Why it's a mistake to bring Gitmo prisoners here

Jewish World Review ^ | November 23, 2009 | Byron York

[reaganaut1]

Of all the changes Barack Obama is trying to bring about, there is one that would have stunned and dismayed his most ardent supporters, had they foreseen it during the presidential campaign. After all his talk of American values and loyalty to the Constitution, Obama is positioning himself to become the man who brought indefinite detention to the United States.

Under his leadership, we might soon have in our midst a group of people — accused terrorists currently residing at the U.S. facility in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba — who are permanently imprisoned, yet have never been charged with or convicted of any crime.

It's a development many Americans across the political spectrum find deeply troubling. They are uncomfortable with the thought of anyone, even foreign terrorists, being held inside the U.S. indefinitely without charges, in violation of the most basic American constitutional protections. In addition, the U.S. is not in the habit of keeping prisoners of war on American soil. If such detention is necessary — and most Americans believe that it is, given the reality of the War on Terror — it is better done under military auspices in Guantanamo, Afghanistan or somewhere else outside the U.S.

The people involved are known collectively as "Category Five" detainees. That is a reference to Obama's May 20 speech at the National Archives in which he divided the current residents of Guantanamo into five groups.

There are those who will be tried in civilian courts. Those who will be tried by military commissions. Those who have been ordered released by the courts. Those who will be transferred to other countries. And then there are those in Category Five, whom Obama described as "detainees at Guantanamo who cannot be prosecuted yet who pose a clear danger to the American people."

[bgill]

Never let a crisis go to waste and if there isn’t a crisis, make one up at least once a week. It’s #57 in the plan to destroy America on all fronts.

[Jeff Head]

SIX CRITICAL REASONS TO NOT TRY TERRORISTS IN US COURT

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AWAKEN, O AMERICA, YOUR LIBERTY IS CALLING (Inspiring Video)

[thethirddegree]

If you connect the dots between ‘right wing extremist groups’ like the tea party goers and indefinite detention, you can see where this could end up as a method to stifle political discourse.