Obama’s Plan to Close Gitmo…Was Bush’s Plan 3yr Ago

Yep, just like President Obama took his plan for Iraq, his bailout plans, and more now he’s trying to market his “plan” for closing Gitmo…straight from George W Bush’s Sept 6, 2006 speech. Time heals all wounds, and I guess 3yrs is enough time for the Democrats to forget they once opposed this plan.

OBAMA’s PLAN:(quotes below)
1) Try criminals in Federal courts
2) Military Tribunals
3) Release ones ordered released by courts
4) Transfer as many as possible to other countries
5) Hold really bad guys until we can figure out how to hold them w out trial indefinitely by legal means

BUSH’S Sept 6, 2006 PLAN: (quotes below)
1) Transfer as many as possible to other countries
2) Try criminals in Federal courts
3) Military Tribunals
4) Beg Congress to figure out how to hold the really bad guys without trial indefinitely by legal means
[note: President Bush’s plan didn’t include a provision for letting go Gitmo detainees who had been ordered released, but had yet to be released. This is because no one would take them, and they remain at Gitmo, but President Obama has said that somehow, someplace he wants them released.

OBAMA:

• “First, when feasible, we will try those who have violated American criminal laws in federal courts – courts provided for by the United States Constitution.”
• “The second category of cases involves detainees who violate the laws of war and are best tried through Military Commissions. Military commissions have a history in the United States dating back to George Washington and the Revolutionary War.”
• “The third category of detainees includes those who we have been ordered released by the courts.”
• “The fourth category of cases involves detainees who we have determined can be transferred safely to another country.”
• “I want to be honest: this is the toughest issue we will face. We are going to exhaust every avenue that we have to prosecute those at Guantanamo who pose a danger to our country. But even when this process is complete, there may be a number of people who cannot be prosecuted for past crimes, but who nonetheless pose a threat to the security of the United States. Examples of that threat include people who have received extensive explosives training at al Qaeda training camps, commanded Taliban troops in battle, expressed their allegiance to Osama bin Laden, or otherwise made it clear that they want to kill Americans. These are people who, in effect, remain at war with the United States.
• As I said, I am not going to release individuals who endanger the American people. Al Qaeda terrorists and their affiliates are at war with the United States, and those that we capture – like other prisoners of war – must be prevented from attacking us again. However, we must recognize that these detention policies cannot be unbounded. That is why my Administration has begun to reshape these standards to ensure they are in line with the rule of law. We must have clear, defensible and lawful standards for those who fall in this category. “

BUSH’S PLAN:

• “The CIA program has detained only a limited number of terrorists at any given time — and once we’ve determined that the terrorists held by the CIA have little or no additional intelligence value, many of them have been returned to their home countries for prosecution or detention by their governments.”
• “Others have been accused of terrible crimes against the American people, and we have a duty to bring those responsible for these crimes to justice. So we intend to prosecute these men, as appropriate, for their crimes.”
• “Soon after the war on terror began, I authorized a system of military commissions to try foreign terrorists accused of war crimes. Military commissions have been used by Presidents from George Washington to Franklin Roosevelt to prosecute war criminals, because the rules for trying enemy combatants in a time of conflict must be different from those for trying common criminals or members of our own military.”
• “So today, I’m asking Congress to pass legislation that will clarify the rules for our personnel fighting the war on terror. “