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Memo to Obama: You Can Do a Lot Better on Detainee Policy

Posted by Booman, Booman Tribune at 6:01 AM on July 9, 2009.


Obama may pay a high political price for doing the right thing, but he just has to pay it.

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Obama is doing a lot of things well, but he's screwing up his detainee policy very badly. Dealing with the Gitmo detainees is just not something you can finesse and resolve without taking a political hit. I know Congress is not cooperating and that that makes it nearly impossible to disposition these cases in a just manner. I know that other countries' willingness to take these detainees off our hands is limited, and that puts us in a real bind if we deem them too dangerous to release into our population and yet don't feel we can convict them in a court of law. I understand that neither the people nor the Congress will casually accept any Gitmo detainees being released in America even if the administration deems them harmless.


But you can't put someone on trial, see them acquitted of the charges against them, and then keep them detained anyway. Anyone who is put on trial should be on trial for their freedom. They win, they go free. Keep them in the witness protection program to keep an eye on them if you need to, but let them go.

I know that no solution is going to be pretty, but you can do a whole lot better than this. Keeping the country safe is critically important, but so is maintaining our commitment to principles of justice. You may pay a high political price for doing the right thing, but you just have to pay it.

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Tagged as: obama, detainees

Booman is the proprietor of the Booman Tribune.


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Amen.
Posted by: RobbieUMD on Jul 9, 2009 7:37 AM   
Current rating: 5    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
This is the most troubling policy of the Obama Administration. Who expected him to go even further right than Bush, on anything?

[« Reply to this comment] [Post a new comment »] [Rate this comment: 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5]

» Who? Posted by: robert.noll
Fools and cowards
Posted by: QQOblivion on Jul 9, 2009 7:53 AM   
Current rating: Not yet rated    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
From article:
"...neither the people nor the Congress will casually accept any Gitmo detainees being released in America even if the administration deems them harmless."

Americans are all cowards. Total cowards.

We don't deserve freedom in this country. We really don't.

[« Reply to this comment] [Post a new comment »] [Rate this comment: 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5]

Keeping the country safe is important, but so is maintaining commitment to principles of JUSTICE
Posted by: JohnHKennedy Denver CO on Jul 9, 2009 8:37 AM   
Current rating: Not yet rated    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
"you can do a whole lot better than this. Keeping the country safe is critically important, but so is maintaining our commitment to principles of justice."

Well said. How to push Obama to do the right thing is the question?


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Over 250,000 have signed
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[« Reply to this comment] [Post a new comment »] [Rate this comment: 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5]

Firing Squad
Posted by: FullMetalMayhem on Jul 9, 2009 12:43 PM   
Current rating: 1    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
I have the perfect solution to the gitmo detainee issue, lock the door, and set gitmo on fire -no great loss for mankind-

[« Reply to this comment] [Post a new comment »] [Rate this comment: 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5]

» RE: Firing Squad Posted by: robert.noll