Americans Want Gitmo To Stay Open

In a recent USA Today poll. Americans by a 2 to 1 margin say they want Gitmo to stay open. They don't want Islamic terrorists on their soil, or worse, in their state. Unfortunately, Americans in back November voted an ultra-supportive Islamist into the White House. Proving once again that fate is not without a sense of irony. The question I hve on this issue is since King Hussein and the Democrats are so poll driven, will they listen to Americans this time and keep Gitmo open? Stay Tuned. (HT Debbie Schlussel.com):

Poll: Overwhelming Majority of Americans Say "Don't Close Gitmo!"

By Debbie Schlussel

You didn't need a USA Today/Gallup poll to tell you that the vast majority of Americans oppose closing the U.S. Navy detention center at Guantanamo Bay in Cuba You didn't need a poll to tell you that we don't want Islamic terrorists on our soil.

All you needed was to look at the vote, a few weeks ago, in which all but six far-left Democrat U.S. Senators voted to withhold funding from Barack Hussein Obama in his efforts to close Gitmo.

My question is, where the heck were these 65% of Americans in the election in November of last year? Well, I guess they really weren't given much of a choice, since John McCain--just like Obama--campaigned on the idea of closing Gitmo.

Still, it's staggering to note that more Americans oppose closing Gitmo than voted for Obama--more than two to one. It just goes to show how fickle and skittish Americans are . . . or how stupid, since they clearly are afraid of Islamic terrorists on U.S. soil, yet they voted the most Islamo-friendly jerk possible into the White House.

Americans are overwhelmingly opposed to closing the detention center for suspected terrorists at Guantanamo Bay and moving some of the detainees to prisons on U.S. soil, a USA TODAY/Gallup Poll finds.
By more than 2-1, those surveyed say Guantanamo shouldn't be closed. By more than 3-1, they oppose moving some of the accused terrorists housed there to prisons in their own states.


And of course, USA Today took this poll as yet another opportunity to bash America and accuse us of "fear." We should be fearful. And, sadly, we aren't . . . not nearly enough.

In many parts of the world, however, Gitmo has become a symbol of U.S. arrogance and abuse, and Obama has cited its closure as a way to lay the foundation for better relations. He is scheduled to deliver a major address aimed at the Muslim world on Thursday from Cairo. . . .
"Coming up on eight years after Sept. 11, fear remains, and fear is politically potent," says political scientist Paul Freedman of the University of Virginia, who studies public opinion. "When it comes to the issue of terrorism … people are inclined to err on the side of that fear."

Former vice president Dick Cheney said Monday that Obama made "a mistake" in promising to close the facility by the end of the year.

"I think it's going to be very difficult," he said at a National Press Club luncheon, given the reluctance of U.S. allies and citizens to accept its prisoners. "These are bad actors. These are the worst of the worst." . . .

In the survey, Americans were inclined to accept the argument by Cheney and former president George W. Bush that the detention center had made the United States safer.


Last, but not least, here's the money quote:

By 40%-18%, they said the prison had strengthened national security rather than weakened it.
Those who want the prison to remain open feel more strongly on the subject that those who want to close it. A 54% majority of those polled say the prison shouldn't be closed, and that they'll be upset if the administration moves forward to close it.


Sadly, not upset enough in November 2008.