Obama Ignores Trump in Releasing More Prisoners from Gitmo

[mitty14u2]

Source: military.com/daily-news

The Obama administration ignored the plea of President-elect Donald Trump to stop transferring prisoners out of the Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, facility and sent four more detainees to Saudi Arabia.

The four transfers reduced the detainee population at "Gitmo" to 55. The Obama administration reportedly has plans to transfer another 15 detainees before Trump takes office on Jan. 20, which would bring the Guantanamo population down to 40 but still leave President Barack Obama's pledge to close the facility unfulfilled.

The transfers came two days after Trump said they should be stopped. In a Tweet, Trump said "There should be no further releases from Gitmo. These are extremely dangerous people and should not be allowed back onto the battlefield."

During the campaign, Trump pledged to keep Guantanamo open and said he would fill it with more suspected terrorists. "We're gonna' load it up with some bad dudes, believe me, we're gonna' load it up," he said last February.

Read more: http://www.military.com/daily-news/2017/01/06/obama-ignores-trump-in-releasing-more-prisoners-from-gitmo.html

---

President Obama should listen to the biggest liar on the planet after the Republicans have blocked, obstructed and filibustered him at ever turn. Holding prisoners indefinitely without trial is un-American, a great way to get more to hate America. Nobody knows how many people that have never been tried has done anything wrong or known what crimes committed. How many people have been transferred to other countries to be tortured that the US concludes is illegal even though Trump would like to start torture again, the insanity has just begun!

[greatauntoftriplets]

1. I'd consider the source.

[babylonsister]

5. ??

http://www.cnn.com/2017/01/03/politics/guantanamo-bay-donald-trump-congress/

Obama to transfer more Gitmo detainees despite Trump's objection
Kevin Liptak-Profile-Image

By Kevin Liptak and Daniella Diaz, CNN

Updated 3:42 PM ET, Tue January 3, 2017

[greatauntoftriplets]

7. The link in the OP is from military.com.

Thus the editorializing through use of the word "ignored" in the lede. Why shouldn't President Obama ignore Herr Drumpf's demands and do the right thing?

[babylonsister]

8. OK. I figured it was the source,

so found another. And I agree with you; he should be ignored.

[greatauntoftriplets]

12. IMO, a miltary publication would spin it negatively for President Obama.

Herr Drumpf wants to spend tons of money on new ships, planes, etc., for the military so naturally they're happy with what he wants. But he's not president yet!

[babylonsister]

17. I don't

know about that. The sharp tacks in the military have got to be worried. A lot of them probably would prefer not to be at war and if they're minimally intelligent they too are afraid of what's going on.

[demmiblue]

16. He used the Daily Caller as a source a few days back (post removed). n/t

[Chasstev365]

2. He did the right thing

How much do you want to bet that the right and Fox will try to blame future terror attacks on President Obama's releasing people from Gitmo?

[llmart]

3. Of course they will.

Even if he hadn't taken this move, they'd blame future terror attacks on him anyway under some other guise.

Who cares what they think?

[Chasstev365]

4. I care because they successfully reach a lot of dumbasses and we need to counter their BS narrative

[llmart]

18. Oh, I understand that.....

but I don't think dumbasses can be reached anyway. That's why they're dumbasses and trump voters.

[coco22]

6. I have never understood how the republiCONS.

are/were afraid of the terrorist being put in jails with American criminals as though they are afraid of them and somehow think that they are more dangerous than American criminals.

[Fast Walker 52]

9. yeah, it's hard to know if they are really scared idiots or only playing politics

I don't even understand the politics though... why act so scared if we are so strong? Does it just make the terrorists seem more menacing which helps promote the war on terror?

[coco22]

19. I remember they had jails just sitting empty...

and some congress people in those states were protesting and making laws saying they didn't want them in their states. Their stupid base who are always talking about their guns started complaining about how dangerous they were.

[Igel]

11. They weren't.

Read what they say, not what others say about them.

1. If on US territory, greater risk of attacks to free them. Harder to free somebody from Gitmo than from some prison.

2. Same goes for having them communicate with others--more of a concern early on than later, by which time their contacts and logistical knowledge would have grown stale. Take some of the drug cartel leaders in Mexico, and gang leaders in the US in the last 20 years--many ran organizations from inside prison.

3. Many of them were detained and the chain of custody of the evidence was tainted. The evidence would be no good, no matter how true it is. No evidence, no crime. On US soil, you get the right to habeas corpus, unless Lincoln's president.

Same for evidence that was obtained by means that don't pass the sniff test--even if the evidence is rock solid, if it's tainted by the use of inadmissible information or impermissible procedures in obtaining it, the evidence is gone. And with it the legal case.

And in some cases the evidence, even if presented, wouldn't be sufficient for a court. Or it would easily leak--we luv us some leaks when they suit us. It's been bad enough at Gitmo trying to have military trials, what with a couple of years to formulate a process then having some defendant's lawyer get that thrown out and the process restarted--with the intermittent result of defendant-lawyer maneuvers surfacing in claims of "this is taking too long, it's a violation of my client's rights" thrown in there for good measure.

In any event, many would walk, real guilt notwithstanding: we've often substituted legality for morality and judicial finding for reality. We keep confusing "not guilty" as a legal verdict with the moral or ethical pronouncement "innocent".


DU had fun for a while with missing former Gitmo detainees. Some of those released simply vanished from places like Albania or Sweden. Others vanished because the host government wanted them to, but said in their defense that they were still in-country and monitored. Except there was no way to check up on that and had they actually run off the government(s) involved would have lied to save face. It was a kind of ironic fun, because the men involved were all presumed to be innocent until they showed up doing bad things after their release, and then there was this scramble to say that "obviously" they'd been radicalized as a result of Gitmo and were innocent until their arrest. (Which is why I'd go 1000 miles just to be captured with Taliban or AQ folk, not because I side with them or would do anything to help them but because, well, I'm an innocent and go out of my way to hobnob with Muslim fundies out to oppress women and Hazara or to be with terrorists. No, that argument was sclerotic at birth.)

[coco22]

20. If a law doesn't suit them they just change it to suit their purposes..

Then they start screaming "Its the law! Its the law! Its the law for everyone but them and their families and friends.

[Fast Walker 52]

21. fair enough points, but it still goes to show what a mess the whole system is

not to mention cruel and inhumane, and how much the Bush admin fucked up the situation

[Chipper Chat]

10. I wish , on January 19th, that Obama would just quit claim Gitmo to Cuba

in exchange for 10 nice working 57 Chevys.

[moonscape]

14. I wish he would send T to Gitmo n/t

[cstanleytech]

13. It wouldnt surprise me if the GOP and Trump have plans to try an end run around habeas corpus

and deport people illegally to Gitmo since they are so keen on torture.

[mnhtnbb]

15. I wish Obama would send the US Marshals

to escort Cheeto to an unknown location on Jan 19th and he would never be seen again.
That would get rid of the most dangerous person on the planet.

I know. Not going to happen. But I can wish, can't I?