Guantanamo is a chief recruiting tool for al-Qaida. It has put a wedge between the United States and at least some of its allies.
Interpretation
Guantanamo Bay has negatively impacted America's international relationships and has been exploited by terrorist groups for recruitment.
In this quote, Eric Holder emphasizes the detrimental effects of Guantanamo Bay on the United States' standing in the world. He suggests that the prison has become a symbol that aids terrorist organizations like al-Qaida in their recruitment efforts, portraying the U.S. as an oppressor and alienating some of its allies who may be sympathetic to the plight of the detainees.
In practice
During a debate on national security, one could reference this quote to discuss the implications of detention practices on relationships with allies.
While he was in the service, in the South and in Oklahoma, he was refused service at a couple of places where he was in uniform, and was told that African Americans, blacks, Negros, were not served. And in spite of that, I've never known a man who loved this country more than my father did.
Though this nation has proudly thought of itself as an ethnic melting pot, in things racial we have always been and I believe continue to be, in too many ways, essentially a nation of cowards
In a lot of ways, civil rights division is the conscience of the Justice Department. You can almost measure what kind of Justice Department you have by what kind of civil rights division that you have.
One of the things I learned is that you've got to deal with the underlying social problems if you want to have an impact on crime - that it's not a coincidence that you see the greatest amount of violent crime where you see the greatest amount of social dysfunction.
Those who peacefully gather to express sympathy for the family of Michael Brown must have their rights respected at all times. And journalists must not be harassed or prevented from covering a story that needs to be told.
Communities of color don't understand what it means to be a police officer, the fear that police officers have in just being on the streets.
I hope we shall crush in its birth the aristocracy of our monied corporations which dare already to challenge our government to a trial by strength, and bid defiance to the laws of our country.
It is an axiom of political science in the United States that the sole means of neutralizing the effects of newspapers is to multiply their number.
Socialism is the democratisation of every level of society, or it is nothing. It is based on an understanding that the concentration of wealth and power leaves democracy hollowed out, and that simply trooping to a polling station every few years is an insufficient counterweight to the behemoths of global capital.
I personally hope and wish that Britain will stay part and parcel of the European Union.
It's time for me to give out an award to newly elected Majority Leader John Boehner. Mr. Boehner was elected just a few days ago to reform House Republicans, who are feeling the heat from lobbyist scandals. Well, CNN found out that he rents his two-bedroom apartment from a lobbyist who had clients who had interests in legislation that Boehner sponsored. And for that, Mr. Boehner, you've just won a pair of Stephen Colbert's big brass balls.
Politics is the art of the possible; creativity is the art of the impossible.
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