Saturday, June 23, 2007

Bush Administration Considering Shutting Down Gitmo

Word is in the media that the military and administration advisors are considering recommending to President Bush that he close the Guantanamo Bay detention facility for enemy combatants and suspected terrorists and transfer them to military detention facilities in the U.S. The only thing stupider and more dangerous than this is the Illegal Immigration Amnesty Bill now working its way through Congress.

Some have argued that detaining enemy combatants and suspected terrorists in Cuba is unfair, and perhaps it is in a few cases. However, giving these people, most of whom are miscreants bent on America’s destruction, the legal status and access to our court system that bringing them into the U.S. in a military prison would, is asinine. And, it’s not appropriate to bring these people to the U.S.

Imagine in World War II that the Japanese, instead of sending planes to Pearl Harbor, had dropped paratroopers on the U.S. mainland. Those that we didn’t kill would have been captured. Would we have put those enemy combatants in jail and tried them in a court of law? No. They would have been tried in a military court and imprisoned or shot.

The enemy combatants captured in Afghanistan or Iraq or where ever else they might have been acting against or plotting against the United States are no different: they are enemies of the United States, acting against the interests, safety and well-being of the U.S. government, its military personnel and citizens. They are not criminals; they do not belong in the criminal justice system. They do not deserve or qualify for legal representation from civilian lawyers (or perhaps any lawyers at all).

Sometimes the U.S. and its citizens are its own worst enemies. When we want to coddle our enemies, as we will be doing if we shut down Gitmo and bring our nation’s enemies into the country and give them access to our legal system, that is one of those times. Taking steps to treat our enemies better than they deserve or have a right to, just because this is the United States of America, is stupid, and worse, it is dangerous.

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