Over 20 years later, Guantanamo is still here. While most of the detainees are surely there for a reason, due process has not been observed. This will be a blemish on US history for a long time.
When Obama visited Sweden a long time ago I protested against Guantanamo by calling for him to be sent to the International Court of Justice in Haag.
When I explained why people just didn't think it was a very big deal. Most people, even American tourists, though he was trying to close Gitmo, which he was not. He was trying to move it to mainland US and continue operations there.
Guantanamo Bay was opened in 2002 and Obama reduced the number of inmates there by an order of magnitude.
As an American, my general view of Obama is that he was exceptionally good at doing good while working within the system.
1. The system would not let him close Guantanamo (the military wanted it open, congress blocked him from moving inmates), so he shrank it as much as possible.
2. The healthcare system would never allow single-payer universal healthcare, so he implemented a healthcare marketplace for individual coverage to reduce the number of uninsured.
3. The 2008 global financial crisis (still ongoing during his first term) threatened to collapse the US financial system. He prioritized stabilizing the financial markets with bailouts at the cost of creating moral hazard for the future.
4. He relied heavily on drone strikes in the middle east, but did so in order to limit causalities of American soldiers, which is a reasonable tradeoff of a democratically elected leader.
All in all, he was a remarkably effective pragmatist.
Why do you think most of the detainees are surely there for a reason?
There might actually be a terrorist in there, who knows, but it seems guantanamo prisoners mostly commited crimes like 'looking at an invading American in a funny way' or 'not being liked by their neighbours'.
bjoli|2 years ago
When I explained why people just didn't think it was a very big deal. Most people, even American tourists, though he was trying to close Gitmo, which he was not. He was trying to move it to mainland US and continue operations there.
senkora|2 years ago
As an American, my general view of Obama is that he was exceptionally good at doing good while working within the system.
1. The system would not let him close Guantanamo (the military wanted it open, congress blocked him from moving inmates), so he shrank it as much as possible.
2. The healthcare system would never allow single-payer universal healthcare, so he implemented a healthcare marketplace for individual coverage to reduce the number of uninsured.
3. The 2008 global financial crisis (still ongoing during his first term) threatened to collapse the US financial system. He prioritized stabilizing the financial markets with bailouts at the cost of creating moral hazard for the future.
4. He relied heavily on drone strikes in the middle east, but did so in order to limit causalities of American soldiers, which is a reasonable tradeoff of a democratically elected leader.
All in all, he was a remarkably effective pragmatist.
hyperman1|2 years ago
There might actually be a terrorist in there, who knows, but it seems guantanamo prisoners mostly commited crimes like 'looking at an invading American in a funny way' or 'not being liked by their neighbours'.
hulitu|2 years ago
marginalia_nu|2 years ago