Note: The following text is a quote:
http://www.defenselink.mil/news/newsarticle.aspx?id=54488
Top U.S. Military Officer Favors Guantanamo Closure
By Gerry J. Gilmore
American Forces Press Service
WASHINGTON, May 24, 2009 The detainee facility at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, should be closed, the Pentagons senior military officer said here today.
I have advocated for a long time now that it (Guantanamo) needs to be closed, Navy Adm. Mike Mullen, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said during a wide-ranging interview with ABCs This Week television news program host George Stephanopoulos.
President Barack Obama has pledged to shut down Guantanamo by next January, Mullen noted. The U.S.-military-managed Guantanamo detention facility was opened shortly after the start of the war against terrorism. It currently houses about 240 detainees.
Meanwhile, the U.S. military is working to meet the presidents deadline to close Guantanamo, Mullen said. The detention facility, he said, has served as a recruiting symbol for Islamic extremists to take up arms against the United States.
So, I think that is at the heart of the concern for Guantanamos continued existance, in which I spoke to a fews years ago for the need to close it, Mullen said.
Mullen acknowledged that closing Guantanamo poses a challenge, with regard to finding another place to hold some very dangerous people. Yet, he said, a number of terrorists are already being held in some high-security prisons in the United States.
Were working hard now to figure out what the options are and what the best one would be, Mullen said, and that really is a decision the president is going to have to make.
Mullen also fielded Stephanopoulos-posed questions on Iran, Iraq, Afghanistan, gays in the military, and the performance of U.S. servicemembers.
Its clear that Iran intends to develop nuclear-weapons capability, said Mullen, pointing to Irans recent successful ballistic-missile test.
Irans strategic objective is to achieve nuclear weapons, and that path continues, Mullen said. Their leadership is committed to it.
If Iran were to have nuclear weapons, he said, it would be an incredibly destabilizing event in the Middle East region and for the world.
Meanwhile, the current U.S. policy of employing diplomatic dialogue with Iran to persuade it to jettison its nuclear weapons ambitions is the right path to take, Mullen said.
Turning to Iraq, Mullen said the recent increase in insurgent-committed violence there still remains much lower than that experienced at the height of fighting a few years ago.
And, the U.S. military is still very much on track in its plans to remove its forces from Iraq by the end of 2011, Mullen said. Today, there are more than 135,000 U.S. troops in Iraq.
Mullen said current plans call for a reduction to between 35,000 and 50,000 U.S. forces from Iraq by August 2010.
The situation in Iraq is still fragile, Mullen said. But, he added, the Iraqi security forces are vastly improved.
Though al-Qaida in Iraq is still active, its capacity to commit violence in Iraq has been much diminished, Mullen said. Iraqs future, he said, will become much clearer over the next 12 to 18 months.
Switching to the topic of Afghanistan, Mullen said the current U.S. troop build up there would bolster efforts to stem the tide in reducing violence committed by resurgent Taliban extremists.
However, a military solution is not enough to achieve success in Afghanistan, Mullen said.
Weve got to have governance capability increased dramatically in Afghanistan, Mullen explained, as well as economic development.
Turning to the discussion of changing federal law in order to allow homosexuals to serve openly in the U.S. military, Mullen said that if the law were changed, then the U.S. military would follow suit.
President Obama has said he wants to jettison the U.S. militarys current rules governing homosexuals in uniform, thats called, Dont Ask, Dont Tell. That policy enables gays to serve in uniform, as long as they dont openly announce or demonstrate their sexual preference.
Mullen also said that his job regarding a change in the U.S. militarys policy toward gays is to gauge its potential impact and provide his best advice to the president.
If the law is changed, Mullen continued, he would also need to develop an implementation plan.
We follow the law, and if the law changes, well comply, Mullen said. There is absolutely no question about that.
Mullen also said he is impressed with the presidents thought processes and decisions regarding U.S. military policy in Iraq, Afghanistan and Pakistan.
I find that to be a method that gives the military the kind of focus it needs for where were going, Mullen said.
On this years Memorial Day weekend, Mullen observed that todays U.S. servicemembers constitute the best military Ive ever been associated with in my 41 years of wearing the uniform.
Mullen cited the tremendous resolve demonstrated by Americas servicemembers as they fight two wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Americas men and women in uniform have performed incredibly, Mullen said, noting that they deserve the support of their fellow citizens.
On Monday, this Memorial Day, Mullen said hed like America to remember those whove served and those that weve lost and their families.
Mullen also saluted the nations support of its wounded warriors.
Communities across America reach out to these young people, Mullen said, noting wounded warriors have gone forward, sacrificed greatly, to protect their fellow citizens.
Note: The following text is a quote:
http://www.jihadwatch.org/archives/026256.php
May 24, 2009
Belgium to accept Gitmo inmates
Who will surely assimilate there about as well as their counterparts in DC. “Belgium still ready to take in Guantanamo inmates,” from GEO, May 22:
BRUSSELS: Belgium’s foreign minister says his government remains committed to taking in several detainees from Guantanamo Bay when the U.S. military prison closes down.
Speaking to La Premiere radio during his current trip to Washington, D.C., Karel De Gucht says it remains to be seen how many former inmates may be taken in.
De Gucht says in Friday’s broadcast that he spoke to the White House’s national security adviser Gen. James Jones about the issue. He says the matter is complicated by the free travel regulations within the European Union, which would allow the former prisoners to change their country of residence without informing the authorities.
Belgium first offered to accept ``a certain number’’ of prisoners freed from Guantanamo when Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton visited Brussels in March.
Posted by Raymond at May 24, 2009 12:00 PM