18 people out of Gitmo in the last month

[Neutron Monster]

The push is on to close it...

I don't think it counts as keeping a campaign promise if you wait 6 years to start to do it.

Two big groups still exist whose status is unresolved:

- What to do with all the Yemenis since that country is absolutely in chaos

- What to do with the people who are not ever going to be released

 

[Expect2Win]

No it's not really keeping a campaign promise, but at least it is getting done.
1. Let 'em go to Yemen. Let them sort it out.
2. Bring 'em to the U.S. put 'em on trial and l the courts sort it out.

 

[Stevedangos]

Teach them how to play chess

Or put them before a military court and hang them

 

[3Rfan]

U.S. Federal Courts have a VERY high conviction rate on terrorists.

 

[Neutron Monster]

#2 is not currently allowed by congress. But I think it's the clear endgame for people like KSM. There's a subset of people they can't prosecute or release though. How they are handled is the real long term issue.

#1 - the nat sec team has likely told the president he can't do that given the power of al Qaeda in Yemen. It could be a disaster.

 

[Neutron Monster]

Military courts are a joke. They should never have been set up. Either try people in us court when you think you can convict them or just keep them in indefinite detention of you think they are a danger.

 

[Scout 4u]

"Indefinite Detention"....Have we not already been down this road?

 

[Neutron Monster]

Bush did. Obama hasn't gone down this road. He's using the drones instead.

I think part of the reason Obama loves drones so much is his desire to avoid indefinite detention situations. We don't have a good answer to what to do when we capture terrorists. If you really believe in killing them, it's much easier to sell drones to the US public and to foreign powers than it is to sell capital punishment.

 

[Stevedangos]

Of the guys left in GTMO if they were fighters captured on the battlefield I would have a woman spank them and send them home. They aren't worth messing with.

If the prisoner had something to do with 9-11 we should hang them and be done with it

 

[Black&Gold82]

Originally posted by Neutron Monster:
Military courts are a joke. They should never have been set up. Either try people in us court when you think you can convict them or just keep them in indefinite detention of you think they are a danger.

Military courts are a joke?

 

[Neutron Monster]

Originally posted by Black&Gold82:

Originally posted by Neutron Monster:
Military courts are a joke. They should never have been set up. Either try people in us court when you think you can convict them or just keep them in indefinite detention of you think they are a danger.

Military courts are a joke?

For enemy combatants in the war on terror, yes.

There's only two classes of people at Gitmo:

- People who shouldn't be there

- People who shouldn't ever be out of there

You don't need a faux trial to figure that out. If you're going to argue these combatants are outside the rule of law, just do as you feel is right.

Stopping the commissions was something Obama did right. They were a pointless waste of time and resources.

 

[Neutron Monster]

Originally posted by 3Rfan:
U.S. Federal Courts have a VERY high conviction rate on terrorists.

They don't have evidence that proves guilt beyond a reasonable doubt for everyone in Gitmo that they want to keep locked up. And they don't want to give those guys the right to call witnesses and present evidence in a public setting. Remember when the so-called 20th hijacker Moussaoui tried to call Khalid Sheikh Muhammad as a witness?

 

[Black&Gold82]

Originally posted by Neutron Monster:

Originally posted by Black&Gold82:

Originally posted by Neutron Monster:
Military courts are a joke. They should never have been set up. Either try people in us court when you think you can convict them or just keep them in indefinite detention of you think they are a danger.

Military courts are a joke?

For enemy combatants in the war on terror, yes.

There's only two classes of people at Gitmo:

- People who shouldn't be there

- People who shouldn't ever be out of there

You don't need a faux trial to figure that out. If you're going to argue these combatants are outside the rule of law, just do as you feel is right.

Stopping the commissions was something Obama did right. They were a pointless waste of time and resources.

So maybe they could convict those that need it quickly and execute or put them in prison and be done with it.

 

[Neutron Monster]

They don't have to convict anyone to put them in detention. They're already there. And they don't need a trial to decide someone is safe and release them. The trials were dog and pony shows.

No one at Gitmo is getting executed. Bush didn't do it, and Obama hasn't done it for 6 years.

I believe we are going to have current Gitmo prisoners in US custody at least 30 years from now. They may be somewhere else other than Cuba, but we'll still have people like KSM.

 

[3Rfan]

How is it we have have a base ,and a prison in Cuba anyway? I'm pretty sure we aren't friends or allies with them.

 

[Neutron Monster]

Pretty sure we send them a check for it every year that they refuse to cash.

 

[GooseHOF]

Originally posted by 3Rfan:
How is it we have have a base ,and a prison in Cuba anyway? I'm pretty sure we aren't friends or allies with them.

Believe it is a leftover of the Spanish-American war. The treaty for lease of the base was signed in 1903.