DNI Confirmation Hearing: Blair on Guantanamo Bay « The Washington Independent
Jul 31, 20201.2K Shares624.1K Views
We have “245 of the meanest, nastiest killers still at GTMO,” says Sen. Saxby Chambliss (R-Ga.) Actually, we know no such thing, since all we have to go on is the Bush administration’s self-serving justifications for keeping Guantanamo open; and the administration kept letting those inmates go. But what does Blair think?
“We’ve wrestled with this exact question,” Blair said, “On the one hand, we have to fight it like a war and detain people and get information from them … On the other hand we have to maintain our stature as a country that’s governed by our values and our ideals … These executive orders are going to give this administration a chance to [grapple] with those tough issues and come up with creative responses to them.” Blair says Guantanamo will definitely be closed, and says one of today’s forthcoming executive orders will govern what to do when future terrorism suspects are detained by either the CIA or the military. “We will be true to our ideals and our safety … but I’d be kidding you if I said there was a magic solution that no one else has found.”
Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) announces that President Obama has signed the executive orders. More on those imminently.
Hajra Shannon
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