Dick Cheney’s Guantanamo Revelation

By Nick Stone / Drawline Politics

Is President Obama using drones in order to avoid putting new detainees in Guantanamo Bay?

Dick Cheney on Charlie Rose Show Wednesday mentioned a very interesting proposition on the use of drones in this White House.  While mentioning that he does not fundamentally disagree with the Obama administration drone program, he mentioned a key weakness in the program – the inability to detain (capture) targets (enemy combatants) and retrieve them for questioning.

This key point raises a question. Is President Obama purposely avoiding capturing combatants for fear he would have no option but to stash them in Gitmo?

Clearly this alternative would be politically problematic for the president for two reasons.  First, he campaigned on closing Guantanamo but has failed badly in delivering on that promise. Second, he would have no choice but to admit that the Bush administration had  it right on Gitmo in the first place.

That’s the whole point, isn’t it?  Of course nobody loves the optical nightmare of Guantanamo, but what other choice is there? If we are to capture and question our enemies to gather information, it is a keystone in our defense.  Period.

Will the president get his left wing base to swallow their displeasure over drones on the premise that the program will allow the slow closure of Guantanamo through attrition?  Or does he fundamentally disbelieve in the capture and question history of our intelligence gathering services?

Either way, it appears that the president is playing politics with our national security.  I’m glad Dick Cheney put his finger on it.

See and hear the interview by clicking on the link below:
http://drawnlines.com/dick-cheneys-guantanamo-revalation/