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Politics >safety
President Obama closing military prison at Guantanamo Bay not for national security, but for political security
By: Travis Holland
Issue date: 2/2/09 Section: Opinion
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Your security is being compromised for the sake of political maneuvering.
Just after taking office, President Obama signed an executive order to shut down the Guantanamo Bay detention camp. This, in every way, seems to be a purely political move that will endanger American lives.
No one can seriously argue that there aren't dangerous people who wish to do harm to America in Guantanamo. Detainees have been plucked from the world's darkest alleys and well-known extremist organizations known for their daily murder plots.
And yet, the camp is closing.
It's no secret that Guantanamo has been criticized in the states and abroad for mistreatment of prisoners. This is the reason Obama gave for closing Gitmo. But the same goal could have been achieved without closing the installation. Why not just monitor interrogations or allow the press greater access?
The answer is simple - that would make the president look bad.
After a campaign called Guantanamo a "sad chapter in American history," the fate of the prison camp was sealed. To simply change the conditions wouldn't have satisfied his political backing. And so, Gitmo is closing.
Releasing prisoners from Guantanamo has already proven to be a bad idea. Recently, two released detainees appeared in a video by Al-Qaeda's Yemen branch. Ali al-Shihri and Muhammad al-Awfi were both let go in 2007, and are already suspected officers in a newly formed joint terrorist organization.
Plans for the prisoners residing in Guantanamo are still sketchy, but none of the alternatives show responsibility on the part of the Obama administration.
In every scenario mentioned thus far, many of the released prisoners will be handed over to authorities in other countries. Both al-Shihri and al-Awfi were given to the Saudi Arabian government, and that landed them back to plotting attacks on the West within a year. Situations like this show that the American government shouldn't trust other countries to deal with its enemies.
Even the European Union, whose member countries have been so critically outspoken of the U.S. policy in Guantanamo, isn't eager to accept newly released detainees. The EU can't get a coherent policy on whether or not to accept them, though the U.K. has flatly denied the possibility of taking on any of the prisoners. Other countries are leaning the same way, such as the Czech Republic, who hinted they didn't want to take any of the detainees.
Funny thing - our friends across the pond want us to free the Guantanamo prisoners, as long as the criminals don't end up in their own backyards.
Nevertheless, the government will eventually find a home for these enemy combatants and they will be free to do as they wish (with a wink and a nod to the American Democratic Party).
Our president has placed his political safety over the wellbeing of his country and that is intolerable. When speaking about the latest version of his economic stimulus plan, President Obama urged lawmakers to put politics aside. Maybe he should take his own advice when it comes to protecting Americans.
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