***Breaking News***Gitmo to close within year!( edit-link added)

[Kajsa]

'President Obama to sign executive order Thursday to close Guantanamo Bay detention center within year'

edit to add link,

http://abclocal.go.com/kabc/story?section=news/politics...

[That Is Quite Enough]

1. Groovy. Now, beg your indulgence, but...

I'm wondering...will the administration be able to get around to closing down the CIA black sites scattered over the world?

Anyways, this is a good first step.

[Kajsa]

2. I hope so,TIQE.

Like you said, this is a good start.

[nickw]

3. how long?

Can it really take a year to get this done? It is such a positive move, but why the delay?

[Kajsa]

4. Nick, I don't know what is involved

with the shutdown,
the transferring of the prisoners, etc.

but I'm reading the story to say Gitmo will
be shut within the year. That leaves
the time frame open.

I'm hoping it can be done, ASAP.

Also, the prisoners will be out of there first,
before the facility is closed down.
That's my main concern.

Get them out of that hell hole!!

[phleshdef]

5. Bush admin left them with a legal nightmare on their hands because of the torture...

There are indeed terrorists in Gitmo. There are also indeed innocent people that never should have been imprisoned in the first place. Regardless, the Bush administration caused a legal quagmire when they broke Constitutional and International law and decided to use torture as a means of interrogating prisoners. So now the Obama administration has to sort out who is dangerous and how much otherwise worthy information on said individuals has been legally tainted based on the fact that coercion was involved. If they let the prisoners who are honestly a threat run free and then those individuals manage to do harm to us or our interests abroad, then the Obama administration will be accused of not keeping us safe.

Likewise, they also need to figure out who is truly innocent and then figure out if they can safely send them back to their own country or if circumstances might dictate that need to be taken in elsewhere.

You can't just open the doors and let everyone run free, thats just not responsible. Like the war in Iraq, its a situation we should never have been involved in at all, but since we can't change the past, we need to make sure that we set it right in a responsible manner with best interests for the future.