Goldsmith irritates the Bush gang for calling an end to Gitmo

HR 1268. Fiscal 2005 Supplemental Appropriations/Vote to Delete Funding for the Construction of a New $36 Million Maximum Security Prison at Guantanamo, Cuba.
Senate Roll Call 93 Apr 13, 2005

During the debate on the 2005 Supplemental Appropriations bill for military operations and reconstruction in Iraq and Afghanistan and disaster relief assistance for victims of the December 2004 tsunami, Senator Byrd (D-WV) (who famously said "Congress is not an ATM")introduced the above titled amendment which would have deleted a provision in the underlying spending bill which provided $36 million for the construction of a new maximum security prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.

"What struck me about this item (the new Guantanamo facility) is that the American people are being asked to build a permanent prison to house 220 prisoners from the war on terrorism when the courts have not yet determined the legal status of the detainees or whether the United States can continue to hold these individuals indefinitely without charging them with a crime (still undecided - the U.S. Supreme Court is expected to rule next month on whether inmates there can face military trials.) ...If ever there was a case of putting the cart before the horse, this seems to be it."

Senator Hutchison (R-TX) said "I think Guantanamo Bay is the perfect place to hold these types of detainees, many of whom are dangerous terrorists. I do not want these prisoners moved. I don't want them moved into facilities in communities in our country, on our shores, where they can pose a danger for our citizens and serve as a lightning rod for terrorist activity." On a vote of 27-71, the Byrd amendment was defeated

"Not only would it, in my personal opinion, be right to close Guantanamo as a matter of principle, I believe it would also help to remove what has become a symbol to many, right or wrong, of injustice. The historic tradition of the United States as a beacon of freedom, liberty, and of justice, deserves the removal of this symbol (of injustice)."

"There are certain principles on which there can be no compromise. Fair trial is one of those, which is the reason we in the United Kingdom were unable to accept that the United States military tribunals proposed for those detained at Guantánamo Bay offered sufficient guarantees of fair trial in accordance with international standards."

"It is time, in my view, that it should close," Lord Goldsmith the Attorney General Privy Counsellor (2002) London's Royal United Services Institute 10/5/006 (Full text of speech here)

I have said this before, I think it is an anomaly and you cannot maintain it forever. It is obviously a difficult situation. I think most people recognise at some point this has got to be brought to an end.—Tony Blair, PM, 22nd November 2005

"America's idea of what is torture, is not the same as ours and does not appear to coincide with that of most civilised nations". Mr. Justice Collins, High Court Judge Feb 16th 2006

I would prefer that it wasn’t there. I would prefer it was closed, yes. —Peter Hain, Northern Ireland secretary, 16th February 2006 BBC Question Time

"I have said all the way along that it's an anomaly and sooner or later has to be dealt with."Tony Blair meeting Angela Merkell 17th February 2006

"This is not an anomaly which needs to be sorted sooner or later. This is an outrage that needs to be sorted out now," Sir Menzies Campbell same day.

"I never imagined I would live to see the day when the United States and its satellites would use precisely the same arguments that the apartheid government used for detention without trial. It is disgraceful," Archbishop Desmond Tutu BBC's Today programme.Feb 20th
2006

I am absolutely clear that the US has no intention of maintaining a Gulag in Guantánamo Bay. They want to see the situation resolved and they would like it other than it is. However, that is the situation that they have. —Jack Straw, foreign secretary, 21st February 2006

I very much would like to end Guantánamo; I very much would like to get people to a court. —George Bush, U.S. President, 7th May 2006


Guantanamo Prison (which was Marconi's first commercial Transatlantic Wireless Radio station) is still there ... and looks like being there for many, many years.