The Price of Our Good Name (NYT)

[jefferson_dem]

The Price of Our Good Name

Americans have watched in horror as President Bush has trampled on the Bill of Rights and the balance of power. The list of abuses that President-elect Barack Obama must address is long: once again require the government to get warrants to eavesdrop on Americans; undo scores of executive orders and bill-signing statements that have undermined the powers of Congress; strip out the unnecessary invasions of privacy embedded in the Patriot Act; block new F.B.I. investigative guidelines straight out of J. Edgar Hoover’s playbook.

Those are not the only disasters Mr. Obama will inherit. He will have to rescue a drowning economy, restore regulatory sanity to the financial markets and extricate the country from an unnecessary war in Iraq so it can focus on a necessary war in Afghanistan.

Even with all those demands, there is one thing Mr. Obama must do quickly to begin to repair this nation’s image and restore its self-respect: announce a plan for closing Mr. Bush’s outlaw prison at Guantánamo Bay.

The prison is the premier example of the disdain shown by Mr. Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney for the Constitution, federal law and international treaties. Most sensible governments cannot see past Guantánamo to even recall America’s long history as a defender of human rights and democratic values.

We are under no illusions. Closing the prison will not be easy, or quick, but it can be done. It does not mean that the United States will set free heinous terrorists. But it may mean that these prisoners will have to be tried on other very serious charges than the ones supposedly for which they were sent to Guantánamo.

That is Mr. Bush’s fault. His decision to authorize the torture of detainees has made it highly unlikely that the evidence collected at Gitmo and the C.I.A.’s illegal prisons around the world would stand up in a real court.

In closing down Guantánamo, there are some basic requirements: The prisoners must be dealt with as openly as possible. Those who are charged here must stand trial in federal courts, not the tribunals created by the disastrous Military Commissions Act of 2006.

<SNIP>

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/11/23/opinion/23sun1-1.html?_r=1&ref=opinion&pagewanted=print

[pscot]

1. Turn it into an International Peace Park

to commemorate all the unnamed martyrs who have been already sacrificed to wars of aggresion, civil wars and genocide in this young century. And for those yet to come.

[rgbecker]

2. "focus on a necessary war in Afghanistan"? I don't think so.

Read this thread about our "Good" war in Afghanistan.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=389x4518606

[onetwo]

4. It's simple: If Obama didn't pledge to continue the WOT *somewhere*, he would have lost.

Sadly, we've become a nation of warmongers.

[BrklynLiberal]

3. Were there ever editorials of this ilk during any of the previous Bush years?

[TexasObserver]

5. Gitmo will be perfect for all those in government who broke the Constitution the past 8 years.

Starting with Alberto Gonzalez.

[riqster]

6. Awwww, the lapdog wakes up, jumps down

...and wants us to forget its own role in enabling these abuses? I don't think so.

[acmavm]

8. Thank you. I was surprised how far down this thread I had to read before

I got to a post where someone pointed out how responsible the NYT is for all our problems. I mean, who employed Judy? Who hid the info about bush** being wired during the 2nd debate. But most of all, who printed all the lies in support of that son of a bitch (literally and figuratively) and his handlers during the "Brooks Brothers Revolution?" Who printed all the lies and propaganda during the build-up to Shock and Awe? Who covered for them until it became obvious that people were catching on to the lies and crimes?

Why, the NYT, of course.

[sufrommich]

7. I have no doubt that Obama will shut down Guantanamo,

The sooner,the better.