Obama Vows To Shut Down Guantanamo Bay

theneverplayedsymphony

The World's Forgotten Boy
Calloo Callay, good news for all those innocent people being tortured in Guantanamo Bay!:D

http://www.brisbanetimes.com.au/articles/2008/11/17/1226770317069.html


US President-elect Barack Obama says he will shut down the "war on terror" internment camp at Guantanamo Bay and rebuild "America's moral stature in the world" during a major interview aired on Sunday.

"I have said repeatedly that I intend to close Guantanamo, and I will follow through on that," the Democrat, who takes office on January 20, told 60 Minutes.

"I have said repeatedly that America doesn't torture. And I'm going to make sure that we don't torture. Those are part and parcel of an effort to regain America's moral stature in the world," Mr Obama added.

AFP
 
Will Obama lift/ease trade embargoes on Cuba?

Let's bloody well hope so! If that happened years ago, Cuba would be well off.

http://www.brisbanetimes.com.au/new...s-trade-embargo/2008/11/06/1225560998674.html


Cuba hails Barack Obama's presidential election victory and would one day welcome an easing of the 46-year-old US trade embargo, Foreign Investment Minister Marta Lomas said today in a statement.

The Cuban government, however, is prepared for US-Cuban relations to remain "the same", she added, alluding to Havana's struggle to have the embargo lifted.

"If Obama takes some action to ease the embargo, it would be welcomed and of course it would be of help, but we're prepared for conditions to remain the same," she told reporters at a trade fair.

After expressing satisfaction on Obama's win over his Republican rival John Mccain, Lomas said Cubans should work out their problems on their own.

"That's what will get us ahead."

During the long US election campaign, Cubans rooted for Obama, believing his victory would overturn the US economic embargo on the communist island state, which was hardened under US President George W Bush.

Many Cubans are looking forward especially to the day when restrictions are lifted on travel to and from the United States, where 1.5 million Cubans live, mainly in Florida.

There is also optimism about Obama's declaration during his campaign that he would be ready to talk about easing restrictions on travel and on remittances - the money US Cubans send to family and friends in Cuba.
 
About frigging time! I too, hope that Barack Obama will stay true to his word on this. I have two huge books on the subject, and yes, obviously there was/is torture going on. It's obvious!
 
You'll be telling us there were weapons of mass distruction in Iraq next:eek::D

Jukebox Jury

LOL! No, I am definitely NOT SAYING these people didn't DESERVE torture for what they did to the U.S. but it's documented. :eek: For instance, that Lyndsie England woman, who put panties on a prisoners head, and made the guy walk around like that, (no, it's hardly *torture* I know) and then made him lie down while she lit up a cigarette and put her booted foot down on him. Hell no! I never believed there were weapons of mass destruction in Iraq!
 
LOL! No, I am definitely NOT SAYING these people didn't DESERVE torture for what they did to the U.S. but it's documented. :eek: For instance, that Lyndsie England woman, who put panties on a prisoners head, and made the guy walk around like that, (no, it's hardly *torture* I know) and then made him lie down while she lit up a cigarette and put her booted foot down on him. Hell no! I never believed there were weapons of mass destruction in Iraq!

I don't think alot of them did deserve imprisonment.. I don't know much about them, but as far as I've seen, some of them were innocent of anything really.
 
It's debatable as to whether or not they are innocent, but of course torturing them is wrong.

Debatable or not.... either charge them or release them, not simply hole them up in a POW camp and treat them like shit.
How long has it been now?:rolleyes:

This is one of the most shameful events of the Bush regime and I do hope Obama does close this place down. If these people were not terrorists before being held captive, the chances are they and their relatives will be when released!

Jukebox Jury
 
Apologies, I thought you were just saying torturing them was wrong, where as I was saying that just holding them was wrong.

Jukebox Jury

Oh no, they are both quite quite wrong. No matter what they may or may not have done they deserve a fair trial. We can't pick and choose who we want the law to work for.

No apologies necessary, it's the Internet, things get taken out of context. ;)
 
I will be most pleased when this stain on our collective conscience is wiped away.
 
For instance, that Lyndsie England woman, who put panties on a prisoners head, and made the guy walk around like that, (no, it's hardly *torture* I know) and then made him lie down while she lit up a cigarette and put her booted foot down on him.


You've read "two huge books" yet don't know that Lynndie England was convicted for abuses at Abu Ghraib in Iraq, not Guantanamo Bay?

I don't necessarily have a problem with the idea of closing Guantanamo Bay.
I've never been sure if I support that place or not, as I lack information. Unfortunately, on a lot of issues facing my country, us lay people lack the information to know what's really going on, and that's troubling. What is curious to me, however, is how a thread about this topic contains not one single message from one single SoLower about what should be done with the prisoners there if Camp Gitmo is shut down. There are a lot of alternatives for what to do with them that I have seen suggested in the media, and some of them may be preferable to what Bush was doing. For example, perhaps a specialized court needs to be set up. What's astounding is the complete, 100% lack of serious comment about this from SoLowers.

But, then, a majority of SoLowers found it a crime against humanity to confront the Taliban and al Qaeda in Afghanistan with the civilized world's military forces even after 9/11, so what can ya expect from them? Thankfully, Obama appears not to be as as dumb as people here, and if he closes Gautanamo he will do so much more responsibly than the pack of fools here would. A pack of fools who have never struck me as people who are actually taking terrorism seriously, whether or not Bush was wrong in setting up Guantanamo Bay. One thing is for sure: I'd never put my nation's security in the hands of people with the mentality of the majority of SoLowers. But I'm increasingly feeling comfortable with Obama. He may just prove to be the politician who finds the right balance on things, or so I hope.
 
Last edited:
Back
Top Bottom