Too bad they're going to close it before collecting a few more prisoners. Namely, Bush, Cheney, Rumsfeld, and Gonzales. It would have been fun to see how these chicken hawk traitors and torturers would have enjoyed the varied and delicious menu and the camaraderie of their fellow felons. What fun...

I can not wait for this day. I hope he goes there personally to have some kind of reconciliation ceremony with the prisoners there. Footage of a wrecking ball knocking it down would be great as well. Sometimes political theater is a good thing.

Cheney's skepticism notwithstanding,

Sounded more like a threat to me.

"...what kind of legal system can be used..."

How about the one we had for 225 years before the Bush criminals took over??

Interestingly, Gates is drawing up plans even before Cheney walks out the front door. Talk about being given the finger.

Predictions: Under Obama we'll still torture. We'll still rendition. We'll still have secret prison sites. We'll still circumvent Constitutional protections of due process, privacy, access to private, impartial legal representation. We'll still shoot first and ask questions later. We'll still be lied to about the nature and actual severity of threats from various bad actors (WMDs anyone?). All the same hair-on-fire, chicken little littany, lie abetted hysteria used by Bushco will continue, albeit wrapped in some sort of "We're different and better than them" packaging.

Prediction-assholes like steve duncan will always see the negative and bad in people no matter what.

Wait, wait -- are you trying to tell me that Dick Cheney might be WRONG about something?

Seriously??

steve duncan - do you also predict the media will go along? Or are you arguing that the behavior is OK as long as you're not hypocritical?

Prediction-assholes like steve duncan will always see the negative and bad in people no matter what.

Posted by: Gandaalf on December 19, 2008 at 9:59 AM |
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Guilty as charged. OK, I'll play the glass half-full game. Here Goes: Dick Cheney was probably nice to his mother. There, that makes everything else he's done all better.
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steve duncan - do you also predict the media will go along? Or are you arguing that the behavior is OK as long as you're not hypocritical?

Posted by: Danp on December 19, 2008 at 10:07 AM
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Go along? Since when does it matter WTF the media have to say (or not say) about government misconduct? Some in the media have been reporting on secret prisons, torture, abuse of the Constitution and other Bushco crimes, all to mostly no avail. Do you think Obama is going to push stringing up Bush and Cheney for torturing and murdering tens of thousands of innocent Iraqis and Afghans? Hardly. The media don't have a goddmaned thing to do with either preventing executive branch crimes or helping stop their commission in the future. Obama, like Bush, will do whatever he damn well pleases. That includes sweeping the last 8 years under the rug like so many dried, dusty dog turds on a skid row hovel floor. It's all about "unity" and "moving forward" now. Hence gaybasher Rick Warren preaching at the inauguration. Maybe we should have David Duke speak on the floor of the House on MLK Day. You know, in the spirit of inclusion. Maybe Obama is a political genius. I still wouldn't invite the guy that was fucking my wife before she was my "ex" to the Christmas party. Sometimes inclusion has its limits.

When the bad apples of the Bush/Chaney regime are purged, we will be better able to judge Defense Secretary Robert Gates.

steve duncan - Sorry I offended you, but I disagree that the media has no role in this. I would argue they had a lot to do with canceling the Dubai ports deal, for example. Also, Bush closed the secret prisons only after WaPo exposed them. They created an atmosphere where the Clinton impeachment was possible. They decided Watergate was a scandal, while the US Attorney scandal was minimized. Yes, there were some who exposed abuse of the Constitution, but far too few - certainly far less than Obama's "bitter" comment or Jeramaiah Wright. And I do think that any Dem (especially Obama) will be held to a far higher standard, than was Bush. Even if Obama were inclined to continue Bush policies, he wouldn't be able to, precisely because of the media.

CN posted: "...what kind of legal system can be used..."

How about the one we had for 225 years before the Bush criminals took over??

I completely agree. Terrorists are criminals. They conspire to commit illegal acts like drug trafficing and murder. The fact that many of their crimes are on a larger scale does not change that fact.

If we suspect someone of plotting or committing crimes, then we should arrest them, present them with specific charges, allow them legal cousel and try them in a reasonable amount of time. THAT is how it is supposed to work. Sure, some will win their cases, but many will not...and in either case we will prove the moral superiority of our system.

Holding people indefinitely without charge or access to legal counsel, all while torturing them, is grossly unethical and violates the letter and spirit of our legal system. We cannot preserve rights by eliminating rights.

Cheney was just trying to change reality by waving his wand under Limbaugh's nose. Hey, it works for Rush.

Look for Obama to bury the worst of them at Supermax, where they will never see the sun again.

Great- and what do we do with the murderous Muslim slime when their home countries will no longer take them? The only ones who should be released are those who will go to those Muslim countries which will treat them in the nice, Muslim tradition of retribution.

The bushies are enamored with themselves and their policies. They see nothing wrong with the end justifying the means and totally lack imagination to provide alternative solutions that might actually accomplish what they set out to do. Instead we have endless wars and a bankrupt economy due directly to their hubris and incompetence.

After all Bush & Cheney have done and Dick says we can't close a military base. Bizarre!

Interestingly, Gates is drawing up plans even before Cheney walks out the front door. Talk about being given the finger.

There's one advantage to asking Gates to stay in Obama's administration. *Gates is ALREADY working for Obama.* Really, if Bush tells him to do one thing, and Obama tells him something else, who's he going to listen to? The guy who's leaving in a month, or the guy who will be there for four years after that?