Posted on 05/22/2009 5:48:56 AM PDT by kellynla
Never mind the gaps between his past and present rhetoric and his action yesterday. The important point about President Obama's freshly stated plans for the Guantanamo detainees is that he's gaining the hard-earned wisdom of commander in chief.
To the national good, Obama has decided to run presumably most of the prisoners through military tribunals, which all along have been the appropriate forum for settling their fates.
Tweaking the procedures was his way to cosmeticize a somersault in plain sight. So be it. The President landed where he pragmatically had to.
Also to the national good, and even more stunningly, Obama embraced subjecting detainees deemed to be clear and present threats to indefinite detention, despite being unable to convict them in a triallike process.
As a safeguard against misjudgments, Obama would establish a unique court for the purpose of periodically reviewing whether these designated enemy combatants remain perilous. The concept has appeal.
On two other fronts, Obama charted more dubious courses.
While his own Democrats are overwhelmingly balking at closing Guantanamo Bay for fear that any of the 240 detainees would end up in their states, the President held firm on shutting the camp. So he had promised over and again during the presidential campaign, helping to elevate Gitmo into a symbol of disgrace.
It never was and isn't now. By all accounts, the accommodations are well above average for a penal institution. The U.S. should keep the place open - not because a SuperMax facility wouldn't safely hold Al Qaeda types, but because they don't belong on American soil with whatever rights attach to that privileged status.
Similarly wrong is Obama's resolution to try some Guantanamo detainees in civilian criminal courts.
(Excerpt) Read more at nydailynews.com ...
The Kenyan went to Harvard Law, not me. But closing Gitmo means these terrorists must be held indefinitely in 'SuperMax' prisons without a trial. How is that constitutional?
hard earned wisdom of commander in chief???
oh give me a freaking break
Nice!
once on US soil that won’t fly. If its on US soil even you and me wouldn’t go for holding someone indeifintely without trial.
of course the admin is probably not talking about them, they might be talking about the terrorists as defined by that DHS report
I was going to criticize you for incorrect apostrophe use in the title, but damn if it isn’t in the original.
You notice nobody put their name on this garbage article. No credibility.
While NY would the one place where a liberal paper might have had a different view from the Dem rhetoric due to personal experience, I would be be beyond surprise if a vast majority of positions in this op-ed (or even a simple majority) reflect a consistent position. I seriosly doubt it.
The NY Daily News is a hard-core lib rag.
Exactly. My question is of the core NYDN readers how many will let this fly if in fact this is a huge turnaround by the NYDN itself. I went to the link just to see if there were comments linked but there were not only none but no way to leave any.
George Bush had 7 weeks decide whether or where to detain the terrorists nabbed in Afghanistan,
Bush chose Gitmo.
Barack Obama has been complaining for SEVEN YEARS that Gitmo was the wrong place.
Obama’s had seven years to tell us what a better location would have been......but has articulated no alternative,
.......and now needs a Blue Ribbon Panel to make the decision he appears incapable of making.
Ozero was just pondering how many votes he would lose in 2012 over Gitmo...and then flip flopped like any convictionless libtard would do.
this is a huge NIMBY issue, just like nuclear waste disposal. If the Republicans were smart they’d pass legislation tying the closing of Gitmo to the reopening of Yucca Mountain
The average NYDN reader wouldn’t notice the sea change, hell, most never read the editorial page at all.
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