CNN

[...] video Ridge blasts Obama over Guantanamo handling [...]

This is what you get when liberals vote in a community organizing wimp with very little senate experience and absolutely no business know how. Obama wouldn't know what leadership is if his dog bite him on the backside.

The plan is simple – behead them all and close the prison. That is what they do to our military men and women and private Americans – they just chop their heads off. So why can't we do that to the gitmo terrorist. Or if that is too gross for you send one terrorist to live with every liberal nutcase who thinks they should be released.

Does the demmies have anyone in mind to run in 2012 when obama has totally failed?

I think that "premature" is accurate – he's got good intentions and ideas and but should at least had an idea of what to do with the bad guys before pulling the trigger.

Most of Obama's decision have been right. The guy gives the Seals a go ahead on sniping the pirates – yet there are internet sites claiming he waited too long. Not matter what he does there will be criticizism from the right. They stand for whatever is the opposite of what this administration stands for so they will always try to say what he has done is wrong.

I'd love to hear what these big mouth politicians would like to do. It's sooo easy to criticize – much harder to suggest solutions. I don't hear a lot of solutions being offered.

@you got to be kidding May 24th, 2009 10:17 am ET

"In my opinion this is nothing more than a modern day concentration camp with better health care."

You are so funny. This is nothing like a concentration camp. See if you can follow along.

Concentration Camp: Arrest law abiding, hard-working, people who are different. Jews, Gypsies, Poles etc. Take away their bank accounts, their businesses, homes, and property. Starve them, beat them, kill them in gas chambers. Their crime, being Jews, Gypsies, or Poles.

Guantanamo Bay: Arrest terrorists that want to see America destroyed and our people killed. Waterboard 3 of them who helped plan the attack and murder of 2998 American Citizens to get information that possibly stopped another mass-murder of Americans living in LA. Their crime, wanting to mass-murder Americans. They will do it again in a heart beat if given the chance.

CNN you are too sensational. Ridge just stated his differences – hardly a "blast".

Here is the thing.
Bush wanted to close Guantanamo but didn't have a plan either, so nothing was done. If he had made the decision to close it, the administration would have been forced to come up with a plan.
That is what Obama understood, and that is what he has done.
Not having a plan is simply an excuse to debate the matter into the next century.
Announcing the closing of the place forces action.

We have many terrorists locked up in our prisons on our soil right now. There are plenty in Colorado's supermax. What makes the people in Guantanamo any different? Here is the plan for those that sdon't get it.

1) Actually prosecute the terrorists in Guantanamo. This will bring them to justice.
2) Treat them like every other terrorist that we have caught and prosecuted by locking the guilty ones in our supermax prisons and throwing away the key. No prisoner has ever escaped from a super max facility in the country.
3) Treating these terrorists like the normal criminals they are and closing Guantanamo will take away a recruiting tool for the terrorist groups. Guantanamo has created more terrorists than it houses.
4) Stop acting so scared and weak as a country. Terrorism is not much of a threat. Our fast food resturants are killing a lot more people. Just calm down and prosecute them like the petty criminals they are.

Another insignificant, incompetent republican getting the headlines.
ANYONE who speaks out against our president and his policies is immediately headlined as a person of knowledge and honor.
Ridge is neither. Along with Cheney,. Limbaugh, Rove, etc he is
of no value for the future of our country. He supports and touts the
failures of these last eight years.
Yet these hypocrits, unAmerican, party first idiots are constantly
shoved down our throats by the media.
Can we ever have integrity from those who should act responsibility??

These Republicans are all criminals and only a court of law can establish their various drgree of culpability.They just don't only want to destroy America they want to destroy the world order.

I don't care what they do with the present batch of detainees, give each one a quarter million and release them in New York.
My main concern is....It should be military policy, never, never take a prisoner. Anytime you encounter a potential enemy, leave him/her laying, dead, where you encountered them and move on to the next obstacle.This policy will also free all those military persone nowl deployed as prison guards to the battle ground to take out more potential prisones.

I couldn't disagree more with Mr. Ridge and others.

Leaders point out the direction we're going and then they let their assembled team figure out how to get there.

Kennedy didn't wait until all the pieces were in place before he said "We're going to the moon baby". He said it and we followed.

That's what great leadership is all about – vision, courage, passion, intelligence. Obama has the vision to know that Gitmo is not a long-term solution that jives with our American ideals, the courage to openly state his mission, long before his team has a plan ready, the passion to stick with his vision in the face of petty, parochial critics, and the intelligence to know how to adjust his vision to reality as it presents itself.

This folks, is what leadership looks like, in case you've forgotten.

I guess some people want these terroists in prisons in this country where they cannot be torchered and can make a mockery of our justice system and convert the prisoners in jail to Moslems and a breeding ground for future terroists.

This was the first Obama decision of his administration and it was poorly thought out and hastily made. This poor and hasty decision was then followed by equally poorly thought out decisions on bailouts, the auto industry, the financial industry and now health care.

Could Obama temporarily step down as President until he learns how to do his job?

is Tom Ridge the face of the new Republican?

first he goes after Rush the bottom feeder . then he says Obama doesn't have a plan for the bad people at Gitmo..
well its simple put them in a federal prison. and us vidio confrencing to have a trial . and then deal with each of them .

gee maybe we should just ask Rush what should be done with Guantanamo POW's. He'll know, afterall he has 20 million listeners. ha ha ha Better yet lets ask O'Reilly, Beck, Hannity, Coulter or better yet just hand things over to Fox news. LOL

We have to remember one thing about the Guantanamo Prison, this prison is housing the terroists and masterminds of 9/11. I was in utter shock on 9/11, I couldnt believe this was happening and I said whoever did this deserves to pay for what they did at any cost and I didnt have any relatives or friends connected to 9/11. Yes torture is wrong and it was wrong for the Bush administration to allow torture on these detainees and the Bush administration should be prosecuted for what they did. However, Iam a Democrat, I voted for Hillary in the primaries and Obama in the general election and I love President Obama for everything he stands for and believes in and I do feel he's doing a great job. I do not support the closing of Guantanamo Bay prison, I feel that we should keep these detainees in Cuba at Guantanamo but just make sure nobody commit torture on any of these prisoners. I know Obama said he wouldnt endanger the United States but I dont feel comfortable with allowing these terroists inside the United States

Another Republucan grasping at straws. Is the GOP capable of paying any attention to what President Obama says? "NO" still from that party. Sad.

Our president has made it very clear that it will take up to a year to close the GOP mess of Gitmo, and we are barely 3 months into that process.

Fortunately, many Americans are actually listening to the information provided and feel President Obama keeps us updated of the ongoing progress of these national security issues, as it unfolds (unlike the lies of the previous administration, Mr. Ridge).

The Rush Newt Cheney/Greedy Old People party is SO out of touch with America!

kd........I'm with you.....

It seems Republicans can't give the President straight out credit for doing anything.....They all have the answers now.....Not one saw the impending doom in our economy and security.....Detainees didn't just spring up like weeds from out of no where.....They've been around for years.....

I applaud my fresh new ideas LEADER.......He's not afraid of a fight.....He's more transparent than any other President ever dared to be......The problem is, Republicans, and some dumb Democrats, can't handle truth.....(And some are just plain cowards).......

GITMO will be funded, and it will close.......God is with this man.....He will not be denied......Peace...

Log on to 'Paralzyed Veterans of America,' and encourage a wounded Veteran......If possible, give a donation.......

Thank you again, brave warriors for protecting US.....Thank you families who have lost brave ones in the battle.....Their fighting was not in vain......Pray for our troops........BLESSED MEMORIAL DAY......(Make it more than a picnic day).....

I think he should release the inmates of Gitmo into the Washington DC area. Since they are all fine, upstanding people, the DC area should be very safe. Why would he try to put them into someone else's backyard? He says no citizens will be put in danger. IF that's true, then he should welcome them into his backyard.

If it hadn't been opened , we wouldn't be having these discussions. In my opinion this is nothing more than a modern day concentration camp with better health care. All who approved or kept silent about it, come together and figure this out instead of the "not in my backyard" crap.

@ New Yorker, who said "Obama, maybe, means well"

Gotta le t it go and at some point believe in something, right?

Some of you out there have a lot of hate in your heart...

Yeah, it was totally stupid of him to push the issue to force something to get done about it cuz Congress was soooooo ready to address the issue all on its own....and pigs have toes.

Republicans "blast" President Obama after four months into office and refuse to accept any responsibility for the Bush Administration in not preventing the attacks on 9/11 after he was in office for SEVEN months.

The Bush administration did NOT make America safer through their invasion of Iraq and leaving the war in Afghanistan go unabatted.

They did NOTHING to solve the problems in the Middle East, emboldened Iran who was on America's side in Afghanistan. Of equal importance is that they sat by and let the economic situation develop into a recession.

Why Ridge did not slam Bush and Cheney when there administration did all of these crimes against humanity. Now every one is coming out of their holes, were they hid in those 8 years and critizise our new president after 4 month. Wait and see for a year or two and then put in your five cent.

I thought he had a plan. I listened to him speak, and I am sure I heard a fairly detailed plan. If the GOP would get over themselves, take their fingers out of their ears and stop pandering to caricatures like Rush and Coulter, they would hear the plans and some of them probably have constructive ideas that would improve the plans.

On the other hand, they could be shrill and obstructive until 2010.

C'mon GOP, instead of excoriating him in the press, why don't you give us YOUR detailed plan so that we can argue the merits.

I side with the President and Secretary of Defense Gates – we already have terrorists in U.S. prisons and we have never had an escape from a supermax prison. Bring them here for trials and detention.

I would also say that our President clearly has a plan – restore America's standing in the world so that our allies will stand with us and help us in this fight against terrorism.

I love how this is presented.. "Ridge blasts Obama". I watched the interview, it was hardly a "blast". Ridge gave some very good and balanced opposing arguments. Just another step CNN is taking to be as sensationalized as possible and dramatize every piece of information. And we wonder why both sides get so polarized?

Here we go again, Gitmo is in Cuba and Cuba can say, get the hell out of my Country, Guess what, we have to do it.

I got it, place them at the South Pole, with only their prison clothing and sandels on. Freeze baby Freeze!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Gitmo is a black eye for the United States, some neo-cons now know that waterboarding is torture, just ask Mancow!!!!!!

We cant put detainees in an super max prison, from which there has never been an escape. We can live in our cities with almost daily drive by shootings and more frequent home INVASION robberies and assaults on older citizens by persons free to terrorize. Would venture to say that there are more of these nutzos running loose then there are detainees. Go figure.

Obama, maybe, means well, but he doesn't have a clue how to protect this country. If he thinks he can reason with people who are determined to destroy us because of their ideology, he's wrong. If he thinks we should just appease these terrorists by being gentle with them, he is wrong. Just like Israel we, alos, have a right to defend ourselves even if that means keeping some terrorists in Guantanamo.

Guess Ridge, McCain and Cheney were listening to a different speech from Obama. I heard plenty of plans from the president. He listed the ways to bring all to trial/in front of tribunals and how to relocate them.

So what's the problem? Why do so many Republicans keep their ears plugged to rage against something that doesn't exist? Obama has answers, while the Republicans do nothing but complain and whine.

lets see if I can put my finger on the "Obama Doctrine"… thus far this is what I have…
1) Close a prison holding those who want to kill Americans, only do this without having anywhere to send them
2) Make fun of the special olympics
3) Have difficulty filling your cabinet because all you seem to appoint are tax cheating lobbyists
4) Tell private corporations (Chrysler) how and when they can do business.
5) PROFIT!

America please forgive the resident of the white house. He knows not what to does base on all of his executive experience he has cultivated during his 43 days as a senator. Change is coming in 2010