• Sarah Palin is against Obama's plan to close the
Guantanamo Bay prison and believes his plan is a reckless one.
Palin is generally against Obama's approach to terrorism, viewing
it as fundamentally flawed.

• Palin believes that the terrorists of Guantanamo should
be treated as wartime enemies and not as suspects who are only
alleged to have committed crimes. Palin feels that a terrorist
who is responsible for the massacre of hundreds of people should
not be treated as a common criminal. 

• Palin believes that taking strong military measures
might be the right approach in dealing with the terrorists. The
real nature of terrorism must be addressed in the form of a
military commander-in-chief. Dealing the terrorists by a
constitutional law professor is by no means a wise decision. Thus
Palin discredits the importance of law and legal mechanisms in
dealing with the terror suspects or terrorists. 

• Palin believes that radical Islam extremism, with which
America is at war, is not a mere law enforcement issue. It only
tends to compromise the nation's security as was witnessed in the
1990s and most importantly on 11th September 2001.

• According to Palin, the constitutional provisions which
Obama's plan tries to implement will grant the foreign born
terrorists the privilege to remain silent which will further risk
the lives of many Americans. Giving them access to the American
courtrooms will only result in the manipulation of the legal
system. This might also give them the access to classified
information too. 

• Acts of terrorism are not isolated events but well
orchestrated events. They are to be dealt with stringently.
Closing down the Guantanamo prison and giving them a trial in the
mainland US is not the option.
		

• Obama has always been critical of U.S. detention policies
and says too many prisoners languish in Guantanamo without fair
trials. ? As a senator, Obama voted YES on preserving habeus
corpus for Guantanamo detainees.  He stated, "Why don't we close
Guantanamo and restore the right of habeas corpus, because that's
how we lead, not with the might of our military, but the power of
our ideals and the power of our values. It's time to show the
world we're not a country that ships prisoners in the dead of
night to be tortured in far off countries. We're not a country
that runs prisons which locks people away without ever telling
them why they're there or what they're charged with. We're not a
country which preaches compassion to others while we allow bodies
to float down the streets of major American cities. That's not
who we are."

• In May 2008 while campaigning in North Carolina, Obama
said, ?We can set the highest standards around the world for
human rights and rule of law and close Guantanamo and restore
habeas corpus." 

• In May 2009 Obama announced a plan which would lead to
the closure of Guantanamo Bay prison within a year. The plan
called for terror suspects locked up in the prison to be brought
to the United States mainland where they would be tried and
prosecuted. Of the detainees who would be brought to the country,
some would be set free. The rest would be able to exercise
constitutional rights and would undergo open trials. Nearly one
year later we are no closer to closing Guantanamo and sources say
it will take another year to accomplish.   It is still not clear
where the how the detainees will be tried or the location of the
trials. 

• Obama is strongly against the idea of trying the terror
suspects in the Cuban island itself, an idea that was favored by
George Bush. Obama advisers who charted out the plan believe that
the process of bringing the suspects to the mainland might be
complicated and may invite controversies but that is not a task
that cannot be accomplished. Obama advisers are of the notion
that the detainees can be guarded as well in the US as anywhere
else. 

• Obama's plan proposes a novel court system which will be
a sort of military commissions dispensing justice. A committee
will be set up to decide the workings of the court. The detainees
who will be released will be sent back to the countries from
where they were captured for further proceedings if any. Others
may be prosecuted in the US criminal courts.

• Obama argues that the Military Commissions Act of 2006
is flawed and calls for a reform of the trials from its present
format. Obama is all for "a process that adheres to rule of law,
habeas corpus, basic principles of Anglo-American legal system,
but doing it in a way that doesn't result in releasing people who
are intent on blowing us up."