Guantanamo Bay @ MindSay 
torture
Last week President Obama ordered the closing of the detention camp at Guantanamo Bay and numerous obstacles to doing it were quickly brought up. What is to be done with the enemy combatants detained? They can't be transferred to the American legal system to be tried, because the evidence against them was illegally obtained. They can't be released because they would return to their terrorist activities. They can't be sent to other countries because no other country wants to admit them. So if they can't be sent to other countries, transferred to the American legal system, or released, the camp can't be closed. So the order to close the detention camp is effectively nullified.
The American political system has made a practice of making it impossible to solve its social problems. For decades, Americans have unsuccessfully fought a "war on drugs." Why has it failed? To win it, America must secure its borders, a difficult task even with the cooperation of all Americans. The border is huge. But securing it becomes impossible if American self-interest groups oppose it. To win the "war on drugs," the border must be secured, but securing it would prevent American businesses from profiting from the labor of illegal immigrants, and, of course, American politicians don't want to do anything to alienate their commercial supporters. Policy nullified!
Americans want to reduce the cost of medical care and make it available to all residents, but American politicians don't want to diminish the profits of the businesses that run up the costs. Policy nullified!
There is a pattern in these examples. Burden a proposed policy with contradictory goals and the policy can not be effective even if enacted. That's what happens in a two-ideologically-based-party system, and as a result, America has not solved a major social problem in more than half a century. What better definition of a failed state is there?
The detention camp at Guantanamo Bay can be closed. If Americans can pick up detainees in foreign countries and fly them to Cuba, Americans can fly them back to where they were picked up. Will some of them return to their "terrorist" activities? Of course. What would anyone's attitude toward those who illegally imprisoned and tortured them be? But the number is small, about five hundred. The organizations that are engaged in anti-American actions around the world recruit far more than that number every time American bombs, missiles, and bullets kill ordinary people, especially women and children.
All that is necessary to solve a social problem is to ensure that the policy's goals are consistent.
©2009 John Kozy, Jr.
2.) He has put in new rules for lobbyists and his aids:
"Obama's new lobbying rules will not only ban aides from trying to influence the administration when they leave his staff. Those already hired will be banned from working on matters they have previously lobbied on, or to approach agencies that they once targeted. The rules also ban lobbyists from giving gifts of any size to any member of his administration. It wasn't immediately clear whether the ban would include the traditional "previous relationships" clause, allowing gifts from friends or associates with which an employee comes in with strong ties. The new rules also require that anyone who leaves his administration is not allowed to try to influence former friends and colleagues for at least two years. Obama is requiring all staff to attend to an ethics briefing like one he said he attended last week."
AP News - Obama freezes salaries of some White House aides.
3.) He has signed orders to shut down Guantanamo and other facilities that are going over board with torture:
"Taken together, the orders would:
_Shut down the U.S. detention facility at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, within one year.
_Prohibit the CIA from using coercive interrogation techniques that already are banned by the Pentagon.
_Shutter secret CIA "black site" prisons abroad where terror suspects have been held.
_End the practice of "extraordinary renditions" that transfer detainees to countries where they can be tortured.
_Scrap every legal opinion or memo issued during the presidency of George W. Bush that justify interrogation programs, including the use of waterboarding and other techniques, the CIA's black sites and extraordinary renditions."
(Now, I'm all for torturing people if they are withholding crucial information...but what is going on at some of these facilities is above and beyond. They aren't doing it for us...they're doing it because they can. And that is wrong. If the US is going to rise above again we need to stop this "He did it first" bullshit [something I admit I've said before] if we're going to become an example for the rest of the world again. This is a step in the right direction.)
AP News- Obama signs order to close Guantanamo in a year.
4.) He's going to lift the federal funding ban on Abortion. ( *thumbs up* Take that. )
AP News- Officials: Obama to reverse abortion policy.
AP News- Obama's personal win: keeping the BlackBerry
By Gerry J. Gilmore
American Forces Press Service
March 7, 2008 - The nearly 300 captured enemy combatants being held at the Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, detention facility are provided respect and the best quality of life available under the circumstances, the commander of the detention task force said today. The facility follows strict U.S. military and international standards that ensure each detainee is treated humanely and with respect, Navy Rear Adm. Mark H. Buzby, commander of Joint Task Force Guantanamo, said during a conference call with reporters.
"We like to think that we meet or exceed those standards, in terms of what we provide them and the distance that we go to ensure that their (living) conditions are as humane as possible, given the fact that they are being incarcerated," Buzby said. He has commanded the task force's 2,100 U.S. servicemembers and civilians since May.
The detention center's staff constantly is seeking ways to improve detainees' quality of life, Buzby said. Some detainees in good standing, he noted, may elect to take literacy classes in their own language or learn English.
Offering incentives to detainees in exchange for good behavior makes sense, Buzby explained. "If you give them things that they enjoy or like, if they misbehave, those are privileges they can lose."
The detention facility now houses about 275 detainees, Buzby said. About 500 detainees, he noted, have been released or transferred from Guantanamo since the facility was opened in 2002.
Nearly 200 detainees being held at Guantanamo today are terrorists, including al Qaeda operatives, who constitute an ever-present danger to the facility's guard force, Buzby noted.
"We're getting down to the hard core now," Buzby pointed out.
Guantanamo's guard force must always be alert and vigilant, Buzby said, because the incarcerated jihadists "will take every opportunity they can to exploit any bit of weakness."
Holding former enemy combatants at Guantanamo keeps them off the battlefield, Buzby said. And, ongoing interrogation sessions with inmates continue to produce valuable intelligence, he added.
Interrogations of detainees at Guantanamo are conducted by highly trained intelligence personnel who adhere to Army regulations that strictly forbid torture, Buzby said.
Developing a rapport with detainees is the most successful technique for obtaining information at Guantanamo, he said. "We get so much dependable information from just sitting down and having a conversation and treating them like human beings in a businesslike manner," he said.
Buzby said he is proud of his troops and civilian employees, noting they are successfully performing a very difficult, challenging mission. "They are just magnificent people. It really makes it a pleasure to command such a fantastic group," he said.
By Fred W. Baker III
American Forces Press Service
March 26, 2007 – A terrorism suspect who admitted to helping to kill 13 civilians, including two children, in a 2002 car bombing in Eastern Africa is in U.S. custody and has been transferred as a "dangerous terror suspect" to Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, a Defense Department official announced today.
Abdul Malik was handed over to U.S. officials by Kenyan authorities and was held for a "short time" before being transferred to Guantanamo Bay over the weekend, a senior defense official said, speaking on background.
Malik was screened by U.S. law enforcement officials while held in custody, the official said. He admitted to participating in the 2002 attack at the Mombasa Paradise Hotel, in which an explosives-filled sport utility vehicle crashed into the hotel lobby, killing 13 and injuring 80. He also has admitted to involvement in the attempted shootdown of an Israeli Boeing 757 civilian airliner carrying 271 passengers, near Mombasa, the official said.
Malik was picked up in Eastern Africa. Prior to the transfer, Malik was not in CIA custody, the official said.
The official said he did not know how long Malik was held in Kenyan custody prior to the transfer.
The next step is for the United States to determine his combatant status. As with all the detainees in Guantanamo, Malik will undergo a combatant status review tribunal, where he will be given the opportunity to review an unclassified summary of the evidence against him and contest his enemy combatant status.
Fourteen high-value detainees were transferred in September to Guantanamo Bay. Before that, the last time an al Qaeda terrorist was moved to the facility was in September 2004.
Malik was transferred to the Guantanamo Bay facility because he represents a significant threat and to prevent future attacks against innocent civilians, the official said.
The International Committee of the Red Cross will be granted access to Malik. About 385 detainees are being held at Guantanamo Bay.
This article sponsored by military and police personnel who have written books as well as criminal justice online leadership.
The Department of Defense announced today the transfer of a dangerous terror suspect to Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.
Abdul Malik, who was captured as a result of our ongoing conflict against Al Qaida, has admitted to being involved in terrorist attacks in East Africa.
Malik has admitted to participation in the 2002 Paradise Hotel attack in Mombasa, Kenya, in which an explosive-filled SUV was crashed into the hotel lobby, killing 13 and injuring 80. He also has admitted to involvement in the attempted shootdown of an Israeli Boeing 757 civilian airliner carrying 271 passengers, near Mombasa.
The capture of Malik exemplifies the genuine threat that the United States and other countries face throughout the world in the war on terrorism. Due to the significant threat this terror suspect represents, he has been transferred to Guantanamo. The detainees being held at Guantanamo have provided information essential to our ability to understand better how Al Qaeda operates, and thus to prevent future attacks against innocent civilians.
As with all the detainees in Guantanamo, Malik will undergo a combatant status review tribunal, where he will be given the opportunity to review an unclassified summary of the evidence against him and contest his enemy combatant status. The International Committee of the Red Cross will be granted access to this detainee. With today's transfer there are approximately 385 detainees at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.
This article sponsored by military and police personnel who have written books as well as criminal justice online leadership.
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