I have designed a simple algorithm to determine Sen. Tom Cotton‘s foreign policy and national security positions in advance. 

Does the policy involve diplomacy in any form? Does the policy take the threat of blowback seriously? COTTON OPPOSES. 

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Does the policy make war more likely? Does the policy express nationalist, chest-puffing posturing? In the name of national security, does the policy infringe on privacy rights, due process rights, or condone torture? Does the policy involve invading or bombing other nations, threatening to, or escalating toward that end? Is the policy based on unlimited and endless military spending? Does the policy make the mechanisms of the “War on Terror” as permanent as possible in order to give maximalist and secretive powers to the executive branch? COTTON SUPPORTS. 

Here is Cotton on President Barack Obama‘s plan, announced yesterday, to close the Guantanamo Bay detention facility: 

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President Obama’s plan to close the Guantanamo Bay detention facility is nothing short of a national security disaster. He’s using his last 11 months in office to carry out an ill-advised, ideological campaign promise. Worse, he will just wash his hands of the disastrous implications next January, but America will suffer the consequences long after he leaves office.

Releasing Guantanamo terrorists to other countries and bringing them to our shores is unlawful, unnecessary, and dangerous. His own military and Attorney General have both said they lack the legal authority to transfer detainees to the United States. President Obama can’t ignore that reality. Simply put: this plan is dead on arrival in the Senate.

Cotton has previously said that all of the detainees at Guantanamo Bay can “rot in hell.” Around half of the detainees have been cleared for release. 

Obama on his plan: 

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The plan we’re putting forward today isn’t just about closing the facility at Guantanamo. It’s not just about dealing with the current group of detainees, which is a complex piece of business because of the manner in which they were originally apprehended and what happened. This is about closing a chapter in our history.

Keeping this facility open is contrary to our values. It undermines our standing in the world. It is viewed as a stain on our broader record of upholding the highest standards of rule of law.

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