Quote:
As one of his first acts in the White House, Barack Obama is preparing to move hundreds of detainees from Guantanamo Bay prison to the US where they will be given legal hearings, trials or face yet-to-be-established special terrorist courts.
Mr Obama has a long-standing commitment to shut down Guantanamo, which has become a symbol of injustice for human rights campaigners, and a lightning rod for anti-US criticism since it opened eight years ago. Closing the prison, which is on a part of Cuba leased to the US, will bring to an end one of the most poisonous legacies of the Bush administration while sending a signal that the "war on terror" is under more enlightened management.
Mr Obama has a long-standing commitment to shut down Guantanamo, which has become a symbol of injustice for human rights campaigners, and a lightning rod for anti-US criticism since it opened eight years ago. Closing the prison, which is on a part of Cuba leased to the US, will bring to an end one of the most poisonous legacies of the Bush administration while sending a signal that the "war on terror" is under more enlightened management.
Fucking finally.
I don't think anything else has come to symbolise everything that was wrong under Bush as much as the Cuban internment camps. We've talked a lot about it on this forum at the time, so I won't go over the incredible stupidity and barbarianism of creating Guantanamo. Even if Obama does nothing else in his Presidency, that's a gigantic step forward in the "war for the hearts and minds" around the world, or, as it's been called historically, the "propaganda war".
Thanks.
Just, thanks.