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Colin Powell: I Would Shut Guantanamo
On his Meet The Press appearance yesterday Colin Powell makes the case that Guantanamo needs to be closed ASAP — but stresses that this doesn’t mean letting them go…just putting them in the U.S.’ established justice system:
6 Responses to “Colin Powell: I Would Shut Guantanamo”
Powell was spot on with these comments. It is probably why he is no longer SecState. The comment in the interview that I found even more interesting (because it lends itself better to baseless speculation) was that he wasn’t willing to commit to the Republican nominee in the general election could this mean a possible Obama endorsement? Powell is very interested in social justice issues and on domestic policy would probably be more alliagned with Democrats anyway. The fact that he might be concluding that the GOP is lossing its advantage on National Security issues is pretty huge. I highly doubt that we would see a Obama/Powell ticket, yet a second stint as Secretary of State in an Obama administration would be a terrific idea. This is all speculation but if true, it would make Obama an even more attractive candidate to me.
Agreement could be found, I think, on closing Guitmo down, but putting the detainees in the US justice system would create a firestorm of a national argument – another one.
I agree with Powell but wonder if it’s politically possible.
It won’t happen because after five years of telling us that only the most dangerous terrorists are kept in Gitmo the administration doesn’t want to actually have to justify the claims.
Remember Padilla?
I would keep Guantanamo and add more like it.
Too bad Putin doesn’t want to play ball with the West — he could restore Kolyma to operation and we could send our Middle East enemies there.
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Powell has in the past flirted with the Presidency but in the end, said no. However, since the early 1990s many Americans would vote for him.
I doubt it. I also doubt the same kinds of people who would want to run Condoleezza Rice against either Hillary Clinton or Barack Obama would try to get Powell to run instead. But if Powell were to enter the race on his own, that would be interesting indeed. Certainly there would be interest and having Powell run is not the same as, say, Newt Gingrich(!).