Don’t close Gitmo

There has been quite a bit of discussion regarding the U.S. military prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba this weekend. An article in Time Magazine refrences “Secret ORCON: Interrogation Log Detainee 063″ which describes, sometimes in boring detail, the interogation of one detainee. If the things listed there, particularly things that could be labled “humiliation”, are abuse then I have a case against several girls I dated and some of my friends from High School. The one fact that seems to get little mention in any discussion of these prisoners is that they are prisoners; Enemy combatants picked up from Afghanistan or as part of al-Qaida. Recently there has been talk of shuting the camp down, including some voices on the right. Senator Chuck Hagel (R-NB) cited Guantanamo as one reason the U.S. is “losing the image war around the world.” Image War? I’m sorry, but here is the image I want the U.S. to have around the world: If you attack our country, our people, our buildings, or our allies we are going to hunt you down relentlessly and extract payment for your actions. If you are planning on attacking us in any way we will do anything in our power to find out and prevent you from carrying out your plans. If you give aid or support to anyone who wants to harm us we will punish you as well. We won’t allow our citizens to be endangered and we will not allow those who wish us harm to escape their due. That’s an image I can live with.

Vice President Dick Cheney said in an interview this weekend that suspected terrorists will continue to be held at Guantanamo. And while President Bush has said that the administration is exploring all alternatives, I sincerly hope that giving in on Gitmo is not an alternative that is taken. The good folks over at Ankle Biting Pundits reminds us that We’re the good guys. And we are. It is not only acceptable, it is the proper action to take if we are to use all the tools available to keep America safe.

On a humorous note, Captain Ed from Captain’s Quarters outlines the truly inhumane treatment detainees face:

Worst of all, the one method on which Human Rights Watch could nail the US military, is the playing of music by Christina Aguilera as a punishment for non-cooperation. Other than Michael Bolton, which I believe would be an explicit Geneva Convention violation, it’s hard to imagine a crueler torture.

Seriously, though, is this the worst Time could dig up? This treatment hardly qualifies as anything except mundane for intelligence work — and this suspect has to have been potentially the highest-value detainee held at Gitmo. If the guards had been tempted to turn the screws on anyone, it would have been Qahtani. Instead, they harassed him and annoyed him, but other than the Aguilera music, no one could possibly claim that Qahtani had been tortured based on this oversensationalized report of his treatment.

Let’s not forget what’s at stake here, and by no means let us forget who are the bad guys and who are the good guys. It is really as simple as that.

(Sent to the linkfest at Outside the Beltway – 18:15)

Tweet