Obama speaks about Gitmo terrorists: ‘I don’t want these individuals to die’

During this morning's press conference, President Obama announced that he'd like to place renewed focus on closing the prison at Guantanamo Bay and will re-engage Congress in an effort to do so.

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"For a lot of Americans, the notion is out of sight, out of mind," he said. "It's easy to demagogue the issue. That's what happened the first time this came up. I'm going to go back at it because I think it's important." Asked specifically about hunger strikes among the inmates and possible force feeding, Obama said "I don't want these individuals to die. Obviously the Pentagon is trying to manage the situation as best as they can." First off, if the President thinks the public opinion needle has moved one iota regarding Americans' desire to have foreign terrorists tried and imprisoned on U.S. soil, he's painfully mistaken. Second, he's also wrong if he thinks there's any sympathy to be found for the plight of international terrorists. On the heels of yet another Jihadist attack in Boston, support for the death penalty in terrorism cases is soaring. Sorry, but people are not in the mood to hear sob stories about killers who refuse to eat. If the Gitmo terrorists want to starve themselves to death, that's their problem. The fact that Obama still thinks it's a winning - or even important - agenda item speaks volumes.

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