Obama Closing Gitmo, Restoring America

Great article at the Washington Monthly on the closing of Gitmo and restoring the rule of law. First off, hears what Obama had to say:

"We are not -- as I said in the inauguration -- going to continue with a false choice between our safety and our ideals," the president said this morning. He added, "The message we are sending around the world is that the US intends to prosecute the ongoing struggle against violence and terrorism and we are going to do so vigilantly, we are going to do so effectively, and we are going to do so in a manner that is consistent with our values and our ideals ... We intend to win this fight, and we intend to win it on our terms."

Even though the Republicans would like to think they have the Muslim equivalent of Jack Bauer, McGuyver and Hannibal Lecter in those 250 detainees, the message it sends to the 1.4 billion actual Muslims out there is so much worse: We tortured people there! More to the point, the whole idea of housing detainees at Gitmo was to put them outside of the American legal system, a practice that was struck down by the Supreme Court. It's illegal.

That's why fighting this on our new restored terms is so important. The Gitmo closing is symbolic. We can't sink to what Al Qaeda can use as recruitment fodder.

Bush's ends justify the means shredding of our Constitution are over.

"Al Qaeda could never have destroyed our commitment to liberty, human rights, and the rule of law by itself. It could only hope that we would respond unthinkingly and do the dirty work ourselves. We obliged them, and in so doing did a lot more damage to ourselves than al Qaeda could ever have dreamed of doing.

It's wonderful to see that that has changed: that we have an administration that will not sacrifice the ideals America always ought to stand for, and will not allow our adversaries to dictate the terms and the terrain on which we will oppose them."

It will take a while to undo all of Bush's mistakes, but this is the direction America needs to be on if it wants to lead.

Bush used all those illegal and illogical tactics and America sunk. Our standing in the world, our values, our economy, our currency, no matter how you slice it, we gave up too much to get back so little.

Source: Steve Benin