Obama’s Cuba problem

As 2010 rapidly closes, I can’t help but notice how the Obama administration tried
to quietly slip past the media and the general public a recent declassified report
on the current status of detainees formerly held at Guantanamo Bay.

You’ll recall then-candidate Obama made it a top priority of his campaign that he
would seek to close Gitmo. Then, once assuming the office of commander in chief,
someone in the White House had the boneheaded idea that maybe we should charter
a plane for these terrorists and try them in a domestic court.

Clearly this administration is not up to speed on the optics of the detainees and
how the public relations war has worked against them at every turn.
 
Released quietly earlier this month, a memo written by Director of National Intelligence
James Clapper reported that of the former detainees released or transferred to other
nations, many have returned to a life of crimes against the world.

Of the close to 600 detainees released to date, 13 percent are confirmed and another
12 percent are suspected of “reengaging in terrorist or insurgent activities after
transfer,” according to the report. Nearly one-quarter of these prisoners that we
know about returned to terrorism. And we need to listen to the White House that
they were held without cause or somehow unlawfully? Please.

So what has the Obama White House done with this information? In classic form, they
blamed their predecessor for the mess. Yet a closer look at detainees released since
Obama took office shows five are either confirmed or suspected of returning to terrorist
activities.

If the president’s policies of closing Gitmo, no questions asked, had been implemented,
heaven only knows what that could have led to.

The point here is we need to take the bad guys seriously, and recognize that there
are those in this world hell-bent on destroying our way of life. You can give these
suspects no quarter. They will hide behind any protections they are afforded just
to kill innocent humans.

I’m not saying we should compromise our principles and the rule of law. Let’s just
be damn sure, before we release any more, that we know 1) where they are going;
and 2) they truly are no longer a threat to the U.S. and her allies.

Armstrong Williams is on Sirius/XM Power 169, 7-8 p.m. and 4-5 a.m., Monday through Friday. Become a fan on Facebook at www.facebook.com/arightside, and follow him on Twitter at www.twitter.com/arightside.