Let My People Go
First. I don’t give a rat’s ass what happens to those sons of bitches in GITMO. If whoever captured them had put a 45 slug in their heads at that time, it would have saved us all a lot of trouble and they could have experience all of their 40 promissory virgins by now. If win-win is not ringing in the back of your mind as you read this, there’s really no reason for you to read on.
My concern is not for the captives but the captors in this situation. The argument that they are not Americans misses the point. We are! GITMO is not American. It’s not moral. It’s French or German or Russian or Japanese. If John McCain had been treated as the prisoners in GITMO are being treated, would that have made it OK? If the Japanese had treated the Americans and Filipinos on the Bataan Death March as well as we treat the GITMO inmates, would it even be called a Death March? Would that have been all right? Would we feel anything more special about veterans of that march or those that perished than we do any other veteran?
Americans have been given the unique opportunity to view the Death March or the Holocaust from a wholly different perspective. Now, I don’t believe GITMO is in any way near what the Death March, Holocaust, Gulags, or any number of other atrocities inflicted on one people by another, but then, a lot of eventual atrocities were not either – when they started. Isn’t that albatross of slavery enough for America?
I love to read stories of WWII POWs being held in America that didn’t want to go back to their own country when the war was over. That’s because we held WWII POWs as Americans should hold POWs. They were nicely – but firmly – treated. Some were allowed to intermix not only with Americans, but more importantly, with American culture. I doubt any of the inmates of GITMO are going to want to stay here. That is if they are ever released.
Even to argue their right to habeas corpus, is un-American. That’s like arguing the right to breathe oxygen. Habeas corpus is not just an American right, it’s a world-wide human right. If you’re a country that believes in the rule of law – and by the Constitution that’s what we are – then anyone deserves a day in court.
How many movies have you seen where some American POW demands to see the commandant? What has the world come to, when we are not even as good as our movies?
Close the base. Either turn them loose, turn them over to authorities of their home country, or put them in a proper prison. It’s too late to take them out and shoot them. I’m not concerned about their interest; I’m concerned about ours – a “we have met the enemy and he is us” type of concern.
Terrorism is not new. Of all the fears we have to face, terrorism is one of the oldest. A terrorist attack started WWI. A terrorist assassinated McKinley. We called them anarchists back then.
Terrorism was suppressed during the struggle between communism and free market countries, or a terrorist act had a major power behind it as part of the Cold War. It’s only since winning the Cold War that terrorism has been allowed to ferment and grow. Before, either we would eradicate it because we felt it was communist inspired and the commies would do the same because they felt it was some sort of capitalist plot.
But Americans acting un-America, that’s new. Close GITMO. It’s a Fourth of July kind of thing.
My concern is not for the captives but the captors in this situation. The argument that they are not Americans misses the point. We are! GITMO is not American. It’s not moral. It’s French or German or Russian or Japanese. If John McCain had been treated as the prisoners in GITMO are being treated, would that have made it OK? If the Japanese had treated the Americans and Filipinos on the Bataan Death March as well as we treat the GITMO inmates, would it even be called a Death March? Would that have been all right? Would we feel anything more special about veterans of that march or those that perished than we do any other veteran?
Americans have been given the unique opportunity to view the Death March or the Holocaust from a wholly different perspective. Now, I don’t believe GITMO is in any way near what the Death March, Holocaust, Gulags, or any number of other atrocities inflicted on one people by another, but then, a lot of eventual atrocities were not either – when they started. Isn’t that albatross of slavery enough for America?
I love to read stories of WWII POWs being held in America that didn’t want to go back to their own country when the war was over. That’s because we held WWII POWs as Americans should hold POWs. They were nicely – but firmly – treated. Some were allowed to intermix not only with Americans, but more importantly, with American culture. I doubt any of the inmates of GITMO are going to want to stay here. That is if they are ever released.
Even to argue their right to habeas corpus, is un-American. That’s like arguing the right to breathe oxygen. Habeas corpus is not just an American right, it’s a world-wide human right. If you’re a country that believes in the rule of law – and by the Constitution that’s what we are – then anyone deserves a day in court.
How many movies have you seen where some American POW demands to see the commandant? What has the world come to, when we are not even as good as our movies?
Close the base. Either turn them loose, turn them over to authorities of their home country, or put them in a proper prison. It’s too late to take them out and shoot them. I’m not concerned about their interest; I’m concerned about ours – a “we have met the enemy and he is us” type of concern.
Terrorism is not new. Of all the fears we have to face, terrorism is one of the oldest. A terrorist attack started WWI. A terrorist assassinated McKinley. We called them anarchists back then.
Terrorism was suppressed during the struggle between communism and free market countries, or a terrorist act had a major power behind it as part of the Cold War. It’s only since winning the Cold War that terrorism has been allowed to ferment and grow. Before, either we would eradicate it because we felt it was communist inspired and the commies would do the same because they felt it was some sort of capitalist plot.
But Americans acting un-America, that’s new. Close GITMO. It’s a Fourth of July kind of thing.
posted by scout29c at 9:48 AM
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