Every Democratic president since Bill Clinton has had an opportunity to shut down the abomination that is the Guantánamo Bay military base and detention center and each has refused. Bill Clinton held HIV positive Haitian asylum seekers in razor wire open air cages. Democrats also own this. - ThreadSky

bradleyrsimpson.bsky.social • 25 days ago

Every Democratic president since Bill Clinton has had an opportunity to shut down the abomination that is the Guantánamo Bay military base and detention center and each has refused. Bill Clinton held HIV positive Haitian asylum seekers in razor wire open air cages. Democrats also own this.

Reposted from Nathan Kalman-Lamb

They are planning to send detained migrants to Guantanamo. JFC.

www.whitehouse.gov/presidential...

Comments

pluribus-unum.co•25 days ago

Absolutely.

Democrats under Obama also didn't undo the 'unitary executive' power grab Cheney engineered either.

I'm afraid, though, that after Biden killed the drone assassinations and almost nobody who decried their illegal use noticed, that public pressure isn't being leveraged effectively.

cndeton.bsky.social•25 days ago

Obama tried to shut it down but for some reason was able to. I don't recall the reasoning as to why it he couldn't

varshapai.bsky.social•25 days ago

Al Qaeda still had power when he was president, so there were a lot of prisoners. He had to find prisons to take them, and faced opposition from GOP generals that liked it as a symbol of fear and oppression. He tried for all 8 years.

drewturner.bsky.social•24 days ago

Saying he "tried" is questionable. He stupidly assumed he could just issue an EO, without making sure he had Congressional support. Even a lot of his own party refused to work with him to close the JTF/JDG there. Fear in the public for sure played a role.

varshapai.bsky.social•24 days ago

That was explanation as to why he didn’t do it. Gitmo has never been a high priority, Obama is the only person who had it on his list.

pennypony.bsky.social•24 days ago

Who is the president now? So stop with your ther,ther.

baronvoncaelum.bsky.social•24 days ago

Yea, I agree. The fact that Trump had access to this is the fault of every previous administration, D&R alike.

profchildermass.bsky.social•24 days ago

But again we’re not in normal times where keeping score matters in the least.

We need to post with political persuasion in mind. Trump creating massive prison/concentration camps should be the focus if we want to fight dictatorship.

itinerantc.bsky.social•24 days ago

Every republican president since Bush 1 has had the opportunity to shut Guantanamo down. I guess they must own it.

varshapai.bsky.social•24 days ago

Republicans don’t want it shut down, it’s their thing, granted the only presidents have been Bush and Trump, and they’re notoriously like the worst presidents in history.

itinerantc.bsky.social•24 days ago

Actually … it was Bush who the Haitian set up the detention of Haitians with HIV. They were already there when Clinton came into office.

mcmullen.bsky.social•25 days ago

Bipartisan human rights violation

joeyblau.bsky.social•24 days ago

Clinton needed the support of the blue dog Democrats and they didn't want to close. Obama made a small effort but after 2010 he was so battered he couldn't get anything done. When Republicans objected he caved. It was just never considered worth the political expense.

carlygoodman.bsky.social•25 days ago

They say Congress tied Obama’s hands but I will tell you the will to close it wasn’t there. It wasn’t something the administration tried hard to do. And look at us now.

bradleyrsimpson.bsky.social•25 days ago

Obama expended zero capital attempting to do this, because he lacked the political stomach to do the right thing and fight back against inevitable, Republican, accusations of coddling terrorists, etc. Every Democrat has kept those doors open, knowing full well how it might be used

carlygoodman.bsky.social•25 days ago

He also believed there were people who could never be released or tried, and like once you accept that category as a legitimate exercise of state power, you pave the way for this.

drewturner.bsky.social•24 days ago

Out of the 15 that are still there, 3 are cleared for release still and almost all the rest are facing trial or have already accepted pleas and could have been moved to a federal facility for far less than the 13 million per detainee/prisoner it costs each year.

drewturner.bsky.social•24 days ago

It's very clear that our elected leaders made a very bad choice along the way and damaged so many in the process.

varshapai.bsky.social•25 days ago

I’m sure looking back, Obama know he only accomplished like a percentage of what he could have. He had a supermajority and a positive perception in his first term. That’s why Joe Biden’s presidency is better, because he knew how terrible shit could be under a person like Trump.

lilybaldwin220.bsky.social•25 days ago

His "super majority" was 72 days. And if I remember, fighting for every vote. The R's were determined to let him get nothing done. McConnell bragged about it as soon as he was elected. 🤬

varshapai.bsky.social•24 days ago

Y’all are some whiny Democrats in this thread. Do you know how many supermajorities in both house have happened in history post FDR? One.

joeyblau.bsky.social•24 days ago

Yeah with the delays in seating Franken, the illness of Kennedy and then the disaster in Massachusetts, Obama had a super majority so little time. And since they were constructing the affordable Care act from nuts and bolts and giving in to the Republicans on many demands, it all took forever.

cloudypatriot.bsky.social•24 days ago

PS: America was imploding economically and the opposition party's primary concern and focus was obstructing the black man who had the audacity to win, and shitting all over the will of the American people. Unprecedented obstruction, culminating with Obama's final Supreme Court selection.

cloudypatriot.bsky.social•24 days ago

72 days while the economy was imploding and unemployment was shooting up to 10% and the stock market was crashing.

I genuinely hope the poster researched into the 72 days reality. It's a Republican/Fox News criticism of Obama, labeling him as inept, and it's partisan propaganda and ignorance.

dubbodt.bsky.social•25 days ago

President's should have the power to keep open or close gitmo.

It's a failure of the American people to let their celebrity presidents have that power.

yuebaby.bsky.social•24 days ago

what was the purpose of this post other than to distract from the current atrocities of the trump administration by pointing fingers at the past? yeah dems suck, but thats not whats happening in reality RIGHT NOW...

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