FR: "Deciding where to try such Guantanamo detainees as Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, the 9/11 mastermind, is one of the biggest challenges facing Obama in closing down the detention center."

Why?  He's admitted he was the mastermind of 9/11, we have him in custody, put him on trial and throw him into a supermax.  Either he'll get the death penalty, or he'll be shanked on the prison yard in his first week.  I don't understand what would be so challenging about putting these guys in jail if they're guilty.  We locked up the Unabomber, we locked up Timothy McVeigh, we locked up the DC Snipers and Charlie Manson and Ted Bundy and Son of Sam, why can't we just try these guys and if they're guilty put them in jail where they belong?

Since Harold Koh, worked where the most controversial Bush legal memos in the war on terror were written, perhaps Harold Koh, can use his expertise and undo them.

Bravo.

If it's liberal to oppose torture we need all the liberals we can get.

So what else is new? The King Of Crooks will sabotage the country at the expense of the taxpayer. I think we all know who and what this clown is about by now.

Terrorists are dancing in the streets all over the world today. They'll be sending a "Thank you" card to us shortly.

I weep for our once great country.

Happy Days Are Here Again!
We can hold our head up high again
The rule of law is back again
happy days are here again.

Mr. Koh has served both Republican and Democratic Presidents. Although liberal he may just surprise people with a more center focused way of looking at the law. He seems like one smart cookie how fortunate we are to have him in the State Department.

But our insatiable appetite for drugs that places responsibility on us for the violence we aren't actually committing isn't a stain on our law or our national reputation and according to some here, should be legalized?

Make it legal to waterboard Mexican cartel murderers.  Not for information, just for fun and recreational purposes.  Tax the showing of the videotapes.  With the cartel murderer not actually in danger of his/her life, who is actually harmed?

This is good news.  We need more people in prominent positions that support prosecution of Bush/Cheney/Rumsfeld.  He!! yes it was a stain on our nation!!  It was WAR CRIMES, plain & simple.  Not to mention against our treaties and against the Geneva Conventions.  If NO ONE is above the law, these people need to be tried and convicted and punished appropriately.

That is such a relief, thank you President Obama! I'm proud of my country's return to the rule of law. We'll prosecute the guilty and exonerate the innocent, like civilized people again! Our military has a code of honor, we should do no less, in honor of their sacrifice and of our great country.

This is a wonderful appointment.  Dean Koh is the real deal--he is a truly enlightened activist/ scholar who believes in civil liberties and human rights.

Cue the next ridiculous complaints from the GOP about this action on Obama's part... Even having been part of the Reagan administration won't help.

Is anyone else out there thinking that Republicans just believe if they say something enough, it becomes the truth? I mean, surely they have more of a clue than the bizarre perspective put forth by the likes of Jindal, Palin and Limbaugh? Are they REALLY that clueless?

It's over. there will be no big help for the middle class in the form of a stimulus check. 20,000-40,000 would have sure helped many middle class families dig out from the economic tsunami or reversing bush's anti middle class anti bankruptcy law but obama has proven we don't count. he could have accomplished anything in these first couple of months but instead of making the middle class a priority, just like bush, he chose the rich and famous. we now learn that most of the aig money even went to foreign investors. how fitting. we will somehow survive, but mark my words, dems will lose the senate by 4 seats in 2010 and probably 20-30 house seats. he could have acheived greatness and said the wealthiest Americans will have to wait,  I am going to save the middle class, but he made the wrong choices and I feel betrayed.

president obama just keeps doing things better; so am sure the good ol' "we pander to your fears, prejudices and ignorance" gop will up in arms over this qualified gentlemen.

From another post:

"There's about 40 million people over 50 in the work force. Pay them $1 million apiece severance"
jawillie, Philadelphia, PA.

"Do the math, you're talking $50 trillion."
Brian,Cedar Hill, TX

"How do you get that figure?"
jawillie, Philadelphia, PA.

Brian got the number slightly wrong, but $1,000,000 times 40,000,000 recipients still equals $40,000,000,000,000 - about four times as much as the current national debt.  It's an idea that sounds good until you actually look at it critically.

Hey First Read, didn't you get the latest Obama censorship mandate?  You're not supposed to use the term "war on terror" or "terrorist" any more.

What will he censor next??

He's not at work yet? What's the delay? (Chuckle)

He's not at work yet? What's the delay? (Chuckle)

Please get rid of Whining Mourning, Obnoxious, Cynical, Denigrating, Misogynous, Drunken, Joe. Does anyone else agree how despairing and hopeless he is to listen too in the AM? He makes everyone around him worse; including Mika. He has reduced her to a pin-up. I bet she wants to be free to use her own brain.

It is painful to wake up to listen to his constant predictions of dark, cloudy, predictions every morning? If one wakes up with a headache or not feeling well his rants only aggravate and intensify the pain. I like to her positivity even when the sun is not shinning.

Of course, I know I could change the channel; however, there really aren't many choices besides local news. Most people listen to MNSBC as an alternative to the Right Wing Nut Job's propaganda.

Liberal is as Liberal does.

Obama keeps stacking the deck against the security of the US. Either he is a fool or he would rather act the self righteous, pompous "champion of civil rights". Terrorists captured on the battlefield, not wearing uniforms should have been executed on the spot. After all isn't that what the islamist killers do to captured uniformed US troops? The only difference is the islamists torture our men unmercifully before murdering them. On 9/11 I remember telling my wife that the only way we will defeat people that fly jets into buildings and slaughter innocent people is to hate them more than they hate us. Obama clearly does not hate our enemies enough. World War II was won by americans who put aside their human instincts long enough to destroy the NAZIS, Facists and the Japanese Military Junta. Unfortunately many good innocent people on all sides lost their lives but only an idiot would argue that the cost of destroying Hitler, Mussolini and Tojo was better than these three being successful. Although certainly not as powerful as the WW II big three, present day islamic terrorists have a similar world view in that they have declared themselves the arbitrer of what is right and how ALL people should conduct their lives. The dreamy eyed Ivy League attorney's (includes Obama) that believe we will be safer by granting US civil rights to avowed murderers and enemies of our country are almost as dangerous as the terrorists themselves. They need to wake up! The founding fathers did not intend our constitution to cover individuals such as the Gitmo terrorists. I would bet that Jefferson, Franklin, Adams, Monroe would be astounded at the foolishness of Obama and his lefty supporters. They were incredibly intelligent men, Obama and his crowd just think they are smart. One can only imagine the constitution that Obama , Koh and company would have written if they were around in 1789.

Koh is a liberal, Korean. I am not being racist but is anybody in america an american anymore? .....Wait, is this America?

Boooooo, who's writing these articles.  By the way Guantanamo Bay isn't where the real business is taken care of.... duh?.... Any where that has a name isn't the main spot.  Who really cares if they close Git-mo

O'S FOREIGN FAILURES === NEW PREZ FLUNKING GLOBAL TESTS.
March 25, 2009

AMERICA'S enemies smell blood and it's type 'O'BAMA

All new administrations stumble a bit as they seek their footing. But President Obama's foreign-policy botches have set new records for instant incompetence.  Despite his many faults, Bush sought to do good. Obama just wants to look good.

Consider a sampling of the goofs OBAMA and his crew have made in just two months:

China === Secretary of State Hillary Clinton crawled to Beijing to tell the party bosses that it's "our" relationship that matters, not human rights. --- Beijing's response? A staged military confrontation with an unarmed US Navy vessel; continued screw-America currency cheating; a renewed crackdown on dissidents and, yesterday, a call for a new global currency to replace the US dollar.

Pakistan === With viral corruption throughout and Islamist fanatics sweeping half of its territory, Pakistan's coming apart. --- Obama's response? Billions in new aid for Pakistan politicians to pocket.

Afghanistan === (Obama's Vietnam.)  Candidate OBAMA had a plan to capture Osama bin Laden and fix our previous "mistakes" in Afghanistan? --- President Obama doesn't have a clue or a plan.

Iran === Obama tried to reach out, to talk.  After all, talking got him to the White House. But America-bashing is what keeps Iran's leaders in office, it's their political essence. -- So OBAMA got the left-hand finger.

He wanted to chat with the Taliban, too. They told him he could stick it where the sun don't shine.

OBAMA'S INCOMPETENCE IS A REAL DANGER TO THE USA.

Terrorists captured on the battlefield, not wearing uniforms should have been executed on the spot. After all isn't that what the islamist killers do to captured uniformed US troops?
Paul (Sent Thursday, March 26, 2009 9:09 AM)

The sad thing is, this kind of sentiment was the norm for the past 8 years.  An "anything goes," end justifies the means mentality.  Because they do it, we should to.

That is NOT what America is about.  Have you no pride in your country?  Do you really feel good knowing that under the previous administration, we tortured people that were innocent of any wrongdoing?

And Brian, the reason we can't just try these people (even where they confessed) is precisely because of the above.  We've acted outside of the rule of law with regard to these suspects.  Any defense attorney would be chomping at the bit to get into court with one of them.  All the evidence in the world doesn't matter when it isn't admissible.

If only we had had the foresight to stick to our morals and not get down into the gutter with these people...

Hey First Read, didn't you get the latest Obama censorship mandate?  You're not supposed to use the term "war on terror" or "terrorist" any more.

What will he censor next??
KLM in MI (Sent Thursday, March 26, 2009 8:03 AM)

It is not that your aren't supposed to use the term terror or war on terror any more it is because there is no such thng as a war on terror. How can we war against an idea, a concept, a belief? We can war against the Taliban, Al Qaeda, or a country. We can war against any organized entity but an idea? It is like the war on drugs or war on poverty. Have they worked? Are we winning? This war on an idea or practice is good PR and nothing more. To get to reality we need to state what the war is really about. In Iraq it was to take down Saddam Hussein who dissed GHW Bush and who was sitting on the second largest pool of oil on Earth. The war in Afghanistan/Pakistan isn't against terrorism but against the Taliban who sponsor terrorism and against Al Qaeda and other groups who use terror to try and control others.

I think it is great that we are seeing what the war is really about and who it is really against.

Can anyone please respond to my post instead of just crying about how not torturing people means the country will collapse?

That man was set up. Its all a game. What part don't we get.

Message (please, no HTML tags. Web addresses will be hyperlinked):