Obama’s Gitmo decision angers the left

President Barack Obama is again discovering campaigning is much easier — and politically safer — than governing. Yesterday, in an effort to show he’s moved to the center of the political spectrum, President Obama again angered his far-left base by issuing a new executive order that is diametrically opposed to his original promise to close down the controversial Guantanamo Bay military detention center.

Both Republicans and Democrats view President Barack Obama’s executive order allowing indefinite detention of terrorism suspects at Guantánamo prison — and the continued use of military courts — as a return to days of President George W Bush.

“The bottom line is that it affirms the Bush Administration policy that our government has the right to detain dangerous terrorists until the cessation of hostilities,” said Representative Peter King, the chairman of the House Homeland Security Committee, in a press statement on Tuesday.

Closing the military detention facility known as Gitmo, which first opened at the U.S. Marine Base in Cuba in 2002, is remembered by most inside and outside of the Beltway as Obama’s first promise upon entering the White House on January 20, 2009. 

While the U.S. news media are attempting to hide their disappointment, conservative pundits believe Obama’s media sycophants are faced the reality that Bush was right about his choice for incarcerating terrorists and enemy-combatants captured on the battlefield during the Global War on Terrorism.

“No one has done more to revive the reputation of Bush-era anti-terror policies than the Obama Administration,” said the Wall Street Journal’s editorial page. “The political left is enraged by what it claims is a betrayal, but we’re glad to see [President] Obama bowing to [security] reality and erring on the side of keeping the country safe.”

The Obama sycophants in the media were hard at work making excuses for the president. For example, a talking point circulating throughout Washington, DC and the nation’s newsrooms is that President Obama’s hands were tied by Congress, which on December 22, 2010, passed a law banning the transfer of Guantánamo detainees to the US. However, on December 22, the Democrats still controlled both Houses of Congress.

One can only imagine the anger within U.S. human rights and civil liberties groups who are sure to condemn Obama’s latest disappointment.

There are 172 detainees still imprisoned at Guantánamo, of whom 48 cannot be tried because their testimony would compromise classified information or because they were coerced into confessing under torture, according to the Defense Department.

Dozens of suspected terrorists have been freed from Guantanamo since Obama issued an executive order last year calling for a comprehensive “review” of all detainees and a total of 598 have been released so far, according to officials at Judicial Watch, a public-interest, watchdog group that investigates government and political corruption.   One hundred fifty are confirmed or suspected of “reengaging in terrorist or insurgent activities after transfer,” according to a report issued by the Director of National Intelligence (DNI) to Congress.   At least 83 “remain at large” and if additional detainees are released, some will “reengage in terrorist or insurgent activities”, says the DNI assessment.   Created by Congress in 2004 to force collaboration between the nation’s spy agencies, the DNI claims to be the country’s first line of defense, serving as the head of the intelligence community by integrating foreign, military and domestic intelligence that protects the U.S. from terrorist threats.   The newly released DNI assessment is hardly earth-shattering news. Nearly two years ago the Pentagon’s Defense Intelligence Agency disclosed a sharp rise in the number of Guantanamo detainees who rejoin terrorist missions after leaving U.S. custody.   Using data such as fingerprints, pictures and other reports the defense agency, which gathers foreign military intelligence, determined that the number of Middle Eastern terrorists who returned to “the fight” after being released nearly doubled in a short time.  

Jim Kouri, CPP, formerly Fifth Vice-President, is currently a Board Member of the National Association of Chiefs of Police and he’s a columnist for Examiner.com and New Media Alliance (thenma.org).  In addition, he’s a blogger for the Cheyenne, Wyoming Fox News Radio affiliate KGAB (www.kgab.com). Kouri also serves as political advisor for Emmy and Golden Globe winning actor Michael Moriarty. 

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