The House Appropriations Committee today debated what to do with terrorists currently detained at Guantanamo. Since President Obama is committed to closing the detention center, they must be sent somewhere. And for Congressman Schiff at least, the obvious answer is to guarantee them ‘fair trials’ in the United States.
You might think it should be obvious that terrorists should not be given the same rights as the troops who defend us from them. But then again, you might think there’d be no reason to resettle terrorists in the U.S., or to give them welfare benefits. You’d be wrong:
Republicans are trying several tactics to prevent detainees at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, from reaching the United States, introducing legislation aimed at stopping the transfer of terrorists and offering amendments to an emergency war funding bill to deny funding for closing the facility…
Several GOP lawmakers on Thursday introduced the Keep Terrorists Out of America Act, which prohibits the Obama administration from transferring or releasing any suspected terrorist detainees at Guantanamo to any state without express approval from the state’s governor and legislature. The legislation also demands the administration certify to Congress that certain requirements have been met…
On a party line 21-36 vote, the committee also rejected an amendment by Rep. Todd Tiahrt, R-Kan., who proposed preventing any detainee from entering the United States…
Tiahrt also introduced the No Welfare for Terrorists Act of 2009, which prohibits any detainee from Guantanamo Bay who is released into the United States from receiving federal benefits such as food stamps or welfare.
Director of National Intelligence Dennis Blair suggested last month that the U.S. would likely give government assistance to detainees released in the U.S. “to start a new life,” the Kansas lawmaker noted.
Democrats are committed to closing Guantanamo – a dangerous step in itself – but they have no plan after that.
Neil Stevens
Steve Maley
Daniel Horowitz
Jake Walker
Confound!
smitty Thursday, May 7th at 3:51PM EST (link)This is what we get when the “adults” are in charge?
ARFKM??
DefendUSA (Diary) Thursday, May 7th at 4:13PM EST (link)WTH is the matter wtih people??
*starred thought*
To be a leader is to do the uncomfortable thing. Man up, Mr. President.
I really don't understand why they can't just execute them.
suzieQ (Diary) Thursday, May 7th at 4:17PM EST (link)Several hundred of these Islamists have been released over the last several years, and I have read reports of them turning up on the battlefield yet again. Why can’t they just execute them?
Also, Maobama is promising more troops for Afghanistan anyway, so what happens when more terrorists are captured by our troops? They transfer them from Afghanistan to Kansas and give them a trial?
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We should have asked what side he was promising them to.
Tbone (Diary) Thursday, May 7th at 4:28PM EST (link)“Also, Maobama is promising more troops for Afghanistan anyway”
Envisioning when all that is Left is the Right.
55555's! ^^^^
suzieQ (Diary) Thursday, May 7th at 4:39PM EST (link)Great point!
“Andy Stern, the head of the Service Employees International Union, is the union leader who probably best understands the challenge of the world market and the need to make American union members productive in the face of world competition.” – Newt Gingrich
Newt Gingrich Co-Sponsored a Global Warming Bill Calling for ‘International Agreement on Population Growth’
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Gun Owners Of America on Mitt Romney
ROTFLMAO
rcov092 (Diary) Thursday, May 7th at 4:41PM EST (link)but actually, the possibility is real given what the zerO and crowd are doing to Israel.
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Why should I care about Israel?
Tbone (Diary) Thursday, May 7th at 4:56PM EST (link)If the Jews who voted for Obama didn’t care, why should I? Jews voting for Democrats are even dumber than blacks voting for Democrats.
Now, if Israel bombs Iran, that would really make my day.
Envisioning when all that is Left is the Right.
Because we are "civilized"
GreyCloak (Diary) Friday, May 8th at 6:38AM EST (link)In the good old days, a pirate who raised arms against a ship was hanged. A felon who shot at a policeman was shot in turn.
Under the Geneva Convention, organized troops who lay down their arms in surrender are given a “pardon” and kept until the end of hostilities. This works well: German troops were treated well in Texas prison camps, American airmen shot down over Germany were kept alive until they were returned.
Of course, Al Qaeda never signed the Convention … they are simply murderers (common criminals) … when they capture Americans, they torture their prisoners with cigarettes, hack off their limbs, cut off their heads, burn their bodies, drag them through the streets, and hang them from bridges.
So … with few exceptions … our soldiers stop shooting at a zealot who lays down his arms because that is what our soldiers are trained to do … and the captive is turned over to a courts system that doesn’t know what to do.
That zealot may have murdered men, women and children … civilians and foreign or American soldiers … but there are no witnesses, there is probably no provable “opportunity, motive, or intent.” Heck … maybe the guy never killed anybody, and the picture he drew of an airplane going into a building doesn’t have his signature.
We are civilized. Let the perps go. Of course, if freedom is restored ten thousand feet over the Atlantic because the perp’s home country won’t take him, or we don’t want to turn him over his own local authorities, so be it: the perps can certainly swim to a friendlier shore.
Maybe compulsory service isn't such a bad idea, after all.
abbynormal Thursday, May 7th at 4:22PM EST (link)Maybe 2 years on the Afghan front would provide a better education than 4 years at any of our colleges.
The troops they'd be next to I suspect would disagree :-) (nt)
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“I rejoice that America has resisted.” – William Pitt, the Elder
More like 3 weeks would be enough...
rcov092 (Diary) Thursday, May 7th at 4:37PM EST (link)after being sent out on patrol with 1 clip of ammo with the platoon lawyer (trained by the ACLU) at the back screaming at you that you will be brought up on charges in Spain if you hurt that man-made-disaster creator (formerly known as terrorist, still actually Islamofacist Murderer) )trying to kill you and the zerO will let you hang because Harold Koh, thinks the interests of Spain are relevant at that point…….
Three weeks of that should convert them all to Republicans right away…if they survive.
I know. Run on sentence. I thought it more effective just the way I wrote it.
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Aren't we spending
LibRick (Diary) Thursday, May 7th at 4:24PM EST (link)huge amounts of blood and treasure to keep terrorists OUT of America? I support this R effort.
I would like to see the GITMO prison closed if there was a viable plan in place. But don’t move these guys here or if you do, tattoo “I am a terrorist “on their forehead and put them in the San Quentin general population.
Man, can’t believe I said that…must be too much Redstate … probably should go to HuffPo to get my lefty fix.
Just hit yourself in the head with a baseball bat.
Tbone (Diary) Thursday, May 7th at 4:29PM EST (link)Save yourself the trip and do far less damage.
Envisioning when all that is Left is the Right.
LibRick...it.is.your.destiny.
Aaron Gardner (Diary) Thursday, May 7th at 4:46PM EST (link)2012 you will be voting for a Conservative…heck you may even register as a Republican at the rate you are going….;^)
conform and celebrate diversity….or else!!!
“We’d be much better off if We The People had desired small government enough to keep it.” acat
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Aaron, a serious question: Given that the US Sup Ct has rules that Gitmo is no different
Mike gamecock DeVine (Diary) Thursday, May 7th at 4:59PM EST (link)from US soil as regards enemy combatents/POWs, given the 99-yr lease, and that the only distinction left re place of detention being in theatre, temporary battlefields, what is the real objection left to detention in Montana?
Espetially if the US Sup Ct retains the recent precedents re denial of full civil “OJ” trials?
more later
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GC serious answer...if I read you correctly...
Aaron Gardner (Diary) Thursday, May 7th at 5:06PM EST (link)It’s a distinction without a difference at this point, other than the actual proximity of the terrorists to their preferred battlefield America.
Other arguments against Montana detention would be that the staff’s of the facilities would probably be required to attend Muslim sensitivity training at the expense of the taxpayer. We would also need to provide for special security for the Terrorists, since eve some convicted felons would love to take out one of the bastards responsible for an attack on his homeland. This of course would also be paid for with tax payer dollars.
I am sure I could come up with more arguments, but that was just off the top of my head.
conform and celebrate diversity….or else!!!
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good answers - and of course, I favor keeping Gitmo open in perpetuity and
Mike gamecock DeVine (Diary) Thursday, May 7th at 5:11PM EST (link)disagree with the Boumedeine decision.
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Gee, thanks Darth Aaron ... I'm starting to feel like
LibRick (Diary) Friday, May 8th at 11:17AM EST (link)I have this little Aaron sitting on my shoulder whispering “Go conservative” whenever I think about issues
lol...LibRick....glad to hear that...
Aaron Gardner (Diary) Friday, May 8th at 11:22AM EST (link)hopefully that sissy Luke isn’t on the other side trying to keep you as a a lowly padawan….embrace the true power of the force….;^)
conform and celebrate diversity….or else!!!
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I favor treating them like our troops: They volunteer for waterboarding
Mike gamecock DeVine (Diary) Thursday, May 7th at 4:54PM EST (link)But seriously, given that the sup ct has nearly obliterated the distinction between foreign soil and US soil, and given the rare instance of escape from US prisons, and given that if they did escape that they would probably be more likely to receive justice at the hands of ordinary Americans when discovered, what is the big whoop?
The bigger whoop is the desire to close a place, as if that is what is significant.
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5 to your comment GC...
JadedByPolitics (Diary) Thursday, May 7th at 4:56PM EST (link)“I favor treating them like our troops: They volunteer for waterboarding”
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It's not just a matter of where to hold them.
suzieQ (Diary) Thursday, May 7th at 4:58PM EST (link)It’s also a matter of them hiring Johnny Cochran and getting off scot-free because the troops didn’t read them their rights.
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That still remains a separate issue that is not yet connected to presence on US soil
Mike gamecock DeVine (Diary) Thursday, May 7th at 5:07PM EST (link)we have some pows on us soil that the court has ruled can still be held indefinitely based on that status
and
Obama is going to get legislation for military tribunals that the us sup ct has already said are ok without full OJ trial rights
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“One man with courage makes a majority.” – Andrew Jackson
GITMO has morphed into a symbol
LibRick (Diary) Friday, May 8th at 12:42PM EST (link)Closing the GITMO detention center is more symbolic than relevant to the issue. It’s just a place. The real issue, one that the administration is now being forced to confront, is what do we do with these detainees.
My concern is that to bring them to this country would potentially integrate them into our domestic criminal justice system which may not be equipt to deal with those that wish to destroy the very system that would grant them due process.
Librick Gitmo is a symbol because the left made it a symbol!
Doc Holliday (Diary) Friday, May 8th at 12:54PM EST (link)They care more about the enemy than our own troops! I suggest anyone who wants to see the reality of dealing with these people watch the Military Channel documentary Alpha Company: Iraq Diary. In fact, it is on right now.
Molon Labe!
Doc, I'll stipulate that the left
LibRick (Diary) Friday, May 8th at 1:19PM EST (link)made it that way but at this point it doesn’t matter. The pressing issue is about what to do with them now. The administration doesn’t have a clue or at least has not shown one. It seems like they’re more trying to find a way to rearrange the deck chairs than finding a viable solution.
“They care more about the enemy than our own troops!” I’m left by some standards and I can assure you that both I and many of my liberal friends and associates care deeply about our troops … we’re ex-military so we were the troops once. But I take it you used that line rhetorically and I understand your bigger point.
librick, I know some Democrats care about the troops
Doc Holliday (Diary) Friday, May 8th at 1:34PM EST (link)I even see Obama stickers on military bases. I am talking about the hard left progressives that DO run your party right now. If they feel anything for the troops it is disdain and pity, because they think they only joined the military because they had no other options. The reason leftists think this must be true is that they would never join unless they were starving to death.
Trust me lib, I know there are Democrat patriots, but they do not lead the party, they do not fund the party, and are not the ones pushing the agenda.
Molon Labe!
Doc, just had to get it out there
LibRick (Diary) Friday, May 8th at 2:04PM EST (link)I’ve read enough of your stuff to know what you meant… and I like your added point on how some on the left think people join the military because they have no other options. I’ve found those individuals won’t ever understand so it’s not worth my energy talking to them about it.
well said libRick
Doc Holliday (Diary) Friday, May 8th at 7:19PM EST (link)I just think it is important for us to remember why Gitmo is a symbol and even some Repubs want it closed. This did not need to happen, it seems so much a sideshow.
Molon Labe!
Nice One...but add...
rcov092 (Diary) Thursday, May 7th at 4:57PM EST (link)“kiddy raper” too.
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Or....
rcov092 (Diary) Thursday, May 7th at 4:58PM EST (link)“goat loving child molester” H/T EWE.
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I can't stand this phrase "blood and treasure"
Karina (Diary) Thursday, May 7th at 5:05PM EST (link)Sorry, this just gives me flashbacks of the McCain campaign. LOL I know what you mean but there has to be another way to phrase it.
AMEN Karina, and I esp hate the term treasure - nt
Mike gamecock DeVine (Diary) Thursday, May 7th at 5:08PM EST (link)Mike DeVine’s Examiner.com, Charlotte Observer and The Minority Report columns
“One man with courage makes a majority.” – Andrew Jackson
Obama will change the definition of terrorist.
Old_Crow (Diary) Thursday, May 7th at 4:30PM EST (link)That way he’ll be able to release everyone in GITMO and still say that he ‘hasn’t released any terrorists”.
The new definition of terrorist will mean ‘convicted in a court of law’ or some such nonsense. Knowing that the military doesn’t have a CSI team on the battle field to collect evidence, most of the terrorists in GITMO will be able to be released into your neighborhood.
Don’t laugh, this is closer to the truth than you might think.
“Enlightened statesmen will not always be at the helm.” — James Madison
Did not have to change the definition of terrorists.
rcov092 (Diary) Thursday, May 7th at 4:48PM EST (link)they eliminated “terrorism” from the vocabulary (in favor of man-made-disasters), hence, no such thing as a terrorists anymore. Gee wasn’t that so very, very simple!
So now, there is plenty of ground to argue that whatever an “actor” did that maty have supported the occurrance of the man-made-disaster, thatthe actions of the “actor” were less relevant to the occurrance of the act becasue it was maybe an “Act of God” all along.
IN reality, for the, Islamofacist mudering terrorist, it is actually an “Act of Allah” so they really have no rpoblem wth us redefining it. Their purpose is served no matter how stupid we want to be about it.
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Obama will not risk (and I predicted this months ago) a not guilty conviction
Mike gamecock DeVine (Diary) Thursday, May 7th at 5:10PM EST (link)in a civil trial. Hence, his recent move to seek military tribunals, albeit with cosmetic changes in current law to show he is more humane.
I have also said that any detainees that we know are innocent and pose no threat and who we can’t send elsewhere, should eventually be released in the US.
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“One man with courage makes a majority.” – Andrew Jackson
OK, this I do not understand
suzieQ (Diary) Thursday, May 7th at 5:34PM EST (link)“I have also said that any detainees that we know are innocent and pose no threat”
If they are “innocent” and “pose no threat” then how did they end up in GITMO to begin with? It was my understanding that this is where we house the “worst of the worst”. If they have done no wrong, shouldn’t they have stayed in Afghanistan or Iraq?
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The same way we accientally kill innocents and make mistakes in ordinary police arrests
Mike gamecock DeVine (Diary) Thursday, May 7th at 5:57PM EST (link)good questions
But of course, it would be a miracle if we didn’t capture innocents by mistake.
The Bush Admin admitted that we had some innocents but that their home countries and no others would take them. We actually have released some known innocents to other countries and some known guiltys we THOUGHT were no further threat, I might add.
The point is that humans make mistakes and we have and remember, I have THREE criteria, with one being that they pose no threat. That is not a low threshold.
see here for more detail
http://www.examiner.com/x-1597-Charlotte-Law–Politics-Examiner~y2009m3d28-America-must-free-the-innocent-at-Gitmo
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“One man with courage makes a majority.” – Andrew Jackson
Innocents abroad?
GreyCloak (Diary) Friday, May 8th at 7:28AM EST (link)Mike, I commend you. I have little doubt that there are some innocents not yet released from Gitmo. Heck … throughout the US, convicted murderers have been freed because they truly were innocent (based on things like confessions by others and new DNA analysis).
But I take some exception to releasing them in the US. If they are “innocent,” we basically kidnapped them from their native countries and should return them from whence they came.
I understand asylum: from the former South Vietnamese Army Major with whom I spoke on a plane a month ago (many of his friends were tortured and never heard from again; he came to America months after the fall of Saigon) to Russian Jews who bought their way out of the USSR to Israel, then emigrated to the US.
I understand citizenship … like the Phillipino who lived for years alone on South Pacific islands while spotting the Japanese fleets for America, but got drafted from his cane-cutting job in Hawaii for our “police action” in Korea because his WWII service was not recognized.
Perhaps … if the innocents are asked (without mentioning consequences) “do you absolutely and entirely renounce allegiance to any foreign potentate of whom or which you have been a subject or citizen; that you will support and defend the Constitution and laws of the United States of America against all enemies, foreign and domestic; that you will bear arms on behalf of the United States when required by the law;” and they answer in the affirmative, then they might be granted entry to the US.
If they don’t agree … send them home and let their own countries deal with them.
Note: the above quote is an abbreviation of the US Oath of Citizenship.
Only those whose home countries will not take them back
Mike gamecock DeVine (Diary) Friday, May 8th at 1:08PM EST (link)would be allowed to apply for asylum. We have some like that now who Bush admin admitted were innocent.
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Ask your district, dude.
paulincolo (Diary) Thursday, May 7th at 4:40PM EST (link)I wonder if Rep. Schiff (D) has volunteered these guys to be govt guests in Pasadena.
C’mon, they could help build those floats.
House Democrat: We Must Treat Terrorists Like Our Own Troops
ExposeDemLiars (Diary) Thursday, May 7th at 4:51PM EST (link)Does this mean that now we’re allowed to call the terrorists rapists and murderers?
Only If You want to See Spain...
rcov092 (Diary) Thursday, May 7th at 5:00PM EST (link)from the inside of a prison cell.
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Schiff has obviously no clue how these prisoners became prisioners..
olsmithie (Diary) Thursday, May 7th at 6:39PM EST (link)and no knowledge of history.
“Yeah , man I,.. I was just thinking about knocking over the ‘Bazra 7-11 when all these soldiers came by , man, and grabbed me.,man, I mean, I wasn’t doing nothing with this IED and this AK-47, man….D*mn, wound up in Kansas,man… I ain’t smoking that stuff no more….”
-With apologies to Cheech and Chong
The inmates are definitely running the asylum.
Regards
see ol-friend, I don't think that is the best argument against Schiff
Mike gamecock DeVine (Diary) Thursday, May 7th at 6:47PM EST (link)in one sense and I think we are learning that Obama has had his mind concentrated on the distinction between inmates and guards.
The ONE or two things that all the policies that Obama has left in place or -re-affirmed from Washington thru Bush, are war powers and/or executive powers.
more later
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“One man with courage makes a majority.” – Andrew Jackson
That oxygen-thieving congress is behind the times
usmcdep0300 Thursday, May 7th at 8:45PM EST (link)Speak to any of our Marines, Soldiers, Sailors, or Airmen that have had the sights of an investigative team on a witch hunt set on them.
http://www.bouhammer.com/2009/05/exclusive-cpt-roger-hill-in-his-own-words/
Also look into the treatment of the Marines that were at Haditha as well. “Guilty until proven innocent” seems to be the standard once a JAG officer gets going.
Dems call sleep deprivation, “attention grasp”, and the like torture. Both and more were done to the Haditha Marines as well as being refused visitation with their families.
The brass when it comes to criminal investigations already treats servicemen like or worse than most terror suspects.
Endurance: Pray not for lighter loads, but for stronger backs.
Are all Democrats
arel Friday, May 8th at 8:26AM EST (link)this irresponsible and so far left that they have absolutely no common sense at all? I ask you are their no moderate Democrats in government that are ashamed of their party willing to stand against those in “power?”
Arel
hhmmm, pretty much
kyle8 (Diary) Friday, May 8th at 8:34AM EST (link)There used to be moderate Democrats, I remember them from my childhood.
Not so much anymore. Let there be no mistake, the liberal run cities like Detroit and New Orleans, and states like California prove that they have no sense left at all.
They will absolutely let the entire train run into the ditch and continue to promote purely political reasons over anything smacking of common sense.
“Nothing works like freedom, Nothing succeeds like liberty”
Kyle