Thursday, July 14, 2005
Guantanamo Endangers US Prisoners - Demo Senators
According to a report in Yahoo News:
Senators said harsh interrogation practices and the refusal to grant prisoner of war status to detainees could backfire when U.S. soldiers are captured.
"Our troops are looking at us to see whether we're going to adopt a standard that if they were captured would be acceptable," said Sen. Carl Levin of Michigan, the committee's top Democrat.
Do these Senators seriously think that Al Qaeda will treat American soldiers more leniently if the US Senate labels detainees in Guantanamo as "POWs" instead of "detainees"? Will this recognition of POW status cause Al Qaeda to change their standard practice of beheading their prisoners to providing safe accomodations with nutritious meals as the US does in Guantanamo? Simply asing these questions shows how ludicrous the suggestion is.
With due respect, we are not dealing with people imbued in the legal requirements and traditions of the West that arose out of wars in Europe. We are dealing with people who drive cars loaded with bombs into crowds of children, who set off a bomb in a pizza parlor with a dozen or more baby carriages lined up outside, who set off bombs in crowded trains to intentionally kill innocent civilians. We are dealing with people who behead their captives in front of a video camera and release it to the public.
Such people are not likely to change their treatment of prisoners regardless of how kindly we treat detainees or "POWs" in Guantanamo. In fact, they more than likely look at the present good treatment of the detainees in Guantanamo as confirmation of the weakness and inability of the US to fight them strongly.
The Senators' comments once again blame American decisions and actions for the horrendous conduct of the Jihdists. Senators, the Jihadists want to destroy the West and kill Westerners regardless of how we treat the detainees. We need to stop looking for ways to win partisan political points and start finding ways to stop the Jihadists.
# posted by Thomas A. Becket : 5:55 PM
