For Immediate Release Wednesday, January 14, 2009
Endorses Obama Proposal
Former Congressman Bob Barr, the Libertarian Party’s 2008 nominee for president, issued a statement Wednesday morning applauding President-elect Obama’s reported plan to close the controversial military prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, where many suspected terrorists have been held, often without hearings, since shortly after 9/11.
‘If there are detainees there as to whom the government has evidence they pose a serious danger to the United States, then house them at the Super Max federal prison in Florence, Colorado and prosecute them. If there is no such evidence as to other detainees, then they should be returned to the countries from which or in which they were picked up,’ Barr declared.
‘Continuing to detain people indefinitely without affording them the most basic of due process, and fighting the courts endlessly on such matters, runs counter to our laws, our Constitution, and international law,’ noted Barr.
Barr also criticized Vice President Cheney’s recent glib comments that unless a Member of Congress is willing to accept having the Guantanamo detainees deposited into their district or state, they have no business criticizing the Administration or calling for the prison’s closure, saying Mr. Cheney ‘misses the point completely. Either we are a nation of laws or we are not.’
For further information please contact Andy MacPherson at 770-836-1776 or andy@bobbarr.org .
Barr, a former Member of Congress (1995-2003), also served previously as a US Attorney and with the Central Intelligence Agency. He was the Libertarian nominee for President in 2008.
