Posted by Tina
Barack Obama may soon find himself in a very tough spot. He promised to close the Guantanamo facility and he will soon take an oath to defend our nation. Hi ssupporters cannot wait. They have been certain for years that the EEEEEEvil George Bush has been motivated by a sick love of detention and mistreatment of those Gitmo prisoners but is it true:
** THE Rudd Government denied a request from the Bush administration to resettle 17 Chinese locked up in Guantanamo Bay military prison after a number of warnings from Beijing not to take the former terror suspects. Beijing heavily lobbied the federal Government against resettling the group of Muslims from northwestern China, known as Uyghurs, whom the US has cleared but refuses to send home for fear of their torture and possible execution. The Australian (Sidney) **
These requests arent the first. In truth similar requests have been made and denied over the years. The press and hard core Bush hating liberals have grossly misrepresented the purpose and intent of the administration, the facts concerning prisoners and the details about the roll it plays in defending our nation.
How will the press and his liberal supporters treat our new President as he grapples with trying to close Gitmo and the awesome responsibility to keep America safe? Stay tuned ladies and gentlemen we will soon begin to find out:
** President-elect Barack Obama introduced his nominees to head his national security team on Friday. But now Obama begins a perilous balancing act to fulfill his pledge to make a clean break with the detention and interrogation policies of the Bush administration while still effectively ensuring the nation’s security. *** If Obama goes ahead with his plan to scrap the special CIA program, he could expose himself to criticism that he did not do all he could to prevent another terrorist attack. That is exactly the kind of criticism that President Bush himself was subjected to after the Sept. 11 attacks. *** “The Bush White House was accused of paying insufficient attention to the threat posed by al-Qaeda before 9/11,” said one senior administration official. “Will the new administration let the pendulum swing too far in the effort to purge the perceived excesses of the past? Will they have on blinders to the continuing threat?” Washington Post **
I wish our new president all the best as he takes on these responsibilities. Leadership requires a strong sense of responsibility and a high level of integrity…they require a man who can rise above his own egotistical need for popularity and adoration. President Bush accomplished this without applause or appreciation and under a barrage of criticism.
Background information that demonstrate realities beyond the rhetoric that the president elect will need to consider:
Charlie Daniels visited Guantanamo:
** The truth of the matter is that this operation is under a microscope. The Red Cross has an on-site presence there and watches everything that goes on very closely…these scum bags are not only being treated humanely, but they are probably better off, healthwise and medically, than they’ve ever been in their lives. They are fed well, able to take showers and receive state of the art medical care, and have their own Moslem chaplain. I saw several of them in a field hospital ward where they were being treated in a state of the art medical facility. *** Now let’s talk about the way they treat our people. First of all, they have to be watched constantly. These people are committed and wanton murderers, who are willing to die just to kill someone else. One of the doctors told me that when they had Taliban in the hospital, the staff had to really be careful with needles, pens and anything else which could possibly be used as a weapon. They also throw their excrement and urine on the troops who are guarding them. And our guys and gals have shown great restraint, in not retaliating. **
A 2006 AP article posted on Breitbart.com, Some Gitmo Prisoners Don’t Want to Go Home, offers a drop of clarity in the ocean of anti-America, anti-Bush sensationalism that passes for reporting on the Bush policies and treatment of prisoners at Guantanimo and the realities Barack Obama will face:
** SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico (AP) – Fearing militants or even their own governments, some prisoners at Guantanamo Bay from China, Saudi Arabia and other nations do not want to go home, according to transcripts of hearings at the U.S. prison in Cuba. *** Uzbekistan, Yemen, Algeria and Syria are also among the countries to which detainees do not want to return. The inmates have told military tribunals that they or their families could be tortured or killed if they are sent back. *** President Bush has said the United States transfers detainees to other countries only when it receives assurances that they will not be tortured. Critics say such assurances are useless. The U.S. has released or transferred 267 prisoners and has announced plans to do the same with at least 123 more in the future. *** Inmates have told military tribunals they worry about reprisals from militants who will suspect them of cooperating with U.S. authorities in its war on terror. Others say their own governments may target them for reasons that have nothing to do with why they were taken to Guantanamo Bay in the first place. *** A man from Syria who was detained along with his father pleaded with the tribunal for help getting them political asylumin any country that will take them. “You’ve been saying ‘terrorists, terrorists.’ If we return, whether we did something or not, there’s no such things as human rights. We will be killed immediately,” he said. “You know this very well.” *** In the case of one group of prisoners, Muslims from western China known as Uighurs, the U.S. has struggled to find a solution. *** A military tribunal has determined that five are “no longer enemy combatants” and can be released from Guantanamo Bay. The U.S. agrees they could face persecution back in China but so far has not found a third country to take them. *** For now, the Uighurs are being kept at Camp Iguana, a privileged section of the prison with televisions, stereos and a view of the Caribbean. A Uighur told a military tribunal that he feared going back to China so much, he considered trying to convince the panel that he was guilty, according to a hearing transcript. *** “If I am sent back to China, they will torture me really bad,” said the man, whose name did not appear in the transcript. “They will use dogs. They will pull out my nails.” *** Two of the Uighurs are appealing a federal judge’s rejection of their request to be released in the United States, where a family in the Washington suburbs has offered to take them in. ** – Associated Press Writer Paul Haven contributed to this story from Pakistan. **
Perhaps now we will hear what we should have been hearing all along about the prisoners at Guantanamo. Or perhaps the politically correct will turn on “The One”. It all depends on what Barack Obama decides as he takes over the leadership position as President of the United States.