President and "hasty" decision

[Pete]

Seems the order to close Gitmo was a "hasty decision"

http://www.realclearpolitics.com/art...ion_96593.html

I wonder how many of the "Hope and Change" plans are also "hasty decisions"?

[Pete]

Dick Cheney - Dec 15, 2008

http://www.reuters.com/article/topNe...4BE6T120081215



"......The vice president said Bush and many other people would like to close Guantanamo Bay but other issues had to be addressed first.

"That includes, what are you going to do with the prisoners held in Guantanamo? And nobody yet has solved that problem," Cheney said....."

So VP Cheney knew this back in Dec, 2008 and it only took the New President 4 months in office to figure it out and come to the same conclusion? He's a fast learner I guess.

[SF_BHT]

This is going to be just one of many things that he will have to back peddle.

[7624U]

Originally Posted by Pete

Dick Cheney - Dec 15, 2008

http://www.reuters.com/article/topNe...4BE6T120081215



"......The vice president said Bush and many other people would like to close Guantanamo Bay but other issues had to be addressed first.

"That includes, what are you going to do with the prisoners held in Guantanamo? And nobody yet has solved that problem," Cheney said....."

So VP Cheney knew this back in Dec, 2008 and it only took the New President 4 months in office to figure it out and come to the same conclusion? He's a fast learner I guess.

Free them into the Negev desert gets my vote.

[Sigaba]

The 'hasty decision' was electing a president who offered himself as all things to too many different groups of people.

Because of his own strident rhetoric during the campaign, the president has placed himself in a position where he risks considerable political fall out for continuing the policies of his predecessor.

The following examples are from here.

Senator McCain likes to talk about judgment, but, really, what does it say about your judgment when you think George Bush has been right more than 90 percent of the time?

(APPLAUSE)

I don't know about you, but I am not ready to take a 10 percent chance on change.

....

If John McCain wants to follow George Bush with more tough talk and bad strategy, that is his choice, but that is not the change that America needs.

Choices that might otherwise have been presented as the product of a careful review of standing policies will be viewed either as flip flops by his opponents or disappointing betrayals by his most avid fans. He has no one but himself to blame.

[Slantwire]

Originally Posted by 7624U

Free them into the Negev desert gets my vote.

Isn't it about time we started a Mars colony?

Or, in the interest of saving money, we could drop them off about halfway between Mauritius and Perth.

[Richard]

MOO - send the shia to a sunni dominated country and the sunni to a shia dominated country - circumcise them before release (preferably without anesthesia and using a rusty tin can lid) and let the host country know the new guys in town were all converted while in captivity. Voila'!

Richard's $.02

[incarcerated]

Originally Posted by Pinhead

Isn't it about time we started a Mars colony?
.

Too expensive.
SF_BHT knows about this cost-effective facility in Texas:
http://www.professionalsoldiers.com/...ad.php?t=23358
It’s perfect.

[Richard]

A couple of thousands of words worth of truth in these two cartoons.

Richard's $.02

[Utah Bob]

Saw the video clip of him signing the order to close Guantanamo 2 days into his presidency. After signing he asked one of his people, "Do we have a separate Executive Order on the disposition of the prisoners?"
Coulda heard a pin drop.

[Richard]

KEEP GITMO GOING: The case for retaining the vital detention and interrogation facility at Guantánamo Bay

There are significant issues of national security that must be addressed before Guantánamo is closed and detainees transferred into the United States. Until these risks are adequately addressed and security assured, no detainee should be removed from Guantánamo. While proponents of closure may perceive a public relations benefit to closing this facility, the preservation of public safety and national security must remain paramount in determining U.S. policy on this critical matter.

http://204.96.138.161/upload/wysiwyg...ng%20FINAL.pdf

Richard's $.02

[mojaveman]

Originally Posted by Brush Okie

It is amazing. This guy ran a rock star campaign with lots of promise of change with no real plan. Now that the democrats are in office they are trying to figure out what to do. They still have no plan and IMHO are making it up as they go along. IMHO they should close gitmo and move the prisoners to a new camp outside the county location unknown to the general public. Some south pacific island with no population would be good. I know I know not going to happen, just thinking out loud.

Excellent idea, let's move all of the Guantanamo detainees to the Eniwetok Atoll in the South Pacific and then begin testing atomic weapons there again. We won't need night vision devices anymore because we'll be able to see them after they start glowing.

[Richard]

BFF.

Richard's $.02

Palau to take Uighur detainees from Guantanamo Bay
Ray Lilley, AP, 10 Jun 2009

The tropical Pacific island nation of Palau announced Wednesday it will accept up to 17 Chinese Muslims who have languished in legal limbo at Guantanamo Bay despite a Pentagon determination that they are not "enemy combatants."

China's Foreign Ministry had no immediate reaction to the decision by Palau to grant Washington's request to resettle the detainees from China's Uighur minority who had been incarcerated at the U.S. Navy base in Cuba. Palau is one of a handful of countries that does not recognize China and maintains diplomatic relations with Taiwan.

President Johnson Toribiong said Palau was accepting the detainees "as a humanitarian gesture" intended to help them restart their lives. His archipelago, with a population of about 20,000, will accept up to 17 of the detainees subject to periodic review, Toribiong said in a statement released to The Associated Press.

"This is but a small thing we can do to thank our best friend and ally for all it has done for Palau," he said.

A former U.S. trust territory in the Pacific, Palau has retained close ties with the United States since independence in 1994 when it signed a Free Compact of Association with the U.S.

While it is independent, it relies heavily on U.S. aid and is dependent on the United States for its defense. Native-born Palauans are allowed to enter the United States without passports or visas.
The Obama administration sought a solution for the detainees after facing fierce congressional opposition to releasing them on U.S. soil despite a Pentagon determination that they were not "enemy combatants."

Palau, made up of eight main islands plus more than 250 islets, is best known for diving and tourism and is located some 500 miles (800 kilometers) east of the Philippines in the Pacific Ocean.

A federal judge last year ordered the Uighur detainees released into the United States after the Pentagon determined they were not "enemy combatants." But an appeals court halted the order, and they have been in legal limbo ever since.

U.S. officials have not said publicly where the detainees might be sent, but said privately that Palau was a prime candidate for their relocation.

Asked Tuesday about discussions with Palau on the Uighurs, State Department spokesman Ian Kelly declined to comment beyond saying the U.S. is "working closely with our friends and allies regarding resettlement" of detainees at Guantanamo.

Two U.S. officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said the U.S. was prepared to give Palau up to $200 million in development, budget support and other assistance in return for accepting the Uighurs and as part of a mutual defense and cooperation treaty that is due to be renegotiated this year.

The U.S. would not send the Uighurs back to China for fear they will be tortured or executed. Beijing says Uighur insurgents are leading an Islamic separatist movement in China's far west and wants those held at Guantanamo to be returned to China.

In 2006, Albania accepted five Uighur detainees from Guantanamo but has since balked at taking others, partly for fear of diplomatic repercussions from China.

The State Department said last week that Daniel Fried, the career diplomat who was named earlier this year to oversee Guantanamo's closure, had visited Palau but offered no details on his mission. Fried has been negotiating with third countries to accept many of the Guantanamo detainees.

Australia and Germany already have Uighur populations, making those countries obvious candidates.

Australia recently agreed to review a request to accept some Uighurs, after twice rejecting it from the United States. Germany has been reluctant to accept any detainees unless the United States takes some, too.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090610/...antanamo_palau

[Pete]

So they get $200,000,000 and all they have to do is "take" 17 Uighurs.

I didn't see anything in there about having to "keep" them.

After a few months of quiet island living a fishing boat lands a small launch in an sheltered bay and "poof" they're gone and so is our $200,000,000.

[Richard]

Palau was probably getting the $$ anyway - the Uighur deal seems like a political move to 'seal the deal' in Congress - and maybe the Palau fishermen need some good bait for chumming.

Richard's $.02