Obama Tries to Restore Order on Gitmo, After Senate Blocks Closure Funds

Fox News ^ | May 21, 2009

[Zakeet]

President Obama will deliver a speech Thursday addressing plans to close the Guantanamo detention camp as Democrats back off support for funding the closure.

President Obama is trying to keep Democratic unrest from derailing his plans to close the Guantanamo Bay detention camp after the Senate voted overwhelmingly Wednesday to yank money for shuttering the prison.

The president is delivering a speech Thursday meant to shed light on how the administration expects to transfer 240 detainees off the island by January 2010.

The address appears overdue, considering the resistance and mixed messages coming from top-ranking Democrats over the issue on Capitol Hill.

By a vote of 90-6, the Senate approved an amendment to a war funding bill Wednesday that not only blocks supplemental funds from being used to close Guantanamo and move detainees to U.S. soil, but also orders that no funds already in U.S. coffers be redirected toward that purpose.

The Senate also overwhelmingly approved an amendment offered by Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell that requires a classified threat assessment of each detainee at Guantanamo. It was a severe blow to the impassioned opposition of Sen. Dick Durbin, (D-Ill.), who argued that the release of that sensitive information might jeopardize the prosecutions of the detainees.

Sen. Dan Inouye, D-Hawaii, chairman of the Senate Appropriations Committee, said the vote to strip the $80 million Obama had wanted should not be seen as a rebuke to the administration but a "wake up call."

He said it is "up to the administration to fashion a plan that can win the support of the American people and members of Congress."

[Zakeet]

Members of Congress must rethink their opposition to accepting these detainees into the United States ... it is unrealistic to think that no detainees will come to the United States, and that the U.S. cannot ask allies to take detainees while refusing to take on the same burden.

TOTUS is scheduled to give a "major foreign policy address" today again calling for the closure of Gitmo. Obambi's handlers have deemed it one of the most important he has ever given.

Note: The six Rats supporting Obozo on Gitmo are: Turban Durbin (D-IL), Leaky Leahy (D-VT), Hocking Harkin (D-IA), Loony Levin (D-MI), and the two twits from Rhode Island.

[Red in Blue PA]

President Obama will deliver a speech Thursday

That's the ticket. A speech with fix everything.

[Loyal Buckeye]

Yep, after the speech everything will be peachy.

[Freeper]

President Obama will deliver a speech Thursday

That's the ticket. A speech with fix everything.

You must mean he is going to give a reading!

[Coldwater Creek]

Dear Leader spending millions to put our country in jeopardy, and appease the wimpy Europeans.

Dick Cheney will speak a few minutes after Obama. That's the one that I'll be listening to.

[silverleaf]

It’s pretty bad when even the democrats find something they won’t fund.

[pnh102]

Heh... even Bill Clinton knew when he had to back down.

[Sgt_Schultze]

Boy, the community agitator’s European masters will be pissed.

[fleagle]

Ooooohhh, a SPEECH! Good plan.

[<1/1,000,000th%]

The left is in a complete meltdown as they compete to see who can be the most extreme.

Not very strong language in this article. I can image the shrieking if this were Republicans.

[erkyl]

Let me take a stab at how this will sound:

blah, blah, blah...shared sacrifice...blah, blah, blah...moral high ground....blah, blah, blah...diplomacy can work...blah, blah, blah...let me be clear...blah, blah, blah...uh, er—ahhh, I’ve already done that part, move it up...blah, blah, blah...must not give the world a reason to hate us...blah, blah, blah...my daughters are grounded—they can’t just close Gitmo without a plan...blah, blah, blah...have you seen my wife’s shoes...blah, blah, blah...I’ve got everything under control...blah, blah, blah...blah, blah, blah.

[bray]

If they make the detainees watch the speech, would that be torture?

Pray for America and Our Troops

[SumProVita]

I’m all in favor of keeping dangerous weapons out of the hands of fools. Let’s start with TELEPROMPTERS.

(MODIFIED Frank Lloyd Wright) ;-)

[Doc Savage]

This was so obvious even a guy with a 156 IQ like myself saw through it. Obozo, who made the dumbest statement and pledge to his leftist cult during the campaign to close Gitmo, was given ‘cover’ by his bourgeois brethren in the Senate. It was obvious, even to a mental deficient like Ozero, that it was impossible to close such a place without putting the USA and the world at risk. I never ceased to be amazed how the DemonRats will fall on their own sword to protect these morons like Clinton and OWeirdo! Sure, there is blackmail involved, and bribes, and payoffs, but even then, it is astounding how willingly they place their own empty heads on the chopping block!

[Carley]

O is going to transfer those murderous dogs to US courts whether we like it or not.

No one can stop him.

And he will appoint Lynn Stewart type attorneys to defend these scum.

[maggief]

Shellacked by a vote of 90-6 and His Hubris still won’t back down.

[Oldpuppymax]

In short, he will pander to the left and make promises he knows he cannot keep. Gee. I wonder if politics has anything to do with this?

[IrishPennant]

This POS will not stop campaigning...he gets his butt whipped so now he has to get his teleprompter fired up and put his mug on TV...so sickening.