Posted on 06/17/2005 11:24:45 AM PDT by ambrose
Article published Jun 17, 2005
Martinez: Guantanamo might be best option
WASHINGTON - Sen. Mel Martinez of Florida said in an interview this week that keeping the prison camp at Guantanamo Bay in Cuba might ultimately prove the best option once the fate of more than 500 detainees is debated as he suggested a week ago.
His comments seemed to soften a speech to Florida newspaper editors on June 10 that made Martinez the first Republican to suggest the administration should consider closing the prison camp.
Those remarks fueled debate about the status of detainees and allegations of abuse, and they drew fire from some conservatives.
At the editors' meeting last week, Martinez, a member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, called the camp ''an icon for bad news'' that was hurting America's image in Muslim countries. He did not offer an alternative to the camp but questioned whether its benefits outweigh the negative effect on anti-American sentiment abroad.
''I would not feel comfortable with them in Florida,'' he said in a brief interview on Wednesday afternoon when asked to clarify his remarks, ''nor would I feel comfortable with them being released, nor would I feel comfortable with a number of things. So once the debate takes place, maybe this is the best option. Public diplomacy may not be the overriding concern.''
That debate raged this week. Rep. Duncan Hunter of California, chairman of the Armed Services Committee, held a news conference to present a plate of lemon chicken as evidence that detainees are well treated, and the Judiciary Committee sparred over the legal status of combatants whom the Pentagon asserts it could hold indefinitely.
Martinez played a role in fueling those fires.
(Excerpt) Read more at gainesville.com ...
Ahhh, but he was electable...
but so was Bill McCollum...
Looks like Martinez is a graduate of the John Kerry School of Flip-flops.
Senator Weathervane (R-FL)
Senator "Stupid A$$" Martinez. Sheesh, is there anything else the moron Pubbies can do to shoot themselves in the foot?
Senator Martinez made a inexusable error.
Seems he's heard from many about this error.
I certainly hope he will not consider making such an error again. We are watching. Politicians that think they can lose this war bringing disgrace to our country and to our troops endangering both in their need to appease and cower as was done in Vietnam will not be tolerated. At least not within the GOP Party. I leave it to Democrat constituents to attempt to deal with their shame in supporting their current leadership. I will not bear similiar shame.
That is 2 and counting, Mel. First the Schiavo "memo" handover and now Gitmo. Can you say "one term?"
These linguini spined Pubbies better start learning to "appease" their consituents and stand up for the right or find themselves unemployed.
He's the worst kind of loose cannon, an utterly stupid one.
And I am sure he got more than a few calls for his stupid statment.
He inserted his foot....big time.
Since Martinez is a freshman Senator, perhaps we can forgive him for being a horse's ass this once.
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