Politics and Religion

Re No. It was manufactured
dncphil 16 Reviews 1279 reads
posted

There was no negative image when it opened.  We had captured literally tens of thousands of prisoners, and the army and CIA did extensive research and ended up with about 800 that they thought needed to be detained.  They screened out thousands whom they did not detain.

At that time, there was no negative connotation applied to detaining people captured in war.  In war, when you catch someone, traditionally, in every war in the history of the world, you had one of two options: Detain them "for the duration" or kill them.

Also, it was undeniable that legally it was hard to classify these people.  They were not in uniform. They were not necessarily citizens of any one country that we were at war with.  We are allies with Saudi Arabia, but Saudis were captured.  

Almost all were captured in Afghanistan, but the were Saudi, Jordanian, and other nationalities, fighting under a "banner" that did not belong to any one country.  

Since they were not "soldiers," the closest thing that the approached in legal terms was "brigands."  Again, this is a legal classification that usually ended with captured brigands being summarily executed.  Imprisoning them was very nice.

For the most part, they sure as hell did not want to be sent to their home countries.  

Gitmo never had a negative connotation until the anti-war crowd started spreading negative stories.  Many of these stories have been shown to be false.

As the Obama administration has noted, it is one of the best run prisons in the world.  There may have been a few people who were not perfect soldiers, but for the most part all the "image" problem was caused by the left.

There was tons of stuff published before the election.  Obama only raised false hope by refusing to speak honestly about Gitmo.  Of course, politically he could not have said anything that he has recently said because the next question would be, "So what is wrong with Bush's policy?"

and see what the Defense Secretary says (see link).
Since he served under GW, it seems he would be more objective than the self-serving Congressman and women. And, I thinking I'll go with what he has to say.

Timbow2370 reads

But Robert Gates , is that William Gates like Obama called him on his telelprompter ,did not back up Obama with the Jan  date .
By the way there  is only one supermax prison  in Colorado not more like Obama said .

-- Modified on 5/22/2009 10:41:57 AM

Gates said it is "probably one of the finest prisons in the world today." He explained that the problem is its image. In other words, according to top Obama officials, the prison is run incredibly well, but it was all the publicity about it tnat made it a problem.

Well, who caused and contributed to that publicity.  

Obama didn't inherit the problem aspect from Bush. He inherit a great prison.  He got problem side from himself and his allies.

My understanding is that the negative image was created a long time ago, when it was first conceived and opened. It was opened, not to protect us from scary terrorists escaping from our prisons, but to get around some legal issues regarding their status and prosecution. The whole world knew what we were doing and why.

There was no negative image when it opened.  We had captured literally tens of thousands of prisoners, and the army and CIA did extensive research and ended up with about 800 that they thought needed to be detained.  They screened out thousands whom they did not detain.

At that time, there was no negative connotation applied to detaining people captured in war.  In war, when you catch someone, traditionally, in every war in the history of the world, you had one of two options: Detain them "for the duration" or kill them.

Also, it was undeniable that legally it was hard to classify these people.  They were not in uniform. They were not necessarily citizens of any one country that we were at war with.  We are allies with Saudi Arabia, but Saudis were captured.  

Almost all were captured in Afghanistan, but the were Saudi, Jordanian, and other nationalities, fighting under a "banner" that did not belong to any one country.  

Since they were not "soldiers," the closest thing that the approached in legal terms was "brigands."  Again, this is a legal classification that usually ended with captured brigands being summarily executed.  Imprisoning them was very nice.

For the most part, they sure as hell did not want to be sent to their home countries.  

Gitmo never had a negative connotation until the anti-war crowd started spreading negative stories.  Many of these stories have been shown to be false.

As the Obama administration has noted, it is one of the best run prisons in the world.  There may have been a few people who were not perfect soldiers, but for the most part all the "image" problem was caused by the left.

There was tons of stuff published before the election.  Obama only raised false hope by refusing to speak honestly about Gitmo.  Of course, politically he could not have said anything that he has recently said because the next question would be, "So what is wrong with Bush's policy?"

If they are ever moved to a US prison, the detainees will be clamoring to get back to Gitmo.  

Gitmo has gone to extreme lengths to accomodate their religious beliefs, far more so than the accomodations required of prisons in the US.

I have clients in California prisons who fight tooth and nail to get meals that are barely Halal, the Islamic version of kosher. Gitmo has strict halal meals and all other things needed for the observant, except suicide vests.

If they get sent to Super Max prisons, the isolation is incredible, especially for high risk inmates who may be a bad influence on others.  (Does the recent bust in NY where the defendants were converted in prison raise concerns about the role of Islamic prisoners?)

Timbow1505 reads

Yea, they will be state prisons as well as the only  Federal Supermax prison is in Colorado ;)
No nice Carribean breeze and the terrorists will just love the prison  IRF teams .

-- Modified on 5/22/2009 3:53:26 PM

Register Now!