Poll: Obama Shutting Down Guantanamo Bay. Good or Bad?

[Fingolfin High-King of the Noldor]

I can understand why he would do this but is it really a good idea? I mean we gain very useful information from torturing prisoners that save American lives. People can make the argument about it being a violation of the Constitution. But they are not American citizens so should they have those right? So is it a good idea? or a bad one?

Just wanted to ask all of y'all intelligent people out there.

And yes I do realize that we do not always get correct information by ways of torture. But not all of it is false.

 

[djpuppylove789]

Everyone deserves a fair trial. if these people have done the things they are accused of they will be tried and given a fair sentence. i dont want the things that happened at guantanamo turning out like abu ghraib where 90% of the people who were tortured were innocent.

put it this way, how would you feel if you were deemed an enemy combatant and were locked indefinitely in Gitmo despite commiting no crime?

 

[pantsoffdanceoff]

I don't have an opinion. But it always pisses me off when politicians hide their unethical ass behind red tape and semantics.

 

[gmer412]

I can understand why he would do this but is it really a good idea? I mean we gain very useful information from torturing prisoners that save American lives. People can make the argument about it being a violation of the Constitution. But they are not American citizens so should they have those right? So is it a good idea? or a bad one?

Just wanted to ask all of y'all intelligent people out there.

Torture isn't effective. In fact, I've heard that Iraqi insurgents are motivated to fight by the fact that we use torture there. It IS a violation of the constitution. Also, do we really want to sink to the levels of groups that use torture? We're supposed to be the ones with laws.

 

[Siegreich]

So because their not citizens they don't have rights?

 

[IsoNeko]

Because their not American. Does it mean they not have a say in how you treat them?

So because their not citizens they don't have rights?

 

[Giovanto]

The prison is essentially our version of a Nazi Internment camp. During WWII we made camps for the Japanese and it was fucked up then too. Gitmo has essentially been an Internment Camp to detain people and satisfy a huge thirst for paranoia. There is no doubt in my mind Arabs were targeted in Detainment.

So yes. Close Gitmo, try people, put them in real prisons if they are real offenders. Otherwise let them the fuck go, this sort of stuff turns the once innocent detainees into vengeful terrorists who hate this country.

 

[Hydrus]

The prison at Guantanomo Bay is one of the most effective 'lightning rods' for Anti-US sentiment around the globe. It's a violation of the US Constitution, the Geneva convention and general decency and compassion. It's a disgrace that will be judged very harshly by the passage of history.

Kudos to Obama for having the guts to shut down one of the worst abuses of human rights by the US in recent memory.

 

[Johnnyallstar]

Depends on how you look at it...

Bad idea... we're letting enemy combatants to be moved to places where they don't belong and giving them Constitutional rights as if they were U.S. born citizens. Honestly, they're not American citizens so the Constitution doesn't cover them.

Good... Well, they're moving them into jails with American criminals... many of whom will remember 9/11 better than most people and will save us money by killing the newly moved in people and sparing our beloved government the disgrace of dirtying it's hands. Chow line anyone?

 

[Goldbling]

Good idea, most think because we are releasing them that they will start roaming the streets in NYC or something

 

[Elim Garak]

I can understand why he would do this but is it really a good idea? I mean we gain very useful information from torturing prisoners that save American lives.

Torture is not a good method of getting information out of a prisoner. All interrogation experts say that. It is an excellent way of getting bad and unreliable information, but that's it. No, wait, I am wrong, there is one other use for torture. It is also an excellent way of turning people against US and justifying terrorist acts.

In fact, you know how the Guantanamo guys picked those methods? They somehow stumbled onto a list of techniques used by Russians during the cold war to force American troops to admit that they have been killing children, etc. In other words, these methods come straight from a book on how to make people say what you want them to say - not the truth, but anything you want.

People can make the argument about it being a violation of the Constitution. But they are not American citizens so should they have those right?

There are such things as human rights, you know. And US signed the Geneva Convention - so torture is breaking the law. International law. And are you basically asking whether we should consider foreigners human and treat them as such?

 

[Not Good]

It's a good thing. I can start using the bay as a tourist site!

 

[Sewblon]

I think it is a bad idea because it just means transferring everyone their to different prisons. Thats the only logical course of action I can see for dealing with people we have decided are our enemies.

 

[pigmonkey]

Depends on how you look at it...

Bad idea... we're letting enemy combatants to be moved to places where they don't belong and giving them Constitutional rights as if they were U.S. born citizens. Honestly, they're not American citizens so the Constitution doesn't cover them.

Good... Well, they're moving them into jails with American criminals... many of whom will remember 9/11 better than most people and will save us money by killing the newly moved in people and sparing our beloved government the disgrace of dirtying it's hands. Chow line anyone?

wow your pretty much a sum of everything that is wrong with america, just because there not U.S. citizens doesn't mean they aren't human beings. they deserve a fair trial.

 

[Jenkins]

Depends on how you look at it...

Bad idea... we're letting enemy combatants to be moved to places where they don't belong and giving them Constitutional rights as if they were U.S. born citizens. Honestly, they're not American citizens so the Constitution doesn't cover them.

so then by your definition. I have the right then to kill any tourist who I deem annoying and will be saved because "the constitution doesn't cover them?"

unless im missing something, thats kinda wrong?

 

[Glerken]

Depends on how you look at it...

Bad idea... we're letting enemy combatants to be moved to places where they don't belong and giving them Constitutional rights as if they were U.S. born citizens. Honestly, they're not American citizens so the Constitution doesn't cover them.

Good... Well, they're moving them into jails with American criminals... many of whom will remember 9/11 better than most people and will save us money by killing the newly moved in people and sparing our beloved government the disgrace of dirtying it's hands. Chow line anyone?

wow your pretty much a sum of everything that is wrong with america, just because there not U.S. citizens doesn't mean they aren't human beings. they deserve a fair trial.

Agreed. And as President Obama said "America is not a country that tortures" and the closing on Guantanamo Bay will prove that. Also there other more humane ways to get information.

 

[Ravenseeker]

nobody likes Guantanamo Bay not even the people who worked there. it was nothing but bad press and getting rid of it will help clean up America's image