Wow. Looking for a topic to discuss, and one fell in my lap. Really, my laptop feel into my lap and on the screen was an article about "Gitmo." It seems that the Dems have changed their mind. They no longer want "Gitmo" closed, or the detainees brought to U.S. soil. Sounds awfully familiar. I think I read about the Republicans saying the same thing not to long ago, only they wanted to detain them indefinitely. Why don't someone come up with a rational plan and implement it? Let's have a trial for these guys. They supposedly are enemies of the United States, thereefore something needs to be done with them. Again let me break this up in to the way I think on it.
Detainees - Enemies of the U.S., or so we've been told. Let a military tribunal try them. If they are enemies, then treat them as such. If they have harmed an American citizen, then excute them. If they were in the wrong place at the wrong time, set them free with the appropriate reprobations (hope I got that word right). It seems simple enough.
Congress - Not sure this group can come up with a common goal. To much politics being played. The Democrats want to keep power, pass their individual agendas, and destroy the Republican Party. The Republicans want to regain some power, pass their individual agendas, and find their place in this overly politically correct world. The voters as a whole are just screwed. These back and forth idea changes are keeping the detainees and the taxpayers in a bind.
President Obama - I admire the fact that he is trying to keep a campaign promise. Don't agree with him totally on the issue, but at least he is acting like a leader and setting a path to resolution. "If we want to lead the world, we must uphold ourselves to a higher standard", is the message I'm getting out of White House. That these detainees deserve a fair trial under a civilian judge. The big problem I see here is that federal judges in this country are a political position, and that might influence their rulings. So, while I give him a negative on keeping America safe, he gets a positive for trying to make us a more morale country.
U.S Taxpayer - Most the people I talk to (which is not a good sampling of the country) are just tired of paying for these guys.
What do you guys think? Trial, infinite detention, or let them go?
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I can't figure out c/p on this blog - it won't let me do it. So you get my thoughts in a much more disorganized way than I would prefer...
ReplyDeleteRegardless, I do not understand how closing Gitmo makes America less safe. If we try the criminals, find evidence enough to convinct them, then they are in jail.
If we try them and find that they are innocent, then we set them free and America's ideals and world opinion are once more secure.
Valuing human life and standing for something are not goals that we can pass on when we don't feel like putting in the effort. Those aren't values, they are hobbies.
"People who sacrifice freedom for safety deserve neither freedom nor safety."
I think that the Democratic party should be ashamed of it's backtracking on refusing to close Gitmo. Although, I have no problem with allowing military tribunals to do the trials. I believe that the legal system can work just as well in the military as in the civilian world.
Closing Gitmo keeps America less safe by not giving or Armed Forces a offshore processing point for these combatives. Gitmo is a military base that provides a stronghold should their brothers-in-arms seek to rescue them. That's how I see it.
ReplyDeleteWe agree on the trial part. I think indefinite detention is not the way to lead in this world. The rest of the world should see us practicing what we preach.
Sorry about the randomness of my thought patterns.