Obama Retreats on Gitmo

After sober reflection, President Obama has reluctantly come to the right conclusion that the ideal place to keep suspect terrorists is Gitmo.

In the natural order of things, U.S. President Obama should perhaps consider apologizing to his predecessor, George Bush the Younger.

Except he won’t. It’s not his style.

Bush doesn’t expect it, and would probably be unnerved if Obama did.

The issue, of course, is Obama’s realization that his campaign promise to shut down the Guantanamo Bay detention center for terrorists was not only unrealistic, but damned dangerous.

In sober reflection (that lasted three years), he and his administration have reluctantly come to the conclusion that the ideal place to keep suspect terrorists is Gitmo.

He’s approved a resumption of military war crime trials for suspect terrorists, and calls them “an important tool” in the war against terrorism -- of which he has a better understanding today than he did in the 2008 campaign when he was poor-mouthing that which he now endorses.

Backing off a previously endorsed policy that has proven to be wrong, is not a sign of weakness. It can be interpreted as a sign of strength, open-mindedness and good judgment.

Apologizing for an error in judgment or fact, can also be a sign of strength and confidence, more than an admission of frailty and indecision.

On should remember that Bush, too, often expressed a desire to close Guantanamo, but the reality of its usefulness and relatively humane isolationism prevented him making a leap that might have been popular among elements that never endorse him, but wrong for America’s security.

Another aspect of Gitmo that seldom gets mentioned by lib-leftist critics, is that Guantanamo is a far more comfortable place for detainees than, say, any maximum-security prison in the U.S.

And most of the 170-plus Gitmo detainees today are viewed as pretty hardcore and unsalvageable. Whether that includes Canadian-born Omar Khadr depends on one’s outlook. Certainly the kid didn’t have much of a chance growing up in an admitted al-Qaeda family, with parents who yearned for him to be a terrorist or suicide bomber.

Guantanamo is warm, and uncrowded. The food is excellent (detainees gain an average 18 pounds of weight per year) and the place abounds in defense lawyers, Red Cross types, human rights and Amnesty activists.

If a detainee behaves badly or stages a mini-revolt (like throwing urine, feces and vomit at prison staff), punishment might be anything from confiscating his extra pillow, or his snakes and ladders game, or denying him ice cream.

A bit different from the “hole” at, say, Leavenworth.

At the moment, conservatives in America are not ridiculing Obama’s change of mind and yelling “we told you so!” No, they are quietly pleased, even reassured, that he has seen the light and is doing the right thing.

It’s the lefties who are squawking – like the foolish American Civil Liberties Union which always seems more concerned about the civil rights and welfare of America’s enemies than it does for America itself.

Congress today is now controlled by Republicans (with those conservative Democrats who are uneasy about the MoveOn.org crazies).

Congress has rescinded previous plans to move Gitmo detainees to mainland prisons where, inevitably, some would probably be murdered by American prisoners who, despite their crimes, are loyal to the U.S.

If Osama bin Laden is ever captured, he’ll likely wind up in Gitmo – more comfortable than a cave in Pakistan’s Himalayas.

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