Obama Bungled Guantanamo Closing, White House Allies Say

McClatchy:

President Barack Obama's decision to close the Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, military prison by Jan. 22 was followed by a series of mistakes and missteps by his administration that will delay the prison's closure for months, according to a report from a policy organization with close ties to the White House.

Those mistakes -- which ranged from initially having too few people on board to handle the workload to misreading Congress -- have put the timetable months behind schedule and will push the prison's closure well beyond the January deadline, which Obama announced with great fanfare two days after he took office.

Read the whole story: McClatchy

Comments

[MorgaineChya]

IMO, as many mistakes and broken promises has made, this is not one of them

Bush/Cheeneey have a lot invested in keeping what happened in their detention camp a secret, and many congressional Republicans have tried to obstruct the closure of Gitmo.

The dumbest excuse the GOP has used is that we cannot transfer Gitmo detainees to maximum-security prisons in the U.S. because they might escape.

I can't speak about how federal prisons are run in other states, but in California, if a prisoner is put into one of our federal prisons, that is where they stay until sociery says they can be released.

[ConjureMan]

Super-BO: All Bull, no Mastiff...after the last 10 months it is painfully clear the man ain't ready for prime-time. Dashing, yes-articulate yes, but you must admit he doe not know how to be President.(in over his head)great at campaigning, lousy at governing. Look at the advisers he picked, Rahm the bomb, terrible Timmy, Larry $, and Gen. Mac-See....eeeck.

[MorgaineChya]

We all regret that Bush/Cheeneey didn't clean up their own tragic mess when they were still in office.

Obama has taken it upon his administration to clean up that Bush/Cheeneey mess for them.

Gitmo is in no way Obama's fault, and won't be his fault unless he imprisons someone there.

When Obama sent thousands of more troops over there, he became responsible for the outcome of his ill-advised escalation of what was a stable military presence into a full-blown war.

But with Gitmo, clearly he's cleaning up a mess left behind by the previous administrtion.

[MorgaineChya]

The "thousands more troops" refers to Afghanistan.

[4real]

I guess President Obama is going to have to push back the timeline for the cleaning up the pile of tihs that Bush left behind.

The whole point is for the prison to be closed. If it takes a little longer then it takes a little longer.

[dems08]

the unnamed

'policy organization with close ties to the White House' and

'White House Allies'

are mccain and the pubs

[noudidnt]

true

[dems08]

mediamatters.org entries for writer STEVEN THOMMA:

1) 'McClatchy (STEVEN THOMMA) repeated McCain's claim that Obama would raise taxes on business Joe the Plumber wants to buy'

2) 'McClatchy (STEVEN THOMMA) uncritically reported McCain claim that Obama "would raise taxes" on Americans like "Joe the Plumber"'

But THOMMA did not note that Obama has proposed cutting taxes for low- and middle-income taxpayers....

3) 'McClatchy's THOMMA misrepresented Obama's tax plan'

McClatchy's STEVEN THOMMA asserted that McCain will likely attack Obama "as a tax-raiser... THOMMA didn't noted that claims that Obama will raise taxes misrepresents Obama's tax plan.

4) 'MSNBC's Witt aired McCain ad without noting misleading claims... '

On MSNBC Live, Witt aired an ad from McCain asserting that Obama "made time to go to the gym, but canceled a visit with wounded troops. Seems the Pentagon wouldn't allow him to bring cameras."

But neither Witt nor guest STEVEN THOMMA note that Obama reportedly previously visited wounded troops at Walter Reed without the media...

5) 'Media figures claimed McCain would avoid issue of Obama's pastor -- but McCain campaign had already circulated op-ed'

On MSNBC, STEVEN THOMMA asserted that McCain's campaign is "not going to touch" the controversial comments...

However, the McCain campaign had already circulated to reporters a Wall Street Journal op-ed saying that "Obama's close association with Mr. Wright ... raises legitimate questions about Mr. Obama's fundamental beliefs about his country... "

http://mediamatters.org/search/index?qstring=&from=&to=&tags=steve_thomma&tags=&tags=&tags=

[noudidnt]

Thank goodness for Media Matters. They do a great job!

[mcmutter]

W was so proud of his baby. A frathouse in the sun.

[MorgaineChya]

Remember when Rumsfield read aloud a Gitmo menu? It was at a news conference.

It was hysterical!

[EWeiss]

So he took the outgoing administration and congress at their word - total rookie mistake.

[Chili4me]

I'll give Obama a break on this one.

I understand that he was too naive to realize it was full of crazy @holes who want to destroy us.

[EWeiss]

Yeah, imagine putting them in triple-max prisons. Scary stuff.

[winstonian22]

I think a more newsworthy even would be when they find something he HASN'T bungled.

[floydknight]

He hasn't bungled the spelling of "event".

[Mulvaney]

Probably.

[MarieFara]

White House "Allies"? Really? As the saying goes "with friends like these....."

[dems08]

the writer of this article, steven thomma, is a mccain supporter

[MorgaineChya]

Just a reminder---

Stories like this, even if they are true, almost never are first published/written by an author/organization who/which is a supporter of the person in the article.

Paula Jones and Monica Lewinsky scandals were first outed by Scaife-funded people and groups. Sy Hersh (no exactly a military propagandist) first outed the Mai Lai debacle in VNam.

So we can't just dismiss them because we don't like the source.

[Altruth]

The Bungle occurred when Gitmo was OPENED - Credit Bush with this ONE!

[GoingRogue]

Bush opened the US's oldest military base?
Wow, the things you learn from HP.

[KIVPossum]

Bush is the one that started using it as a detention center, dipwad. That was one way around the logistical problems of holding them without rights, counsel, or trial on US soil.

[GoingRogue]

And that's not all. Just imagine if he went for Health Care first instead of the Recovery Act. There was so much hype at that time, you could of had your SPS.

Hmm, hmm, hmm Barack Hussein Obama - the most pathetic excuse for a president ever.

[floydknight]

Sorry, I'm still imagining our country if Bush stayed on that bar stool in Texas.

[JiminNC]

So what, he'll get it done when he can and the tr0lls can continue to gnash their tooth.

[GoingRogue]

Whipee!! And America can stand up and cheer when the prisoners are brought to the US!

[dems08]

They should be brought to the US.

[MorgaineChya]

I don't think you have much faith in te federal prisons in your state. Are they run that badly?

[Brezzydee]

OK another no name person giving their opinion. And a congress and senate that is jacked up royally. They are the hold up if any. They could of given President Obama money needed to transfer those prisoners to super-max prisons here. They are no worst than the crazy prisoners we already have in super-max and none have ever escaped.

If the senate had approved some of his nominations for the Justice Department, a lot of work would of been finished. So this is the so called wheels of Justice that turn slower than a turtle can walk. Our President will close Git-mo, it may not be in January, but at least it's in the works.