What Now Obama?

With the early decision to close down our prison in Guantánamo, Obama seems to have forgotten one minor little point. Such as, what to do with the detainees held there currently.

AG Eric Holder is finding it a tough sell to get other countries to take them as he Pleads With Europeans to Take Gitmo Detainees.

One unnamed German analyst said, “It’s a ‘mission impossible’ for him, I think.”

Maria Fekter, Austria’s interior minister in explaining her countries hesitancy to accept any said, “If the detainees are no longer dangerous, why don’t they stay in the U.S.?”

Simon Koschut, an associate fellow with the German Council on Foreign Relations in Berlin, said, “In Germany, many are asking why America isn’t taking care of its own business. If you started it, you ought to finish it.”

Even Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton has had little success in obtaining any firm commitments on Europe accepting any detainees.

Repatriation to their home countries seems out of the question as the detainees fear “face abuse, imprisonment or death.”

But, haven’t we been told how horrific they are treated in Guantánamo?

Of particular concern are the 17 Chinese Uighurs currently being held at Guantánamo. The fear they will be tortured should they be returned to China.

But again, haven’t we been told how tortured they have been at Guantánamo?

Perhaps the tales of torture at Guantánamo aren’t as accurate as Obama supporters and the anti-Bush left would have us believe.

Although the Uighurs are said to be no threat, they were captured in Pakistan and Afghanistan in 2001. Why were they their fighting American and Allied Troops?

New York’s Republican Representative Peter King says, “There is reason to believe they are not as peaceful or as nonthreatening as the administration seems to be suggesting.”

Being captured on the battlefield fighting our side might tend to lead a thinking person of that, for sure.

The Obama administration is inclined to release them on U.S. soil, most likely around Virginia. Europe expects that and Republicans fear that.

Obama is fast discovering that making campaign promises to placate a fringe of his party is much easier than keeping those promises while keeping the American people safe from another terrorist attack.

I am left wondering if he will handle this one as well as he did the announcement of a National Health emergency over the Swine Flu outbreak in our country, go play golf while it falls on others to actually make the decisions.

A leader takes the lead and makes the tough decisions, then accepts the inevitable fall-out.

A follower makes quick easy decisions without any regard of what that decisions may entail. Obviously, Obama made such a decision with absolutely no forethought given of what to do with the hundreds of detainees remaining in Guantánamo.