I am obviously delighted that Barack Obama won and, no, I wouldn’t be saying that if the Christian fundamentalist had won.
When he ceases to be President Elect, and when he becomes President-proper, I shall be counting the days that Guantanamo remains with innocent people imprisoned. I would be delighted if my count got no higher than one; I cannot imagine what those people are going through (especially if, had they had a trial, they would have been found not guilty) and I would not wish any more time in those conditions…
That said, I expect it would take some time for this to be complete so I shall personally give him a year.
Update 14/03/2009: Due to higher levels than normal of spam on this post I have closed comments early.
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#1 by Alex Fear on November 8th, 2008 - 1:38 pm
You know that Obama is probably more of a Christian than McCain is right?
McCain just says whatever religious people want to hear to appease them.
#2 by Gav on November 9th, 2008 - 6:02 pm
I’m sure you know more about that than me but I’m sure Obama won’t be allowed to institute Conservative-right policy by his Democratic Senate and Congress…
#3 by James G. on November 14th, 2008 - 3:46 pm
What should be done about those 250+ GTMO people whom no country is willing to accept, despite the US wanting to get rid of them?
Maybe they should come here?
#4 by Gav on November 14th, 2008 - 6:14 pm
I know it won’t be a popular answer to your question, but if they are not accepted, or would be under threat of inhuman treatment in their own country then, yes, we should provide them with asylum.
It should probably be done with some careful surveillance if we deem it necessary, but it is the right thing to do for people who are innocent and would only improve our international standing as well.
#5 by Alex Fear on November 16th, 2008 - 3:00 pm
Shouldn’t America keep them? After all I know we got involved with Bush and his war but we have our own detention centers that should be dealt with first, and we’re not responsible for the creation of Gitmo.
Also, it’s pretty obvious that Brown is only too eager to milk the ‘special relationship’ with Obama, hoping that some of that popularity will rub off by osmosis. Let’s hope Obama sees him for the opportunist mug he is.
#6 by James G. on November 17th, 2008 - 6:52 pm
Ah well, another 250 won’t be much to add to the estimated 10,000 British residents who spent significant amounts of time in Afghan training camps. True. Mind you, these sorts of people are probably not the brightest and not averse to sh** where they eat either, eventually.
Also turns out that Obama’s advisers are running into the same problem that Bush’s people faced: the fact that whatever they do with who is in GTMO will have to, by necessity, be extra-constitutional.
That is, they are going to have to set up a courts system running parallel to the existing system in the US. There are no methods nor precedence for trying cases like these outside of military courts-martial.