Home > Thinking Right > Archives > 2009 > January > 13
Tuesday, January 13, 2009
Take a Gitmo terrorist, please
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Perhaps as early as his first week in office as the 44th President of the United States, Barack Obama will order the closing of the U.S. military prison at Guantanamo Bay, transition-team advisers have speculated.
It’s unlikely the prison could be closed within the administration’s first few months, but it would start the process of disposing of the 250 al-Qaida and Taliban fighters and loyalists who are being held there, including 15 considered most dangerous. European nations have made it clear to the Bush administration and to United Nations representatives that they don’t want them — nor do many of the detainees’ home countries.
Obama advisers are optimistic that the new President can find just the right persuasive arguments to convince the leaders of other nations to change their minds.
The last place for them is on U.S. soil. There are many decisions that a President makes that start the clock running on their political capital leading, perhaps, to their ineffectiveness and ultimate rejection by voters. Mishandling terrorists is one of those.
