Many good public servants, Democrats and Republicans alike, have been calling for the closing of Guantanamo for some time, INCLUDING Obama.

There are a lot of military people in the area, and he's talking about the issues that effect them.

Tom you are comparing apples to oranges and confusing two different issues.

Habeas corpus is a basic right that applied to all Americans under the Constituion. Now we don't have that right.

Right-wing spin on it all you want but still doesn't change that simple fact.

Habeas Corpus, and the constitution for that matter, protect the people living in the United States, Not prisoners of war attempting to destroy our way of life. Maybe we can give them all free legal help, find a lawyer to squeeze through a loop hole and they can be back out killing Americans in no time! Way to go Barack.

Can any of you enlightened ones name a single case where H/C or the Patriot act has been used to harm innocent, legal american citizens?

Or is this just the government changing the way the ENEMY is being treated?

Don't kid yourselves people, the ENEMY USES our laws and practices against us, because they know that the bleeding heart, can't we just all sing Kumbya crowd loves to apply our nations rules to the ENEMY. Boo, hoo.

Obama and others have been complaining about this for years. Don't confuse flips like Romney and Clinton with Obama.

Also understand the larger picture: The Patroit Act & suspension of Habeas corpus applies to ALL Americans, not just terror suspects.

It is the legal prescedent that Bush established and Congress authorized that so many people are concerned about.

Read the article…we just lost one of our core Constitutional legal rights.
Once a government strips away rights, it is extremely rare for people to ever get those rights reinstated.

What I dont get is that whenever Obama says anything and gets attention for it. People bash him for taking a stand and then bash him for not taking a stand. Hell…so what if Ron Paul said whatever first. It shows Obamas ability to agree with both republicans and democrats and i think is the only candidate who is willing to work with everyone and unite this country. It’s like your damned if you do and your damned if you don’t. People are so quick to judge and think this man has an agenda. Well actually he does have an agenda and that’s to unite this country and bring back the integrity of the American people. I want to be able to go just about anywhere in this world and be proud to be an American. Also Cnn just started to post articles about Obamas views. They spend more time looking for scandal and poll numbers to pull voters away from Obama. Its about time he's getting some attention Go Obama go

Fabio Escobar you are wrong. All of the other Democratic contenders have been silent about this issue for far too long. When the last time you heard Hillary say anything about the issue. Obama made the comment to put some pressure on the Bush Administration since they are considering closing it. Closing Gitmo is something I have heard Obama say before and I am sure we say it again.

Get over it man.

Before we close Guitmo, I would like to know how much money Haliburton made in the last five years on constructing the new facilities. I think we should use those buildings to house George Bush and his corrupted assistants,
they don't care about anyone elses rights, why should we care about theirs?

His speach and this article are misleading and assinine.

"Habeas corpus is a tenet of the Constitution that protects people from unlawful imprisonment." - The writer very carefully words this to avoid one little fact: The U.S. Constitution covers U.S. Citizens. Our rights are not automatically applied to every human on the planet.

Furthermore, most of the bums in Gitmo were aprehended while attempting to cause harm to American forces while NOT WEARING A UNIFORM and with no affiliation to ANY MILITARY OF ANY COUNTRY. This means that they are NOT protected under the Geniva Convention either!

You people that support this nonsense of extending our Constitutional rights to these creeps should keep something in mind: If they "win", our Constitution will be burned and we'll all live or die (mostly die) by Sharia law…

Habeas Corpus is for American citizens. Not prisoners of war or terroists, that doesn't make sense. It is customary to keep prisoners of war until the end, otherwise they go back and kill more of your men/citizens.

So all the prisioners of war (terrorists) are now to go through our already overloaded court system and our tax dollars are to assign them lawyers through a drawn out court process that will take years? No, you release them at the end of the war.

775 people have been brought to Guantanamo since the detention camp started in 2002 (don't forget 9/11) and 340 have been released, another 110 are scheduled to be released, 70 have court processes started and that leaves about 250. They're there because they are dangerous to Americans.

We are responsible for how we treat them while we are there. That needs to be addressed, but don't forget all the people that have suffered because of 9/11 and other terrorism. They are the true victims.

Ron Paul has been saying this all along!

Absolutely… Close it and make these “Enemy Combatants” stand trial in a military or civilian court. We have founded our country on a set of principles which we no longer stand for. Closing Guantanamo is just the start… Habeas Corpus has worked just fine for our horrible criminals who killed and murdered why is it not good enough for these people? The things that the American public accepted in the name of fear discussed me… Far too long have we sat and did nothing about the injustices we have tolerated in the aftermath of the 9/11 tragedy. Can people not see these actions have hurt if not destroyed our image and credibility with the world? Wake up and end these injustices….

Ron Paul has been against Guantanamo long before Obama ever cared to speak about it.

Guantanamo shouldn't have happened. The Bush administration is thinking about closure a little too late and more as a public relations stunt. Senator Obama clearly provides a fresh hope. Hope that America will again lead by example, that the valiant troops will come home as heroes and that justice will again be restored.

go ahead obama speak the truth. this is america lets act like americans.

This is the third favorable story about Barack Obama on this "Political Ticker". Is CNN campaigning for him?

Typical Obama: speak to the issue after the majority has expressed itself. Take a few polls, wait for some heavy hitters to come out first, and then make a late weekend announcement to capture some cheap web headlines.