Obama’s GITMO

Before it was President Barack Obama, I too was happy to hear him say that he would close Guantanamo Bay.  Now that the news of this new Executive Order is out, I must say that I am greatly disturbed and saddened.  What I am not is willing to assume that this decision was reached as early as it is reported in Glen Greenwald’s article titled Obama's new executive order on Guantanamo.  I am also not willing to say it was a neither easy decision nor demand that he change his mind and do what I would have loved to see him do.

Mr. Greenwald’s article describes it as “President Obama yesterday signed an Executive Order which, as The Washington Post described it, "will create a formal system of indefinite detention for those held at the U.S. military prison at Guantanamo Bay" and "all but cements Guantanamo Bay's continuing role in U.S. counterterrorism policy." None of this is the slightest bit unexpected. The new Executive Order has been previewed for months and merely codifies what has long been Obama's policy: "long" in the sense of "since he's inaugurated"  -- not, of course, "when he was a Senator and presidential candidate." I'm writing about this merely to address the excuse from the White House and its loyalists that the fault for this policy, this inability to "close Guantanamo," lies with Congress, which forced the President to abandon his oft-stated campaign pledge. That excuse is pure fiction.”

Pure fiction or not, it is assumed that the President is privy to information that we are not and to assume that he did this mainly to escape responsibility is as fiction as Mr. Greenwald says the policy was.  This albatross is now clearly wrapped around his neck and he will have to wear it as a tie from this moment on.  He will never be able to shed this tag and maybe someday we may learn the real reason behind his decision.  I am willing to trust that he had a good reason for it as well as Bush but only time will tell.  If it is a case of release only to have them re-join the fight against us and/or the refusal of other countries to take them, then let’s make sure we treat all of them with the same kind of respect that we currently treat prisoners held here after getting a life sentence.

I am definitely against this decision based on what I know now but not having access to the information that both Bush and Obama have, I can only hope that they both are really doing what they believe is the best on behalf of all Americans citizens both here and abroad.