Gitmo to close; torture banned

When I woke up this morning and turned on the TV to check the weather for today's bike jaunt around Cincinnati, the first thing I saw was the words "GITMO CLOSED."

As President Obama's first major act in office, he's ordered the Guantanamo Bay death camp closed within a year.

Why would it take a year? Because the Bush regime bungled the cases against the detainees so spectacularly. Because of Bush cronies' incompetence, we'll never know how many of the men who are detained at Gitmo now are actually terrorists. If the government truly thought they were, why didn't it put them on trial instead of locking them up for 7 years without trying them? If they're terrorists, they should be punished, but how do we know they are without even a trial?

Incompetence and failure to abide by the Constitution can have consequences - and this time, the Bush regime is to blame.

One also has to ask why Cuba didn't evict Guantanamo Bay.

At least the DLC didn't get to Obama on this issue. I bet some crackpot congressperson is going to try to block Obama's order from taking effect, just because they think Bush's actions are supposed to be sacrosanct and irreversible. But if that happens, think how bad it's going to look for them.

Obama also signed an executive order that bans harsh interrogations that constitute torture. The order also closes CIA detention centers worldwide.

See, folks, these are the kinds of actions we have a right to expect from our leaders. No more GOP/DLC bullshit like that which ruled the roost for 28 years. America may finally have a leader who gets it.

But like I've said, with the DLC around at all, don't get your hopes up too much.

(Source: http://www.boston.com/news/politics/politicalintelligence/2009/01/obama_orders_gu.html)