To close it, or not to close it

Posted by Kromey at 1:06pm May 22 '09
You must sign in to send Kromey a message

Whether 'tis nobler to suffer... *ahem* Sorry

Link below is to a commentary discussing Gitmo, or more accurately reporting on both sides of the discussion.

Obama believes: "Rather than keep us safer, the prison at Guantanamo has weakened American national security. It is a rallying cry for our enemies. It sets back the willingness of our allies to work with us in fighting an enemy that operates in scores of countries. By any measure, the costs of keeping it open far exceed the complications involved in closing it."

Cheney sees it this way: "On his second day in office, President Obama announced that he was closing the detention facility at Guantanamo. This step came with little deliberation and no plan. ... The administration has found that it's easy to receive applause in Europe for closing Guantanamo. But it's tricky to come up with an alternative that will serve the interests of justice and America's national security."

Cheney's playing typical politics here - ignore the issue and attack its supporters instead - while Obama's actually tackling the issue directly. (Not to say Cheney doesn't slip in some discussion of the issue itself, just that his focus, at least in this quote, is on attacking Obama instead of the issue. I need to find the full text of both speeches for a fuller comparison, though.)

What does 4K think? Does Gitmo make us safer? Does it need to remain open? Or should it get shut down? What do we do with the prisoners if it does?