Gitmo

Robert Gates, the current Secretary of Defense, said today “it’s going to be tough” getting out of Guantanamo by the Obama Administration’s Jan 22, 2010 deadline.


This shouldn’t be a surprise. The people that fully supported Gitmo, are the ones fighting the close order. You have the imperious leader, Dick Cheney telling everyone that in so many words: “torture is good”. You also have the people who are the “Tea Party” and anti-healthcare reform vocalists who can add another label to their list … NIMBY … Not In My Back Yard. These people don’t want accused terrorists in their neighborhood, or even in this country.

The NIMBY people want to have possible terrorists locked up, but not nearby. They don’t want to know about torture, although it is good for the country they might think. They also don’t want to think about the denial of due process which has been going on since the start of this mockery of justice.

Now, let’s look at this whole situation.

First, torture is not good. Every interrogation expert on the planet will tell you that torture does not get reliable information. It just makes the victim hate the jailer that much more.

Second, locking these guys up in the continental U.S. is no worse than locking up violent gang members or serial killers. They will be under strong lock and key. If they escape, they won’t stay in the local area where they have been held. They’ll want to get as far away as possible.

Third, Gitmo has to be closed. It has come to symbolize U.S. policy hypocrisy to the rest of the world. We proclaim our freedom and fairness as a shining beacon to all the world, while denying the due process to and the torturing of prisoners in our charge. It makes anything we say to much of the world worthless.

What do we gain by not allowing the accused to go to trial? Exposure of illegal Special Ops operations? Bad judgments that could be embarrassing? Illegal or unethical bribes and other cash transactions? Who knows? If so, they SHOULD be exposed.

Of course many of those held at Gitmo are bad people. They should be tried and punished. The innocent should be determined and set free. And …. They should be tried in normal U.S. courts, not by secret tribunals which smack of Nazi justice. What’s next? Secret beheadings after secret convictions?

No matter what the previous administration said about a “War on Terror”, it isn’t. It should not be treated like a wartime condition. Giving the President war powers for a faux war was wrong.

For the supporters of Gitmo, I would ask you to get out of your monster truck, put the beer away and think about the rest of the world and our place in it. You can’t live in your cocoon forever. Not anymore. China is going to be the big economic power of the 21st century. We need to be able to get along with them and their friends. This also goes for India and possibly Russia (if they can get their act together). What happens there affects us here.

If we continue to talk out of both sides of our mouth like this, we won’t be taken seriously in the future. We won’t be the big kid on the block anymore and won’t be able to enforce our will as we have in the past. We have to wake up and realize the internet and other global communications have made this world one big mass of humanity. I certainly don’t want for us to be sent to our room and miss out on everything to come.

The only way we can play with others in the future and maintain a leadership role in the world is to talk honestly and act honestly on the issues confronting this country and the world. Closing Gitmo is a good start and will serve our purposes far into the future.

Martin