Posted on 05/08/2011 1:53:23 PM PDT by gitmo
There have been a number of pieces written about why the military prison in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba has remained open. I believe Rush Limbaugh was alone in predicting it would not be closed by the Obama administration, and he maintained that even after the Exective Order issued by President Obama on January 22, 2009. Many analysts have expounded on why this was never accomplished. Basically, the thinking is that the Democrats cannot afford to be seen as being weak on Defense.
What I find fascinating is HOW this was never accomplished.
Did the military and political leaders say, "Just ignore that order. The kid doesn't know what he's doing"?
Did Obama issue the Executive Order, but put the word out that he was just kidding? That this was simply a show for his base, but he never really intended for it to become reality?
Did his cabinet quietly squash the order?
How in the world does it happen that an Executive Order by the President of the United States fails to be executed? It's not like this was an impossible task, and everyone did their best to make it transpire.
I have had the honor of working for several very strong CEOs. When they gave a directive, the entire organization lept to its collective feet to achieve the new goal. In one instance our CEO speculated about what would happen if we did such-and-such. The first thing he knew the company was going to heroic and expensive efforts to make that happen. He determined he was going to have to be very deliberate when he suggested we might want to consider doing something.
But this Gitmo closure was the first Executive Order of the new President, and could not have been mistaken for idle speculation.
Are there other instances in our history where a Presidential military order was completely ignored? Have we ever had a more ineffectual leader?
My best guess is the order was vague enough to allow Gitmo to remain open for an undetermined amount of time, just that they would start the process. Rush was so right, though.
No money, no closey. President doesn’t have the power of the purse, that belongs to Congress. His own party, when they controlled both houses, would not pay for the closing. That’s pretty weak leadership.
By the authority vested in me as President by the Constitution and the laws of the United States of America, in order to effect the appropriate disposition of individuals currently detained by the Department of Defense at the Guantánamo Bay Naval Base (Guantánamo) and promptly to close detention facilities at Guantánamo, consistent with the national security and foreign policy interests of the United States and the interests of justice, I hereby order as follows: ...
I would expect the government to begin closure immediately if a serious President released anything remotely like this.
It helped that there were some in the Democrat party in Congress who were against this. If I recall correctly, Congress passed some kind of bill in 2009 that would cut off funds for closing Club Gitmo.
“Basically, the thinking is that the Democrats cannot afford to be seen as being weak on Defense.”
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A bit late for worry about this. The Rats have been weak on defense for many administrations. And now we have Obama, a staunch anti-American, anti-military, anti-strength weakling and widely recognized as such. To say nothing of the pandering to America’s enemies which has not ceased.
JFK was the last Democrat president in my opinion that cared about this country and its defense.
my best guess is bambi is so weak and ineffectual that he truly thinks he can “lead from behind”, thus guaranteeing failure, leaving HRC,powers, rice and dusty harry as the true frightening brain trust.
“Did Obama issue the Executive Order, but put the word out that he was just kidding? That this was simply a show for his base, but he never really intended for it to become reality?”
That can’t be true, because he wouldn’t do a show thing on inauguration day when other news will cover it
I agree. I was in Guantanamo Bay during the Missle Crisis. He stood up for the defense of this nation.
The Bay of Pigs, on the other hand, was a shameful betrayal of Freedom and an act of cowardice.
I do not recall such an executive order-—I don’t think one ever existed.
Follow the link. It was a big deal on his first full day in office.
Congress refused to allocate dollars to create another prison in Illinois.
At first Mayor Blooming idiot agreed to have the KSM trial in NYC. The uproar had him backtracking pretty damn quick. Police Commissioner Kelly also was in favor of the trial.
They did hold one trial in NYC. An embassy bomber. He had hundreds of charges against him. He was acquitted on ALL but one charge.
At this point the dems dare not make themselves anymore terrorist friendly than they already appear.
Strange order-—it’s so full of loopholes it’s not really an Order, but merely an idea.
He did issue it and made a big deal out of it. One problem, in addition to the funding issues, is that there was no where to put the prisoners. No other country wanted them, and they toyed around with the idea of housing some in Illinois.
So with no money and no where to go, Gitmo remains open. And Rush’s “Club Gitmo” merchandising business remains also!!
He probably was just playing golf too much to follow through with making sure that the order was carried out.
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