# What Prevents Obama From Closing the Gitmo Prison? **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [November 18, 2013, 12:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-prevents-obama-from-closing-the-gitmo-prison/674152 "2013-11-18T00:27:45Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![handsomeharry](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e9c0ed/32.png) [@handsomeharry](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/handsomeharry)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2013, 12:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-prevents-obama-from-closing-the-gitmo-prison/674152/21 "2013-11-19T00:02:03Z")
> [@sailor](#): > > It is a shame but the ultimate responsibility lies with the American people. I give my part of the American’s responsibilities to you. There it is. Totally from me, without let or hindrance. Enjoy. ---
**Author:** ![handsomeharry](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e9c0ed/32.png) [@handsomeharry](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/handsomeharry)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2013, 12:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-prevents-obama-from-closing-the-gitmo-prison/674152/22 "2013-11-19T00:03:22Z")
> [@ralph124c](#): > > In the case of POWs, you interrogate them and either kill them or let them go. Or, you keep them prisoner. Which is what the “P” in “POW” stands for. ---
**Author:** ![Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e8c25b/32.png) [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2013, 12:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-prevents-obama-from-closing-the-gitmo-prison/674152/23 "2013-11-19T00:05:34Z")
> [@sailor](#): > > Not true. Human Rights are universal and are not being respected. Also, they should have a right to a hearing, which they never had, to determine their status. The American Government has broken and is breaking all sorts of international treaties, not to mention the most basic and common moral decency. It’s not that simple. Many of the people left cannot be repatriated because their home states won’t take them. What is Obama supposed to do? Give them a boat and a can of fuel? ---
**Author:** ![Ethilrist](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ethilrist/32/4604_2.png) [@Ethilrist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ethilrist)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2013, 12:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-prevents-obama-from-closing-the-gitmo-prison/674152/24 "2013-11-19T00:19:40Z")
> [@Sandwich](#): > > Or (c), citizens keeping and bearing arms, as part of a well regulated militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, defending their homes from the army of an invading foreign tyrannt? Yeah, we hate when people do that. ---
**Author:** ![Grumman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/43a26b/32.png) [@Grumman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Grumman)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2013, 12:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-prevents-obama-from-closing-the-gitmo-prison/674152/25 "2013-11-19T00:31:49Z")
> [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](#): > > It’s not that simple. Many of the people left cannot be repatriated because their home states won’t take them. What is Obama supposed to do? Give them a boat and a can of fuel? They should be permitted to live in the United States, to mitigate the damage caused by the US government buying innocent people, torturing them and keeping them imprisoned for a decade without trial. And anyone who doesn’t like it can go fuck a wood chipper. ---
**Author:** ![Trinopus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/2bfe46/32.png) [@Trinopus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Trinopus)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2013, 12:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-prevents-obama-from-closing-the-gitmo-prison/674152/26 "2013-11-19T00:33:01Z")
> [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](#): > > You have to _try_ them first. Summary prisoner executions are fairly unpopular, both among people and constitutions. Of course, battlefield trials, such as at the Battle of the Bulge, can be fairly hasty affairs. Not quite “kangaroo” but pretty close to “drum-head.” ---
**Author:** ![Der\_Trihs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/der_trihs/32/233_2.png) [@Der\_Trihs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Der_Trihs)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2013, 12:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-prevents-obama-from-closing-the-gitmo-prison/674152/27 "2013-11-19T00:41:37Z")
> [@ralph124c](#): > > I still don’t understand. If these people were picked up in a battle zone, they were either armed combatants (subject to the rules of war), or “spies”(combatants in civilian clothes. In the case of POWs, you interrogate them and either kill them or let them go. In the case of spies, you execute them. They aren’t either. They weren’t necessarily taken from any “battle zone”; many are just people who were sold to us. And we very deliberately refused to put them in a category like “POW” because we didn’t ant to deal with the rules limiting things like the abuse of POWS. > [@ralph124c](#): > > What is the point of detaining these people indefinitely? Embarrassment. We don’t want to admit that we grabbed people for no good reason and tortured them. If it wasn’t for how the whole situation has become public I’m sure we would have long since simply murdered them [Phoenix Program](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phoenix_Program) style. ---
**Author:** ![Ravenman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ravenman/32/2929_2.png) [@Ravenman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ravenman)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2013, 12:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-prevents-obama-from-closing-the-gitmo-prison/674152/28 "2013-11-19T00:42:12Z")
> [@sailor](#): > > Not true. Human Rights are universal and are not being respected. Also, they should have a right to a hearing, which they never had, to determine their status. The American Government has broken and is breaking all sorts of international treaties, not to mention the most basic and common moral decency. I agree that Guantanamo needs to be closed. I agree that the treatment of detainees is a stain on this country that won’t wash out for decades. I agree that international law requires a bare minimum of treatment, such as a hearing and humane treatment. What I am saying is that there is no treaty or anything the proscribes what the hell we’re supposed to do with Khalid Sheik Mohammad, someone who literally believes he’s at war with the United States. I sure hope he would be put on trial and found guilty and pay the consequences, but if he isn’t – let’s say evidence gets thrown out because it came from waterboarding or something. What then? No decent country is going to take that psychopath. And it’s just a loopy pipe dream to think the second most dangerous terrorist in history would just be released to walk the streets in the United States. I don’t know what the hell to do with him, honestly, if he were found not guilty in a trial. But I sure know that suggestions that we “just let him go” are just never going to happen for umpteen thousand reasons. Anyway, if you know of the international law on what is to be done about illegal combatants captured on the battlefield, please post it. I might learn something. ---
**Author:** ![Grumman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/43a26b/32.png) [@Grumman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Grumman)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2013, 12:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-prevents-obama-from-closing-the-gitmo-prison/674152/29 "2013-11-19T00:56:41Z")
> [@Ravenman](#): > > But I sure know that suggestions that we “just let him go” are just never going to happen for umpteen thousand reasons. No, just one reason: because Osama Bin Ladin was right about America. If Khalid Sheik Mohammad is found not guilty he should be released, because that is what a country that values the rule of law would do. It should be a cautionary tale for decades to come about why you don’t let the CIA sabotage your chance of a successful prosecution by doing stupid, evil things like torturing prisoners. ---
**Author:** ![Ravenman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ravenman/32/2929_2.png) [@Ravenman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ravenman)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2013, 1:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-prevents-obama-from-closing-the-gitmo-prison/674152/30 "2013-11-19T01:06:28Z")
> [@Grumman](#): > > No, just one reason: because Osama Bin Ladin was right about America. That should be your sig. ---
**Author:** ![Der\_Trihs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/der_trihs/32/233_2.png) [@Der\_Trihs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Der_Trihs)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2013, 1:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-prevents-obama-from-closing-the-gitmo-prison/674152/31 "2013-11-19T01:27:59Z")
> [@Ravenman](#): > > Anyway, if you know of the international law on what is to be done about illegal combatants captured on the battlefield, please post it. I might learn something. According to [Wikipedia](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Illegal_combatant) the issue is vague and confused. ---
**Author:** ![Crawlspace](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/d6d6ee/32.png) [@Crawlspace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Crawlspace)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2013, 2:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-prevents-obama-from-closing-the-gitmo-prison/674152/32 "2013-11-19T02:04:14Z")
> [@Sandwich](#): > > Or (c), citizens keeping and bearing arms, as part of a well regulated militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, defending their homes from the army of an invading foreign tyrannt? You’re aware that only 17 of the 164 remaining prisoners are Afghani, right? > [@Der\_Trihs](#): > > They aren’t either. They weren’t necessarily taken from any “battle zone”; many are just people who were sold to us. Do you have a current site for this? I’m pretty sure that all those wrongfully turned in for the reward money were released a decade ago. ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2013, 2:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-prevents-obama-from-closing-the-gitmo-prison/674152/33 "2013-11-19T02:19:31Z")
> [@Grumman](#): > > No, just one reason: because Osama Bin Ladin was right about America. In what way? ---
**Author:** ![Chief\_Pedant](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/a6a055/32.png) [@Chief\_Pedant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chief_Pedant)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2013, 4:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-prevents-obama-from-closing-the-gitmo-prison/674152/34 "2013-11-19T04:35:50Z")
I think Mr Obama got a dose of reality when he became President. No one wants to be the guy who releases the next bin Laden. It is simply not worth the political cost to go to bat for the folks left at Gitmo. They are essentially living collateral damage in an unwinnable war. [NYT Op-Ed perspective here.](http://www.nytimes.com/2013/05/25/opinion/nocera-obamas-gitmo-problem.html?_r=0) ---
**Author:** ![Magiver](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/4491bb/32.png) [@Magiver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Magiver)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2013, 4:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-prevents-obama-from-closing-the-gitmo-prison/674152/35 "2013-11-19T04:59:14Z")
> [@Ravenman](#): > > It has not been closed because Congress overwhelmingly voted for a law that prevents all of those options. For it to be closed, the law must first be changed. Obama could have all the prisoners transferred to Chicago in time for the NBA playoffs. That would effectively close Gitmo. ---
**Author:** ![Ravenman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ravenman/32/2929_2.png) [@Ravenman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ravenman)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2013, 12:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-prevents-obama-from-closing-the-gitmo-prison/674152/36 "2013-11-19T12:20:34Z")
> [@Magiver](#): > > Obama could have all the prisoners transferred to Chicago in time for the NBA playoffs. That would effectively close Gitmo. How is that? Let me guess: it involves parachutes, Special Ops, and a time machine you invented to go back in time to 2008 when the law I quoted didn’t exist? That’s your answer for everything. ---
**Author:** ![BigT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bigt/32/12044_2.png) [@BigT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigT)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2013, 2:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-prevents-obama-from-closing-the-gitmo-prison/674152/37 "2013-11-19T14:12:57Z")
I only see one solution I could see to get the prisoners out of GITMO: Rename the naval base ---
**Author:** ![magellan01](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@magellan01](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/magellan01)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2013, 2:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-prevents-obama-from-closing-the-gitmo-prison/674152/38 "2013-11-19T14:19:37Z")
Reality. Gitmo is the best solution to a gnarly problem. ---
**Author:** ![Grey](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/b782af/32.png) [@Grey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Grey)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2013, 2:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-prevents-obama-from-closing-the-gitmo-prison/674152/39 "2013-11-19T14:22:56Z")
> [@magellan01](#): > > Reality. Gitmo is the best solution to a gnarly problem. Actually Gitmo is the answer to a problem that didn’t need to exist. No one asked the US to deal with terrorists outside of the criminal system. No one made the US scoop up hundreds of people and place them into a limbo legal state. No one told the US to hold them without trial for years on end. So the fact Gitmo continues to is exist is due to moral cowardice. Having taken a series of decisions, and found them to be hasty and immoral, the US is unwilling to deal with the consequences of correcting its actions. It’s a difficult place to be but it’s the place they’ve put themselves. ---
**Author:** ![John\_Mace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_mace/32/185_2.png) [@John\_Mace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Mace)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2013, 2:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-prevents-obama-from-closing-the-gitmo-prison/674152/40 "2013-11-19T14:26:41Z")
> [@Magiver](#): > > Obama could have all the prisoners transferred to Chicago in time for the NBA playoffs. That would effectively close Gitmo. I’m going to join **Ravenman** and ask: WTF? Is that a joke? [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-prevents-obama-from-closing-the-gitmo-prison/674152.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-prevents-obama-from-closing-the-gitmo-prison/674152.md?page=3)