A new NYT/CBS News poll just released today asked a question designed to test support for Obama's proposal to indefinitely detain Guantanamo detainees without charges -- and it found overwhelming opposition to that plan:
Many of the detainees currently being held at Guantanamo Bay have not been charged with a crime. What do you think should happen now:
Charged or released: 68%
Held as long as necessary: 24%
Don't know/no answer: 8%
The view that detainees should be charged with crimes or released is often depicted as the fringe "Far Left" view. Like so many views that are similarly depicted, it is -- in reality -- the overwhelming consensus view among Americans (68%). As is so often the case, it is the view depicted as the Serious Centrist position -- the U.S. should keep people in cages for as long as it wants without charging them with any crime -- that is the fringe view held by only a small minority (24%). While some may express surprise at the outcome of this question, it really shouldn't be surprising: Americans are taught from childhood that one of the primary distinctions between free countries and tyrannies is that, in the former, the state lacks the power to imprison people without charging and convicting them of a crime. Is it really that surprising that an overwhelming majority of Americans see such charge-free imprisonment as wrong even when it comes to Guantanamo detainees, probably the single most dehumanized group on the planet?
Along the same lines -- and for the same reason -- Obama is clearly winning the debate over whether to close Guantanamo, as more and more Americans (now a clear plurality) favor its closing as the debate progresses.
More:
http://www.salon.com/opinion/greenwald/2009/06/18/detention/index.html
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