Wednesday, January 21, 2009

BARACK OBAMA

Closing Gitmo: A Worthy and Winnable Fight

Interestingly, one of Obama's first acts — beginning the steps to close Guantanamo Bay — is actually running directly against public opinion.

A few days ago, Gallup asked, "Do you think the United States should — or should not — close the prison at the Guantanamo Bay military base in Cuba?" The respondents split 35 percent "yes," 45 percent "no," 20 percent "no opinion."

If Obama moves forward, his administration will have to answer a basic question: If not Gitmo, then where? And if the answer is Fort Leavenworth, he'll have to explain why he's ignoring the objections of Democratic Gov. Kathleen Sebelius, once a potential running mate.

If it's Camp Pendleton in California, then Obama is overruling the objections of local congressmen, and we're left wondering where Sens. Dianne Feinstein and Barbara Boxer will stand.

The U.S. Naval Consolidated Brig in Charleston, South Carolina? Again, local lawmakers staunchly oppose the idea, and you would be dropping the world's most wanted terrorists into a heavily populated area near an interstate highway and a port, and about three miles from an airport.

As Hugh's producer Duane said last week, this is the Yucca Mountain of the War on Terror. Somebody's got to take the hazardous waste material.

Republicans don't have a ton of issues in which public opinion is on their side; they should press the argument that American policy on detainees in the War on Terror ought to consider the objections of Americans in places like Kansas, California, and South Carolina as much as it considers the objections of the editorial boards of Le Monde, Der Spiegel and the Guardian.

01/21 09:53 AMShare