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No Mo' Gitmo, Oh-Oh
Last Thursday, the new leader of the free world declared his free love by signing an executive order. With the symbolic stroke of his pen, President Obama banned torture and called for the closure of the prison camp at Guantanamo Bay. This order marks a distinct shift from the Bush administration. Since 2002, Camps X-Ray and Delta have served as the detention centers for prisoners, or enemy combatants, captured during the War of Terror. This practice of detention has been scrutinized for the lack of proper evidence and fundamental rights, including due process.
President Obama plans to provide these detainees with trials through the U.S. criminal justice system by the end of this year. During these trials, the president is prepared to keep the enemy combatants in maximum-security prisons here in the United States. These holding facilities being looked at include one in my hometown of Charleston, South Carolina. I know I wouldn't want the "mastermind of 9/11," Khalid Sheik Muhammad, living next door to me. What President Obama's trying to do is take what the Terminox guy collected, tell him they aren't termites, fleas, and roaches, and put them in the baby crib. Would you want filthy roaches crawling all over your sweet, precious infant? I don't think so. If the president wants to hold trails, a federal court would be useless. There would be too many legal loopholes. Instead, establishing a homeland security court that provides more, but not all, the rights may be the best alternative.
The president also wants to open discussions with the detainees' native countries, hopefully returning them to their homeland. Yemen has produced almost half of the enemy combatants held at Guantanamo. In 2000, two terrorists drove their boat lined with explosives into the USS Cole docked in Yemen, killing seventeen sailors. It'll be difficult trying to establish diplomatic talks with a country that hates us so much. I'm sure they'd love to cooperate with us. And even if they took the enemy combatants back, their porous borders will have no trouble keeping them there.
Many critics claim what the Bush administration did at Guantanamo was unlawful and unjust. However illegal it may have been, it did keep our country safe, secure, and strong. At the constant badgering of the Democrats, the Bush administration released around five hundred enemy combatants and put them through rehabilitation programs designed for former jihadists. While many of them peacefully passed these programs, few returned to fight. The day President Obama signed his executive order, a freed Saudi from Guantanamo resurfaced as a leader of Al-Qaeda operations in Yemen. This is one of the very true and very dangerous risks that come with trying and releasing these enemy combatants.
President Obama plans to provide these detainees with trials through the U.S. criminal justice system by the end of this year. During these trials, the president is prepared to keep the enemy combatants in maximum-security prisons here in the United States. These holding facilities being looked at include one in my hometown of Charleston, South Carolina. I know I wouldn't want the "mastermind of 9/11," Khalid Sheik Muhammad, living next door to me. What President Obama's trying to do is take what the Terminox guy collected, tell him they aren't termites, fleas, and roaches, and put them in the baby crib. Would you want filthy roaches crawling all over your sweet, precious infant? I don't think so. If the president wants to hold trails, a federal court would be useless. There would be too many legal loopholes. Instead, establishing a homeland security court that provides more, but not all, the rights may be the best alternative.
The president also wants to open discussions with the detainees' native countries, hopefully returning them to their homeland. Yemen has produced almost half of the enemy combatants held at Guantanamo. In 2000, two terrorists drove their boat lined with explosives into the USS Cole docked in Yemen, killing seventeen sailors. It'll be difficult trying to establish diplomatic talks with a country that hates us so much. I'm sure they'd love to cooperate with us. And even if they took the enemy combatants back, their porous borders will have no trouble keeping them there.
Many critics claim what the Bush administration did at Guantanamo was unlawful and unjust. However illegal it may have been, it did keep our country safe, secure, and strong. At the constant badgering of the Democrats, the Bush administration released around five hundred enemy combatants and put them through rehabilitation programs designed for former jihadists. While many of them peacefully passed these programs, few returned to fight. The day President Obama signed his executive order, a freed Saudi from Guantanamo resurfaced as a leader of Al-Qaeda operations in Yemen. This is one of the very true and very dangerous risks that come with trying and releasing these enemy combatants.
Raza Hoda, Cornell Review - Tuesday, January 27, 2009
WVBR SOAPBOX ARCHIVE
~Burgergate: the media food-fight (Fri 11/13)
~WVBR News Presents: The Student Trustees (Sun 4/12)
~Student Trustee Candidates Speak Out in Forum (Tue 4/7)
~WVBR Interviews Slope Day's Pat Maloney (Fri 3/27)
~Dragon Day Disappointment (Tue 3/24)
~WVBR News Endorses Chris Basil and Nikki Junewicz For S... (Mon 3/2)
~Why We Endorsed a Candidate (Mon 3/2)
~Marijuana Legalization (Wed 2/11) 1 Comment
~The Media Aids Terrorists (Tue 2/10)
~No Mo' Gitmo, Oh-Oh (Tue 1/27) 1 Comment
~Skorton's Murky Tenure (Thu 12/4)
~State of the Republican Party? A-OK! (Tue 11/18) 1 Comment
~What To Do About NBA Basketball (Fri 11/14)
~Marijuana Mandate in Massachusetts (Tue 10/28)
~Teunure Denied Based on Political Viewpoint or
Someth... (Tue 10/21)
~No Honorary Degrees, Says Faculty
Senate (Mon 10/20)
~Sam Levine, Once Again, On the Presdiential Election (Fri 10/17)
~GM foods soapbox (Wed 10/15)
~Stem Cell Soapbox (Wed 10/15)
~Education Soapbox (Wed 10/8)
~Sarah Palin Soapbox (Wed 10/8)
~Sam Levine on The VP Debate (Fri 10/3)
~BBC's Blatant Bias Rebuffs Climate Change Challengers (Tue 9/30)
~Sam Levine on Sarah Palin (Fri 9/26)
~McCain is Able (Tue 9/23)
~The Cornell Review's Response to the
SA (Tue 9/16)
~Sam Levine on Racism (Fri 9/12)
~A Legacy of Political Hunters (Tue 9/9)
~Sam Levine on Palin/McCain (Fri 9/5)
~Sam Levine on His Senior Thesis (Fri 9/5)
~WVBR News Presents: The Student Trustees (Sun 4/12)
~Student Trustee Candidates Speak Out in Forum (Tue 4/7)
~WVBR Interviews Slope Day's Pat Maloney (Fri 3/27)
~Dragon Day Disappointment (Tue 3/24)
~WVBR News Endorses Chris Basil and Nikki Junewicz For S... (Mon 3/2)
~Why We Endorsed a Candidate (Mon 3/2)
~Marijuana Legalization (Wed 2/11) 1 Comment
~The Media Aids Terrorists (Tue 2/10)
~No Mo' Gitmo, Oh-Oh (Tue 1/27) 1 Comment
~Skorton's Murky Tenure (Thu 12/4)
~State of the Republican Party? A-OK! (Tue 11/18) 1 Comment
~What To Do About NBA Basketball (Fri 11/14)
~Marijuana Mandate in Massachusetts (Tue 10/28)
~Teunure Denied Based on Political Viewpoint or
Someth... (Tue 10/21)
~No Honorary Degrees, Says Faculty
Senate (Mon 10/20)
~Sam Levine, Once Again, On the Presdiential Election (Fri 10/17)
~GM foods soapbox (Wed 10/15)
~Stem Cell Soapbox (Wed 10/15)
~Education Soapbox (Wed 10/8)
~Sarah Palin Soapbox (Wed 10/8)
~Sam Levine on The VP Debate (Fri 10/3)
~BBC's Blatant Bias Rebuffs Climate Change Challengers (Tue 9/30)
~Sam Levine on Sarah Palin (Fri 9/26)
~McCain is Able (Tue 9/23)
~The Cornell Review's Response to the
SA (Tue 9/16)
~Sam Levine on Racism (Fri 9/12)
~A Legacy of Political Hunters (Tue 9/9)
~Sam Levine on Palin/McCain (Fri 9/5)
~Sam Levine on His Senior Thesis (Fri 9/5)
