Former Secretary of State Colin Powell said today he favors immediately closing the Guantanamo Bay military prison and moving its detainees to U.S. facilities.He also votes in favor of the justice system (pre-Bush):
The prison, which now holds about 380 suspected terrorists, has tarnished the world's perception of the United States, Powell said.
"If it was up to me, I would close Guantanamo. Not tomorrow, but this afternoon. I'd close it," he said.
"And I would not let any of those people go," he said. "I would simply move them to the United States and put them into our federal legal system. The concern was, well then they'll have access to lawyers, then they'll have access to writs of habeas corpus. So what? Let them. Isn't that what our system is all about?"Well, yea.
Think Progress has the transcript here. He has some other choice words on international diplomacy. Like this:
And so I think it is short-sighted not to talk to Syria and Iran and everybody else in the region, and not just for the purpose of making a demand on them, and “I’ll only talk to you if you meet the demand I want to talk to you about.” That’s not the way to have a dialogue in my judgment.And he sums up things very nicely:
[E]very morning I pick up a paper and some authoritarian figure, some person somewhere, is using Guantanamo to hide their own misdeeds. So essentially we have shaken the belief that the world had in America’s justice system by keeping a place like Guantanamo open and creating things like the military commission. We don’t need it, and it’s causing us far more damage than any good we get for it.Too bad it's a few years too late.
4 comments:
Isn't this just what you would expect from a cowardly terrorist sympathizer like Colin Powell? Here he is again, giving aid and comfort to the enemy, asking that "the worst of the worst" be placed just one small step away from our women, children, and bichon frises and be treated as actual human beings instead of the vermin they are.
I'm ashamed that this so-called "general" was ever allowed to represent that bastion of righteousness (praise JESUS) that is the glorious Bush presidency.
i'm glad he's finally speaking HIS mind and not the party line.
about time!
If only he had given this sort of honest assessment on that famous day when he went on-air to scare the hell out of people and make a case for the Iraq invasion.
But Colin, you don't get do-overs in history. THAT day, not your "to late to the party" comments now, are what you will be remembered for. You had your chance to be a stand-up guy and you blew it. A large part of the death count in Iraq is on your shoulders.
Pilt
yes, yes it is.
but i am still glad he said something now.
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