It doesn't track that just because we got this info while operating an illegal black ops prison -- one that betrays core American values and serves as a rallying point for our enemies -- that we wouldn't have also gotten the same info by using legal investigative methods. It's highly likely that the same intel would've been obtained had we obeyed our laws and stuck to proven, workable forensic techniques.
GITMO is a stain on the American character. It's closure is a moral imperative. The United States shouldn't be in the wildly hypocritical business of throwing people in a hole indefinitely without providing any charges, process, evidence rights, or a day in court. That was true yesterday and remains true today.
A couple of thoughts:
1. The inmates in Gitmo are unlawful combatants and are treated as such. They are not afforded the same rights as prisoners of war.
2. Gitmo may be a rallying cry for our enemies, but so is killing Bin Laden. Doesnt mean we shouldnt do what is in our best interests.
The "enemy combatants" label was something made up out of whole cloth by the Bush Administration and not recognizied by the world.
Wasn't KSM, it was Al-Libbi, sorry if I got my assholes confused.
That could definitely be a problem.
He was a legally-indicted fugitive sought in connection with numerous crimes for which we had ample evidence to convict. He was killed while resisting capture. Done.
GITMO is still on life support because the use of illegal torture techniques on the Yemeni prisoners (and others) has created a class of prisoners that are known to be guilty, but can never be tried in any court because the evidence of their guilt was obtained illegally and is now inadmissible (even in a military tribunal). The cowardly shortcut of "enhanced interrogation techniques" serves only to prevent bringing these known terrorists to justice.
So Obama has a shit sandwich- he can't try them because of what Bush and Cheney approved, but he knows without a doubt they are guilty of crimes and a threat to our security. So he compromised a core belief in the name of national security.
But make no mistake, GITMO is not taking new prisoners, and as soon as we can find an answer to this company of ghost men that we are stuck with, the facility with be closed, and only remembered as part of a dark epoch in our history of ignoring the rule of law.
We've stopped the torture, so this class of prisoner will soon be relegated to history. We can then reaffirm that everyone has the right to basic legal process, even our enemies. We're on the right path, albeit to slowly.
I wonder if Eric Holder will continue a criminal investigation of the CIA interrogators who handled KSM?
I love how Dems are patriotic only when its convenient to be patriotic.
Check out Pelosi's Bin Laden statement then and now:
Here’s Nancy Pelosi from a press conference on September 7, 2006:
[E]ven if [Osama bin Laden] is caught tomorrow, it is five years too late. He has done more damage the longer he has been out there. But, in fact, the damage that he has done . . . is done. And even to capture him now I don’t think makes us any safer.
And here’s Nancy Pelosi yesterday:
The death of Osama bin Laden marks the most significant development in our fight against al-Qaida. . . . I salute President Obama, his national security team, Director Panetta, our men and women in the intelligence community and military, and other nations who supported this effort for their leadership in achieving this major accomplishment. . . . [T]he death of Osama bin Laden is historic. . . .