Congress and Gitmo

Congress has just passed the Defense Department budget with a proviso that Guantanamo cannot be closed.


As I explained earlier in my post of September 27, Gitmo has to be closed. For the Congress to bow to such unrealistic pressure from the far right, military and intelligence organizations is amazing. What are they afraid of … really?

I wouldn’t be surprised if the CIA and other organizations involved in Gitmo have lobbied hard to keep information suppressed that will embarrass some and put others in jail. I would guess the national security card has been played and has apparently been effective.

The objections from constituents may have some bearing on some legislators, but those are a comparatively small number and less influential than the other groups noted above. To vote for closure is an issue that can be overcome in the next election cycle. Many other issues will dominate by that time. Besides, they can blame it on the President if they have to.

Congress should show some backbone and agree with the President that Gitmo is an embarrassment and a stain on our national reputation and standing in the world community. To close Gitmo is to remove another recruiting tool for those who seek to harm this country and its citizens.

These elected officials just don’t get it. To be so short sighted is not only Pollyannaish, but to bring more potential harm to those they represent in the long term. Has Washington politics gotten so “of the moment” that no one sees ramifications appearing tomorrow for actions taken today? Probably so, I’m afraid to say.

If you support keeping Guantanamo open, I’d like to know why. Please post a reply to this blog. Do you support secret trials? Do you support torture? Do you support suspension of rights we take for granted? Do you support covering up crimes and mistreatments of prisoners which violate their basic human rights? Do you want much of the rest of the world to look at the United States and believe we are hypocrites and not trustworthy?

Of course we should put the bad guys away. No one questions this fact. In doing so, we need to operate under the laws of this country which we hold so dear. Not under former President Cheney’s vision of selective favoritism and punishment of those he and his friends just didn’t like. (This last item has been a favorite method of governing by dictators and cruel monarchs for centuries.)

You probably wouldn’t support keeping Gitmo open if those held were American citizens. Somehow, since these people are foreign nationals, it makes all this acceptable to some of our citizens. If we are to be the shining beacon of hope and light for the rest of the world, we better start making decisions that support that image or it will continue to rust until it becomes unrecognizable.

Martin