mosquitoes doesn't discriminate victims, and nobody kills more black mosquitoes than whites... so their society is better than ours

p.s. Mosquitoes doesn't have big ears too

[smacklan]

Has nothing to do with Gitmo, but plenty to do with the character of our new leader:

President Obama lectured voters during the campaign about the need to make sacrifices for the environment. But now it's warm and toasty in the White House -- so much so that aides have likened it to a tropical hot house -- and Obama is under fire for turning up the heat.

Obama made climate change a staple of his stump speech last year, calling on Americans to lower their energy use and set a model for the rest of the world in combating climate change.

During a campaign event in Oregon in May, Obama said we have to "lead by example." "We can't drive our SUVs and eat as much as we want and keep our homes on 72 degrees at all times," he said.


Obama's aides had a simpler explanation. Though he's spent more than 20 years in Chicago, the president was born in Hawaii. And so he "likes it warm" in the Oval Office, said Chief of Staff David Axelrod. "You could grow orchids in there," he told the New York Times.
But while it's perpetual summer in the Oval Office, the rest of the country has been trudging through a tough winter. Ice storms have cut power to millions in the Midwest and South.
With few orchids growing in the heartland, critics are saying that Obama -- who urged individual sacrifice in an inaugural address that called for a "new era of responsibility" -- hasn't been willing to bear the cold with the rest of the country.

"It's stunning hypocrisy," said Christopher Horner, a senior fellow at the Competitive Enterprise Institute and author of two books critical of global warming activists. "Obama spins the dial up, takes off his coat and seeks to mandate that we turn the dial down," he said.

Obama could take a lesson from one of his predecessors, critics say.
During the gasoline shortage of the 1970s, President Jimmy Carter famously donned a cardigan and turned down the thermostat in the White House. He urged the nation to do the same during a notably chilly fireside chat he gave from his cooled-off home -- a symbolic gesture intended to move other Americans to go easy on the country's depleted stores of energy.


Critics say it's time for the president to put his coat -- or his cardigan -- back on.
Horner said the president should follow the demands he's made of the rest of the country and start "turning down the dial and putting on a sweater instead of [demanding] sacrifice he talks about for other people."

Just another typical, "do as I say not as I do politician"

[iogames]

Well it seems another case of ppl bamboozled, don't worry it happens...

[GSeybold]

Lovely

Former Guantanamo Detainee Joins Al-Qaida in Yemen

http://www.voanews.com/english/2009-01-23-voa46.cfm

[jlew24asu]

step in the right direction, but I voted no. we cant or shouldnt close it until we have a well defined plan on what to do with the prisoners.

[KevinL]

Originally Posted by GSeybold

Lovely

Former Guantanamo Detainee Joins Al-Qaida in Yemen

http://www.voanews.com/english/2009-01-23-voa46.cfm

Yes. But the problem with that is, he was just a normal person before going there. That place made him that mad and gave him contact with people to do these things.

That is the problem with this place...

[GSeybold]

Hi Kevin,
How do we really know he was a "normal" person. Of course this is what he's telling us. You say that this gave him "contact" with the right people. This means that these people, the "right people", really are in this prison therefor should never be released from there or any other prison.

Gabby

[KevinL]

Originally Posted by GSeybold

Hi Kevin,
How do we really know he was a "normal" person. Of course this is what he's telling us. You say that this gave him "contact" with the right people. This means that these people, the "right people", really are in this prison therefor should never be released from there or any other prison.

Gabby

Because they already said that he was never involved in terror activities until released. And him being released in the first place kinda gave it away that they held him without cause in the first place.

There was a case not to long ago that they caught a would be bomber on the Canada/Washington border. With plans and everything to blow up something in LA. They tried him in OUR court system. No torture. No illegal prison. OUR court system and he gave us more information then probably any tortured prisoner at gitmo.

Gitmo is wrong, torture is wrong. No person should be held like that. We are doing the terrorists jobs for them. We a creating a recruiting station for them. It should be closed and these people should be tried in OUR court systems.

[Wayne Luke]

Originally Posted by GSeybold

I agree Wayne, but President Obama does appear to me to be a bit unsure of himself now and that scares the heck out of me. Spewing unrealistic, idealistic rhetoric, to gain votes is one thing, but to release poorly thought through idealistic, ideology based agenda to the public AFTER gaining office is worrisome.

He has been in office for about 20 days. You cannot accomplish anything in 20 days. Every President in the history of this country has had this transition stage where they had to adapt. However his agenda is very well thought out and documented on his website as well as change.gov and whitehouse.gov. This is not an agenda that will be implemented overnight. It will not be implemented in four years. Hopefully enough is put into place in those first four years that it can be followed through. It can change the country. However I am not placing all my faith in Barack Obama. He is just one man. His primary job will be to inspire others to take up change and rethink how they want their government to work for the long term and no focus on 20 days.

Perhaps his decision to close Guat Bay was a bit premature or releasing this intention to the public was perhaps a bit eager? I believe his administration should have thought this through a bit more before even considering leaking this to the public. A see a pattern of this developing(with his nominations) and I'm hoping this is just a symptom of getting his feet wet and getting his administration organization.

Guantanomo was going to be closed. Even Bush said it outlived its purpose. McCain was going to sign the executive order closing it after inauguration if elected as well. Postponing the decision would only be delaying the inevitable. However to think that the President could sign a piece of paper and all the gates are unlocked and every one sent home is a bit naive don't you think. It will take months to close this facility and transfer those incarcerated to proper holding facilities where they can receive the legal representation and either have charges dropped or receive a jury trial of their peers as guaranteed right in this country. We cannot uphold the Constitution of this country or the Declaration of Independance and say that these people have no rights because they are no United States citizens. That isn't what this country was founded on.

It's sort of a think before you speak thing and at this point President Obama is failing miserably at this.

As stated before, all presidents falter on this at the beginning. Speech writing for the President is a crash course in on the job training. They learn fast. On the other hand it proves that the President is still just a human being like anyone else. I don't want someone with all the answers running the country. I want someone who is willing to admit their mistakes and listen to their advisors before making a rash decision like invading another country.

I'm a bit disappointed in this-politics as usual from what America has deamed another JFK Camelot-ish utopian administration.

Is it? Obama has threatend the Democratic Majority with vetoes if they don't listen to his ideas. He has Republican Advisors and even kept the Secretary of Defense from the previous administration. That is a key position that usually goes to political comrades. However at this time, keeping the seated secretary is the best option. He alone in the new administration has the experience to pull troops from the current conflicts and help the governments of those nations restore stability. Obama also updates people on Twitter, MySpace, Facebook and presents video addresses online as well as off. This is a big change from previous administrations. Embracing technology instead of shunning it is a step forward.

Anyway, I didn't vote for Obama because I wanted Camelot or a Utopian government. One has to be realistic in understanding that the Democratic and Republicans have different ideas on what is good for this country. Politics will still happen. When everyone starts agreeing 100% then we're most likely on the first steps to a Totalitarian state, at least if history repeats itself. I want my leaders to be opinionated and debate the issues. I have to hope that through debate and compromise that the best feasible solution is brought to bear.

Anyway, I didn't vote for Obama because he was perfect or even necessarily the best man for the job. I do feel he was a better person for the job than his opponent.