Pubic opposes closing Guabntámo

I thought we already knew this, but it's useful to have this blackandwhite Gallup confirmation.

What happens next?

I think that the "one of the few subjects" and "fear remains" remarks offer a clue: intellectuals, Europeans and Euro wannabees will be able to condescend to the lowbrows as creatures of a lower order, ruled by fear and loathing, and dominated by state propaganda. Then they will somehow accept that Guantánamo, or an identical prison setup somewhere else, continues to function in spite of the so-called consensus that it was doing grievous harm to our credibility worldwide.

clipped from www.usatoday.com News » World War casualties Poll: Most oppose closing Gitmo By Susan Page, USA TODAY WASHINGTON — Americans are overwhelmingly opposed to closing the detention center for suspected terrorists at Guantanamo Bay and moving some of the detainees to prisons on U.S. soil, a USA TODAY/Gallup Poll finds. It is one of the few subjects on which most Americans side with the views of the Bush administration over its successor. "Coming up on eight years after Sept. 11, fear remains, and fear is politically potent," says political scientist Paul Freedman of the University of Virginia, who studies public opinion. "When it comes to the issue of terrorism … people are inclined to err on the side of that fear."

New poll results are devastating for Obama's Gitmo plan | Byron York | Washington Examiner

When will they let us forget about how grievous a fault it is to hold prisoners in Guantánamo? Maybe soon, from the looks of the following. How can politicians oppose such overwhelming public sentiment? It's all over now except the clarifications and confusion. In the end, we'll have pretty much the same system Bush installed.

New poll results are devastating for Obama's Gitmo plan | Washington Examiner

When virtually the entire opposition party, plus 68 percent of independents, plus 42 percent of your own party oppose something you want to do, then you're in trouble.

Most people don't agree that Gitmo has weakened US national security.

Peter says,

Jun 2, 2009

The significant thing about the entire policy regarding not only GITMO, but non-combatant prisoners and anti-terrorism policies more broadly, is that Obama and Democrats used this in the last election as a key issue on which they claimed was nothing less than a violation of the Constitution. Now Obama is maintaining renditions, the prison in Bagram, domestic wiretapping, indefinite detention without trials, military tribunals and arrests without warrant anywhere in the world. And, oh yes, there are a growing number of assassinations of suspected Taliban and al queda leaders, which of course is a far more moral and ethical approach than capturing them and using enhanced interrogation techniques. The hyrocisy, lies and corruption of this Administration and Congress are nothing short of outrageous! We have quickly established an Orwellian world of doublespeak where red means white and white means black. Thanks liberal slime.

Bob VADemHawk says,

Close GITMO, Mr. President. That is what you were elected for among other things. This poll, at best, is an outlier. My guess is they only called places like ID, WY, and GA which have strong Republican support but no intellectuals. This is still America. Try them in court or release them where you picked them up. It really is that simple.

Manufactured Democrat Propagandia says,

Jun 2, 2009

In this poll the American people are providing evidence that the Democrat party manufactured outrage over Gitmo to damage the Bush Administration shamlessly chosing political gain over national security. The Democrat chickens are coming home to roost.

Those peaceful hadjis

Here's some data points for you.

Council on Foreign Relations

How history is revised

East German Stasi Spy Killed Protester, Ohnesorg, in 1967 - NYTimes.com
This is the "iconic image" that launched a thousand protests back in the '60s [Note the Vocho in the background. It's still the coolest car on the road]. Now we find out the the "fascist pig" who took Ohnesorg's life was an agent of the East German Stasi, or spy service. The "violent unjust state" that the '68 Germans were protesting turns out to be the Communist state that they held up as avatars of peace. So now, the "iconic image" becomes the "ironic image" of the Communist dupe hippy generation.

Vargas Llosa, Castañeda y Krauze aceptan debate con Hugo Chávez

Vargas Llosa, Castañeda y Krauze aceptan debate con Hugo Chávez
Left to Right: Enrique Krauze, Mario Vargas Llosa, Jorge G. Castañeda

Vargas Llosa, the famous Peruvian novelist and politician, Enrique Krauze, the famous Mexican history and politics entrepreneur, Jorge G. Castañeda, the famous Mexican writer/politician/ex Secretary of State/son of an ex Secretary of State/interpreter of Mexico/Latin America for American audiences.

All three are "ultra right-wing" according to Hugo Chávez and most leftist writers here in Mexico for their defense of classical liberalism.

The three writers/entrepreneurs/politicians/gas bags are in Caracas for a forum on liberty, or something. Chávez called them out on his interminable radio show, Haló Presidente, while they are busy criticizing his regime in some forum on liberty or whatever.

Castañeda says Chávez is desperate: he's riding the wave of high oil pricesand expropriating businesses, closing down opposition media, and undermining the authority of elected officials.

Vargas Llosa says that Venezuela is becoming a Communist dictatorship, following Cuba. He spoke at the conference after being detained for ninety minutes by Venezuelan authorities and being warned not to say anything bad about Chávez.

I don't know what Krauze says about Chávez. It's probably something about democracy.

Chávez will never follow through. He can't stand up to these three gas bags all by himself. Nobody could. Still, it would be fun to watch the debate—for sure he'd pull all kinds of dirty tricks on the three intellectuals. Aside from one's contempt for Chávez, one's contempt for these gas bags is greater. It would satisfy my schadenfreude needs to see them blathering away as Chávez makes them look like idiots.

Massive prision break

An armed commando of about 80 men arrived aboard 17 SUVs with AFI (Mexican FBI) seals, with a helicopter flying overhead.

In the vehicles were traveling around 80 men armed with fragmentation and smoke grenades, tear gas, machine guns, AK-47 and AR-15 assault rifles.

A small team of self-styled federal agents dismounted the SUVs and arrived at the door of the customs house (access to the prison for both prisoners and employees). They told at the custodians and the prison authorities that they were an AFI inspection operation. They believed them.

The Zetas went through the the regions that they were interested in and started to remove prisoners, 38 serving federal sentences and 15 serving state sentences. They lined the prisoners out, put them in the SUVs, and exited by the same door they came in by, without anyone attempting to stop them.

Meanwhile, the other team of sicarios guarded the perimeter of the penal in which more than 800 prisoners are held or sentenced on federal charges.

Salento