Gibbs: 'It's going to be a while' before Gitmo prison is shut down

[Cali_Democrat]

http://thehill.com/blogs/blog-briefing-room/news/135107-gibbs-going-to-be-a-while-before-guantanamo-prison-closes

Gibbs: 'It's going to be a while' before Gitmo prison is shut down
By Jordan Fabian - 12/26/10 09:22 AM ET

Even though nearly a year has passed since the administration's self-imposed deadline to close the Guantanamo Bay military prison, White House press secretary Robert Gibbs said Sunday the facility will not go away any time soon.

<snip>

"It's certainly not going to close in the next month. I think it's going to be a while before that prison closes," he said during an interview on CNN's "State of the Union."

Closing the Guantanamo Bay prison was one of then-Sen. Obama's major campaign promises during the 2008 presidential race and it has been a key issue for members of his liberal base, which has at times been put off by the White House's plans of action on their priorities.

<snip>

Gibbs said that President Obama is looking for Republican cooperation to close the prison."I think part of this depends on the Republicans' willingness to work with the administration on this," he said.

Read more...http://thehill.com/blogs/blog-briefing-room/news/135107-gibbs-going-to-be-a-while-before-guantanamo-prison-closes

Obama is looking for Republican cooperation to help close the prison. Surely the Republicans will act in good faith. :sarcasm:

[ClarkUSA]

1. What Pres. O is doing is reasoned, considering it takes Congress to allocate funds for the closing.

With teabagging Obama-hating Republican Failers in control of the House for the next two years, I'd say Gibbs is absolutely correct. After all, President Obama does not possess a magic wand with which he can release Treasury monies just because that's what he wants. Only Congress can do that. Some people don't seem to understand this simple fact of how our government works, unfortunately.

[tekisui]

3. He is actively preventing detainees from being officially charged

and tried. Indefinite detention is wrong no matter where it is occurring.

[ClarkUSA]

7. Red herring much? I could care less about replying to your accusatory spin.

[tekisui]

14. You call indefinite detention without charge spin.

Civil rights advocates disagree.

BTW, you replied.

[ClarkUSA]

23. Your accusations re: Obama's motives = "spin"

Sure I replied but only to :eyes:

[Exilednight]

4. Thye president can also close it by denying funding to keep it open. Works

both ways.

[Arkana]

5. The President doesn't get to make that decision because he's not

a dictator. Congress controls the purse strings.

[Exilednight]

8. All defense spending is put in a bill. Gitmo gets funded through the legislative process ...

Veto the defense spending bill, problem solved.

[Arkana]

9. Yes, veto the defense bill and screw the troops in the Middle East out of money and supplies

to make a political point! What a brilliant tactical maneuver! Are you sure you're not a professional political operative? :sarcasm:

[Exilednight]

18. Bush used that phrase when congress attempted to

put a withdrawal date on the Iraq spending bill.

BTW: Obama has stated that we no longer have "combat troops" in the middle-east. We supposedly withdrew all our "combat troops" from Iraq.

And if you are suggesting Afghanistan is in the middle-east, then I suggest a geography lesson. .

[Arkana]

24. Fine. We'll go with "Asia" if you're going to nitpick.

And it is a valid concern, whether you like it or not. I don't like that they're in there but if they're going to be they should have the best damned equipment and protection possible. Vetoing the defense budget to please 25% of the country is going to irreparably piss off the other 75% for no good reason.

[Exilednight]

25. So let's worry about pissing off parts of the population instead of doing the right thing?

What's the point of electing someone you believe to do the right thing if they don't do the right thing? What happened to being a good one term president instead of being a bad two term president? What happened to words matter?

[Arkana]

26. How is it "doing the right thing" when you hang soldiers out to dry?

Some of them probably don't want to be there any more than we want them to be there. Would you have them go unprotected?

This venture in Afghanistan is not going to end because President Obama decides to veto the defense budget. He has to MAKE the decision to get the troops out. But while they're there I want them to be safe and secure.

[Exilednight]

27. Leaving GItmo open is dangerous to US troops. It creates more

terrorists than it takes off the battlefields. At least that's what Obama said, and I agreed with him then, and I still believe it.

But then again, so much for words matter.

[ClarkUSA]

6. Huh? The Congress controls the purse strings of government, not the POTUS.

[msanthrope]

11. Don't bring facts into this. n/t

[Skittles]

16. fuck, not the MAGIC WAND shit again

FUCK

[TheKentuckian]

17. You still like to play hung up on Gitmo: North funding.

The real issue is that these folks must be put on trial or released. The Constitution does not allow for indefinite detention regardless of the geography of the prison.

[Arkana]

2. Gibbs isn't doing anything other than stating the obvious--if Gitmo

is to be closed Republicans are going to have to play ball. Whether they will or not is another question, but attacking Gibbs and Obama for stating what should be patently obvious is beneath you.

[jenmito]

10. Gibbs also said Obama isn't giving up on closing Gitmo and that it's a big recruiting tool

for al Qaeda, which has been the case for years and remains the case. I only wish Gibbs would've pointed out that DEMS. in Congress are ALSO not allowing Gitmo to be closed.

[Arkana]

12. Exactly. Obstructionist Republicans and NIMBY Dems

are making sure that the White House is the only faction that wants Gitmo closed.

[jenmito]

20. Yup...

the NIMBY Dems. wimped out under pressure/scare tactics from Repubs. who scared the citizens to death, thinking the detainees would be walking free in the parks where little kids play. :eyes:

[Proud Liberal Dem]

13. That is perhaps the most aggravating things about this

I expect Republicans to be stupid, regressive, whiny, cowardly, and willing to stoke fear for political purposes. I do not expect Democrats to be the same way when it comes to things like this but, as the number of NIMBY Dems proves, they can be just as bad on some issues as the Republicans. At some point (we are going on nearly a decade since we captured some of these people), however, our leaders are all going to have to come together and decide on SOME kind of plan to try these individuals currently at Gitmo and, as warranted, either lock them up for the rest of their lives or send them back to their country of origin (or at least any country willing and able to take them). Moving them from Gitmo- while awaiting some kind of adjudication process- into Supermax prisons that nearly everybody currently thinks is good enough to hold murderers, rapists, and other thugs really shouldn't be all that big of a deal and, for all of those people worried about avoiding unnecessarily stoking terrorist outrage, keeping Gitmo open, perhaps indefinitely, will make the situation just that much worse. Of all of the messes that Bushco left for President Obama, the legal and ethical morass of Gitmo (and its detainees), is by far the worst of them IMHO.
:banghead:

[jenmito]

21. I know! It makes me so mad to see the DEMS. fearing the BS scare tactics

of the Repubs. and chickening out to look as "tough" as the Repubs.

[Mimosa]

15. A while like NEVER.

The Empire is having noting of it. Is there anybody on D.U. who believes President Obama has *real power* over major policies?

The PTB will allow Obama some 'wins'. he'll go out of his presidency honourably, unembarrassed, with a couple of wins to which he can point pridefully. But he will not be allowed to interefere with the major economic agendas across the globe. For instance, 'we' need the mineral resources in Afghanistan. And by hook or crook, despite a few thousand dead and crippled soldiers, we shall prevail.

[golfguru]

19. and it will be MUCH LONGER before Afghan war is ended

In the 2 years just passed more American soldiers were killed in Afghanistan
than last 2 years of Iraq war. Yet there is no clamor to end the stupid Afghan war.

Every one of the Al Qaeda leadership is in Pakistan. Yet we are not
allowed to go after them! So why are we giving Billions of dollars
every year to Pakistan, courtesy of US taxpayers? The Pakistani leaders
must be laughing their heads off in private while drinking Black Label
Johnny Walker.

In the meanwhile the guerrilla war in Afghanistan continues to be a
meat grinder and Treasury bleeder with no end in sight. The rugged
mountainous terrain of eastern Afghanistan is arguably the worst place
to fight a war.

And to make matters worse, we are borrowing the money from China to
fight the war. The interest on those loans will last in perpetuity
since there are no budget surpluses to pay off 1 penny of the principal.

[martymar64]

28. The United States will end as a country before we leave Afghanistan

We'll have troops stuck there with no government to send them home.

Afghanistan will be the undoing of the US. We won't leave even if it means that our own government collapses.

[golfguru]

30. I hope it does not come to that

However I am thoroughly disappointed in Obama's Afghan policy.

[gkhouston]

22. Let's send a few Republican Senators there. Priorities might change, rapidly.

:evilgrin:

[Rosa Luxemburg]

29. Republicans like torture chambers