MioMyo
2009-05-24 17:35:38 UTC
In almost a unanimous vote, a Bipartisan vote of 90-0 repudiates Obama's
closing GITMO?
Aren't most of the Dems who voted NOT to close GITMO, the same ones who
criticized Bush and called for its closing. You couldn't make this shit nor
could one measure the HYPOCRISY meter when it comes to the duplicity of the
democrat fascist party.....
http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5gj2oO72tz7sEIr76Tr_UrJNTtGSgD98C23R80
WASHINGTON (AP) - With President Barack Obama showing the way, some Senate
Democrats are signaling a willingness to permit transferring suspected
terrorists from Guantanamo to U.S. prisons despite a high-profile vote to
the contrary.
Most notably among them is Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, who spent the
week sending out confusing signals on just where he stood.
"We are wanting and willing to work with" the president to come up with a
solution to the detainee controversy, the Nevada Democrat said Thursday - a
statement that conspicuously left open the possibility that some detainees
would eventually be incarcerated in U.S. prisons.
Only two days earlier, Reid had adamantly told reporters he opposed the
release of any of the detainees into the United States. On Wednesday, he
joined 89 other lawmakers in both parties who voted to prohibit their
transfer.
The 90-6 vote also denied Obama the funds he requested to close the Navy-run
detention center in Cuba, which was set up by the Bush administration and
has become a highly controversial symbol of the former president's terrorism
policies.
Obama and many Democrats favor closing the facility, saying it has become a
recruiting tool for al-Qaida. But doing so leaves open the fate of most of
the 240 men held there.
Some Democrats grumbled that Obama's team had left them exposed politically
in the run-up to Wednesday's vote. Sen. Daniel Inouye, the Hawaii Democrat
who is chairman of the Appropriations Committee, spoke at one point of the
administration lacking a "coherent plan."
Initially, Senate Democrats, who hold a majority, had hoped to finesse the
issue. They drafted legislation that allowed Obama's use of the funds to
close Guantanamo after he presented a plan that outlined steps for dealing
with the detainees held there.
But under significant pressure from the Republican leader, Sen. Mitch
McConnell of Kentucky, and other GOP senators, Democrats backpedaled. They
stripped out the funds altogether and voted with Republicans to bar the
"transfer, release" or incarceration of any Guantanamo detainee in the
United States.
"I think it is a perfect place, given the unique nature of the war on
terror," McConnell said Thursday. "Having said that, the president, I
assume, has the authority to close it if he'd like to. And if he's going to
close it, then he needs a plan."
Within 24 hours of the Senate vote, Obama sought to reframe the issue,
accusing unnamed critics of fear-mongering and resorting to "words that,
frankly, are calculated to scare people rather than educate them."
At the same time, he made it clear he intends for some of the detainees to
be incarcerated in the U.S. "Where demanded by justice and national
security, we will seek to transfer some detainees to the same type of
facilities in which we hold all manner of dangerous and violent criminals
within our borders - namely highly secure prisons that ensure the public
safety."
Some terrorists, he pointed out, have already been tried in federal courts,
found guilty and sent to prison. "No one has ever escaped from one of our
federal, supermax prisons, which hold hundreds of convicted terrorists,"
Obama said.
The president said in an interview broadcast Saturday on C-SPAN that he is
confident "that if we approach this in a way that isn't trying to score
political points, but is trying to create a legal and institutional
framework with checks and balances, respectful of due process and rule of
law ... there is no reason why we can't try either in a military commission
or in a federal court people who've done us harm and also spend a bulk of
our time preventing people from doing us harm in the first place."
In addition to Reid, other Democrats who voted to ban the transfer of
detainees to the United States said after Obama's speech, they are willing
to consider the plan the president eventually presents.
"We need for the administration to come to the legislative branch with a
well-thought out plan, and then for us to have a conversation," said Sen.
Tom Carper, D-Del. Asked whether that meant he was unalterably opposed to
permitting detainees to enter U.S. prisons, he repeated it was up to the
White House to outline its plan first.
Sen. Claire McCaskill, D-Mo., said detainees can be incarcerated safely
inside the United States, but added quickly, "Should they be? That's a far
more difficult question to answer."
"It should be a last resort," she said, less preferable than sending them to
other countries.
Sen. Ben Cardin, D-Md., who also voted for the legislation on Wednesday and
favors closing Guantanamo, issued a statement saying he looked forward to
working with the administration on a "lawful and efficient system of trials
using an appropriate combination of our civilian courts and military
commissions."
What to do with the Guantanamo detainees mushroomed into the biggest
sticking point in a bill that Obama had wanted by Memorial Day to pay for
wars in Iraq and Afghanistan through the summer. So lawmakers will be under
pressure to quickly complete it when they return in June. But the Guantanamo
issue can be taken up again elsewhere, giving Obama some time to come up
with a plan that could generate a compromise.
closing GITMO?
Aren't most of the Dems who voted NOT to close GITMO, the same ones who
criticized Bush and called for its closing. You couldn't make this shit nor
could one measure the HYPOCRISY meter when it comes to the duplicity of the
democrat fascist party.....
http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5gj2oO72tz7sEIr76Tr_UrJNTtGSgD98C23R80
WASHINGTON (AP) - With President Barack Obama showing the way, some Senate
Democrats are signaling a willingness to permit transferring suspected
terrorists from Guantanamo to U.S. prisons despite a high-profile vote to
the contrary.
Most notably among them is Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, who spent the
week sending out confusing signals on just where he stood.
"We are wanting and willing to work with" the president to come up with a
solution to the detainee controversy, the Nevada Democrat said Thursday - a
statement that conspicuously left open the possibility that some detainees
would eventually be incarcerated in U.S. prisons.
Only two days earlier, Reid had adamantly told reporters he opposed the
release of any of the detainees into the United States. On Wednesday, he
joined 89 other lawmakers in both parties who voted to prohibit their
transfer.
The 90-6 vote also denied Obama the funds he requested to close the Navy-run
detention center in Cuba, which was set up by the Bush administration and
has become a highly controversial symbol of the former president's terrorism
policies.
Obama and many Democrats favor closing the facility, saying it has become a
recruiting tool for al-Qaida. But doing so leaves open the fate of most of
the 240 men held there.
Some Democrats grumbled that Obama's team had left them exposed politically
in the run-up to Wednesday's vote. Sen. Daniel Inouye, the Hawaii Democrat
who is chairman of the Appropriations Committee, spoke at one point of the
administration lacking a "coherent plan."
Initially, Senate Democrats, who hold a majority, had hoped to finesse the
issue. They drafted legislation that allowed Obama's use of the funds to
close Guantanamo after he presented a plan that outlined steps for dealing
with the detainees held there.
But under significant pressure from the Republican leader, Sen. Mitch
McConnell of Kentucky, and other GOP senators, Democrats backpedaled. They
stripped out the funds altogether and voted with Republicans to bar the
"transfer, release" or incarceration of any Guantanamo detainee in the
United States.
"I think it is a perfect place, given the unique nature of the war on
terror," McConnell said Thursday. "Having said that, the president, I
assume, has the authority to close it if he'd like to. And if he's going to
close it, then he needs a plan."
Within 24 hours of the Senate vote, Obama sought to reframe the issue,
accusing unnamed critics of fear-mongering and resorting to "words that,
frankly, are calculated to scare people rather than educate them."
At the same time, he made it clear he intends for some of the detainees to
be incarcerated in the U.S. "Where demanded by justice and national
security, we will seek to transfer some detainees to the same type of
facilities in which we hold all manner of dangerous and violent criminals
within our borders - namely highly secure prisons that ensure the public
safety."
Some terrorists, he pointed out, have already been tried in federal courts,
found guilty and sent to prison. "No one has ever escaped from one of our
federal, supermax prisons, which hold hundreds of convicted terrorists,"
Obama said.
The president said in an interview broadcast Saturday on C-SPAN that he is
confident "that if we approach this in a way that isn't trying to score
political points, but is trying to create a legal and institutional
framework with checks and balances, respectful of due process and rule of
law ... there is no reason why we can't try either in a military commission
or in a federal court people who've done us harm and also spend a bulk of
our time preventing people from doing us harm in the first place."
In addition to Reid, other Democrats who voted to ban the transfer of
detainees to the United States said after Obama's speech, they are willing
to consider the plan the president eventually presents.
"We need for the administration to come to the legislative branch with a
well-thought out plan, and then for us to have a conversation," said Sen.
Tom Carper, D-Del. Asked whether that meant he was unalterably opposed to
permitting detainees to enter U.S. prisons, he repeated it was up to the
White House to outline its plan first.
Sen. Claire McCaskill, D-Mo., said detainees can be incarcerated safely
inside the United States, but added quickly, "Should they be? That's a far
more difficult question to answer."
"It should be a last resort," she said, less preferable than sending them to
other countries.
Sen. Ben Cardin, D-Md., who also voted for the legislation on Wednesday and
favors closing Guantanamo, issued a statement saying he looked forward to
working with the administration on a "lawful and efficient system of trials
using an appropriate combination of our civilian courts and military
commissions."
What to do with the Guantanamo detainees mushroomed into the biggest
sticking point in a bill that Obama had wanted by Memorial Day to pay for
wars in Iraq and Afghanistan through the summer. So lawmakers will be under
pressure to quickly complete it when they return in June. But the Guantanamo
issue can be taken up again elsewhere, giving Obama some time to come up
with a plan that could generate a compromise.