Re: Recent news reports about abuse of the Quran or Koran or whatever the Muslim holy book is called. I know this is a big-time no-no in the world of Islam and I should probably respect that but I really can’t be bothered to care all that much. Newsweek screwed up some facts (but not really the gist of the complaint) and some folks died during a demonstration. That’s bad.
But there’s something worse.
Please correct me if I’m wrong:
1. The United States government is detaining “persons of interest” in a holding facility at the Guantanamo Bay naval base in Cuba.
2. Since Gitmo is outside the USA, detainees are not afforded the constitutional rights of due process, protection from unreasonable search and seizure, etc.
3. Since our “War on Terror” is not really a war, we don’t consider these detainees prisoners of war and therefore we have determined that the Geneva Convention does not apply to them.
4. Per MSNBC there are about 540 detainees at Gitmo, some have been there for more than three years but never charged with a crime. Most were captured in Afghanistan. All are being interrogated to learn more about al-Qaida.
Learning about al-Qaida is a worthy pursuit, but at what price?
Are the rights we are violating in Gitmo not the very rights we are fighting and dying for?
Does this seem paradoxical to anyone else?
Charge them, convict them, sentence them (even to death if appropriate) or
charge them, acquit them, and let them go.
How can we expect other countries to play by the rules (allow weapons inspectors, etc.) if we don't play by the rules.
3 comments:
There are no rules.
The rules were meant to guide reasonable people to act accordingly. As we have seen, we no longer live in reasonable times.
Enemies of the United States are treated as such.
Detained, as horrible as it is, does serve a greater good. While I don't applaud the incarceration of these folks, what is the alternative?
Let them go? Let them be able to bomb us again? Inflict bioterrorism? Financial terrorism?
Do we move them to American soil? Like Leavenworth? Then they can interact with Lawyers and then communicate freely, and possibly plan more attacks?
Yes, it is ironic that we are "fighting for peace".
It is also ironic that we are jailing people in the name of freedom and justice, but overall it is more for safety.
I'm happy to entertain any ideas to alternatives, but only ones I think that the country can live with.
These people lost a great many of their rights once they were consorting with our enemies, and conspiring to commit acts of terror and cause fatalities. If we wrongly incarcerated someone, we should make right by it, otherwise, hold them until hell freezes over.
It isn't fair, it isn't pretty, but it is safety, in some sense.
J-bro
If there really are no rules, we have already lost.
To steal directly from Rev. Martin Niemoller:
First they came for the Afghans, and I was not an Afghan so I didn't speak up. Then they came for the Iraqis, and I was not an Iraqi so I didn't speak up.
At what point do they come for the guys who post critcisms of the current administration on their blogs? Will anyone be left to speak up for me then?
If we give away our constitutional rights then the terrorists have won.
We lost a long time ago. But I understand your point.
We can not keep our own country supplied with the oil we need, so we rely on other countries who dictate some of our own policies to us. Does that seem rational?
We can not supply food to all of our country, so we rely on foreign sources, which may be easily comprimised.
I'm not saying I agree with what is going on, but realisticly, what would you do to keep the country safe?
How would you live with yourself if you let the next Osama Bin Laden out of Gitmo, and he sank a Cruise Ship full of Special Olympics kids on a tour?
Worse, what if he sank a battleship full of our troups who were fighting to protect us.
I agree, I don't like it, but it comes down to the lesser of all evils.
It isn't proud, it isn't fun, it isn't happy, but it is reality.
I'd love someone to change my mind, but I'd have to feel safe. Safety was an illusion we had, I am not sure we'll ever feel it again.
J-bro
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