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Can’t Gitmo Satisfaction

Barack and Michelle Exit the Stage. Photo source:

The part-time job of a high school kid is a hallowed thing. But we all complain about it at some point. Eleven to five at Tim’s or A&W sucks sometimes – especially when combined with a hefty homework load during the school year. But the next time you have to dredge up the strength to serve more freeze-dried chicken nuggets to yet another customer (and choke back the subsequent vomit), try this.

Think about Barack Obama; now there’s a man with a tough job.

I came across an editorial in the Calgary Herald, written by Kris Kotarski, which calls Obama out for relapsing into George Bush’s policy of using military tribunals at Guantanamo Bay.

As a brief introduction, the Guantanamo Bay Naval Base – known colloquially as “Gitmo” – is a US-owned patch of land in Cuba, which after 9/11 has been used as a prison for suspects of terrorism. Guantanamo is often regarded as a black hole; the US government can essentially keep whoever they want there, regardless of evidence. For years, accounts and images of the prisoners’ horrific treatment have leaked out, attracting foreign criticism of the Bush administration and sending human rights’ activists firing on all cylinders.

Tribunals (or military commissions) are the trials of those enemy combatants by military officers. (Commissions make resolutions happen quickly, but if you ask me, also seem to forgo a lot of that “justice” and “equality” stuff that the States include in their mantra.) Either way, it seems they’ll remain a staple at Guantanamo.

This comes about half a year after Obama ordered that commissions stop operating on Guantanamo premises. Around that same time he promised to close the prison by the end of his first year in office. The closure of Guantanamo would be a huge victory for the landscape of human rights, and one of the Obama administration’s crowning achievements. But the task isn’t faring as well as many had hoped.

If Obama is going to stick to his promise, he has only the rest of 2009 to find happy homes for the 241 inmates currently residing there. To keep his word, he has six months to try them or pawn them off on other countries, all-the-while being able to ensure the American public that the former prisoners won’t be a danger to anyone’s safety when they’re released from US control. No pressure!

And I thought that “Sure, mom – I’ll be home by eleven” was a tall order...

Calgary Herald – "Obama Delivers More Bush"
Canada.com – "Obama to Announce Revamped Terror Trials"
The New York Times – "Guantánamo Bay Naval Base (Cuba)"