Wishin’ And A Hopin’
If only wishing and talking could make it so, the Obama administration would have it in the bag.
It was just at the two day mark of becoming Commander and Chief that Barack Hussein Obama made a very public signing of an executive order to close the Guantanamo Bay military detention center. Liberals around the world were teary eyed that this scourge upon the poor innocents housed there would finally be closed. No longer would we need worry that the mere existence of this facility would be used as an example of American imperialism by Taliban and al Qaeda recruiters. Justice would be served and we could begin to make nice nice with those that wanted to kill us. Not because there was actually a plan in place as to what to do with the very dangerous terrorists housed there, but rather just because saying it will make it so.
Unfortunately for those that live in that kind of fantasyland, the sun has risen and set another 100 times and we are no closer to having a workable plan to close the facility and transfer the detainees then we were the day the chief executive very publicly penned his name on the proclamation.
Rather than a plan of who will be released and what we will do with the others all we are hearing are the same old accusations of the Bush administration and the disastrous results of released detainees returning to the battlefield in high ranking positions. Like past detainee Abdullah Gulam Rasoul who now serves as an operational commander in Afghanistan for the Taliban and Ali al-Shihri who since his release has returned to be al Qaeda’s number two man in Yemen.
The threat is real and these two released detainees alone could someday account for countless American fatalities. And therein lays the rub.
Democrats understand that while the talk of Hope and Change got them into a position of complete power, a few more lapses in judgment like the two above mentioned terrorists could bring ruinous results that will be directly pinned to their decisions.
Obama continued his tantivy dash of temerity with his requested $50 million budget to close Guantanamo without a clue as to where or how the money would be spent. Even the liberal side of the aisle balked and refused his request until there was at least some idea of where we were going to send and house the remaining 241 murderous zealots currently incarcerated there.
Republicans Lindsey Graham and John McCain have suggested a four point plan which addresses only the tip of this onerous iceberg, which they shared with the American public in an OP-ED in the Wall Street Journal. While incomplete in its scope it at least would be a basis for bringing discussions to the floor where each Senator and Representative could make public their own conclusions.
Unfortunately for all concerned, especially the American public, most Democrats are far more concerned with keeping the public attention focused on the evils of George Bush. Equally unfortunate is that they can expect absolutely no constructive direction from a Commander and Chief who is in perpetual campaign mode.
Many in this country have taken the last 7 ½ years of security for granted. It’s as if domestic security and safety have somehow been magically bestowed upon us because we said it should be.
How quickly we forget the horror and pain. How quickly we forget the fear and anger. How quickly we forget the prophetic quote of author George Santayana in his book “Reason in Common Sense” when he wrote “Those who cannot remember the past are doomed to repeat it.
