Surprise: Obama to issue order to close Gitmo in first week
posted at 4:01 pm on January 12, 2009 by Allahpundit
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Maybe on Inauguration Day itself, lest the left have to suffer even one more sleepless night.
It’s unlikely the detention facility at the Navy base in Cuba will be closed anytime soon. In an interview last weekend, Obama said it would be “a challenge” to close it even within the first 100 days of his administration.
But the order, which one adviser said could be issued as early as Jan. 20, would start the process of deciding what to do with the estimated 250 al-Qaida and Taliban suspects and potential witnesses who are being held there. Most have not been charged with a crime.
This is a direct result, no doubt, of progressive consternation at his backtracking yesterday on his promise to close Gitmo in the first 100 days. A compromise, then: He’ll order it closed right out of the chute, just to let them know he’s serious, then take his sweet time on the logistics. They’ve been kicking around Charleston naval base as one possibility for transfer, but it can’t accommodate the sheer numbers of detainees — yet. (A task for the new Obama WPA, maybe?) There are legal logistics to consider too, like what would constitute an “adequate substitute” for habeas under Boumediene if The One plans on using military tribunals instead of federal court (which he might) and, of course, what to do about the fact that some of the “suspects” are inveterate jihadist lunatics and simply can’t be freed under any circumstances.
Here’s a quickie highlight reel of the interview with Stephanopoulos. The Gitmo bit comes right at the beginning.
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The bigger question is where are they sending the detainees.
Mr. Joe on January 12, 2009 at 4:03 PM
I saw this as a headline all over the news, and actually thought he changed his mind (again).
Phoenician on January 12, 2009 at 4:04 PM
A place called “Hope”.
Pasalubong on January 12, 2009 at 4:04 PM
jump ahead 50 years and we’ll hear the wonderful and patriotic stories of how so many of our newer citizens recall their first sightings of gitmo and it symbolized ‘freedom’ how they knew that ‘allah’ is watching over our great country. lady liberty will never be the same
gatorboy on January 12, 2009 at 4:05 PM
Huckabee wanted to send these guys to Kansas… Maybe Obama will follow his lead.
gatorboy on January 12, 2009 at 4:05 PM
And,
will the MSM cover the El Code Pinko’s Anti-War Moonbat
celebrations,and will the MSM give credit to the crazy
Lefty moonbats!
canopfor on January 12, 2009 at 4:06 PM
Why not send one or two to each of the big time Hollywood libs who always demand we close Gitmo; if they are poor innocent brown people, what could be the harm? Where is their compassion now?
Neo on January 12, 2009 at 4:07 PM
Bring them on our “soil”, and then the court cases fly about being a resident, or immigrant, or whatever they dream up…
right2bright on January 12, 2009 at 4:07 PM
Obama really hates clinton, doesn’t he?
lorien1973 on January 12, 2009 at 4:08 PM
Why doesn’t he just invite them to the inauguration? Oh yeah, he’s against torture too…forgot.
AmericanUnderground on January 12, 2009 at 4:08 PM
And so it begins.
redrock on January 12, 2009 at 4:08 PM
I hope he sends the detainees to a blue state. Or better yet, a red state that turned blue this year.
myrenovations on January 12, 2009 at 4:08 PM
Huckabee wanted to send these guys to Kansas… Maybe Obama will follow his lead.
gatorboy on January 12, 2009 at 4:05 PM
Nah, the Dems know that would kill any chance of Sebelius picking up Brownback’s seat. One of the few instances in which their subordination of national security to politics is helpful.
BuzzCrutcher on January 12, 2009 at 4:08 PM
He will probably keep them at the White House with his mother in law.
Firebird on January 12, 2009 at 4:09 PM
I suspect we’ll end up re-settling these fine specimens of the human race somewhere in Detroit, St. Paul or Philadelphia.
Here’s a thought: why don’t we put them all on an aircraft with a complimentary box cutter on each seat. Said aircraft to be remotely piloted, which suffers a Controlled Flight Into Terrain anomaly.
BobMbx on January 12, 2009 at 4:09 PM
Obama is not doing jack. He is going to kick the can as far down the road as possible. He is of the left, he knows one misstep and a swarm of lawyers will descend on the detainees and work their magic. Do you think Axelrod wants Obama to risk the fun bunch from Guantanamo walking
AmericanDetroit streets? No way. Nothing happens between now and 2012.Theworldisnotenough on January 12, 2009 at 4:09 PM
Maybe they can all be named Senators by Blago?
AmericanUnderground on January 12, 2009 at 4:10 PM
Ah, this must be the “centrist” and even hawkish Obama I’ve been told so much about. The predictions of his moderation seem to have been greatly exaggerated.
amerpundit on January 12, 2009 at 4:10 PM
Reopen Alcatraz
LimeyGeek on January 12, 2009 at 4:11 PM
I still vote for refurbishing Alcatraz and storing them right in the heart of Pelosi’s constituency. After all, they’re the most outraged, aren’t they?
Option two involves shipping containers, the deepest part of the Atlantic, and .50 caliber machine guns. But Alcatraz would be more poetic.
Blacklake on January 12, 2009 at 4:11 PM
if he actually ends up doing this and the idiotic ACLU lawsuits begin, we can use this against him in coming years.
jp on January 12, 2009 at 4:14 PM
Your ideas intrigue me and I would like to subscribe to your newsletter.
amerpundit on January 12, 2009 at 4:15 PM
“But the order, which one adviser said could be issued as early as Jan. 20, would start the process of deciding what to do with the estimated 250 al-Qaida and Taliban suspects and potential witnesses who are being held there.”
This has NEVER been a problem for me. Execute them, one and all! This is a war declared on us by Islam! When are the “head in the sand”, PC leaders going to call it what it is, and deal with it as such?
GFW on January 12, 2009 at 4:15 PM
The Democrat controlled Congress is going to help out Mr. Obama in a way they would never help out President Bush and pass the legislation necessary to hold them on indefinite detention as a preventative measure. And we will eventually see that the myth that if we just closed Gitmo the world would like us is just a myth. Just like the myth that if America would just go ahead and elect Obama president the world would not accuse them of being racists.
Texas Gal on January 12, 2009 at 4:15 PM
You know it’s not going into any swing state — it will either go into a Red State or the red part of a solidly Blue State, where even having a bunch of al Qaida guys a few barbed wire fences away wouldn’t swing the state out of Obama’s column (which is why Depak Chopra’s suggestion to Bill O’Reilly a couple of weeks ago to put all the Gitmo detainees someplace in upstate New York was so wonderfully and typically liberal, since it showed absolutely no concern for what the red areas upstate might think about the idea).
jon1979 on January 12, 2009 at 4:15 PM
WWJBD?
gatorboy on January 12, 2009 at 4:15 PM
Why doesn’t he…..
AmericanUnderground on Jan 12,2009 at 4:08PM.
AmericanUnderground:Hehe,good one,maybe Hopey will give
Code Pinko’s an extra “guest pass”,
for the ‘Inaugration’ to show that the
left were ‘victims as well’!!Haha!:)
(I’m being a tad saracastic!):)
canopfor on January 12, 2009 at 4:15 PM
I’ll bet he orders the closing to take place, “as soon as all detainees have been processed out,” which is the exact same timeframe Bush was considering. This type of statement should placate his fans, mollify most of the hard left (they are pretty stupid you know), and leave himself all kind of options to push the actual closing way out into the future. He will always preface statements about having to extend operations with how much his administration wants to close the place, and how hard they are working to close the place, but (fill in excuse of the day here).
Buford on January 12, 2009 at 4:16 PM
Yes, let’s look like total weenies to our enemies.
Blake on January 12, 2009 at 4:16 PM
He really is articulate.
Only the truly talented can talk out of both sides of their mouth at the same time.
cs89 on January 12, 2009 at 4:17 PM
Let’s bring ALL those detainees… to Washington DC, where we can keep an eye on them..
originalpechanga on January 12, 2009 at 4:18 PM
Crappy, slipshod reporting, what a shock.
There is a “Naval Weapons Station Charleston”. There is also a “U.S. Naval Consolidated Brig Charleston”. As well as Naval Hospital Charleston. There are various Naval Schools located in Charleston.
There is no “Navy base Charleston”, as referenced in the article.
So my question is, where are these potential murderers being held, so their compatriots can come and try and break them out?
The Brig?
The Weapons Station? That would be great.
Close to a large civilian population. Great idea, Bambi.
Because if these lunatics break out and kill American civilians (something they could not have done at GITMO), South Carolina only has a few electoral votes, so who cares?
Much more important to coddle terrorists.
NoDonkey on January 12, 2009 at 4:19 PM
Soooo…once The “O” closes Gitmo, what are we going to do with a few hundred “landed immigrants” who have already shown a propensity for violence?
Which of the sanctuary cities are going to jump to the head of the line and accept them?
coldwarrior on January 12, 2009 at 4:19 PM
Wait… he’s not going to free them?
Then this whole “closing Gitmo” is a sham. “I closed Gitmo” (and moved the terrorists to another prison and still gave them military tribunals)
Skywise on January 12, 2009 at 4:19 PM
Can they all attend Sidwell Friends School?
Maybe then the terrorist will receive the well deserved attention they need.
How’s the water boys?
christene on January 12, 2009 at 4:20 PM
South side of Chicago gets my vote. Or the White House lawn.
capitalist piglet on January 12, 2009 at 4:20 PM
Scatter them around Federal Max Security prisons. The inmates will greet them with joy and use their heads for soccer balls.
izoneguy on January 12, 2009 at 4:21 PM
ROFLMAO!
Ding.. ding .. ding!
Texas Gal on January 12, 2009 at 4:21 PM
Just shoot them.
sdillard on January 12, 2009 at 4:22 PM
Once these Terrorist clowns are back in the field of
Jihady operations,and are back to ‘Death to the Great
Satan’and the business of killing American soldiers,
who then,will the Lefty MSM try to pin the blame on?
canopfor on January 12, 2009 at 4:22 PM
Set them free in New York and then turn New York into a maximum security prison. After President for Life Obama crashes AF1 into NYC, we send in Snake Plissken…
Geministorm on January 12, 2009 at 4:22 PM
Does issue the order mean close it…could it be another 10 years till it happens.
tomas on January 12, 2009 at 4:24 PM
The whole dang point, as I understand it, of Gitmo was that it is kind of a legal no man’s land. As other posters have pointed out the moment these pieces of pork poo cross into the US, the ACLU and every leftist lawyer (Some redundancy) will be working to free them, abuse the process to reveal our state secrets and otherwise create Mahem.
It’s amazing how Barack HUSSEIN obama is going to end up helping ISLAMIC TERRORISTS. Who woulda thought.
You know, GOD forbid there is a terrorist attack, I might just be evil enough to laugh at any of the liberals I know to their face if their family members get toasted.
I just had a jacka$$ fellow businessman send me a newsletter with “Yes we Can” in big letters. He’s a big obarfy supporter. Next time I see him it’s going to be an intereting verbal exchange. maybe he’d be willing to board one of these dirtballs on work-release in his house.
bullseye on January 12, 2009 at 4:24 PM
He wants to get those guys back to Gaza to help his Hamas and Hezbolla friends
mindhacker on January 12, 2009 at 4:24 PM
Entelechy on January 12, 2009 at 4:25 PM
It might be a nice gesture to invite CAIR to step forward and help with the placement of these innocent martyrs. CAIR is in touch with all the Muslim sanctuaries across America and could soon pair the brothers with the brothers that live right here among you.
BL@KBIRD on January 12, 2009 at 4:25 PM
Have you thought about selling this idea to a video game company?
Geministorm on January 12, 2009 at 4:25 PM
Lets put small transmitters under their skin, track’em for a few weeks, then introduce them to a JDAM as parting gift.
BobMbx on January 12, 2009 at 4:26 PM
Load yer weapons and double check new applications for school bus drivers. Reread recent history for Beslan and Mumbai.
a capella on January 12, 2009 at 4:26 PM
I’m concerned about the nutrition levels of the sharks in the Caribbean. Maybe we could kill two birds with one stone here.
rbj on January 12, 2009 at 4:27 PM
Catapult them over Gitmo’s walls and let the Castro Bros figure out what to do with them. Kind of like how corpses of plague victims were flung into besieged cities during the Black Death.
innominatus on January 12, 2009 at 4:28 PM
Option 3 – C 130’s with the terrs palletized from about 10k. If you really want to be nasty put some pig iron on the bottom of the pallets but use a chute to slow the descent.
bullseye on January 12, 2009 at 4:28 PM
Gitmo: Another amazing Bush success story.
Dave Rywall on January 12, 2009 at 4:28 PM
It’s an old idea and actually fairly close to a scenario presented during a Homeland Security lecture I recently attended.
This is child’s play compared to some of the other scenarios the national response system is looking at.
A very common one is a 10 kiliton nuclear bomb going off in a US city. At the conference, they told us the question is not if, but when.
But since Obama can change hearts and minds with a wink of his eye, I guess that’s all off of the table now.
I hope so, because if not, an event like this would severely damage Obama’s re-election prospects.
NoDonkey on January 12, 2009 at 4:29 PM
Great! The terrorists get the rights Americans have. Goody!
Who cares if Gitmo can’t be closed in 100 days? Maybe it’ll take 200 days, a year. It doesn’t matter because it’ll be closed and they’ll release some of these terrorists back into their native lands and they can regroup and bomb some more! Others here will get liberal trial lawyers and some could win millions in tax money for the “emotional damage” they suffered. ACLU jerks roaming around with lawsuits.
Oh the disasters that will ensue.
To all you repubics/RINOS who thought Obama would be “centrist” and realize the “importance of Gitmo.” What now fools?
jencab on January 12, 2009 at 4:30 PM
Rhetorical question:
Is every decision by The Obama administration going to be proceeded by a trial balloon?
Skandia Recluse on January 12, 2009 at 4:30 PM
Personally, I side with Mitt Romney. “Double it”.
Gonna be a long four years.
therightwinger on January 12, 2009 at 4:31 PM
Is this like picking all of your cabinet from Clinton relics then making all your lefty “friends” Czars that aren’t required to be confirmed by the Senate?
Dave, says the folks at Gitmo can hang out at his house until The One get’s it straightend out. What a sport!
Cindy Munford on January 12, 2009 at 4:32 PM
Once they hit American soil there won’t be any military tribunals, the lefty terrorist supporting America hating lawyers and their lefty friends in Congress will see to that. They will be on the street, on welfare, inside a year and planning their next attack paid for by us. They will happily die killing Americans and Obama will tell us to ’suck it up’; everyone has to have ’some skin in the game’, your wife and kids are your contribution.
johnsteele on January 12, 2009 at 4:32 PM
Charleston? Oh, how delicious for getting rid of that useful idiot Lindsay Gramnesty. People will be outraged. Of course, they pick a conservative state to send the dirth of the world. Whatever State they pick, any democrat in that state might as well pack it up. They will lose their next election if they let it happen. Move them to New York City or Washington D.C. or Michigan – they have the need for a new business. Sounds like a plan to me.
suzyk on January 12, 2009 at 4:33 PM
The constitutional lawyer quoted in the article doesn’t really care if it is closed or not, just saying it will be closed makes it all better. ::sigh::
A long 4 years indeed.
Sue on January 12, 2009 at 4:34 PM
Wasn’t Jamie Lee Curtis just telling us (via HuffPo) about the joys of bringing another person into your home during these tough economic times? So maybe she could get the first freed detainee.
MayBee on January 12, 2009 at 4:35 PM
What a f***ing turd he is. He, and everyone who voted for the a**hole.
ErinF on January 12, 2009 at 4:35 PM
Well, he could give them a bailout check and send them home. Or maybe he could team up with Backdoor John in the Senate: give them citizenship, some absentee ballots, a bailout check, and send them home.
austinnelly on January 12, 2009 at 4:36 PM
Refurbish & send them to Alcatraz Island….. Then all those Bay Area Lefties can have their fill of them…. This would also give the 9th Court of Appeals plenty of work to set them free in the Bay Area…..
RaisinsofWrath on January 12, 2009 at 4:37 PM
We don’t want them in Kansas!!! Even the old gray mare (Gov Sebelius) is all for closing Gitmo, but doesn’t want them in Kansas. We can’t have it both ways besides the weather in Cuba is much nicer, keep them there.
bopbottle on January 12, 2009 at 4:38 PM
We had a very long discussion thread of this topic during the campaign — this is a rerun.
BigD on January 12, 2009 at 4:40 PM
Why not just release them into the USA and call em in when their appointed court date arrives. I am sure, like all the illegal aliens who get DUIs they’ll show right on up to court when ordered.
James on January 12, 2009 at 4:40 PM
simply can’t be freed under any circumstances.
There you go, using common sense and logic again. You ar3e simply using outmoded societal constructs about right and wrong. /sarc off
You say they can’t be freed. I think the progressives will feel differently about that than you or I…
catmman on January 12, 2009 at 4:43 PM
June 26, 2009, to be exact.
http://hotair.com/archives/2008/06/26/put-gitmo-detainees-where/
BigD on January 12, 2009 at 4:43 PM
Pasalu was just being imprecise. He meant to say that it’s pronounced “Hope”
It’s spelled NIMBY
apollyonbob on January 12, 2009 at 4:45 PM
That order will cause a thousand deaths.
At least.
notagool on January 12, 2009 at 4:45 PM
Susan Sarandon and Tim Robbin’s front yard!!! That’s where they should be sent.
mjk on January 12, 2009 at 4:50 PM
72000 virgins is all they care about.
Wonder what Barry cares about?
Vera maybe?
christene on January 12, 2009 at 4:51 PM
The “O” will probably change his mind after a few security updates that he will have every morning.
mixplix on January 12, 2009 at 4:51 PM
So his out is that he was not giving the full info until after Bush left? It’s Bush’s fault!
- The Cat
MirCat on January 12, 2009 at 4:54 PM
What would you have done?
Entelechy on January 12, 2009 at 4:56 PM
he’s likely to close the place eventually, only to open up the same thing somewhere else(not on US Soil), to appease the Far-Left.
jp on January 12, 2009 at 4:56 PM
So the solution is to bring them to my back yard in SC? There’s a reason these terrorists are being held in Cuba.
cadams on January 12, 2009 at 4:57 PM
I propose that the Gitmo gang be split up and released into the States in direct proportion to the # of electoral votes that each State gave to Obomber. And that the rest of us start building fences.
james23 on January 12, 2009 at 4:57 PM
Stupidest move ever.
I hope that the good people of Charleston give him the proverbial middle finger. (Sorry W, but it’s hard to be civil when the incoming Commander in Chief is a threat to our national security).
Buy Danish on January 12, 2009 at 4:58 PM
They better not find out that one of those Gitmo terrorists killed any innocent people. Man, Obama is treading on thin ice. Public opinion will completely flip if he’s responsible for an attack on US soil.
marklmail on January 12, 2009 at 5:02 PM
Obama will be meeting with each and every one of the Detainee’s to confirm that they have been tortured and abused at Gitmo. Then he will give each one immediate amnesty and US Citizenship. They will be among your next door neighbors by April 1. They will then be witnesses at the Bush War Crimes Trial.
BDS/Off
PappaMac on January 12, 2009 at 5:03 PM
Silly question: Since “redistribution of wealth” is not one of the duties delegated to the United States by the Constitution , shouldn’t that be handled by the states per the 10th Amendment?
rgranger on January 12, 2009 at 5:03 PM
Yes. And if he still can’t figure which way the wind is blowing, he’ll vote “present”.
Rod on January 12, 2009 at 5:03 PM
fify
thomasaur on January 12, 2009 at 5:05 PM
I doubt it. For the foreseeable future, They’ll blame Bush.
Rod on January 12, 2009 at 5:07 PM
Just send them to Berkeley. They’ll fit right in.
Fogpig on January 12, 2009 at 5:08 PM
Let me recommend UN headquarters, New York City, New York.
petefrt on January 12, 2009 at 5:10 PM
Bing.
Jaibones on January 12, 2009 at 5:10 PM
That’s the problem. They’ll train the Berkites.
- The Cat
MirCat on January 12, 2009 at 5:11 PM
Shouldn’t they have started the process of deciding where these guys are going before they decided to close the place?
Attila (Pillage Idiot) on January 12, 2009 at 5:11 PM
It’s becoming clearer with each passing day that the trial balloon is the way he is going to govern. What grown up does that? Bill Clinton, but then he was never a grown up. There is no plan for anything. He appointed all those stupid Clintonites. They couldn’t govern either. They sit around and pretend to work, but nothing happens. The ship of state without a captain. No substance in the whole damned crew.
BetseyRoss on January 12, 2009 at 5:13 PM
Apparently they’ve been putting pressure on countries like Australia to take and resettle some of the inmates. Needless to say once the story broke in Australia the plan went down like a lead weight with the Australian public with a lot of people saying Obama can go and get stuffed.
Dreadnought223 on January 12, 2009 at 5:13 PM
When is he going to stop campaigning?
sherry on January 12, 2009 at 5:14 PM
A short-term thinker; typical Liberal.
baldilocks on January 12, 2009 at 5:17 PM
Well, they stayed detained, so yes Id call that a success. Everything Barry will do can only be equal to or worse.
Chuck Schick on January 12, 2009 at 5:19 PM
So “change” really means changing one’s mind and changing one’s story everytime he gets some political heat. Of course, first, one has to have convictions in order to govern with the courage of them.
Done That on January 12, 2009 at 5:20 PM
I hate to say it but i agree..
So here is what the Messia should do..
1. Close club gitmo
2. give each prisoner a parachute
3. put them all into a c130 and just make one flight over each country and shove them out the back door..
4. then to ensure no more Islamic terrorists are captured
Issue a Shoot to Kill No prisioners allowed order..
Problem solved..
Oh but Obama doesnt have any balls so he couldnt do it..
jcila on January 12, 2009 at 5:24 PM
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