The Pueblo Chieftain’s Peter Strescino reports on passage yesterday in the Colorado Senate of a resolution opposing the transfer of detainees from Guantanamo Bay, Cuba to Colorado prisons:
The Colorado Senate voted Thursday to back a resolution to keep Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, detainees out of Colorado. The vote was 28-7.
The resolution calls for “discouraging the lease of Colorado State Prison II to the federal government.”
State Sen. Kevin Grantham, R-Canon City, and sponsor of the resolution, said he was heartened by the bipartisan nature of the vote after a debate that ranged from national security issues to torture to federal law and the U.S. Constitution.
We can start with the obvious: a 28-7 vote in favor of this resolution means a lot of Democrats in the Colorado Senate chose political expediency over supporting President Barack Obama on one of the central promises of his presidency. Closure of the detention facility at Guantanamo Bay would bring an end to one of the most controversial chapters of the “war on terror,” which many believe has emboldened our enemies and sullied the moral authority of the United States in world affairs. Democrats who voted against the President and in favor of the status quo at Gitmo yesterday have their own conscience, and history, to answer to.
With that said, there was one moment in yesterday’s debate on this resolution against bringing Gitmo detainees to Colorado that Democrats can be proud of–a proposed amendment clearly expressing that the resolution is not meant as an endorsement of the forms of torture practiced at Guantanamo Bay and elsewhere during the war on terror:
The amendment you can read above failed on a party line 18-17 vote.
So yes, there was a bipartisan vote in the Colorado Senate yesterday against the transfer of Gitmo prisoners to Colorado. Beneath that headline, however, something else happened: an attempt to condemn the torture techniques practiced at Gitmo. In response, Republicans explicitly voted in favor of beatings, waterboardings, rectal feedings, “stress positions,” and so forth.
Presuming any justice at all in this world, such a vote must come back to haunt them.
You must be logged in to post a comment.
BY: harrydoby
IN: Weekend Open Thread
BY: JohnInDenver
IN: Weekend Open Thread
BY: JohnInDenver
IN: Weekend Open Thread
BY: MichaelBowman
IN: Weekend Open Thread
BY: Gilpin Guy
IN: Weekend Open Thread
BY: JohnInDenver
IN: Weekend Open Thread
BY: kwtree
IN: Caption This Photo: #WalkAway From Lauren Boebert!
BY: MichaelBowman
IN: Weekend Open Thread
BY: Lloyd Guthrie
IN: Caption This Photo: #WalkAway From Lauren Boebert!
BY: harrydoby
IN: Weekend Open Thread
Subscribe to our monthly newsletter to stay in the loop with regular updates!
This amendment had nothing to do with the matter at hand. Stupid political games.
I'm glad the vote against Obama on Gitmo was bipartisan.
Sounds like someone is late for his rectal feeding.
Of course, Moddy, the Dems have some stupid people as well, just not so many
Glad to see that the $200 Million wasted on building CSP II will continue to be wasted. And we can't have terrorists in prisons in Colorado. Except Ramzi Yousef, Zacarias Moussaoui, Richard Reid, Terry Nichols, Ted Kaczynski, and a couple dozen more. How about a field trip to Florence for our elected officials?
How about a one way trip for some of them? I can think of a couple who should be Dougs' roomies.
I was wondering about this today when I read some legislator had been talking about plans to introduce legislation that would require any Daesh detainees be shipped to Guantanamo …
… who are the private money partners (Haliburton?) and contractors that draw an income from Guantanamo? Somebody's gotta' be reaping money and paying the lobbyists that are pulling GOPer strings …
I am sure the CIA, ISIS, and the United Nations Commission on Human Rights starts each day awaiting the explicit instructions of the Colorado Senate ,Why don't you people fix our roads and put some resources into higher education instead? Leave International Affairs and foreign policy to the Boulder City Council.
!!!!