Posted on 03/27/2008 6:12:07 PM PDT by Sub-Driver
5 Ex-Chief Diplomats: Close Guantanamo Mar 27 08:46 PM US/Eastern By GREG BLUESTEIN Associated Press Writer ATHENS, Ga. (AP) - Five former U.S. secretaries of state on Thursday urged the next presidential administration to close the Guantanamo Bay prison camp and open a dialogue with Iran.
The former chiefs of American diplomacy, who served in Democratic and Republican administrations, reached a consensus on the two issues at a conference in Athens aimed at giving the next president some bipartisan foreign policy advice. Each of them said shuttering the prison camp in Cuba would bolster America's image abroad.
"It says to the world: 'We are now going back to our traditional respective forms of dealing with people who potentially committed crimes,'" said Colin Powell, who served as President Bush's first secretary of state.
Powell was joined by Henry Kissinger, James Baker III, Warren Christopher and Madeleine Albright, who sat in a round-table discussion sponsored by the University of Georgia at a sold-out conference center in downtown Athens.
Kissinger called Guantanamo a "blot on us" and agreed it should be closed, but wondered aloud about the consequences of a closure.
Baker, a lawyer who served in President George H.W. Bush's Cabinet, said he has struggled with its legal implications.
"It gives us a very, very bad name, not just internationally," he said. "I have a great deal of difficulty understanding how we can hold someone, pick someone up, particularly someone who might be an American citizen—even if they were caught somewhere abroad, acting against American interests—and hold them without ever giving them an opportunity to appear before a magistrate."
(Excerpt) Read more at breitbart.com ...
Congressman Billybob
This is not showing weakness.
It clearly is weakness and will be perceived in that manner.
“It says to the world: ‘We are now going back to our traditional respective forms of dealing with people who potentially committed crimes,’” said Colin Powell
Oh, were back to the old crime thing again, a nuanced police action.
Good grief, if we had a pair, we’d expand that island paradise to include the present occupants families’.
Just another example of the sign of the times, and how America has left Reason and legitimate interests, behind.
even if they were caught somewhere abroad, acting against American interests—and hold them without ever giving them an opportunity to appear before a magistrate.”
Let’s call them the Five Stooges. Powell shows his weakness after the 1991 Gulf War fiasco on his part.
Christopher was always a dumbo and weak sister.
Albright just isn’t. A total loser.
Baker - sleazy and possibly anti-semitic (according to some insiders.) Just not trustworthy
Kissinger - betrayed us in Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia. He should never be trusted, even with your dog. The man who brought him to Washington later wished he hadn’t (personal communication from FK).
I suggest a long tour of GITMO for all of them, and throw away the key. But instead of orange outfits, let’s make them YELLOW!
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