Our new "President" has chosen to close Gitmo within a year.  He hasn't told us what he intends to do with the inmates, of course, but it's plain that he has caved to the far left loons that have demanded that we treat Prisoners of War like criminal defendants and allow them "trials" as if they were charged with a crime.  These are people captured on the battlefield and even though they are NOT subject to the provisions of the Geneva Conventions (They were not uniformed soldiers fighting on behalf of some definable nation and therefore the conventions simply don't apply.) they have been treated with care and with dignity and afforded meals consistent with their religious beliefs and permitted time for their religious observances, given copies of the Qu'ran and prayer mats.  Yet, THESE are the prisoners who were prone to throwing a "cocktail" made up of urine, feces and semen at our guards who happen to be walking within range there at Gitmo.  Even so, our guards are trained to NOT retaliate in any physical way.  The only "punishment" any of these guys receive for such behavior is the removal of some of their exercise time away from their cells.  In short, they are treated quite well and most have even gained weight.

 

We know that 61 (as of 1/21/09, it's 63) former prisoners who were released within the past 4 years have reappeared on the battlefield, trying to kill American troops and either been captured again, or killed.  The two additions added this month, have been shown on a jihadist website and identified as having assumed high positions in Al Qaeda in Yemen, which is where the U.S.S. Cole was attacked during the Clinton administration and a hotbed of jihadist activity.  In fact, the majority of the 270+ current inmates at Gitmo are Yemeni nationals...even though the Yemen government has categorically refused to accept them back...even if we were inclined to release them. 

 

During WW II, the only POW's who were "tried" were OUR troops--we tried UNuniformed nazi infiltrators who snuck into New England from a U-boat intent on blowing stuff up.  These "men" are not accused of CRIMINAL offenses.  They are combatants...captured on the battlefield and even though they aren't entitled to it, they are being treated under the conditions of Geneva.  Torture?  Nonsense.  Torture is defined as wilfully inflicting great pain or other bodily harm for any purpose--or no purpose whatsoever.  Waterboarding does NOT constitute "torture."  I don't care how many bleeding heart idiots claim otherwise.  I've actually undergone waterboarding, and, while it's scary and makes you think you're drowning, at no point are you in danger of actually doing so.  It's an excellent means of extracting vital intelligence information--especially from those who would endure pain and think they were martyrs, but who might be susceptable to what amounts to inflicting fear...in this case, fear of drowning.  We'll probably never know just how extensive the intel is that we've gained by the use of this method and how many plots against us have been thwarted.  The intelligence community simply isn't prone to telling the public about its successes--and rightfully so. Of course, the MSM and other lefties are VERY prone to telling us all about its failures, which, I assure you, are FAR fewer than our successes.

 

By Obama's "logic," we should just open up the doors to ALL of our prisons and simply turn people loose who, for decades, maintain their "innocence."  After all, wouldn't that be the "humane" thing to do?  Someone in D.C. has GOT to wake up and smell the doffee!  This boob that's running things these days is, I believe, quite literally insane.  Either that, or he's the stupidest person we've had in Washington since that knuckleheaded Congressman who had sex with the woman on the Capitol steps. 

 

A few weeks ago, Obama claimed that he would NOT sign any "stimulus bill that had any pork added to it.  The bill he's pushing now is ALL pork and estimates are that only about 12% of the bill contains anything even remotely connected to economic stimulus.  Turning all our prisoners loose would "stimulate" several segments of the economy--police departments, for example, would be forced to hire more cops to handle the sudden influx of criminals,  Criminal attorneys would get rich(er), and he's already stimulated the gun manufacturers to the point where they're enjoying record profits since the November 4 election because of all the people buying guns before this guy outlaws them for good.

 

So far, his decisions have been carelessly executed and ill-considered.  It doesn't bode well for the future and for the next 4 years.  Here's hoping we can revamp the Congress, at least, before the guy's done too much damage to the country.