Obama's Gitmo Plan Falls Short

originally posted at: 2BucksWorth.com

In his first week in office, President Obama declared that the terrorist detention facility at Guantanamo Bay Naval Base would be closed. He didn't say how he was going to pull it off, but you have to give him credit for trying to keep a campaign promise.

From that day to this week, his opponents have been allowed to frame the argument about the closing of the controversial prison, and his lack of details led to Congress refusing to fund the closing of the facility.

Now yesterday, the President gave a speech at the National Archives to take back control of this issue. I'm not going to break down the whole speech (which was very long) but here's some thoughts...

1. I find it tacky at best to give a political speech at a sacred place like the National Archives. Make no mistake, the plans he talked about in this speech are political calculations to endear us to other countries and please the U.S. left.

2. While I agree that "enhanced interrogation techniques" are not always the best option, they are occasionally a better option than waiting for something bad to happen. We know that water-boarding revealed a plot for a 9-11 style attack on Los Angeles. If the President thinks that our "torture" could be a recruiting tool for terrorists, what do you think successful attack on a major U.S. city will do for terrorists recruiting?

3. For a guy who says he is not interested in rehashing the past 8 years, the President spent an awful lot of time taking about the last 8 years.

4. I'm all for deporting some of the illegal combatants if other countries will take them and can assure us they will not be released or escape.

5. I'm all for reviewing these cases, as the President proposes, and getting on with prosecutions where warranted.

6. Some of these terrorists cannot be tried here in the U.S., and should not be housed here, even in federal super-max prisons. Even if they can't escape (there's a 1st time for everything), these baddest of the baddies are rock-stars in the terrorist and anti-U.S. crowd, they will preach their hate to the most willing listeners and radicalize those who will someday be released (like the home grown terrorists who were recently caught trying to blow up New York synagogues and military planes, they were radicalized while in prison).

One more point: I know that some of you think I hate President Obama, but nothing could be farther from the truth. He's a very smart man who probably really does want what he thinks is best for the country. The "he thinks" part is where I begin to disagree. Despite all of Mr. Obama's charm, he's still a politician...which means I probably won't trust him; and he's a liberal...which means I probably won't agree with him often. Trying to make that disagreement into hate, or worse: racism, only cheapens the tradition of debate that our country holds so dear.

Nolanbuck