Obama Frees Six GITMO Detainees | Race In America
by Gary Bauer, Contributing Author: President Obama Frees GITMO Detainees - Once again President Obama continued with his ill-conceived plan to close the terrorist detention facility at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, by transferring the thugs housed there to third party nations. In spite of evidence showing that a significant percentage of previously released prisoners have returned to the battlefield, the administration on Saturday sent six detainees, all with connections to Al Qaeda, to Uruguay.
The Washington Post reports that Uruguayan President Jose Mujica considers the detainees to be refugees and that his government "did not intend to monitor them."[Editor's Insert] NBC News reported, "Outgoing Uruguayan President José Mujica has made clear that Uruguay would not hold or restrict the six Guantanamo detainees who were recently resettled in his country. "The first day that they want to leave, they can leave." That might explain why Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel was reluctant to sign off on their transfer.
Mujica agreed to take the six detainees in January. But, much to the frustration of the Obama White House, it wasn't until July that Hagel notified Congress of their impending release.
By the way, according to the Associated Press, Uruguay "may be the only country in the Americas without an Islamic mosque." The country may have as few as 300 Muslims out of a population of 3.3 million.
Race In America - A Bloomberg poll released yesterday found that 53% of Americans believe race relations in America have gotten worse since the election of Barack Obama as the first black president. Thirty-six percent believe they have stayed the same, while nine percent believe they have improved.
This poll comes on the backdrop of ongoing protests against two high-profile grand jury decisions to not charge white police officers for the deaths of black citizens in Ferguson, Missouri, and Staten Island, New York.
The Bloomberg poll also found that the country has dramatically different opinions about those two decisions: 52% of Americans agreed with the Ferguson grand jury, while only 25% agreed with the Staten Island grand jury.
The reason for the divergent opinions is clear: The circumstances involving the deaths of Michael Brown and Eric Garner were very different, and there was a compelling video in the Garner case.
The Garner video is disturbing. It appears to me that the police were too aggressive. That is why the American public overwhelmingly disagreed with the grand jury decision. That 60% of Americans disagreed with the Staten Island grand jury should be reassuring. If racism were so "deeply rooted in our society" as President Obama contends, one would expect that 60% or 80% of Americans would applaud the decision. Instead, Americans of all races were disturbed by what they saw.
I don't know why the grand jury reached the decision not to indict. Perhaps these things played a role:
In the meantime, law enforcement officers face increasing threats during their daily routines. In addition to threats from Islamic extremists, a radical gang that literally took over the Baltimore jails is reportedly plotting to assassinate on-duty New York City police officers.
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Gary Bauer is a conservative family values advocate and serves as president of American Values and chairman of the Campaign for Working Families
Tags: President Obama, releases, GITMO, detainees, Uruguay, race relations, America, law enforcement, Gary Bauer, Contributing Author To share or post to your site, click on "Post Link". Please mention / link to the ARRA News Service. and "Like" Facebook Page - Thanks!
The Washington Post reports that Uruguayan President Jose Mujica considers the detainees to be refugees and that his government "did not intend to monitor them."
Mujica agreed to take the six detainees in January. But, much to the frustration of the Obama White House, it wasn't until July that Hagel notified Congress of their impending release.
By the way, according to the Associated Press, Uruguay "may be the only country in the Americas without an Islamic mosque." The country may have as few as 300 Muslims out of a population of 3.3 million.
Race In America - A Bloomberg poll released yesterday found that 53% of Americans believe race relations in America have gotten worse since the election of Barack Obama as the first black president. Thirty-six percent believe they have stayed the same, while nine percent believe they have improved.
This poll comes on the backdrop of ongoing protests against two high-profile grand jury decisions to not charge white police officers for the deaths of black citizens in Ferguson, Missouri, and Staten Island, New York.
The Bloomberg poll also found that the country has dramatically different opinions about those two decisions: 52% of Americans agreed with the Ferguson grand jury, while only 25% agreed with the Staten Island grand jury.
The reason for the divergent opinions is clear: The circumstances involving the deaths of Michael Brown and Eric Garner were very different, and there was a compelling video in the Garner case.
The Garner video is disturbing. It appears to me that the police were too aggressive. That is why the American public overwhelmingly disagreed with the grand jury decision. That 60% of Americans disagreed with the Staten Island grand jury should be reassuring. If racism were so "deeply rooted in our society" as President Obama contends, one would expect that 60% or 80% of Americans would applaud the decision. Instead, Americans of all races were disturbed by what they saw.
I don't know why the grand jury reached the decision not to indict. Perhaps these things played a role:
- In addition to the arrest, the medical examiner's report also listed Garner's "acute and chronic bronchial asthma, obesity and hypertensive cardiovascular disease" as contributing factors to his death.
- One of the supervising officers on the scene was Sergeant Kizzy Adoni, a black woman. At no time did Sgt. Adoni intervene on Garner's behalf.
- Moreover, Adoni was offered immunity for her testimony before the grand jury. While we don't know what she told the jurors, it obviously didn't persuade them to charge Officer Daniel Pantaleo. In fact, her testimony may have helped to clear him. We do know that a preliminary police report quotes Sgt. Adoni as saying that "The perpetrator's condition did not seem serious and he did not appear to get worse."
In the meantime, law enforcement officers face increasing threats during their daily routines. In addition to threats from Islamic extremists, a radical gang that literally took over the Baltimore jails is reportedly plotting to assassinate on-duty New York City police officers.
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Gary Bauer is a conservative family values advocate and serves as president of American Values and chairman of the Campaign for Working Families
Tags: President Obama, releases, GITMO, detainees, Uruguay, race relations, America, law enforcement, Gary Bauer, Contributing Author To share or post to your site, click on "Post Link". Please mention / link to the ARRA News Service. and "Like" Facebook Page - Thanks!
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