Posted on 06/10/2007 10:23:04 PM PDT by kellynla
Former Secretary of State Colin Powell said Sunday he favors immediately closing the Guantánamo Bay military prison and moving its detainees to U.S. facilities. The prison, which now holds about 385 war-on-terror captives, has tarnished the world's perception of the United States, Powell said.
''If it was up to me, I would close Guantánamo. Not tomorrow, but this afternoon. I'd close it,'' he said.
''And I would not let any of those people go,'' he said. ``I would simply move them to the United States and put them into our federal legal system. The concern was, well then they'll have access to lawyers, then they'll have access to writs of habeas corpus. So what? Let them. Isn't that what our system is all about?''
Defense Secretary Robert Gates has said Congress and the Bush administration should work together to allow imprisonment of some of the more dangerous detainees elsewhere so the military camp at the remote U.S. Navy base in Cuba can be closed.
The Defense Department estimates it would take about three years to conduct 60 to 80 military trials, if the administration authorizes that many.
(Excerpt) Read more at miamiherald.com ...
At this point, I trust Paris Hilton more than I trust Colin Powell. Or George Bush for that matter.
"..we're gonna cut off the head of the snake....."
you left out Chuck Hagel.
Close your mouth Colin, before people begin to suspect that everything you have is due to affirmative action.
Too bad we can’t just claim there was a freak tsunami and “sadly, the inmates drowned in their cells” while the guards were luckily attending a staff meeting on higher ground.
Shades of Saddam’s “trial”.
COLIN: CLOSE MOUTH.
And it looks like he wants the job back.
"I've been around this town a long time and I know everybody who is running for office. And I make myself available to talk about foreign policy matters and military matters with whoever wishes to chat with me," Powell said.
Powell said he does not want to serve in elected office but was less certain about a return to some government post.
"I would not rule it out. I am not at all interested in political life if you mean elected political life. That is unchanged. But I always keep my eyes open and my ears open to requests for service," he said.
Why doesn't this jerk call for the closing of al Qaeda's torture rooms. He is a perfect example of a guy who played the race card all the way to the top.
I respect the general, but he’s flat wrong on this, and I suspect his time with the den of vipers at State is coloring his thinking.
“Old soldiers never die .. they just fade away” .. why doesn’t Powell follow that rule. So far, he and his subordinates have been nothing but a thorn in the side of the Bush admin. They leaked information and then allowed another member of the Bush admin to take the heat for it .. and the very fact they didn’t come forward to speak the truth only confirmed my distaste for all of them.
I have never liked Powell and I was unhappy when he was chosen for Sec of State.
Geez! What the heck happened to this guy?
He was loyal to the Bush family. They looked in his eyes.
Colin Powell seems determined to prove he was an Affirmative Action General and Secretary of State, after all....
Every single time this man opens his mouth, and something comes out, any respect for him that I ever had for him is lessened by a perceptible amount.
“and this clown was Secretary of State???”
That would be “arse clown”, just to be correct!
LLS
BUMP!
Ameircan people to Colin Powell. This is why you are a FORMER SEC of State.
Uh, General Powell, we’re at WAR. Those “people” at Gitmo are terrorists. They didn’t hold up a 7-11; they are not common criminals who deserve due process.
and this clown was Secretary of State???
He’s like a poisonous snake, he just keeps raising his head!!!
I wish he and Jimma Carter would just go on into the sun-set.
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