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Gitmo Is Killing Me

nytimes.com

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Re: Gitmo Is Killing Me

#261

Post by RyanMcGreal »

potatolicious wrote: post #74
Joeri wrote: post #39

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't believe this argument of impotence. If they wanted to throw him out, they would have. Tenure is not written down in the constitution. These 'we want to but we can't' arguments bother me more and more as i grow older. It's usually a pretty transparent excuse for not doing the right thing, by scared old men or ambitious young men.

Tenure doesn't work this way. The whole idea about tenure is to give academics the freedom to pursue things that are controversial to the public - i.e., you can research controversial things without being tossed out by the angry mob. You can afford to go full-bore on your research rather than play politics and PR with the public. Tossing one tenured professor out is a simple thing. After all like you said, it's not w…

Violating international law against torture is not "controversial", it's criminal.

Re: Gitmo Is Killing Me

#262

Post by gitmothrow »

SoftwareMaven wrote: post #17

Gitmo was the first thing that clued me that I had made a mistake voting for Obama's promises (not that McCain would have ever gotten it instead!). It was such a complete reversal that I immediately knew his promises were completely worthless. I appreciate that there may be anger outs people in Gitmo, but they have every right to a trial I have. The double standard of what human rights mean if you are a US citizen an…

I think it's funny that you vote for Obama because you think he's a good guy with a good vision for America, then when he gets into power and makes a decision you think is morally contemptuous, your first though is that 'he wasn't who I thought he was'.

What the fuck do you know about national security, SoftwareMaven? You're a programmer on Hacker News. You're not privy to the shit that Obama is privy to.

How do you know your idea of what is moral is also what would be good for society as a whole? How do you know that Obama isn't simply responding in a reasonable way to the reality that you have no conception of.

Also, throwaway so I don't get called a fascist nazi or whatever.

Re: Gitmo Is Killing Me

#263

Post by ankitml »

Here goes my respect for obama, for democracy which he stands for, for the whole nobel peace prize community. Now I know why Gandhi never won it. He would have felt disgraced today.

US is a disgrace to human rights, a hypocritical country who brings democracy to the world

Re: Gitmo Is Killing Me

#264

Post by gitmothrow »

zamryok wrote: post #254
SoftwareMaven wrote: post #17

Gitmo was the first thing that clued me that I had made a mistake voting for Obama's promises (not that McCain would have ever gotten it instead!). It was such a complete reversal that I immediately knew his promises were completely worthless. I appreciate that there may be anger outs people in Gitmo, but they have every right to a trial I have. The double standard of what human rights mean if you are a US citizen an…

> The double standard of what human rights mean if you are a US citizen and if you aren't makes me physically ill. I also think that is profoundly unjust, and unfortunately it is not simply a question of being a US citizen or not: US citizens who are arab or muslim are more likely to be suspected of acts that could be considered to lie within the vague legal category of Terrorism. So it seems that non-muslim and non-…

Why is it unjust to spend limited FBI resources focusing on high risk groups?

Do you think they should be monitoring bridge games at nursing homes?

Do you think that Arab and Muslim Americans have never been involved in domestic terrorist operations?

Re: Gitmo Is Killing Me

#266

Post by ollysb »

Locke1689 wrote: post #34
SoftwareMaven wrote: post #17

Gitmo was the first thing that clued me that I had made a mistake voting for Obama's promises (not that McCain would have ever gotten it instead!). It was such a complete reversal that I immediately knew his promises were completely worthless. I appreciate that there may be anger outs people in Gitmo, but they have every right to a trial I have. The double standard of what human rights mean if you are a US citizen an…

The problem is that to close Guantanamo, you need funding to a least move the prisoners to another facility. Introducing them to the justice system would require the same. As every American should know, Congress holds the purse strings here and has denied said request. The President has no power here.

There is another option, keep them in Guantanamo but improve conditions to at least normal prison standards in the US. I can't believe that would be more expensive than maintaining their current regime.

Re: Gitmo Is Killing Me

#267

Post by jussij »

josscrowcroft wrote: post #158
jussij wrote: post #60

So much for the Declaration of Independence: We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.

The missing amendment: "We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all Americans are created equal..."

All me/women are created equal but in reality some are more equal than others.

As always history repeats :(

Edit: It truly disappoints me how human rights always run a long second to personal interest.

Re: Gitmo Is Killing Me

#268

Post by [deleted] »

vxNsr wrote: post #205
sgpl wrote: post #147

Earlier quoted context omitted.

TL:DR: This dude was at the wrong place at the wrong time; and unless the US Government can prove otherwise, they should either release him, or if he is a terrorist, it would be a net-win if they just let him die of hunger (As their reputation w.r.t Gitmo has already been sullied). -- In a parallel universe, I claim that you are committing conspiracy to overthrow the reigning King. You say you were just walking by th…

Cute story but unless you know something I don't about his case which you're not sharing then it's just that... a cute story. If that's what happened well it sucks to be him but technically under the Geneva Convention and current laws of war, the US is allowed to hold him until the war ends at which point it must try him before a court (which can be a military tribunal) or trade him for it's own soldiers who are bein…

[deleted]

Re: Gitmo Is Killing Me

#269

Post by mpyne »

justin wrote: post #115
Locke1689 wrote: post #56

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Alas, naïveté in the political system. How I knew you.

I don't see how his answer was naive. I think we've reached a low point as a people if believing an elected official will actually attempt to keep his campaign promises is naive.

On the other hand, it would be nice indeed if people understood the political process. Obama has attempted action on Gitmo (however long ago that was).

But, Congress has not only not supported closing down Gitmo and sending the prisoners "home" (to whatever home means), they have explicitly forbidden it in their defense appropriation bills going back for years.

And people here say that Obama should break the law he was elected to enforce this time, just not all the other times that the law is in their favor.

And either way, the first person he gives the direct order to break the law to will refuse to carry it out (since it's an unlawful order), and then that breakdown in command & control will be the end of Obama's Presidency. It must be nice being an HN commenter, there's a reason Obama's hair is rapidly turning gray.

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