Tuesday, March 10, 2009

Some apologies are in order

The media, Europe, and Hollywood were apoplectic for much of Bush's second term about Guantanamo Bay, and the sheer injustice of Americans imprisoning innocent goat herders and whatnot. Somehow, I doubt we are going to hear many apologies now that evidence is mounting that the cries of injustice were utter nonsense.

6 comments:

Restless Native said...

Absolutely, Gams. This bad dude clearly proves that, to be on the safe side, we should probably lock up bunches of people, hold them without due process indefinitely and make sure that this doesn't happen again. Eff the Constitution, lock up all the ragheads we can find and throw away the key. You never know who might be a bad guy.

VooDoo said...

Ah Restless. What I expected. However, I don't believe the Constitution applies to enemy combatants during a time of war - Geneva Convention yes, Constitution no. Please refer to how German POWs were held during WWII for precedent. I'm sure Aztec will jump all over my ass on this but I can't resist.

GammaBoy said...

Thank you, Voodoo, for saving me the keystrokes on that.

And RN, it's not lock we locked up all Afghanistan. We locked up a few hundred people, and it looks like we had good reason to do so.

Yo Gabba Gabba said...

Gamma, aren't you a libertarian?

There is no question the US locked up several of the "right" people, but there is pretty good bet we locked up several of the "wrong" people too. I'm thinking Bush didn't release this prick b/c of an inability to establish guilt beyond a reasonable doubt- he'd have to let all of Gitmo go then (assuming he would have already tried them otherwise). He let him go b/c the decisionmakers bought this guy's BS, and they did so because there probably are several instances were guys were turned in for bounties, to settle personal debts, vendettas, etc.

I'm pissed and angry, but concerns with holding people indefinitely without due process is "utter nonsense?" I don't have the solution, but as a libertarian, I'm surprised you sided the way you did.

GammaBoy said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
GammaBoy said...

YGG,

I feel like we've covered this ground before on here, but I differentiate between citizens and non-citizens. The rights of American citizens are unrelated to the rights of enemy combatants.

Guantanamo Bay (same initials as me....hmmm) may not have been the ideal solution, but almost all the alternatives I heard discussed were as, if not more, flawed in some way.

I've always wondered if, with the seemingly no-win controversy about Guantanamo, American soldiers might just want to put a bullet in their potential captives and save everyone a lot of trouble. It must be tempting. Certainly more so than having to fight the same guy five years later.