Obama’s Army Secretary Pick Co-Sponsored Bill To Obstruct Closing Of Guantanamo

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from Greg Sargent's blog: http://theplumline.whorunsgov.com/torture/obamas-army-secretary-pick-co-sponsored-bill-to-obstruct-closing-of-guantanamo/


BY now you’ve heard the big news that President Obama has nominated GOP Rep John McHugh to be secretary of the Army, installing a Republican at the Pentagon to join Defense Secretary Robert Gates.

But here’s a lesser known fact about McHugh: He was a co-sponsor of the House GOP leadership’s bill designed to obstruct the closing of Guantanamo Bay. That puts the nominee for Army Secretary directly at odds with the President on a top national security priority.

As ranking member of Armed Services, McHugh co-sponsored the so-called “Keep Terrorists Out Of America Act,” which proposed placing a bunch of bureaucratic hurdles in the way of efforts to release the Gitmo detainees. At the time, McHugh claimed the bill’s ultimate purpose was not necessarily to block the closing of the facility. But in the real world, that’s precisely what it was designed to do.

Yes, most GOPers backed this measure. But it’s one thing for a GOPer to fall in line and vote for it. It’s another to co-sponsor it, as McHugh did.

To be clear, McHugh’s nomination won’t threaten Obama’s efforts to close the facility. But it does show that in the quest to be bipartisan and keep the Pentagon stocked with Republicans, the President picked an Army Secretary aggressively at odds with him on a policy so important that Obama announced it on his second day. Make of that what you will.

http://theplumline.whorunsgov.com/torture/obamas-army-secretary-pick-co-sponsored-bill-to-obstruct-closing-of-guantanamo/

[ShortnFiery]

1. Lovely.

:eyes:

[thunder rising]

2. This is how you get rid of him!! Make him a secretary of something. Obama is CIC

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4. Obama is a CIC who is admittedly reliant on advice and recommendations of the military leadership

He sets these broad outlines of policy and the military fleshes it out on the ground. The results so far in the dual occupations make the consequences of relying on the advice of these republicans perfectly clear.

[Better Believe It]

3. So who won the 2008 election?

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5. the guy who says he relies on the advice and recommendations of his military leadership

The man with no actual military experience of his own before he assumed the position of CIC.

[Better Believe It]

6. And who won the Senate and House elections in 2008?

[Somawas]

7. Absolutely. Republicans are grossly overrepresented.

[chill_wind]

8. Meanwhile, another detainee death:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=389&topic_id=5773752&mesg_id=5773752

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9. quote

New York Rep. John M. McHugh, the leading Republican on the House Armed Services Committee, said Obama's decision to jettison Bush detainee policy "left a policy vacuum that is now being filled by the courts. This turns warfare into lawfare, and could place lives at risk."

http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2009/04/02/judge-rules-terror-detainees-challenge-detention/