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Why Closing Gitmo Isn’t Enough

Started by washingtonindependent · 7 months ago

At a call-in “town hall” meeting tonight, the American Civil Liberties Union reiterated its call for the new Obama administration to close the Guantanamo Bay prison on the president’s first day in office. With the help of the filmmaker Robert Greenwald, the ACLU is even ... Continue reading »

3 comments

  • spannistan

    7 months ago

    Hi Daphne,

    Actually, if remember right, the Boumedienne decision to grant habeas corpus rights DID extend beyond Gitmo. You might want to look at that more closely, though, as I am not entirely sure. But what is certain: everyone is worried about Cuba and missing this real issue--Bagram is the new Gitmo.
    reply
  • Mike M

    7 months ago

    Actually, Boumedienne wasn't clear about that at all. Certainly some lawyers are arguing that Boumedienne should extend beyond Gitmo, but the government (at least the current one) isn't likely to accept that.
    reply
  • Hawaiianstyle

    7 months ago

    We need to get the military out of the prison business. Civilian oversight of the military is a foundational concept in the American System. Lets use it.

    The military having participated in war, having watched their fellow fighters die, having been sniped at, bombed and ambushed are hardly objective in the administration of those suspected of doing such.

    The military commanded by a "war president" and having spent a lifetime of following orders is hardly the body that should be holding, interrogating, or rendering to another country a person arbitrarily or not named as an "enemy combatant" by the Commander in Chief.

    If we as a Country don't apply OUR Justice system to ALL prisoners we as a Country suffer. Its always ease to create another "us and them" category of enemies. Once we compromise our standards and our justice to meet a "new" or "different" or "threatening national security" group we degrade our moral position in the world.

    We need to remember that just as a corporation has a huge investment and value in its name, logo and "good will", so does the US. When you lose the moral high ground you might win the battle but you lose the war.
    reply

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