Detention without trial, that is, the sort of thing you find in police states and other thuggocracies.
President Obama’s task force on Guantanamo is supposed to complete its report today.
Of the roughly 250 remaining “detainees” in Guantanamo, the task force reckons there are fifty that fall into the category: “can’t be tried, can’t be freed, can’t be returned, can’t be let go”.
Of course, this conclusion is being released on a Friday, the better to be buried by the banker story, or the health care story, or the Haiti story.
And it’s dead wrong: America is a country of laws and the rule of law must be observed.
So, everyone at Gitmo should be either released to their home countries (or offered asylum if they have a well founded fear of persecution upon their return) or tried in US civilian courts (not bogus military tribunals), and Gitmo should be shut down.
Federal prosecutors have a 90-plus percent conviction rate when it comes to terrorism, so there should be no fear of prosecuting.
We won’t be releasing those found innocent to wander the streets of America, conducting jihad, so there is absolutely nothing to worry about.
On the other hand, holding these people without trial means there is nothing, absolutely nothing, to stop any regime anywhere in the world from doing the same thing to Americans they may consider dangerous, and not just Americans who are captured on or near the battlefield: every American would be endangered.
As a county, we must accept that defending democracy means practicing democracy, no more and no less. That’s what the sacrifice of our soldiers is all about.
Gorilla says: “A mature democracy is as old as habeas corpus and it’s time our country grew up!”
Tags: Guantanamo, rule of law, terrorism